thriller vs. mystery

In a thriller, is it important to have characters that the author makes the reader think is bad, but in the end, you find out that they were not behind the evil.

For example, in Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown, the director of the research lab was thought to be behind the murders until the very end.

I think what im looking for, is there a difference between mystery and thriller? And do thrillers still have mystery to who's the bad guy, or is it mainly the chase, uncovering the truth, and resolving the crisis that are the main ingredients to thrillers?

Thanks for the posts

Linda, thanks. Those are some excellent sites with essays from thriller writers.

And i think the other guy was right when he said suspense is important.

In those articles, people describe many methods to unveil the story to the reader, and possibilities to reach the climax. Thats just the source of inspiration I need.

They are interesting in their discussion of writing to genre, and knowing the strengths and difficulties of certain techniques.

Yeah, im only 24, but The Firm was actually the first novel I read as a young adult. I have ready tons of books. And although I like the moral introspection of an individual, a community, or an era, the books that do me well are the ones where the story is about an injustice, social movement, wall street, or a scifi possibility in which the ending is a conclusion that is one step farther that it could have been if it were a lesser of a book.

The sixth sense, memento, seven, fight club, training day. They are all tense, mysterious, full of suspense, and thrillers. And the ending was the reason why any of these stories were told, and what satisfies the soul.

Im a sucker for learning about history or science, law or religion as part of the plot. Killer Angels was great Civil war story, Jurassic Park was imaginative to the 3rd degree, the Rainmaker was quite an entertaining window into the green lawyer, and everything about the Illuminati in Angels and Demons.

And in the end, i dont see any of these stories as fitting into a category of genre. Like, is Jurassic Park a fantasy? or sci fi? and is killer angels an epic drama? or a historical piece? the Rainmaker has got to be a legal thiller, but probably more like an Erin Brokavich good guys against the bad guys legal fight, and Angels and Demons had too much mystery and suspense to only be a thriller.