The Greatest Dark Books Since 2000

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
1194 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk 2009 Polish Polish
1272 Erasure Percival Everett 2001 American English
2202 The Kindly Ones Jonathan Littell 2006 French French
2505 Pastoralia George Saunders 2000 American English
2887 Everything Is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer 2002 American English
3121 The Possibility Of An Island Michel Houellebecq 2005 French French
3179 The Quick And The Dead Joy Williams 2000 American English
3590 Do Everything in the Dark Gary Indiana 2003 American English
3889 There But For The Ali Smith 2011 British English
4298 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
4679 Skippy Dies Pauli Murray 2010 Irish English
4681 A Horse Walks Into A Bar David Grossman 2014 Israeli Hebrew
4887 Natura Morta Josef Winkler 2001 Unknown German
4989 The Wandering Falcon Jamil Ahmed 2011 Pakistani English
5030 Honored Guest Joy Williams 2004 American English
5030 The Sluts Dennis Cooper 2004 American English
5153 Cursed Bunny Bora Chung 2021 Korean Korean
5316 Faithless Joyce Carol Oates 2001 American English
5693 Night Boat To Tangier Kevin Barry 2019 Irish English
6301 Rejection Tony Tulathimutte 2024 American English
6525 The Mars Room Rachel Kushner 2018 American English
6609 Nos4 A2 Joe Hill 2013 American English
7086 There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbour’s Baby Ludmila Petrushevskaya 2009 Russian Russian
7108 The Children Of The Dead Elfriede Jelinek 2024 Austrian German
7134 Slow Man J. M. Coetzee 2005 South African English
7205 Animalinside László Krasznahorkai, Max Neumann 2010 Hungarian Hungarian
7725 Stupidity Rafael Spregelburd 2007 Argentinian Spanish
7929 Winterwood Patrick McCabe 2006 Irish English
8794 Here Are The Young Men Rob Doyle 2014 Irish English
8858 The Navigator Of New York Wayne Johnston 2002 Canadian English
9065 A Million Windows Gerald Murnane 2014 Australian English
9244 The Red Tree Caitlín R. Kiernan 2009 American English
9287 Brutal Prince Sophie Lark 2020 Unknown English
9305 Ploaia De Trei Sute De Zile Gabriel Chifu 2017 Romanian Romanian
9609 A Forest For Calum Frank MacDonald 2005 Canadian English
9717 Inside Kenneth J. Harvey 2006 Canadian English
9781 Dead Collections Isaac Fellman 2022 Unknown English
9789 The Friends Of Meager Fortune David Adams Richards 2006 Canadian English
9809 The Custodian Of Paradise Wayne Johnston 2006 Canadian English
10015 The Architects Are Here Michael Winter 2007 Canadian English
10022 Ragged Islands Don Hannah 2007 Canadian English
10866 Mr. Splitfoot Samantha Hunt 2016 American English
10960 Gideon The Ninth Tamsyn Muir 2019 New Zealand English
11215 Memorial Bryan Washington 2020 American English
11437 Field Notes From A Catastrophe Elizabeth Kolbert 2006 American English
11642 Paradise Estate Max Easton 2021 Unknown English
11661 The Furrows Namwali Serpell 2022 Unknown English
11661 The Parking Lot Attendant Nafkote Tamirat 2018 American English
11661 Property Lionel Shriver 2018 American English
11661 A State Of Freedom Neel Mukherjee 2018 British English
11661 A View Of The Empire At Sunset Caryl Phillips 2018 British English
12140 Yellow Blue Tibia Adam Roberts 2009 British English
12587 The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears Dinaw Mengestu 2007 American English
12806 Ich Bin In Der Anstalt Friederike Mayröcker 2000 Austrian German
13338 Project X Jim Shepard 2004 American English
14232 The Lies Of Locke Lamora Scott Lynch 2006 American English
14370 Allegro Pastell Leif Randt 2020 German German
