Developing A Minor Character Into A Major Role Across A Trilogy

So today I’m going to talk about a book series known as the Stranger Series. It’s actually a trilogy of three book by Jennifer Janes. They’re thrillers and they do something few other thrillers do. They are standalone books that have a common thread. This review will contain spoilers, so you’ve been warned. 

 So There are three books in this series. 

✅ Never Smile At Strangers 

✅ Ugly Young Thing

✅ And Don’t Say a word.

 

The brilliance of this story is the common thread.

And the common thread is a girl named Allie, who actually goes by her middle name in the first book, Never Smile At Strangers 

She’s 15 in the first book and she’s not the lead. 

She’s a bit player. 

The lead in this story is actually an ensemble between two young women, about 19 years old.  

There’s also Allie’s brother, who it turns out is a serial killer. 

He takes care of her, but he hates her and she has no idea what he does with his time. 

By the end of the first book, her brother was dead. 

Now on to book two Ugly Young Thing

Allie is now 16 and with no family left, she’s sleeping with men for money. She’s eventually picked up by social services and given to a foster mother. 

The foster mother has several men around her house, none of whom are actually allowed to go in the house. That makes more sense when you read it. 

It turns out not only is one of those men a serial killer as well, he’s also the father of Allie and her brother. 

She never finds out. 

By the end of the second book, he too is dead. And the foster mother adopts Allie and takes her to another state to start over. 

In book three, Don’t Say a Word, Allie is now 22 with a young child of her own. She still lives with her adoptive mother and works with her in her home business. 

Allie is struggling with the emotional scars from the earlier books, but she’s determined to give her son a great childhood. 

Allie’s mother is still fostering children and now she gets 12-year-old twins whose parents have just been murdered. 

Though Allie knows something Is wrong, she doesn’t realize the murderer has her and her son in their site until it’s almost too late. 

By the end of the book, Allie and her son are fine, no longer troubled by her past and are looking forward to a bright future. 

As you’ll notice, the common thread in these books is Allie, even though she is never the killer or investigator in any story. The first story doesn’t even center around her. 

So if you want to see how to do a thriller series done right (that isn’t just predictable sequel after predictable sequel) read the stranger things series by Jennifer Janes. 

 

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