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After

The Odessa File

Frederick Forsyth1842

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same propulsive register, still thriller

1 more ↓

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    propulsive → cold

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+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.

    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

To recover

Same propulsive register, still thriller

3 more ↓

  • Ghost Ship

    Clive Cussler2014

    Kurt Austin survives a yacht sinking but suffers from conflicting memories. He investigates a global cybercrime conspiracy to find the truth.

    Same propulsive register, still conspiracy

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Killer Blonde

    Laura Levine2004

    A freelance writer investigates a murder in the Hamptons after a socialite is killed. She balances the case with her work for a demanding boss.

    propulsive → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Lost Symbol

    Dan Brown2009

    Symbologist Robert Langdon follows a trail of Masonic puzzles through Washington D.C. monuments to save his kidnapped mentor.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

Same propulsive register, still thriller

3 more ↓

  • Adrenaline

    Jeff Abbott2010

    A CIA agent’s life is destroyed when his wife warns him of a bombing and then vanishes. He must find her while being interrogated as a suspect.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • The October List

    Jeffery Deaver2013

    The chapters are told in reverse chronological order, starting with the climax and moving backward to explain a kidnapping.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • Missing

    James Patterson2015

    A private investigator in Sydney searches for a missing CEO whose digital and physical footprint has been erased. The search becomes a race.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    propulsive → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+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.

    propulsive → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·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

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Affinity

    Sarah Waters1999

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

    propulsive → bleak, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    propulsive → eerie, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Deep fathom

    James Rollins2012

    An ex-Navy SEAL explores a massive undersea pillar as solar flares trigger global tectonic shifts and the threat of nuclear war.

    propulsive → tense, still thriller

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2