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.