Recommendations based on Darktownby Thomas Mullen

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. The Underground Railroad

    by Colson Whitehead
    An escaped slave's daring escape to freedom, fighting against the brutality of slavery.

    The story is told in the third person, focusing mainly on Cora. Scattered single chapters also focus on Cora's mother Mabel, the slavecatcher Ridgeway, a reluctant slave sympathizer named Ethel, and ... (Wikipedia)

  2. Brooklyn

    by Colm Tóibín
    A young Irish woman's migration to America, exploring themes of identity and belonging.

    Eilis Lacey is a young woman who is unable to find work in 1950s Ireland . Her older sister Rose organises a meeting with a Catholic priest called Father Flood on a visit from New York City , who ... (Wikipedia)

  3. November Road

    by Lou Berney
    A man flees New Orleans after the JFK assassination and meets a woman on the run. They embark on a road trip, pursued by dangerous men.

    Set against the assassination of JFK, a poignant and evocative crime novel that centers on a desperate cat-and-mouse chase across 1960s America—a story of unexpected connections, daring ... (Goodreads)

  4. Light a Penny Candle

    by Maeve Binchy
    A story of two Irish girls and their intertwined paths of friendship, love and life.

    London was a dangerous place to live during World War II, and many children were evacuated to Ireland or the United States . Elizabeth White, an only child, is sent to live with her mother's ... (Wikipedia)

  5. Shutter Island

    by Dennis Lehane
    A U.S. Marshal investigates a psychiatric hospital on a remote island, uncovering chilling secrets and an unexpected truth.

    In 1954, widower U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, go on a ferry boat to Shutter Island, the home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane, to investigate ... (Wikipedia)

  6. Be Frank With Me

    by Julia Claiborne Johnson
    A touching story of a young girl's bond with her eccentric guardian, set in Hollywood.

    AN AMERICAN BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION ADULT DEBUT HONOR BOOK WINNER OF THE AUDIE AWARD FOR BEST FEMALE NARRATOR, LOS ANGELES TIMES, BESTSELLER A sparkling talent makes her fiction debut with this ... (Barnes & Noble)

  7. The Dry

    by Jane Harper
    A small town in rural Australia is rocked by a murder, leading a local detective to uncover secrets and lies.

    A small town hides big secrets in this atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery by award-winning author Jane Harper. In the grip of the worst drought in a century, the farming community of Kiewarra is ... (Goodreads)

  8. End of Watch

    by Stephen King
    A retired detective confronts a powerful and mysterious force that has returned to terrorize a small town.

    Retired detective Bill Hodges, who now with his sidekick Holly runs the private investigation agency Finders Keepers, is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer . Given only months to live, he finds himself ... (Wikipedia)

  9. Rather Be the Devil

    by Ian Rankin
    Detective John Rebus tackles a decades-old cold case and a web of corruption.

    The novel opens with Rebus and his girlfriend, Deborah Quant (who is the latest pathologist in Edinburgh) dining in a restaurant. Rebus is reminded of the death in 1978 of Maria Turquand in the ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Another Brooklyn

    by Jacqueline Woodson
    A poetic story of four teenage girls growing up in Brooklyn in the 1970s.

    The story starts with August, an adult anthropologist, returning to New York to bury her father. On the subway, she encounters an old friend, and begins to reminisce. She remembers being an 8 year ... (Wikipedia)

  11. The Orphan's Tale

    by Pam Jenoff
    Two female circus performers, their friendship, and fight for survival during WWII.

    The Nightingale, meets, Water for Elephants, in this powerful novel of friendship and sacrifice, set in a traveling circus during World War II, by international bestselling author Pam Jenoff., , ... (Barnes & Noble)

  12. The Last Policeman

    by Ben H. Winters
    A detective investigates a suicide in a world where an asteroid is about to collide with Earth, causing societal breakdown.

    The novel is divided into four parts—"Hanger Town", "Non-Negligible Probabilities", "Wishful Thinking", and "Soon, They Will"—each containing five chapters, and an epilogue . Each part has an ... (Wikipedia)

  13. The Last Days of Night

    by Graham Moore
    In 19th century New York City, a lawyer battles a powerful inventor in a fight over patents and the future of electricity.

    NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER • ,“A world of invention and skulduggery, populated by the likes of Edison, Westinghouse, and Tesla.”—Erik Larson, , ,“A model of superior historical fiction . . . an ... (Barnes & Noble)

  14. The Force

    by Don Winslow
    An ex-cop's mission to take down the most powerful drug cartel in the world.

    Instant New York Times Bestseller Best of 2017 - included on best-of lists by the, New York Times,, NPR, Barnes & Noble,, Publisher's Weekly,, LitHub, BookPage, Booklist, TheRealBookSpy.com, the, ... (Barnes & Noble)

  15. The Revenant

    by Michael Punke
    A 19th century fur trapper's epic battle of survival in the wilderness of the American West.

