The Kraken Project

Le Bouchon de cristal

Maurice Leblanc1912

Arsène Lupin attempts to save his accomplices from the guillotine. He hunts for a crystal stopper that contains a list of corrupt officials.

Same propulsive register, still race against time

pace0·prose0·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.

propulsive → playful

pace-2·prose+2·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.

propulsive → dreamlike

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

American Psycho

Bret Easton Ellis1991

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

propulsive → cold

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

Digital Fortress

Dan Brown1998

The NSA's code-breaking supercomputer encounters an unbreakable algorithm. A cryptographer and a professor race to find the kill code.

Same propulsive register, still techno-thriller

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Building a Second Brain

Tiago Forte2022

A guide to a digital organization system designed to store and retrieve ideas, notes, and information for long-term projects.

propulsive → earnest

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

The Last Question

Isaac Asimov2007

A short story told in seven vignettes spanning billions of years. Humanity asks a supercomputer if the heat death of the universe can be avoided.

propulsive → meditative

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Protect and Defend

Vince Flynn2007

CIA operative Mitch Rapp travels to the Middle East to prevent Iranian retaliation after an Israeli strike. He works to stop a terrorist plot.

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

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.

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-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.

propulsive → playful

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-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.

propulsive → playful

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

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.

propulsive → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

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.

propulsive → tense

pace0·prose0·bleak+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.

propulsive → clinical

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

Lord of the Flies

William Golding1954

Schoolboys are stranded on an island and try to organize a society. Order collapses into tribalism and violence.

propulsive → tense

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2