After
The Cuban Affair
Nelson DeMille2017
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Get Shorty
Elmore Leonard1990
A Miami loan shark travels to Las Vegas and then Hollywood to collect a debt. He decides to become a movie producer using his mob skills.
Same wry register, still fish out of water
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
How to Murder a Millionaire
Nancy Martin2002
A former socialite working as a columnist finds a dead millionaire. She must navigate her debt-ridden family and the Philadelphia elite to solve it.
Same wry register, still fish out of water
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Feint of Art
Hailey Lind2006
A former art forger identifies a fake Caravaggio in a museum, leading to a murder and a missing curator. She must use her criminal ties to solve it.
Same wry register, still heist
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Murder Your Employer
Rupert Holmes2023
Students at a secret academy learn the technical and legal requirements for committing the perfect murder. It follows three trainees.
Same wry register, still heist
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
Watch Your Back!
Donald E. Westlake2005
A career thief and his crew of bumbling criminals plan a heist while being pursued by a vengeful mobster.
Same wry register, still heist
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
My Name Is Red
Orhan Pamuk
In 1591 Istanbul, miniaturists investigate a colleague's murder. Objects and colors narrate chapters alongside the human characters.
wry → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
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.
wry → cold
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
wry → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
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.
wry → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+3
American Psycho
Bret Easton Ellis1991
A wealthy investment banker details his daily routines, consumer habits, and graphic murders. The narrative is cold and repetitive.
wry → cold
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+3
Faster
wry → propulsive, still action thriller
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
Hunt Them Down
Simon Gervais2019
A former special forces operative hunts down a ruthless drug cartel after they murder his family. It is a high-speed revenge story.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+2
The Terminal List
Jack Carr2018
A Navy SEAL seeks revenge against a government conspiracy after his entire team is killed in an ambush. He uses his training to hunt targets.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
Medusa
Clive Cussler2009
The NUMA team investigates a missing undersea lab and a bathysphere attack. They uncover a corporate plot involving a deadly virus and jellyfish.
wry → propulsive, still adventure
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
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.
wry → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
wry → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
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.
wry → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
Moby Dick
Herman Melville1851
A sailor joins a whaling voyage led by a captain seeking revenge on a specific whale. Large sections digress into the mechanics of 1850s whaling.
wry → meditative, still adventure
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
wry → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
wry → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace-1prose+2bleak+3
American Psycho
Bret Easton Ellis1991
A wealthy investment banker details his daily routines, consumer habits, and graphic murders. The narrative is cold and repetitive.
wry → cold
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace0prose0bleak+3
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.
wry → tense
pace0·prose0·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
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.
wry → clinical
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace0prose+1bleak+3
Lord of the Flies
William Golding1954
Schoolboys are stranded on an island and try to organize a society. Order collapses into tribalism and violence.
wry → tense
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
