LitQueuelitqueue

After

Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders

Vincent Bugliosi

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same clinical register, still true crime

1 more ↓

  • Easy Money

    Ben McKenzie2023

    An actor travels the world to interview founders and victims of the cryptocurrency industry. He documents evidence of systemic fraud.

    clinical → sardonic, still true crime

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

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.

    clinical → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·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.

    clinical → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • American Psycho

    Bret Easton Ellis1991

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

    clinical → cold

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Two for the dough

    Janet Evanovich1996

    An inexperienced bounty hunter tracks a man who jumped bail for shooting his friend. She competes with a vice cop to find him first.

    clinical → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • 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.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Death by Darjeeling

    Laura Childs2001

    Theodosia Browning hosts a tea party where a guest is poisoned. She must find the killer among the local socialites of Charleston.

    clinical → warm

    pace0·prose-1·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.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·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.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·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.

    clinical → tense

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

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.

    clinical → 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.

    clinical → 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.

    clinical → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

Same clinical register, still true crime

3 more ↓

  • Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?

    Eric Powell2021

    A graphic novel documenting the life of Ed Gein and the 1950s Wisconsin crimes that inspired several horror films.

    clinical → bleak, still true crime

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Lost Girls

    John Glatt2015

    This account details the decade-long kidnapping and abuse of three women in a Cleveland home. It includes interviews with the captor's family.

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • American Predator

    Maureen Callahan2019

    A true crime account of the hunt for Israel Keyes, a killer who hid 'kill kits' across the US. It follows the FBI's interrogation and discovery.

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1