LitQueuelitqueue

After

Escape from Andersonville

Gene Hackman2008

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Girl Who Was Taken

    Charlie Donlea2017

    One year after two girls were abducted and only one returned, a forensic pathologist searches for the truth about her missing sister.

    Same tense register, still thriller

    pace0·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-2·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

    pace-1·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+2

To recover

tense → playful

3 more ↓

  • Better Off Dead

    Lee Child2021

    Jack Reacher investigates a staged car crash in Arizona and infiltrates a dangerous local crew to find a missing woman.

    tense → propulsive, still thriller

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron

    Julia Quinn2022

    A graphic novel adaptation of a fictional melodrama where an orphan flees a cruel aunt and encounters a man in a remote castle.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Comfort Book

    Matt Haig2021

    A collection of short reflections, lists, and anecdotes intended to provide mental support. It is a non-linear book of philosophy and memoir.

    tense → warm

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

tense → propulsive, still thriller

3 more ↓

  • Adrenaline

    Jeff Abbott2010

    A CIA agent’s life is destroyed when his wife warns him of a bombing and then vanishes. He must find her while being interrogated as a suspect.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • The October List

    Jeffery Deaver2013

    The chapters are told in reverse chronological order, starting with the climax and moving backward to explain a kidnapping.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • Missing

    James Patterson2015

    A private investigator in Sydney searches for a missing CEO whose digital and physical footprint has been erased. The search becomes a race.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

  • 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-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-2·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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+2

  • 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.

    Same tense register

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • 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.

    tense → clinical

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2