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After

All-Inclusive

Suzanne Vermeer2006

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tense register, still thriller

1 more ↓

  • Bonnie

    Iris Johansen2011

    A forensic sculptor receives new leads regarding the decades-old disappearance of her daughter. She follows a trail of bodies to find the truth.

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

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.

    tense → cold

    pace-1·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·bleak0

  • 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+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Da Vinci Code

    Dan Brown2003

    A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.

    tense → propulsive, still thriller

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-2

  • 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, still mystery

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-2

  • Under the Whispering Door

    TJ Klune2021

    A selfish lawyer dies and waits in a supernatural tea shop to transition to the afterlife. He befriends the shopkeeper and other ghosts.

    tense → warm

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

Faster

tense → propulsive, still thriller

3 more ↓

  • The Da Vinci Code

    Dan Brown2003

    A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-2

  • Persuader

    Lee Child2003

    Jack Reacher goes undercover to infiltrate a drug kingpin's coastal estate. He seeks revenge for a colleague murdered ten years prior.

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

  • Dead Fall

    Brad Thor2023

    Scot Harvath tracks a rogue Russian unit through war-torn Ukraine to exact revenge. He operates alone in a landscape of shifting loyalties.

    pace+1·prose0·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-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+3·bleak-1

  • 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·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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+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.

    Same tense register

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    tense → clinical

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1