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After

The Doll's House

Neil Gaiman2013

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Alienist

    Caleb Carr1994

    In 1896 New York, a psychologist and a reporter use early forensic techniques to track a serial killer. Theodore Roosevelt assists them.

    dreamlike → tense, still serial killer

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • The Unholy Consult

    R. Scott Bakker2017

    A messiah leads his armies toward a final confrontation with an ancient, soul-devouring force. The world is ending.

    dreamlike → bleak, still dark fantasy

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Android Karenina

    Лев Толстой2010

    The text of Tolstoy's classic is modified to include robots, cyborgs, and space travel in a 19th-century Russian setting.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still horror

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Poe's Children

    Peter Straub2008

    An anthology of twenty-five contemporary horror stories. The collection focuses on literary and atmospheric styles rather than gore.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still horror

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Going Cowboy Crazy

    Katie Lane2011

    A woman travels to a small Texas town to find her secret twin sister and is mistaken for her by the local residents and her sister's ex-flame.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Marrying Mr. Wrong

    Claire Kingsley

    Two rivals wake up married in Las Vegas and decide to stay together to help their respective careers.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Hot Number

    Carly Phillips

    A sports publicist undergoes a physical makeover to shed her tomboy image. She attempts to catch the attention of a professional ballplayer.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

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

    dreamlike → tense, still horror

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Grunge

    Larry Correia2016

    A Marine killed in a bombing is resurrected to hunt supernatural creatures. He joins a private company that kills monsters for government bounties.

    dreamlike → sardonic, still horror

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Intercepts

    T.J. Payne2020

    A worker at a government facility monitors human test subjects driven insane by sensory deprivation. The experiment enters his private life.

    dreamlike → tense, still horror

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Black House

    Stephen King2001

    A retired detective investigates a series of child murders in a small Wisconsin town. The case leads to a house that contains a gateway.

    dreamlike → tense, still dark fantasy

    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.

    Same dreamlike register

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak-2

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Burning Side

    Sarah Damoff

    dreamlike → tense, still horror

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

  • Mapping the Interior

    Stephen Graham Jones2017

    A teenager follows a figure resembling his dead father into the hidden spaces of his home. He maps a shifting, dangerous interior.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still horror

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • 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.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still horror

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1