After
Typhoon fury
Clive Cussler2017
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from, nothing faster
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
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.
Same propulsive register, still adventure
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Gone Tomorrow
Lee Child2008
Jack Reacher witnesses a suicide on a New York subway, leading him into a conspiracy involving Al-Qaeda and the Pentagon.
Same propulsive register, still action
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Act of war
Brad Thor2014
Operative Scot Harvath tracks a cell of terrorists planning a large-scale attack on American soil. The story moves between global locations.
Same propulsive register, still action
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Transfer of Power
Vince Flynn1999
Terrorists seize the White House and take hostages. CIA operative Mitch Rapp infiltrates the building alone to rescue the survivors.
Same propulsive register, still action
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Jester
James Patterson2003
A man returns from the Crusades to find his village destroyed and his wife abducted. He assumes a new identity to hunt the killers.
Same propulsive register, still adventure
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+3bleak+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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+3bleak+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.
propulsive → cold
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+3bleak+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-3·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+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.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+3bleak+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.
propulsive → cold
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+3
Slower
- pace-3prose+3bleak+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-3·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+3bleak+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.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+3bleak+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.
propulsive → meditative, still adventure
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-3prose+3bleak0
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-3·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-3prose+3bleak+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-3·prose+3·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace-2prose+3bleak+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.
propulsive → cold
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
propulsive → tense
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
propulsive → clinical
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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.
propulsive → tense
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+3
