Strange Sally Diamond

Nugent’s Strange Sally Diamond is a prime example of the psychological thriller genre, which blends common tropes from both the mystery and crime genres. The psychological thriller is generally defined by a distorted sense of reality in which a primary character (who may or may not be the protagonist) descends into psychological chaos, blurring the boundaries between reality and their own personal fantasies. To create this growing sense of unreality within the narrative, Nugent shifts between several different first-person narrators who are struggling to understand and overcome their respective traumas. For example, Sally’s perspective depicts a repressed mind at work, and as a result, her chapters keep crucial information hidden, a narrative quirk that is designed to escalate the overarching drama and mystery of the novel. Conversely, Peter’s flashback chapters add key information to the story even as they intensify the novel’s foreboding tone. Similarly, the chronology of Peter’s life story slowly closes the gap with Sally’s perception of the narrative present, thereby creating a sense of impending doom, for the structure of the novel implies that a meeting between the two characters is all but inevitable.

It is also important to note that because Peter and Sally are so traumatized and isolated, they don’t know the full scope of their own stories and are therefore unreliable narrators at best. This element of unreliability is further exaggerated as both characters undergo considerable psychological stress. For example, because of his extensive childhood trauma, Peter can only relate to others by controlling them, thereby replicating the cycle of abuse and manipulation to which he was subjected. Likewise, Sally must work hard to manage the long-term side effects of her repressed childhood trauma.

Another important trope of the psychological thriller is the red herring, a technique in which the author introduces an irrelevant lead purely to heighten the sense of mystery in the novel. Throughout the beginning of Part 2, for example, the character of Mark is presented as a red herring because his actions and behavior arouse suspicion on multiple levels. Just as the characters are unsure of his motives, Nugent has also manipulated the reactions of her readers by juxtaposing Mark’s chapters with the introduction of Peter’s narrative, thereby creating the misleading impression that Mark is really Peter.