    Hugh Glass isn’t afraid to die. He’s done it once already. Rocky Mountains, 1823. The trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company live a brutal frontier life. Hugh Glass is one of the most respected ... (Goodreads)

  16. Sophie's Choice

    by William Styron
    A survivor of the Holocaust is confronted with a devastating moral dilemma.

    Stingo, a novelist who is recalling the summer when he began his first novel, has been fired from his low-level reader's job at the publisher McGraw-Hill and has moved into a cheap boarding house in ... (Wikipedia)

  17. The Nix

    by Nathan Hill
    A middle-aged man's quest to discover the truth about his mother and his own identity.

    The Nix is an American epic novel in 10 parts that follows community college professor of English, Samuel Andresen-Anderson who is struggling to find meaning in his life in the years following his ... (Wikipedia)

  18. The Human Stain

    by Philip Roth
    A professor's life unravels after a scandal, exploring the limits of identity and redemption.

    It is 1998, the year in which America is whipped into a frenzy of prurience by the impeachment of a president, and in a small New England town an aging Classics professor, Coleman Silk, is forced to ... (Goodreads)

  19. My Name Is Lucy Barton

    by Elizabeth Strout
    A woman's journey of self-reflection, uncovering secrets from her past.

    Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn't spoken for many years, comes to see her. Her unexpected visit forces Lucy to confront ... (Goodreads)

  20. Gorky Park

    by Martin Cruz Smith
    A thrilling murder mystery, set in the Soviet Union, uncovering secrets and conspiracies.

    The story follows Arkady Renko , a chief investigator for the Moscow militsiya , who is assigned to a case involving three corpses found in Gorky Park , an amusement park in Moscow. The victims - two ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Something Wicked This Way Comes

    by Ray Bradbury
    A dark fantasy tale of two boys confronting a mysterious and sinister carnival.

    One of Ray Bradbury’s best-known and most popular novels, Something Wicked This Way Comes , now featuring a new introduction and material about its longstanding influence on culture and genre. For ... (Barnes & Noble)

  22. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

    by Raymond Carver
    Exploration of relationships, revealing the complexities of love and its many forms.

    Alternate-cover edition can be found, here, In his second collection, Carver establishes his reputation as one of the most celebrated and beloved short-story writers in American literature—a haunting ... (Goodreads)

  23. The Reader

    by Traci Chee
    In a world where reading is forbidden, a girl discovers a mysterious book and embarks on a dangerous journey to uncover the truth about her past.

    An instant New York Times Bestseller, this is a stunning debut set in a world where reading is unheard-of. Perfect for fans of Inkheart and Shadow and Bone Finalist for the Kirkus Prize and nominated ... (Goodreads)

  24. Roots: The Saga of an American Family

    by Alex Haley
    A multigenerational saga tracing the journey of an African American family in the U.S.

    Roots tells the story of Kunta Kinte —a young man taken from the Gambia when he was seventeen and sold as a slave—and seven generations of his descendants in the United States. Kunta, a Mandinka ... (Wikipedia)

  25. Joyland

    by Stephen King
    A young man's investigation into a mysterious amusement park, uncovering secrets and discovering his own identity in the process.

    The novel is set at a North Carolina amusement park in 1973 and involves a carny who must confront the "legacy of a vicious murder and the fate of a dying child". Devin Jones, age twenty-one, who ... (Wikipedia)

  26. Career of Evil

    by Robert Galbraith
    Private detective investigates a series of mysterious and violent cases linked to a deranged criminal.

    After murdering a woman, an unidentified man stalks Robin Ellacott, whom he sees as part of his plan to exact revenge against private investigator Cormoran Strike. Robin, having worked for Strike for ... (Wikipedia)

  27. Compulsion

    by Jonathan Kellerman
    A psychologist and detective team up to solve a murder case involving a wealthy family with dark secrets.

    Once again, the depths of the criminal mind and the darkest side of a glittering city fuel #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman’s brilliant storytelling. And no one conducts a more ... (Goodreads)

  28. Demon Apocalypse

    by Darren Shan
    The world is overrun by demons, and a small group of survivors must fight to stay alive and save humanity.

    Picking up where, Blood Beast, left off, Grubbs is on a plane in a dire situation face-to-face with Lord Loss and Juni Swan who has just been revealed to be one of his higher ranked familiars. Just ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Small Great Things

    by Jodi Picoult
    A gripping story of racism and justice, exploring the intersections of power and privilege.

    #1, NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER • With richly layered characters and a gripping moral dilemma that will lead readers to question everything they know about privilege, power, and race,, Small Great ... (Barnes & Noble)

  30. Slawter

    by Darren Shan
    Gruesome events unfold when a movie crew arrives in a small town to shoot a horror film. The line between reality and fiction blurs.

    Lights. Camera. Slawter! Grubbs Grady and his half-brother Bill-E are thrilled to join their uncle Dervish as onset consultants for the newest movie by cult horror producer David A Hayms. Shot in a ... (Goodreads)