LitQueuelitqueue

After

Appaloosa

Robert B. Parker2005

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Dead as a doornail

    Charlaine Harris2005

    A sniper targets the shapeshifter population of a small town. Telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse must find the killer to clear her brother.

    Same wry register

    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.

    wry → playful

    pace-2·prose+3·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.

    wry → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1

  • The Disorderly Knights

    Dorothy Dunnett1966

    A mercenary leader travels from Scotland to Malta in 1551 to defend the Order of St. John against Ottoman forces while facing family accusations.

    wry → sardonic

    pace0·prose+3·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Crown Conspiracy

    Michael J. Sullivan2008

    Two thieves are framed for the murder of a king and must clear their names. It is a traditional sword-and-sorcery adventure.

    wry → playful

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Dark Debt

    Chloe Neill2015

    A vampire sentinel in Chicago investigates an assassination attempt on a businessman while a figure from her partner's past reappears.

    wry → playful

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Catnap

    Carole Nelson Douglas1992

    A publicist investigates a murder at a cat show in Las Vegas. Chapters alternate between her perspective and that of a streetwise black cat.

    wry → playful

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

Faster

wry → propulsive

3 more ↓

  • Behind Closed Doors

    B.A. Paris2016

    A woman is held captive by her husband in a high-security home. She must find a way to escape before her sister moves in with them.

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • Dark Matter

    Blake Crouch2016

    A physics professor is kidnapped and wakes up in an alternate reality where he chose career over family. He must navigate the multiverse to return.

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • You

    Caroline Kepnes2014

    A bookstore manager becomes obsessed with a customer and uses social media to orchestrate a relationship. He removes obstacles through murder.

    wry → sardonic

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

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.

    wry → playful

    pace-2·prose+3·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.

    wry → playful

    pace-2·prose+3·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.

    wry → meditative

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Sharp Objects

    Gillian Flynn2006

    A reporter returns to her hometown to cover the murders of two girls while grappling with her own history of self-harm.

    wry → tense

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    wry → clinical

    pace-1·prose+2·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.

    wry → tense

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2