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After

Potshot

Robert B. Parker2001

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same sardonic register, still hardboiled

1 more ↓

  • Mission Road

    Rick Riordan2005

    Private investigator Tres Navarre attempts to clear a friend's name when the man is accused of murdering his own wife.

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

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.

    sardonic → 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.

    sardonic → 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.

    sardonic → cold

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+2

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Crown Conspiracy

    Michael J. Sullivan2008

    Two thieves are framed for the murder of a king and must clear their names. It is a traditional sword-and-sorcery adventure.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Dark Debt

    Chloe Neill2015

    A vampire sentinel in Chicago investigates an assassination attempt on a businessman while a figure from her partner's past reappears.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Catnap

    Carole Nelson Douglas1992

    A publicist investigates a murder at a cat show in Las Vegas. Chapters alternate between her perspective and that of a streetwise black cat.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Housemaid's Secret

    Freida McFadden2023

    A housemaid with a criminal record takes a job for a wealthy couple. She becomes obsessed with the wife she is forbidden from seeing.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • 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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • Dark Matter

    Blake Crouch2016

    A physics professor is kidnapped and wakes up in an alternate reality where he chose career over family. He must navigate the multiverse to return.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

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.

    sardonic → 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.

    sardonic → 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.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • A diet of treacle

    Lawrence Block1961

    A young man and woman drift into the 1960s Greenwich Village underworld. They encounter drug use and a predatory criminal element.

    sardonic → bleak, still hardboiled

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • No Orchids for Miss Blandish

    James Hadley Chase1939

    A gang kidnaps an heiress, but a more violent criminal family seizes her for themselves. A private investigator searches for her months later.

    sardonic → cold, still hardboiled

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • American Psycho

    Bret Easton Ellis1991

    A wealthy investment banker details his daily routines, consumer habits, and graphic murders. The narrative is cold and repetitive.

    sardonic → cold

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+2