After
The Book of the Dead
Douglas Preston2006
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Utopia
Lincoln Child2002
A systems engineer is summoned to a high-tech theme park to fix a computer glitch while a criminal gang holds the park hostage.
Same tense register, still techno-thriller
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak0
Deception Point
Dan Brown2001
An intelligence analyst is sent to the Arctic to verify a NASA discovery. She finds evidence of a hoax that threatens the presidential election.
tense → propulsive, still techno-thriller
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Relic
Douglas Preston2007
A researcher and an FBI agent hunt a lethal creature inside the New York Museum of Natural History during a gala. It is a techno-thriller.
Same tense register, still techno-thriller
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
White plague
James Abel2015
A doctor races to rescue a burning submarine in the Arctic. He has thirty-six hours to save the crew before a foreign vessel arrives.
Same tense register, still techno-thriller
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Threat Vector
Tom Clancy2013
Jack Ryan Jr. and the Campus track a series of Chinese state-sponsored cyberattacks against American infrastructure.
Same tense register, still techno-thriller
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
My Name Is Red
Orhan Pamuk
In 1591 Istanbul, miniaturists investigate a colleague's murder. Objects and colors narrate chapters alongside the human characters.
tense → meditative, still mystery
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
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, still mystery
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
tense → cold
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
To recover
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Two for the dough
Janet Evanovich1996
An inexperienced bounty hunter tracks a man who jumped bail for shooting his friend. She competes with a vice cop to find him first.
tense → playful, still mystery
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Real Murders
Charlaine Harris1990
A librarian in a small Georgia town belongs to a club that studies famous crimes. A real murder occurs that mimics a historical case.
tense → wry, still mystery
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Catering to Nobody
Diane Mott Davidson1990
A Colorado caterer is accused of poisoning a guest at a wake. She investigates the murder to save her business and includes recipes in the text.
tense → warm, still mystery
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Truly, Madly
Heather Webber2010
A woman with the psychic ability to find lost objects takes over her family's matchmaking business. She teams up with a cynical private investigator.
tense → playful, still mystery
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Vows in Name Only
Naima Simone2020
A woman enters a marriage of convenience with a wealthy man to escape her family's control and protect her inheritance.
tense → earnest
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
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, still mystery
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-3prose+2bleak+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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+2bleak-1
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.
tense → playful
pace-3·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
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.
tense → playful
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-3prose+2bleak+1
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.
tense → meditative
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace-1prose0bleak+2
Never
Ken Follett2021
Global leaders and intelligence officers struggle to prevent a series of small international incidents from escalating into a nuclear world war.
Same tense register, still techno-thriller
pace-1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
Same tense register, still mystery
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
tense → cold
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose0bleak+2
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.
Same tense register
pace-1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+1bleak+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.
tense → clinical
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2
