The Famous and the Dead (Charlie Hood Novel)

Behind Her Eyes

Sarah Pinborough2017

A secretary begins an affair with her psychiatrist boss and befriends his isolated wife. The narrative shifts between the two women.

Same tense register, still supernatural thriller

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.

tense → cold

pace-1·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.

tense → playful

pace-2·prose+2·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.

tense → cold

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

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

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Four to score

Janet Evanovich1998

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum tracks a fugitive while competing with a rival. The story features slapstick humor and a romantic triangle.

tense → playful, still crime

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Apprentice to the Villain

Hannah Nicole Maehrer2024

Evie Sage assists an evil overlord while a magical threat endangers their kingdom. The story follows their workplace dynamic and a looming siege.

tense → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Run Away

Harlan Coben2019

A father searches for his estranged, drug-addicted daughter in New York. The search uncovers a conspiracy involving a cult and multiple murders.

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Final Destination I

Natasha Rhodes2006

After surviving a plane crash they were destined to die in, a group of teenagers is hunted by an invisible, lethal force.

Same tense register, still supernatural thriller

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown2003

A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.

tense → propulsive

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

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.

tense → playful

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2

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.

tense → playful

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

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

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

2666

Roberto Bolaño2004

Five interconnected stories center on a series of unsolved murders in a Mexican border town and a reclusive German author.

tense → bleak, still crime

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

Falling Angel

William Hjortsberg1978

A 1950s private investigator searches for a missing singer in New York. The case leads him into voodoo rituals and ritualistic murders.

tense → cold, still supernatural thriller

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

Páradais

Fernanda Melchor2020

Two teenagers in a luxury housing complex plot a crime to escape their lives. The prose consists of long, rhythmic, and breathless sentences.

tense → bleak, still crime

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1