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After

Deception [10 stories]

Roald Dahl2016

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Conjure Wife

    Fritz Leiber1953

    A sociology professor discovers his wife is a witch. He forces her to stop her charms, only to find himself defenseless against other faculty wives.

    Same sardonic register

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

sardonic → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Wieland and Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist

    Charles Brockden Brown2009

    A religious man hears mysterious voices that drive him toward violence and madness. It is an early American gothic told through letters.

    sardonic → tense

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Gormenghast

    Mervyn Peake1950

    A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.

    sardonic → dark

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

  • The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

    James Hogg1824

    A religious fanatic becomes convinced he is predestined for salvation and commits crimes at the behest of a mysterious stranger.

    sardonic → cold

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

To recover

sardonic → playful

3 more ↓

  • The Billiard-Room Mystery

    Brian Flynn1929

    A detective and an amateur sleuth investigate a body found in a locked billiard room during a weekend cricket party in Sussex.

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

  • The Bat

    Mary Roberts Rinehart1926

    An elderly woman refuses to leave her rented summer mansion despite a series of supernatural scares and a killer on the loose.

    sardonic → tense

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

  • The Boy Next Door

    Meg Cabot2002

    A gossip columnist looks after her neighbor's pets after an attack and falls for the man she thinks is the woman's nephew. It is told in emails.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Patient Zero

    Jonathan Maberry2009

    A detective joins a secret government task force to stop a terrorist group using a bio-weapon that reanimates the dead. It is an action thriller.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

    A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

    sardonic → bleak

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

    A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.

    sardonic → tense

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    sardonic → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

    A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Flowers in the Attic

    V.C. Andrews1979

    Four children are hidden in an attic for years by their mother and grandmother to secure an inheritance. They face gradual poisoning and abuse.

    sardonic → elegiac

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • Hamlet

    William Shakespeare

    A prince of Denmark is told by a ghost that his uncle killed his father. He feigns madness while deciding whether to take revenge.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

  • The Terror

    Dan Simmons2007

    Two British ships searching for the Northwest Passage in 1845 become trapped in ice and are hunted by a creature.

    sardonic → bleak

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2