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After

A Man With One of Those Faces

Caimh McDonnell2016

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The wanted

    Robert Crais2017

    Elvis Cole and Joe Pike investigate a teenager's involvement in high-end burglaries. The case escalates when professional hitmen intervene.

    playful → tense, still noir

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • My Name Is Red

    Orhan Pamuk

    In 1591 Istanbul, miniaturists investigate a colleague's murder. Objects and colors narrate chapters alongside the human characters.

    playful → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Blood on the dining-room floor

    Gertrude Stein1948

    A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.

    Same playful register

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • The Doves Necklace

    Raja Alem2014

    A detective investigates an unidentified woman's body found in a Mecca alleyway. The city itself narrates parts of the story.

    playful → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

Same playful register

3 more ↓

  • Eggs in Purgatory

    Laura Childs2008

    Three widows running a cafe investigate the murder of a local lawyer. The plot involves a religious cult and the protagonist's past.

    playful → warm

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Ghost Ship

    Clive Cussler2014

    Kurt Austin survives a yacht sinking but suffers from conflicting memories. He investigates a global cybercrime conspiracy to find the truth.

    playful → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Miss Zukas and the Library Murders

    Jo Dereske1994

    Librarian Helma Zukas investigates the discovery of a body in her small-town library. She uses her organizational skills to track a killer.

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Plugged

    Eoin Colfer2011

    An Irish bouncer in New Jersey searches for his girlfriend's killer while being hunted by the mob. He is also recovering from a hair transplant.

    playful → sardonic, still noir

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • Red Harvest

    Dashiell Hammett1929

    A private investigator arrives in a corrupt mining town and manipulates rival gangs into killing each other. The body count is high.

    playful → cynical, still noir

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Da Vinci Code

    Dan Brown2003

    A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.

    playful → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Amberes

    Roberto Bolaño2002

    A fragmented series of fifty-six short sections follows a police officer, a redhead, and a hunchback through a series of loosely linked crimes.

    playful → cold, still noir

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

    John le Carré1963

    A British agent pretends to defect to East Germany to frame a high-ranking official. The focus is on the bureaucratic coldness of espionage.

    playful → cold, still noir

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Dhalgren

    Samuel R. Delany1975

    An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.

    playful → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Killer Inside Me

    Jim Thompson1952

    A small-town Texas deputy maintains a boring public persona to hide his identity as a serial killer. He describes his crimes in a flat, cold voice.

    playful → cold, still noir

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • Shutter Island

    Dennis Lehane2003

    playful → tense, still noir

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Every Dead Thing

    John Connolly1999

    A former detective haunted by his family's murder tracks a serial killer known as the Traveling Man. The story includes supernatural elements.

    playful → bleak, still noir

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2