Comrade Koba

An Insular Possession

Timothy Mo1986

Two American journalists witness the First Opium War in 19th-century Canton. The story is told through letters, newspaper articles, and reports.

Same sardonic register, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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.

sardonic → cold

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

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.

sardonic → playful

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

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.

sardonic → dreamlike

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Starter Villain

John Scalzi2023

A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.

sardonic → wry

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Playing with Fire

Gena Showalter2006

A barista gains elemental superpowers after being poisoned and must flee from a government agent. They eventually work together to escape.

sardonic → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Digital Fortress

Dan Brown1998

The NSA's code-breaking supercomputer encounters an unbreakable algorithm. A cryptographer and a professor race to find the kill code.

sardonic → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Behind Closed Doors

B.A. Paris2016

A woman is held captive by her husband in a high-security home. She must find a way to escape before her sister moves in with them.

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Kiss the Girls

James Patterson1995

Detective Alex Cross tracks two serial killers operating on opposite coasts who are communicating and competing with one another.

sardonic → tense

pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

Verity

Colleen Hoover2018

A ghostwriter moves into a secluded estate to finish a series for an injured author and finds a hidden, disturbing autobiography.

sardonic → tense

pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

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.

sardonic → playful

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Kolyma tales

Varlam SHALAMOV1980

Short stories documenting daily life and survival in a Soviet labor camp. The prose is detached and focuses on the physical reality of starvation.

sardonic → clinical, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

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.

pace-1·prose0·bleak0

Affinity

Sarah Waters1999

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

sardonic → bleak, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

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.

sardonic → eerie, still historical fiction

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

A Fine Balance

Rohinton Mistry1995

Four people from different castes share a small apartment during the 1975 Indian Emergency. Their lives are upended by state-sanctioned violence.

sardonic → bleak, still historical fiction

pace0·prose-1·bleak+1