LitQueuelitqueue

After

Ask for Andrea

Noelle W. Ihli2025

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tense register, still serial killer

1 more ↓

  • The Drowning Kind

    Jennifer McMahon2021

    A woman returns to her family home after her sister drowns in a pool rumored to grant wishes. The story alternates between 1929 and the present.

    Same tense register, still supernatural thriller

    pace0·prose+1·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+3·bleak-1

  • 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+3·bleak0

  • 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+3·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-2

  • Under the Whispering Door

    TJ Klune2021

    A selfish lawyer dies and waits in a supernatural tea shop to transition to the afterlife. He befriends the shopkeeper and other ghosts.

    tense → warm

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

  • This Girl

    Colleen Hoover2013

    A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.

    tense → earnest

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Housemaid's Secret

    Freida McFadden2023

    A housemaid with a criminal record takes a job for a wealthy couple. She becomes obsessed with the wife she is forbidden from seeing.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

  • 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.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

  • 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.

    tense → propulsive

    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.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak-2

  • 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+3·bleak-1

  • 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+3·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Final Destination I

    Natasha Rhodes2006

    After surviving a plane crash they were destined to die in, a group of teenagers is hunted by an invisible, lethal force.

    Same tense register, still supernatural thriller

    pace+1·prose0·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+3·bleak+1

  • 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.

    Same tense register

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1