LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Golden

Lucius Shepard1993

5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Throat

    Peter Straub1993

    A writer returns to his hometown to help an old friend whose wife has disappeared. He uncovers links to a series of murders from decades ago.

    decadent → tense, still mystery

    pace0·prose-1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    decadent → playful, still mystery

    pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2

  • 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.

    decadent → propulsive, still mystery

    pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2

  • 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.

    decadent → playful

    pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

    A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

    decadent → bleak

    pace+2·prose-3·bleak+1

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

    A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.

    decadent → tense

    pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1

  • The Executioner

    Chris Carter2010

    A Los Angeles detective hunts a serial killer who murders victims using their specific phobias. Each crime scene features a blood-scrawled number.

    decadent → tense

    pace+2·prose-3·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • The night land

    William Hope Hodgson1972

    Millions of years after the sun dies, a man leaves an underground fortress to rescue a woman. The prose uses archaic, repetitive syntax.

    decadent → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • 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.

    decadent → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • 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.

    decadent → playful

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-2

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Flowers in the Attic

    V.C. Andrews1979

    Four children are hidden in an attic for years by their mother and grandmother to secure an inheritance. They face gradual poisoning and abuse.

    decadent → elegiac

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1

  • Hamlet

    William Shakespeare

    A prince of Denmark is told by a ghost that his uncle killed his father. He feigns madness while deciding whether to take revenge.

    decadent → meditative

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Terror

    Dan Simmons2007

    Two British ships searching for the Northwest Passage in 1845 become trapped in ice and are hunted by a creature.

    decadent → bleak

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1