LitQueuelitqueue

After

All The Queen's Men

Linda Howard1999

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tense register, still romantic suspense

1 more ↓

  • If She Only Knew

    Lisa Jackson2000

    A woman wakes from a car crash with amnesia and a new face after reconstructive surgery. She suspects her family is lying to her.

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → playful

    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.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • American Psycho

    Bret Easton Ellis1991

    A wealthy investment banker details his daily routines, consumer habits, and graphic murders. The narrative is cold and repetitive.

    tense → cold

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Hard To Handle

    Lori Foster2008

    A life coach is secretly hired to help an MMA fighter recover his career. They live together while she hides her employer's identity.

    tense → playful, still forced proximity

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Night Pleasures

    Sherrilyn Kenyon2002

    An immortal warrior and a skeptical accountant are handcuffed together while being hunted by supernatural predators.

    tense → playful, still forced proximity

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Warlord Wants Forever

    Kresley Cole2011

    A vampire general hunts a valkyrie who stole his heart centuries ago. They are forced together during a magical competition.

    tense → playful, still forced proximity

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

Faster

tense → propulsive, still espionage

3 more ↓

  • Use of force

    Brad Thor2017

    Navy SEAL Scot Harvath is hired to track a missing terrorist after a body washes up in Italy. He works outside the law to stop a summer attack.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • The Pursuit

    Janet Evanovich2016

    An FBI agent tracks down a kidnapped con man she was secretly working with. The chase moves from Hawaii to the remote mountains of Europe.

    tense → playful, still romantic suspense

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Warriors

    Ted Bell2014

    Spy Alex Hawke attempts to rescue a kidnapped scientist while the United States and China move toward nuclear war.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Gödel, Escher, Bach

    Douglas R. Hofstadter1979

    An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Ulysses

    James Joyce1914

    Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • A maça no escuro

    Clarice Lispector1961

    A man flees into the Brazilian interior believing he killed his wife. He works on a remote farm while navigating his own internal monologue.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • In Cold Blood

    Truman Capote1965

    A reconstruction of the 1959 murder of a Kansas family and the subsequent investigation. It follows both the victims and the killers.

    tense → clinical

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Lord of the Flies

    William Golding1954

    Schoolboys are stranded on an island and try to organize a society. Order collapses into tribalism and violence.

    Same tense register

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Shutter Island

    Dennis Lehane2003

    Same tense register

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2