LitQueuelitqueue

After

Best Offer Wins

Marisa Kashino2025

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tense register, still crime

1 more ↓

  • Stone cold

    C. J. Box2014

    Game warden Joe Pickett investigates a mysterious, wealthy rancher in the Black Hills rumored to be a professional assassin.

    pace+1·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-1·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

    pace0·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

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

To recover

tense → playful, still crime

3 more ↓

  • Redshirts

    John Scalzi2012

    Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.

    tense → playful

    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.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Fifty Shades of Grey

    E.L. James2000

    A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.

    tense → earnest

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

tense → propulsive, still crime

3 more ↓

  • Run Away

    Harlan Coben2019

    A father searches for his estranged, drug-addicted daughter in New York. The search uncovers a conspiracy involving a cult and multiple murders.

    pace+2·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.

    tense → sardonic, still crime

    pace+2·prose0·bleak+1

  • First Lie Wins

    Ashley Elston2024

    A professional con artist takes an assignment to infiltrate a man's life in a small town. She must balance her job with her growing feelings.

    pace+2·prose0·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-1·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-1·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-1·prose+2·bleak+1

Heavier

tense → bleak, still crime

3 more ↓

  • Páradais

    Fernanda Melchor2020

    Two teenagers in a luxury housing complex plot a crime to escape their lives. The prose consists of long, rhythmic, and breathless sentences.

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • The Virgin Suicides

    Jeffrey Eugenides

    A group of neighborhood boys obsessively observes five sisters in 1970s Michigan. They document the girls' lives leading up to their suicides.

    Same tense register, still crime

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Dead and Gone

    Andrew Vachss2000

    After a hit squad kills his partner, an underground mercenary gets plastic surgery and hunts his attackers across the country.

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2