Stormbird

Skeletons at the Feast

Chris Bohjalian2008

A Prussian girl, her Scottish POW lover, and a Jewish man posing as a soldier flee westward across Germany as the Soviet army advances in 1945.

Same tense register, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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.

tense → cold

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

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.

tense → 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.

tense → dreamlike

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Hot mahogany

Stuart Woods2008

A lawyer guards a former spy with amnesia who restores antique furniture. They uncover a conspiracy linked to the man's service in Vietnam.

tense → wry

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

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.

tense → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Fifty Shades of Grey

E.L. James2000

A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.

tense → earnest

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

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.

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.

Same tense register

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Verity

Colleen Hoover2018

A ghostwriter moves into a secluded estate to finish a series for an injured author and finds a hidden, disturbing autobiography.

Same tense register

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

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.

tense → playful

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Kolyma tales

Varlam SHALAMOV1980

Short stories documenting daily life and survival in a Soviet labor camp. The prose is detached and focuses on the physical reality of starvation.

tense → clinical, still historical fiction

pace-2·prose+2·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.

pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

Affinity

Sarah Waters1999

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

tense → bleak, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

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.

tense → eerie, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

A Fine Balance

Rohinton Mistry1995

Four people from different castes share a small apartment during the 1975 Indian Emergency. Their lives are upended by state-sanctioned violence.

tense → bleak, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose0·bleak+1