LitQueuelitqueue

After

Judge and jury

James Patterson2006

5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Extreme Prey

    John Sandford2016

    While working on a presidential campaign, Lucas Davenport tracks an armed man planning to assassinate the governor.

    Same propulsive register, still crime

    pace0·prose0·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.

    propulsive → cold

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1

  • 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.

    propulsive → playful

    pace-3·prose+3·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.

    propulsive → cold

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Thraxas

    Martin Millar

    An overweight, beer-drinking private investigator with minor magical abilities solves crimes in a corrupt fantasy city.

    propulsive → wry

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

  • The Rooster Bar

    John Grisham2017

    Three law students realize their school is a scam and drop out to pose as lawyers. They steal identities to survive and pay off their debts.

    propulsive → sardonic, still legal thriller

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

  • The Lucky Stiff

    Craig Rice1945

    A woman fakes her death to find the people who framed her for murder. She enlists a Chicago lawyer to help her haunt and expose the real killers.

    propulsive → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

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.

    propulsive → playful

    pace-3·prose+3·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.

    propulsive → playful

    pace-3·prose+3·bleak0

  • 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.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-3·prose+3·bleak+1

Heavier

propulsive → bleak, still crime

3 more ↓

  • Páradais

    Fernanda Melchor2020

    Two teenagers in a luxury housing complex plot a crime to escape their lives. The prose consists of long, rhythmic, and breathless sentences.

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Full Dark, No Stars

    Stephen King2010

    Four novellas explore the themes of retribution and the capacity for violence. Characters commit and suffer from crimes in isolated settings.

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    propulsive → tense, still crime

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2