LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Survivors Club

Lisa Gardner2002

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tense register, still thriller

1 more ↓

  • Frameshift

    Robert J. Sawyer1997

    A geneticist on the Human Genome Project discovers a conspiracy involving his boss and a possible Nazi war criminal. He uses DNA data to investigate.

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

tense → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Too Like the Lightning

    Ada Palmer2016

    In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.

    tense → sardonic

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • Valis

    Philip K. Dick1981

    A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.

    tense → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • Shadow & Claw

    Gene Wolfe1983

    A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.

    tense → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

tense → propulsive, still thriller

3 more ↓

  • Noble Prince

    Devney Perry2020

    A police chief takes a witness into his home to protect her from a motorcycle gang. She refuses to follow his rules despite the danger.

    tense → earnest

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • 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.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • 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.

    tense → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    tense → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Ready Player One

    Ernest Cline2008

    A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Never Lie

    Freida McFadden2022

    A couple trapped in a blizzard at a missing psychiatrist's estate find hidden tapes of her sessions. The story alternates between past and present.

    tense → propulsive, still psychological thriller

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Beelzebub's tales to his grandson

    Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff1950

    An extraterrestrial being explains the history and strange behaviors of humanity to his grandson during a long space voyage.

    tense → meditative

    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.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2

  • 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-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

tense → bleak, still psychological thriller

3 more ↓

  • Resurrection

    Ken McClure2000

    A doctor investigates a lethal outbreak in a Scottish hospital that appears to be a deliberate act of biological warfare.

    Same tense register, still thriller

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Handmaid's Tale

    Margaret Atwood1985

    In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.

    tense → cold

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Doomsday Book

    Connie Willis1992

    A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.

    tense → bleak

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1