LitQueuelitqueue

After

Confidence-Man

Herman Melville1949

5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser

More like it

1 more ↓

  • La Carte et le Territoire

    Michel Houellebecq2010

    An artist finds success through photographs of maps and later befriends a fictionalized Michel Houellebecq. The story shifts into a murder mystery.

    Same sardonic register, still satire

    pace0·prose-1·bleak0

To recover

sardonic → playful, still satire

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2

  • Love Is Blind

    Lynsay Sands2006

    A clumsy woman removes her glasses to appear attractive to a suitor, resulting in physical comedy and accidents. They navigate a Regency romance.

    sardonic → playful

    pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2

  • Artemis

    Andy Weir2017

    A porter and smuggler on a lunar colony takes a high-stakes sabotage job to pay off a debt. She uses technical knowledge to solve problems.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-3·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.

    sardonic → propulsive, still unreliable narrator

    pace+2·prose-3·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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1

  • Kiss the Girls

    James Patterson1995

    Detective Alex Cross tracks two serial killers operating on opposite coasts who are communicating and competing with one another.

    sardonic → tense

    pace+2·prose-3·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → meditative, still philosophical fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • Elizabeth Costello

    J. M. Coetzee2003

    An elderly novelist travels the world giving academic lectures on animals, realism, and evil. The book is structured as a series of formal speeches.

    sardonic → meditative, still philosophical fiction

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak0

  • The miracle at Speedy Motors

    Alexander McCall Smith2008

    Mma Ramotswe helps a woman find her long-lost family in Botswana. The story follows small domestic complications and slow-paced investigations.

    sardonic → warm

    pace-1·prose-2·bleak-2

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • High-Rise

    J.G. Ballard

    Residents of a luxury apartment building descend into tribalism and violence. The social structure collapses floor by floor.

    sardonic → clinical, still satire

    pace0·prose-1·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.

    sardonic → tense, still unreliable narrator

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1

  • In Cold Blood

    Truman Capote1965

    A reconstruction of the 1959 murder of a Kansas family and the subsequent investigation. It follows both the victims and the killers.

    sardonic → clinical

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1