14370 Vom Aufstehen Helga Schubert 2020 German German
14984 Lab Girl Hope Jahren 2016 American English
14984 Memory Piece Lisa Ko 2024 Unknown English
14984 Sandwich Catherine Newman 2024 Unknown English
14984 Bury Your Gays Chuck Tingle 2024 Unknown English
14984 Normal Women Philippa Gregory 2023 British English
17130 On Such A Full Sea Chang-rae Lee 2014 American English
17130 Woodworm Layla Martínez 2024 Spanish Unknown
17130 The Best Horror Of The Year Ellen Datlow 2009 American English
17130 Inferno Ellen Datlow 2007 American English
17130 Anita De Monte Laughs Last Xóchitl González 2024 Unknown Unknown
17130 American Rapture C.J. Leede 2024 Unknown Unknown
17130 Sacrificial Animals Kailee Pedersen 2024 Unknown Unknown
17130 Cold Crematorium József Debreczeni 2024 Unknown English
17130 Choice Neel Mukherjee 2024 Unknown English
17130 Vows Cheryl Mendelson 2024 American English
17130 The Anthropologists Ayşegül Savas 2024 Unknown English
17130 Victim Andrew Boryga 2024 Unknown English
17130 Sirens Of The City Joanne Starer 2024 Unknown English
17130 An Academy For Liars Alexis Henderson 2024 Unknown English
17130 Midnight Rooms Donyae Coles 2024 Unknown English
17130 No Son Of Mine Jonathan Corcoran 2024 Unknown English
17130 Queen Of Dreams Kit Rocha 2024 Unknown English
17130 Ours Phillip B. Williams 2024 Unknown English
17130 The Glutton A. K. Blakemore 2024 Unknown English
17130 Honey Victor Lodato 2024 American English
17130 Hard By A Great Forest Leo Vardiashvili 2024 Unknown English
17130 The Wildes Louis Bayard 2024 Unknown Unknown
17130 Sweetness In The Skin Ishi Robinson 2024 Unknown English
17130 Familiaris David Wroblewski 2024 Unknown English
17130 Pony Confidential Christina Lynch 2024 Unknown English
17130 The Murderess Laurie Notaro 2024 Unknown English
17130 So Thirsty Rachel Harrison 2024 Unknown English
17130 Exit Opera Kim Addonizio 2024 American English
17130 Slow Burn Robert Jisung Park 2024 Unknown Unknown
17130 Praisesong For The Kitchen Ghosts Crystal Wilkinson 2024 Unknown English
17130 Ripcord Nate Lippens 2024 Unknown English
17130 Sugar, Baby Celine Saintclare 2024 Unknown English
17130 Mother Doll Katya Apekina 2024 Unknown English
17130 Butcher Joyce Carol Oates 2024 American English
17130 Women And Children First Alina Grabowski 2024 Unknown English
17130 Wives Like Us Plum Sykes 2024 Unknown English
17130 The Memo Rachel Dodes, Lauren Mechling 2024 Unknown English
17130 Whoever You Are, Honey Olivia Gatwood 2024 American English
17130 Borderland Graham Akhurst 2023 Unknown English
17130 Bright Crockery Days Robert Gray 2024 Unknown Unknown
17130 Safe Haven Shankari Chandran 2024 Unknown English
17130 Fury Clyo Mendoza 2024 Unknown English
17130 Boy Parts Eliza Clark 2020 British English
17130 The Amendments Niamh Mulvey 2024 Unknown English
17130 Your Own Dark Shadow Jack Fennell 2024 Unknown English
17130 All The Good Things You Deserve Elaine Feeney 2024 Unknown English
17130 Crooked Seeds Karen Jennings 2024 Unknown English
17130 The Glass Girl Kathleen Glasgow 2024 American English
17130 Woman Of Winter Vona Groarke 2024 Irish English
17130 Cherrywood Jock Serong 2024 Australian English
17130 Children In Tactical Gear Peter Mishler 2024 Unknown English
17130 House Of Lilies Juliet Firnhaber-Baker 2024 Unknown Unknown
17130 Stay With Me Ayobami Adebayo 2017 Nigerian English
17130 Incendiary Chris Cleave 2005 British English
17130 Plastic Scott Guild 2024 Unknown English
17130 Mary Toft; Or, The Rabbit Queen Dexter Palmer 2019 American English
17130 Jedenie Ivan Medeši 2018 Slovak Slovak