LitQueuelitqueue

After

Red, white, and blood

Christopher Farnsworth2012

5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Drowning

    T.J. Newman2023

    A plane crashes into the ocean and sinks with passengers trapped inside. Divers and engineers race to save them before the cabin floods.

    Same propulsive register, still thriller

    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+2·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+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.

    propulsive → cold

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Big bad beast

    Shelly Laurenston2011

    A wolf-shifter Marine investigates a hybrid fighting ring while dealing with her persistent boss. It is a paranormal romance set in an urban world.

    propulsive → playful, still urban fantasy

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • On a Pale Horse

    Piers Anthony1983

    After accidentally killing the personification of Death, a man must take over the office. He navigates the bureaucracy of the afterlife.

    propulsive → playful, still urban fantasy

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Wicked Appetite

    Janet Evanovich2010

    A Salem pastry chef discovers she is a 'finder' and must help a mysterious man locate ancient stones representing the seven deadly sins.

    propulsive → playful, still urban fantasy

    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+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.

    propulsive → playful

    pace-3·prose+2·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+2·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    propulsive → tense

    pace-1·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.

    propulsive → clinical

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Lord of the Flies

    William Golding1954

    Schoolboys are stranded on an island and try to organize a society. Order collapses into tribalism and violence.

    propulsive → tense

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2