My Sister, the Serial Killer

The Restraint of Beasts

Magnus Mills1998

Three fence-builders travel across England while their accidents result in a series of casual, unacknowledged deaths.

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

A Brief History of Seven Killings

Marlon James2014

A large cast of characters recounts the 1976 attempt on Bob Marley's life. The narrative spans decades and moves from Jamaica to New York.

sardonic → propulsive

pace0·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.

sardonic → playful

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Briefing for a Descent into Hell

Doris Lessing1971

A man is found wandering London and placed in a psychiatric ward. The narrative shifts between the hospital and his internal cosmic hallucinations.

sardonic → dreamlike

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

Redshirts

John Scalzi2012

Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.

sardonic → playful, still satire

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

It Starts with Us

Colleen Hoover2022

A single mother navigates a new relationship with her first love while managing a jealous ex-husband. The story alternates perspectives.

sardonic → earnest

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Assistant to the Villain

Hannah Nicole Maehrer2023

A woman takes a job as an administrative assistant to a local villain to support her family. She manages his office while ignoring his evil deeds.

sardonic → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Dial A for Aunties

Jesse Q. Sutanto2021

A photographer accidentally kills her blind date. Her mother and aunties help hide the body during a massive luxury wedding.

sardonic → playful

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Get Jiro!

Anthony Bourdain2012

In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.

Same sardonic register, still satire

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

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+1·prose-1·bleak-1

The Pale King

David Foster Wallace2011

An unfinished, experimental novel about the mundane daily operations of an IRS processing center in 1985 Illinois.

Same sardonic register, still satire

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Umbrella

Will Self2013

A psychiatrist in 1971 treats a woman who has been catatonic for decades. The prose shifts between eras and consciousnesses without paragraph breaks.

sardonic → clinical

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Translated Accounts

James Kelman2001

Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.

sardonic → bleak

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

Dorian

Will Self2002

A modern retelling of Oscar Wilde's novel set in the London drug and art scenes of the 1980s. A video installation ages while the subject does not.

Same sardonic register, still satire

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

The Keepers of Truth

Michael Collins2000

A local reporter in a dying Indiana town investigates a murder at the last local factory. He documents the decay of his family and his community.

sardonic → bleak, still noir

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

The North Water

Ian McGuire2016

A disgraced surgeon joins a whaling expedition where a psychopathic harpooner commits a murder. The crew becomes trapped in the Arctic ice.

sardonic → cold, still noir

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2