An Examination of "Wine Women" in Thrillers

WHAT IS A WINE WOMAN?

I've really enjoyed thrillers as of late, however, I've noticed an interesting trend appearing in more and more domestic thrillers. Domestic thrillers, or domestic noirs, have female main characters and usually center around the home and workplace. They have a dark "feel" to them and often have a strong psychological aspect to them. This is one of the largest thriller genres that I see on shelves. 

In most of the domestic thrillers that I come across, there is a 'Wine Woman'. This is a woman who, as the name would suggest, drinks wine. But not just a glass or two with dinner, but a full on bottle on the daily. It can also be mixed with a variation of pills. The wine and/or combination of wine and pills leads to an unreliable narrator. She usually has an issue in the home, either with a child (or lack thereof), with her husband (usually a cheater or suspected one), or with another person (neighbor, stranger she sees, coworker, etc.). This isn't in and of itself a bad thing. However, in my opinion, it has become something of an issue .

THE PROBLEM WITH UNRELIABLE NARRATORS

I have zero issue with the run of the mill unreliable narrator. I often come across it in various genres. However, usually the narrator is aware that what they reveal to the reader is a lie. They mislead on purpose. They give breadcrumbs for you to follow knowing that they are only giving part of the truth. This makes them seem like a better person than they are, and also can serve to shift blame onto someone else. This trope has been done well numerous times, especially in thrillers. Some examples are Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus, and You by Caroline Kepnes. All of these are very successful and an interestingly enough, they all have adaptations. There is something really compelling about coming to a twist and realizing that the narrator has been lying to you. 

Now, where it becomes an issue is when the a narrator wholeheartedly believes they are telling you the truth, only for you to find out near the end that nothing you've been told is real. Thrillers, in my opinion, are successful when you reach the twist, or the big reveal, and realize that you should have seen in coming. Or even if it is a complete shock, that the reveal at least makes sense. But with these wine women thrillers, I find that these twists don't hold the same shock factor because nothing the main character experiences is actually what happens. You aren't knowingly led astray. Instead, the woman who is in the depths of drunkenness doesn't even have any of the details correct. It just leads to a duller ending. By relying on the trope that women with marital, work, family, or personal issues either are alcoholics that chug wine every night, or that they have a mental illness and abuse their medication. I think it does a disservice to women, as well as to people who suffer from a mental illness that requires medication. 

RECENT EXAMPLES OF WINE WOMEN THRILLERS

There are so, so many of these books that I can use as examples, but I've rounded up some popular ones from over the last few years. Keep in mind that I will be discussing spoilers in this next section, so be aware if you haven't read these books yet. 

1. The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

This book is about Anna, a psychiatrist who lives alone after her husband leaves her and takes her daughter with her. She has extreme agoraphobia, which means that she doesn't leave her house. Instead, she stays inside and spies on her neighbors and (you guessed it) drinks a shit ton of wine and abuses her medication. When she sees her neighbor get murdered, she calls 911 only for her neighbors to show up. The woman she saw die apparently never existed. 

Now, this book did actually have a really great twist when we find out that the daughter and husband she has been speaking to on the phone were actually dead. I liked that. What I didn't like was how they revealed what actually happened with the murder. There were literally no clues dropped to who the murder was. It was so unexpected, but not because the reveal was done well, rather it was so unsatisfying in the way the killer confessed every last detail. The ending was wrapped up so quickly it felt like Finn just got as tired as I did while reading this. 

2. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

I have loved almost every book I've read by Ruth Ware. This one just wasn't it for me. It centers around Lo, a travel journalist who gets to live on a super nice yacht during a cruise and write a review. She has extreme anxiety and abuses her medication along with plenty of alcohol. I'm sensing a theme of mental health and people who abuse their medication. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but why are there so many books where the woman does this?

Anyway, in this one, Lo thinks she hears a body thrown overboard, only for there to be no missing passengers and, a person whom she's seen, doesn't seem to exist. Sensing another pattern here? By the time this book was over I was just straight up relieved. Lo was portrayed as a crazed woman who is just drunk or hungover the entire trip. She wasn't written as a good person, rather she was annoying, bitter, and extremely judgmental. It's no wonder no one on board listened to her as she seemed to be a terrible person. I can honestly say that I am surprised this book has as high ratings as it does. 

3. Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

This last example also spawned a movie, like the first book. It is extremely similar to the other books mentioned in that the main character has a substance abuse problem. Her alcoholism is caused by 1. the fact that she is infertile, and 2. her husband left her for a younger woman. Because god forbid all women need a child and all issues are solved by wine. 

Like the last two books, Rachel, the main character, thinks she sees something but due to her substance abuse, which has led to memory issues, she can't trust anything she remembers. This book is just so full of women that have no personalities outside of their relationships. The ending was once again dissatisfying and seemed to come out of left field. Her memories issues were used as convenient ways to explain plot holes and I just was very disappointed by such a hyped book. 

THE REAL ISSUE 

For books like these, substance abuse is used strictly s plot convenience. The actual issues are never explored but instead are used in a way to "trick" the readers into a reveal that only makes sense because nothing else you've been told is true. Substance abuse blackouts should not be used as plot devices to conveniently explain gaps in memory. It's dangerous to portray people with mental health issues, and in my opinion particularly women with these issues, as hysterical, unreliable, and crazy. Also, mental health issues actually exist and medication helps greatly. Anxiety, depression, OCD, bipolar disorder, and more, are all made better with medications for many people. Showing characters with very real medical disorders as people who just abuse their medication and drink to oblivion is dangerous and helps to perpetuate stereotypes.

The real issue is why do these women have to be alcoholics? Was it strictly convenience to show an unreliable narrator? Could the authors not come up with better reasons? I've seen Ruth Ware write great unreliable narrators without relying on harmful stereotypes. Turn of the Key uses nonlinear timelines, One by One uses the fact that characters are trapped and one is missing, and The Lying Game uses simple lies and deceit. 

The alcoholic, mentally ill woman is a tired, overused trope that just makes every book feel the same. The endings aren't satisfying, the build-up has no payoff, and the characters aren't even written to be good people. I found that I couldn't root for any of these three main characters. Overall, I am tired of it. If a book has a description of a woman who "drinks too much" or "sees something no one believes" I am just not going to pick it up anymore. I am always disappointed and there are too many other thrillers out there that don't rely on terrible tropes that are full of stereotypes.