The Master and Margarita

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer

Jonathan L. Howard2008

A necromancer runs a traveling carnival to trick one hundred people into signing away their souls to the devil to buy back his own.

Same sardonic register, still historical fantasy

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.

sardonic → cold

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

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+1·bleak0

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, still satire

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

This Girl

Colleen Hoover2013

A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.

sardonic → earnest

pace-1·prose-2·bleak-1

The Duke and I

Julia Quinn2000

A duke and a debutante enter a fake courtship to avoid social pressure. They navigate Regency London's marriage market while hiding their deal.

sardonic → playful

pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

Red Lily

Nora Roberts2005

A single mother in Tennessee falls for her employer's son while a century-old ghost possesses her. It is the final book in a trilogy.

sardonic → warm

pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

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.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

Kiss the Girls

James Patterson1995

Detective Alex Cross tracks two serial killers operating on opposite coasts who are communicating and competing with one another.

sardonic → tense

pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1

Verity

Colleen Hoover2018

A ghostwriter moves into a secluded estate to finish a series for an injured author and finds a hidden, disturbing autobiography.

sardonic → tense

pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1

Invisible Cities

Italo Calvino1972

Marco Polo describes fifty-five imaginary cities to Kublai Khan. The book is a series of short, prose-poem meditations on urban existence.

sardonic → meditative, still magical realism

pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

The Habitation of the Blessed

Catherynne M. Valente2010

A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.

sardonic → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

The miracle at Speedy Motors

Alexander McCall Smith2008

Mma Ramotswe helps a woman find her long-lost family in Botswana. The story follows small domestic complications and slow-paced investigations.

sardonic → warm

pace-2·prose-1·bleak-1

High-Rise

J.G. Ballard

Residents of a luxury apartment building descend into tribalism and violence. The social structure collapses floor by floor.

sardonic → clinical, still satire

pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

Sharp Objects

Gillian Flynn2006

A reporter returns to her hometown to cover the murders of two girls while grappling with her own history of self-harm.

sardonic → tense

pace0·prose-1·bleak+2

In Cold Blood

Truman Capote1965

A reconstruction of the 1959 murder of a Kansas family and the subsequent investigation. It follows both the victims and the killers.

sardonic → clinical

pace-1·prose0·bleak+2