LitQueuelitqueue

After

City of Endless Night (Agent Pendergast series)

Douglas Preston2018

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Drawing of the Three

    Stephen King1987

    A dying gunslinger travels through magical doors on a beach to enter the minds of people in 20th-century New York. He brings them back to his world.

    Same propulsive register

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

propulsive → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Ghost Stories

    Henry James2001

    A collection of Victorian tales where the existence of ghosts is often left to the reader's interpretation.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Racconti [55 stories]

    Edgar Allan Poe2011

    A collection of 55 stories featuring unreliable narrators and gothic settings. Themes include obsession, premature burial, and the macabre.

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Gormenghast

    Mervyn Peake1950

    A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.

    propulsive → dark

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

To recover

Same propulsive register, still police procedural

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.

    Same propulsive register

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Killer Blonde

    Laura Levine2004

    A freelance writer investigates a murder in the Hamptons after a socialite is killed. She balances the case with her work for a demanding boss.

    propulsive → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Lost Symbol

    Dan Brown2009

    Symbologist Robert Langdon follows a trail of Masonic puzzles through Washington D.C. monuments to save his kidnapped mentor.

    Same propulsive register

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Patient Zero

    Jonathan Maberry2009

    A detective joins a secret government task force to stop a terrorist group using a bio-weapon that reanimates the dead. It is an action thriller.

    Same propulsive register

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

    A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

    propulsive → bleak

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

    A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.

    propulsive → tense

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    propulsive → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    propulsive → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

    A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

propulsive → elegiac

3 more ↓

  • Hamlet

    William Shakespeare

    A prince of Denmark is told by a ghost that his uncle killed his father. He feigns madness while deciding whether to take revenge.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

  • The Terror

    Dan Simmons2007

    Two British ships searching for the Northwest Passage in 1845 become trapped in ice and are hunted by a creature.

    propulsive → bleak

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • The Lottery

    Shirley Jackson1983

    Villagers gather for an annual ritual in a small town. The story follows the procedural steps of a lottery that ends in a public execution.

    propulsive → cold

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2