Though the subgenre of detective stories and thrillers is well-established genre in Western literatures, it remains a virgin form of writing in Arabic literature. Thus the translator does not seem to have a secure repertoire of narratological conventions to fall back on when translating such novels into Arabic. At first glance, this may seem a confining obstacle but, in fact, it may allow for a wider scope of textual and discursive negotiation in the translation of both voice and dialogue. This is also significant when a major aspect of the suspense is built up through the verbal interaction and (indirect) intentionality of the characters. This paper sets out to examine how suspense is constructed through the narrative voice’s) and dialogue of the characters inhabiting the original text, and its subsequent reconstruction in the Arabic translation thereof. This will be conducted through the identification of a corpus of illocutionary forces in Dan Brown’s work, and their corresponding TT in the Arabic translation.