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CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Robert Wilson2013

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tense register, still thriller

1 more ↓

  • Dark Tide

    Elizabeth Haynes2013

    A woman living on a boat in London discovers a body in the water. The narrative follows the police investigation and her own history of debt.

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

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.

    tense → cold

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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·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+1

To recover

tense → propulsive, still thriller

3 more ↓

  • Fast & loose

    Stuart Woods2017

    Wealthy investigator Stone Barrington deals with a hostile family after a boating accident. He manages legal and financial assets in Maine.

    tense → playful, still crime

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Rooster Bar

    John Grisham2017

    Three law students realize their school is a scam and drop out to pose as lawyers. They steal identities to survive and pay off their debts.

    tense → sardonic

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Four to score

    Janet Evanovich1998

    Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum tracks a fugitive while competing with a rival. The story features slapstick humor and a romantic triangle.

    tense → playful, still crime

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

tense → propulsive, still thriller

3 more ↓

  • Dark Tide

    Elizabeth Haynes2013

    A woman living on a boat in London discovers a body in the water. The narrative follows the police investigation and her own history of debt.

    Same tense register, still thriller

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • Persuader

    Lee Child2003

    Jack Reacher goes undercover to infiltrate a drug kingpin's coastal estate. He seeks revenge for a colleague murdered ten years prior.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Pursuit

    Thomas Perry2001

    A specialist who tracks down killers is hired to find a man who committed a mass shooting at a restaurant.

    pace+1·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-2·prose+2·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+2·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+2·bleak0

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.

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Full Dark, No Stars

    Stephen King2010

    Four novellas explore the themes of retribution and the capacity for violence. Characters commit and suffer from crimes in isolated settings.

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • 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

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1