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Red Lights

Georges Simenon · back to the book

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24 books with the same feel

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The Engagement

Georges Simenon · 147 pages

Simenon (1903-1989), creator of Inspector Maigret, dispassionately describes the fate of the odd Mr. Hire, a reclusive middle-aged man whose life of dull routine begins an inevitable slide into disaster when a prostitute is brutally murdered near his apartment in a Paris suburb. Guilty only of a slightly disreputable occupation, a voyeuristic fascination and an unusual physical appearance, Hire in

NoirCrimeLiterary FictionSparse Prose
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52 Pick Up

Elmore Leonard · 191 pages

NoirMarriage in TroubleCrimeSparse Prose
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The Wounded and the Slain

David Goodis · 252 pages

Their vacation in paradise became a descent into Hell... Their marriage on the rocks, James and Cora Bevan flew to Jamaica for a last chance at patching things up. But in the slums of Kingston, James found himself fighting for his life—while Cora found her own path to destruction...in the arms of another man.

NoirCrimeMarriage in TroubleSubstance Abuse
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Cry Father

Benjamin Whitmer · 306 pages

"For Patterson Wells, disaster is the norm. Working alongside dangerous, desperate, itinerant men as a tree clearer in disaster zones, he's still dealing with the loss of his young son. Writing letters to the boy offers some solace. The bottle gives more. Upon a return trip to Colorado, Patterson stops to go fishing with an old acquaintance, only to find him in a meth-induced delirium and keeping

NoirCrimeLiterary FictionSubstance Abuse
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Tough Guys Don't Dance

Norman Mailer · 231 pages

After an encounter with a woman who reminds him of the wife who deserted him, Timothy Madden awaken with fragmented memories and an agonizing suspicion that he committed murders.

NoirCrimeLiterary FictionSubstance Abuse
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Where All Light Tends to Go

David Joy · 289 pages

"Set in North Carolina's Appalachian Mountains, eighteen-year-old Jacob McNeely is torn between appeasing his meth-dealing kingpin father and leaving the mountains forever with the girl he loves"--

NoirCrimeLiterary FictionSubstance Abuse
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The Death of Sweet Mister

Daniel Woodrell · 208 pages

"Shuggie Akins is a lonely fat boy of thirteen. His mother, Glenda, teases him with her sexual provocations. His father, Red, is a brutal man with a short fuse who mocks and despises his son. Into this mix comes Jimmy Vin Pearce with his shiny green T-bird and his smart city clothes. It isn't long before he and Glenda begin a torrid affair. What follows is violent, shocking, and totally unpredicta

NoirCrimeSparse ProseLiterary Fiction
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Tapping the Source

Kem Nunn · 309 pages

NoirCrimeLiterary FictionSubstance Abuse
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Mildred Pierce

James M. Cain · 288 pages

NoirCrimeMarriage in TroubleLiterary Fiction
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Already Dead

Denis Johnson · 448 pages

Nelson Fairchild Jr., disenfranchised scion to a northern California land fortune, has botched nearly every scheme he's attempted to pull off. Now his future lies in a potentially profitable marijuana patch hidden in the lush old-growth redwoods on the family land.

NoirCrimeSubstance AbuseLiterary Fiction
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Green Hell

Ken Bruen

NoirCrimeSparse ProseSubstance Abuse
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Killing Them Softly

George V. Higgins

NoirCrimeSparse ProseSubstance Abuse
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Cutter and Bone

Newton Thornburg · 316 pages

NoirCrimeLiterary FictionSubstance Abuse
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The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter

Malcolm Mackay · 311 pages

"A twenty-nine-year-old man lives alone in his Glasgow flat. The telephone rings; a casual conversation, but behind this a job offer. The clues are there if you know to look for them. He is an expert. A loner. Freelance. Another job is another job, but what if this organization wants more? A meeting at a club. An offer. A target: Lewis Winter, a necessary sacrifice that will be only the first step

NoirCrimeLiterary FictionSparse Prose
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The Blunderer

Patricia Highsmith · 288 pages

Two women die under similar circumstances--Melchior Kimmel killed his wife, Walter Stackhouse did not kill his. Lieutenant Corby, investigating the Stackhouse case, links it with the unsolved Kimmel murder. Then begins a nightmare for the two suspected men. Corby's wish to get at the truth becomes perverted by his ambition into an almost insane desire to extract confessions. Soon all three are cau

NoirMarriage in TroubleCrimePsychological Thriller
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Where It Hurts

Reed Farrel Coleman · 353 pages

Gus Murphy thought he had the world all figured out. A retired Suffolk County cop, Gus had everything a man could want: a great marriage, two kids, a nice house, and the rest of his life ahead of him. But when tragedy strikes, his life is thrown into complete disarray. A gritty, atmospheric new series about the other side of Long Island, far from the wealth of the Hamptons, where real people live

NoirMarriage in TroubleCrimeMale Lead
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False Allegations

Andrew Vachss · 234 pages

Burke is blackmailed into taking on an ugly job of investigation, when Kite, a professional debunker who's specializes in allegations of child sexual abuse, thinks he may have stumbled across the case of his career--the real thing. Kite needs someone who knows something about witch hunts--and Burke is his man. Dark, edgy, unflinching, False Allegations is Burke at his most dangerous.From the Hardc

NoirCrimeSparse ProseSexual Assault Content
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Even the Dead

Benjamin Black · 287 pages

"Perhaps Quirke has been down among the dead too long. Lately the Irish pathologist has suffered hallucinations and blackouts, and he fears the cause is a brain tumor. A specialist diagnoses an old head injury caused by a savage beating; all that's needed, the doctor declares, is an extended rest. But Quirke, ever intent on finding his place among the living, is not about to retire. One night duri

NoirCrimeLiterary FictionSubstance Abuse
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The Criminal

Jim Thompson · 120 pages

A teenage girl is raped and murdered. A father turns his back on his son. A vicious press lord turns justice into a carnival. A terrified boy is railroaded. In the twisted world of Jim Thompson, everyone is guilty, and the worst crimes are unpunishable.

NoirCrimeLiterary FictionSparse Prose
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Kiss Me, Judas

Will Christopher Baer · 316 pages

NoirCrimeSparse ProseSubstance Abuse
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The Bobby Gold Stories

Anthony Bourdain, Breaulove Swells Whimsy · 170 pages

Follows the adventures of Bobby Gold, a charming criminal who is released from prison only to pick up his old habits immediately upon hitting the streets.

NoirCrimeSparse ProseSubstance Abuse
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Mama Black Widow

Iceberg Slim · 312 pages

Mama Black Widow tells the story of Otis Tilson, a comely and tragic homosexual queen adrift with his brothers and sisters in the dark, labyrinthine world of pimping, tricking, violence, and petty crime. Written in the jagged, vivid, and always authentic language of the homosexual underworld and the black ghetto, Mama Black Widow is a tour of a predatory urban hell. This is Iceberg Slim's profound

NoirCrimeLiterary FictionSubstance Abuse
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Night Train

Martin Amis · 175 pages

Detective Mike Hoolihan has seen it all. A fifteen-year veteran of the force, she's gone from walking a beat, to robbery, to homicide. But one case - this case - has gotten under her skin. When Jennifer Rockwell, darling of the community and daughter of a respected career cop - now top brass - takes her own life, no one is prepared to believe it. Especially her father, Colonel Tom. Homicide Det

NoirCrimeLiterary FictionSparse Prose
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The Fade Out: Act Three

Ed Brubaker · 360 pages

NoirCrimeSubstance AbuseSexual Assault Content

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