LitQueuelitqueue

After

Restless

William Boyd2006

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • El prisionero del cielo

    Carlos Ruiz Zafón1991

    In 1957 Barcelona, a stranger visits Daniel Sempere's bookshop to reveal a secret about Fermín's past in a Francoist prison.

    Same elegiac register, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

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.

    elegiac → cold

    pace-1·prose+1·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.

    elegiac → playful

    pace-2·prose+1·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.

    elegiac → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

elegiac → playful

3 more ↓

  • I Hate You

    Ilsa Madden-Mills

    A college football player and a student who dislikes him are forced together. Their mutual animosity shifts into a romance on campus.

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Dearest Clementine

    Lex Martin2014

    A college student signs up for a creative writing class and discovers her professor is the boy who lived next door. They become roommates.

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Play

    Kylie Scott2014

    A drummer for a famous rock band hires a woman to pose as his girlfriend to improve his public image. They live together to sell the lie.

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

elegiac → propulsive, still espionage

3 more ↓

  • Use of force

    Brad Thor2017

    Navy SEAL Scot Harvath is hired to track a missing terrorist after a body washes up in Italy. He works outside the law to stop a summer attack.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

  • Warriors

    Ted Bell2014

    Spy Alex Hawke attempts to rescue a kidnapped scientist while the United States and China move toward nuclear war.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

  • One Rough Man

    Brad Taylor2011

    A former covert operator discovers a terrorist plot involving a powerful weapon. He works outside the law to stop the attack.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Transcription

    Kate Atkinson2018

    A woman's quiet life at the BBC is interrupted by figures from her past work transcribing bugged conversations for MI5.

    elegiac → wry, still espionage

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

  • The English Patient

    Michael Ondaatje1992

    Four people shelter in a ruined Italian villa at the end of WWII. They care for a burned, anonymous man who recounts his past in the desert.

    Same elegiac register, still historical fiction

    pace-2·prose0·bleak+1

  • 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.

    elegiac → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Affinity

    Sarah Waters1999

    A grieving socialite visits a medium in a Victorian women's prison. Their relationship develops through diary entries and clandestine meetings.

    elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

  • Libra

    Don DeLillo1988

    A fictionalized biography of Lee Harvey Oswald. It follows his life and the CIA conspiracy that leads to the assassination of JFK.

    elegiac → eerie, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • American Psycho

    Bret Easton Ellis1991

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

    elegiac → cold

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2