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After

Celine

Peter Heller2017

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The headmaster's wife

    Jane Haddam2005

    Investigator Gregor Demarkian visits a prestigious prep school to solve a murder. The narrative focuses on the internal politics of the faculty.

    tender → meditative, still mystery

    pace0·prose-1·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.

    tender → cold

    pace0·prose+1·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.

    tender → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+1·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.

    tender → cold

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

To recover

tender → warm

3 more ↓

  • The Takeover

    T.L. Swan

    A billionaire attempts to acquire a widow's family company but ends up moving into her home. It follows their power struggle and her three sons.

    tender → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Marek

    Sawyer Bennett2021

    A professional hockey player known for his partying lifestyle tries to win over a reserved woman. It follows their developing relationship.

    tender → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Devil's Daughter

    Lisa Kleypas2019

    A young widow meets the man who bullied her late husband and finds him transformed into a responsible estate manager.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

tender → propulsive, still mystery

3 more ↓

  • Ten Big Ones

    Janet Evanovich2004

    Stephanie Plum witnesses a gang hit and becomes a target herself. She balances the threat with her ongoing romantic indecision.

    tender → playful, still mystery

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Private Vegas

    James Patterson2015

    Jack Morgan investigates a man who trains women to become killers in Las Vegas. The story follows multiple perspectives in short chapters.

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

  • Pines

    Blake Crouch2012

    A Secret Service agent searches for missing colleagues in an Idaho town he cannot leave. The townspeople and physics itself seem to work against him.

    tender → tense, still mystery

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak+1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Blackouts

    Justin Torres2023

    A young man cares for a dying elder in a medical facility. They use a 1930s study on homosexuality to reconstruct their personal histories.

    tender → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

  • The English Patient

    Michael Ondaatje1992

    Four people shelter in a ruined Italian villa at the end of WWII. They care for a burned, anonymous man who recounts his past in the desert.

    tender → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

  • Dhalgren

    Samuel R. Delany1975

    An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.

    tender → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

Heavier

tender → bleak, still literary fiction

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tender → tense, still mystery

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • See how small

    Scott Blackwood2015

    The ghosts of three girls murdered in an ice cream shop watch the survivors struggle. The narrative follows family and suspects in the aftermath.

    tender → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • American Psycho

    Bret Easton Ellis1991

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

    tender → cold

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2