A few notes from Truby, who make a character-centric argument:
-- Detective --
In a detective story, the Hero is a loner who is somewhere outside the organization, and a bit outside the law as well. He's used to be assigned the dirty work, which exercises his wits. He works alone because he trusts no one - that's his job definition anyway - and thus his personal relationships suffer from it. He will be thrown into the story to investigate a small corruption which will grow, little by little, into a huge corruption, by checking out a cast of suspects, one of which is the criminal. In the end, he will have to choose between what his left brain tells him (succomb to emotions) and what his right brain tells him (do the right or honorable thing), which are not real choices.
-- Thriller --
Similar to the detective story where the Hero will encounter many characters who may or may not be the killer. But with each of those character, the Hero has to choose between faith at the risk of death, or skeptism at the risk of personal loss. Example (Basic Instinct): love the woman who may turn out to be the killer versus distrust the woman who might as well be innocent and become a lover. Example (Silence of the Lambs): trade or not trade inner demons for information about a serial killer, trade or not trade with superiors for career advancement.
The plot line is not about escaping attacks; it's about considering and reconsidering the dilemma over and over. Yes. No. Yes, she's the killer. No she's not. etc. That's where the twists and turns originate.
-cb
Nandi. Good to have you!
Who knows. 
