LitQueuelitqueue

After

Worth Dying For

Lee Child2010

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Off the Grid

    C.J. Box2016

    A game warden and a fugitive friend investigate a terror threat and federal activity in the Wyoming desert.

    Same tense register, still thriller

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+3·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.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+3·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.

    tense → cold

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+2

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Fast & loose

    Stuart Woods2017

    Wealthy investigator Stone Barrington deals with a hostile family after a boating accident. He manages legal and financial assets in Maine.

    tense → playful, still crime

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

  • Murder Your Employer

    Rupert Holmes2023

    Students at a secret academy learn the technical and legal requirements for committing the perfect murder. It follows three trainees.

    tense → wry

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • The Chef

    James Patterson2019

    A New Orleans police detective who moonlights as a food truck chef is framed for murder. He must clear his name while uncovering a conspiracy.

    tense → propulsive, still thriller

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

Faster

tense → propulsive, still thriller

3 more ↓

  • Dark Tide

    Elizabeth Haynes2013

    A woman living on a boat in London discovers a body in the water. The narrative follows the police investigation and her own history of debt.

    Same tense register, still thriller

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Pursuit

    Thomas Perry2001

    A specialist who tracks down killers is hired to find a man who committed a mass shooting at a restaurant.

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Baptism

    Max Kinnings2012

    A blind hostage negotiator manages a crisis involving a hijacked London Underground train and a series of related murders.

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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+3·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.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+3·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.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1

Heavier

tense → bleak, still crime

3 more ↓

  • Páradais

    Fernanda Melchor2020

    Two teenagers in a luxury housing complex plot a crime to escape their lives. The prose consists of long, rhythmic, and breathless sentences.

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Full Dark, No Stars

    Stephen King2010

    Four novellas explore the themes of retribution and the capacity for violence. Characters commit and suffer from crimes in isolated settings.

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • The Virgin Suicides

    Jeffrey Eugenides

    A group of neighborhood boys obsessively observes five sisters in 1970s Michigan. They document the girls' lives leading up to their suicides.

    Same tense register, still crime

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2