LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Gauguin Connection

Estelle Ryan2012

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Kindness goes unpunished

    Johnson, Craig2008

    A Wyoming sheriff travels to Philadelphia to find out who attacked his daughter and ends up a suspect in a murder investigation.

    clinical → wry, still crime

    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.

    clinical → cold

    pace-1·prose+2·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.

    clinical → dreamlike

    pace-1·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.

    clinical → cold

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Two for the dough

    Janet Evanovich1996

    An inexperienced bounty hunter tracks a man who jumped bail for shooting his friend. She competes with a vice cop to find him first.

    clinical → playful, still mystery

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Catering to Nobody

    Diane Mott Davidson1990

    A Colorado caterer is accused of poisoning a guest at a wake. She investigates the murder to save her business and includes recipes in the text.

    clinical → warm, still mystery

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Quiche of Death

    M.C. Beaton

    A retired PR professional moves to a Cotswolds village and enters a baking contest. When a judge dies from her quiche, she must find the killer.

    clinical → wry, still mystery

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Ten Big Ones

    Janet Evanovich2004

    Stephanie Plum witnesses a gang hit and becomes a target herself. She balances the threat with her ongoing romantic indecision.

    clinical → playful, still mystery

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Gone

    James Patterson2013

    A drug lord escapes prison and hunts Detective Michael Bennett, who is hiding in the California woods with his ten children.

    clinical → propulsive, still crime

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • Extreme Prey

    John Sandford2016

    While working on a presidential campaign, Lucas Davenport tracks an armed man planning to assassinate the governor.

    clinical → propulsive, still crime

    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.

    clinical → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·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.

    clinical → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·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.

    clinical → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 2666

    Roberto Bolaño2004

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

    clinical → bleak, still crime

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    clinical → bleak, still crime

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Full Dark, No Stars

    Stephen King2010

    Four novellas explore the themes of retribution and the capacity for violence. Characters commit and suffer from crimes in isolated settings.

    clinical → bleak, still crime

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2