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Crime et ChÂtiment

Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский2017

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Sacred games

    Vikram Chandra2006

    A Mumbai police inspector and a fugitive crime lord trade perspectives. The story tracks the gangster's rise and the cop's investigation.

    tense → elegiac, still cat and mouse

    pace0·prose0·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

    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.

    tense → 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.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • And One Last Thing...

    Molly Harper2010

    After a public divorce, a woman moves to a small town to start over and finds herself pursued by a local deputy.

    tense → wry

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Perfection

    R.L. Mathewson2011

    A woman tries to ignore her neighbor, a man with a massive appetite who constantly steals her food. They bicker until a relationship forms.

    tense → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • On a Pale Horse

    Piers Anthony1983

    After accidentally killing the personification of Death, a man must take over the office. He navigates the bureaucracy of the afterlife.

    tense → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → propulsive, still psychological thriller

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Along Came a Spider

    James Patterson1993

    Detective Alex Cross hunts a private school teacher who kidnapped two high-profile students. The kidnapper mimics famous historical crimes.

    tense → propulsive, still psychological thriller

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

  • Tell No One

    Harlan Coben2000

    A widower receives an email from his wife eight years after her murder. He flees the FBI to discover if she is still alive.

    tense → propulsive, still psychological thriller

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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, still philosophical fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Elizabeth Costello

    J. M. Coetzee2003

    An elderly novelist travels the world giving academic lectures on animals, realism, and evil. The book is structured as a series of formal speeches.

    tense → meditative, still philosophical fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • 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.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Heavier

Same tense register, still psychological thriller

3 more ↓

  • Shutter Island

    Dennis Lehane2003

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Wasp Factory

    Iain Banks1984

    A teenager living on a remote island performs violent rituals while waiting for his brother to return from an asylum.

    tense → cold, still psychological thriller

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • Birdman

    Mo Hayder1999

    Detective Jack Caffery hunts a serial killer in London who performs surgical procedures on his victims while they are alive.

    tense → bleak, still psychological thriller

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1