The Greatest Dark Books Since 2000

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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
2203 The Kindly Ones Jonathan Littell 2006 French French
2506 Pastoralia George Saunders 2000 American English
2886 Everything Is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer 2002 American English
3120 The Possibility Of An Island Michel Houellebecq 2005 French French
3178 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
4300 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
4681 Skippy Dies Pauli Murray 2010 Irish English
4683 A Horse Walks Into A Bar David Grossman 2014 Israeli Hebrew
4889 Natura Morta Josef Winkler 2001 Unknown German
4992 The Wandering Falcon Jamil Ahmed 2011 Pakistani English
5033 Honored Guest Joy Williams 2004 American English
5033 The Sluts Dennis Cooper 2004 American English
5155 Cursed Bunny Bora Chung 2021 Korean Korean
5318 Faithless Joyce Carol Oates 2001 American English
5694 Night Boat To Tangier Kevin Barry 2019 Irish English
6302 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
7206 Animalinside László Krasznahorkai, Max Neumann 2010 Hungarian Hungarian
7726 Stupidity Rafael Spregelburd 2007 Argentinian Spanish
7930 Winterwood Patrick McCabe 2006 Irish English
8798 Here Are The Young Men Rob Doyle 2014 Irish English
8861 The Navigator Of New York Wayne Johnston 2002 Canadian English
9068 A Million Windows Gerald Murnane 2014 Australian English
9247 The Red Tree Caitlín R. Kiernan 2009 American English
9290 Brutal Prince Sophie Lark 2020 Unknown English
9308 Ploaia De Trei Sute De Zile Gabriel Chifu 2017 Romanian Romanian
9612 A Forest For Calum Frank MacDonald 2005 Canadian English
9721 Inside Kenneth J. Harvey 2006 Canadian English
9785 Dead Collections Isaac Fellman 2022 Unknown English
9793 The Friends Of Meager Fortune David Adams Richards 2006 Canadian English
9813 The Custodian Of Paradise Wayne Johnston 2006 Canadian English
10020 The Architects Are Here Michael Winter 2007 Canadian English
10027 Ragged Islands Don Hannah 2007 Canadian English
10871 Mr. Splitfoot Samantha Hunt 2016 American English
10965 Gideon The Ninth Tamsyn Muir 2019 New Zealand English
11219 Memorial Bryan Washington 2020 American English
11440 Field Notes From A Catastrophe Elizabeth Kolbert 2006 American English
11644 Paradise Estate Max Easton 2021 Unknown English
11663 The Furrows Namwali Serpell 2022 Unknown English
11663 The Parking Lot Attendant Nafkote Tamirat 2018 American English
11663 Property Lionel Shriver 2018 American English
11663 A State Of Freedom Neel Mukherjee 2018 British English
11663 A View Of The Empire At Sunset Caryl Phillips 2018 British English
12141 Yellow Blue Tibia Adam Roberts 2009 British English
12588 The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears Dinaw Mengestu 2007 American English
12807 Ich Bin In Der Anstalt Friederike Mayröcker 2000 Austrian German
13340 Project X Jim Shepard 2004 American English
14232 The Lies Of Locke Lamora Scott Lynch 2006 American English
14371 Allegro Pastell Leif Randt 2020 German German
14371 Vom Aufstehen Helga Schubert 2020 German German
14986 Lab Girl Hope Jahren 2016 American English
14986 Memory Piece Lisa Ko 2024 Unknown English
14986 Sandwich Catherine Newman 2024 Unknown English
14986 Bury Your Gays Chuck Tingle 2024 Unknown English
14986 Normal Women Philippa Gregory 2023 British English
17173 On Such A Full Sea Chang-rae Lee 2014 American English
17173 Woodworm Layla Martínez 2024 Spanish Unknown
17173 The Best Horror Of The Year Ellen Datlow 2009 American English
17173 Inferno Ellen Datlow 2007 American English
17173 Anita De Monte Laughs Last Xóchitl González 2024 Unknown Unknown
17173 American Rapture C.J. Leede 2024 Unknown Unknown
17173 Sacrificial Animals Kailee Pedersen 2024 Unknown Unknown
17173 Cold Crematorium József Debreczeni 2024 Unknown English
17173 Choice Neel Mukherjee 2024 Unknown English
17173 Vows Cheryl Mendelson 2024 American English
17173 The Anthropologists Ayşegül Savas 2024 Unknown English
17173 Victim Andrew Boryga 2024 Unknown English
17173 Sirens Of The City Joanne Starer 2024 Unknown English
17173 An Academy For Liars Alexis Henderson 2024 Unknown English
17173 Midnight Rooms Donyae Coles 2024 Unknown English
17173 No Son Of Mine Jonathan Corcoran 2024 Unknown English
17173 Queen Of Dreams Kit Rocha 2024 Unknown English
17173 Ours Phillip B. Williams 2024 Unknown English
17173 The Glutton A. K. Blakemore 2024 Unknown English
17173 Honey Victor Lodato 2024 American English
17173 Hard By A Great Forest Leo Vardiashvili 2024 Unknown English
17173 The Wildes Louis Bayard 2024 Unknown Unknown
17173 Sweetness In The Skin Ishi Robinson 2024 Unknown English
17173 Familiaris David Wroblewski 2024 Unknown English
17173 Pony Confidential Christina Lynch 2024 Unknown English
17173 The Murderess Laurie Notaro 2024 Unknown English
17173 So Thirsty Rachel Harrison 2024 Unknown English
17173 Exit Opera Kim Addonizio 2024 American English
17173 Slow Burn Robert Jisung Park 2024 Unknown Unknown
17173 Praisesong For The Kitchen Ghosts Crystal Wilkinson 2024 Unknown English
17173 Ripcord Nate Lippens 2024 Unknown English
17173 Sugar, Baby Celine Saintclare 2024 Unknown English
17173 Mother Doll Katya Apekina 2024 Unknown English
17173 Butcher Joyce Carol Oates 2024 American English
17173 Women And Children First Alina Grabowski 2024 Unknown English
17173 Wives Like Us Plum Sykes 2024 Unknown English
17173 The Memo Rachel Dodes, Lauren Mechling 2024 Unknown English
17173 Whoever You Are, Honey Olivia Gatwood 2024 American English
17173 Borderland Graham Akhurst 2023 Unknown English
17173 Bright Crockery Days Robert Gray 2024 Unknown Unknown
17173 Safe Haven Shankari Chandran 2024 Unknown English
17173 Fury Clyo Mendoza 2024 Unknown English
17173 Boy Parts Eliza Clark 2020 British English
17173 The Amendments Niamh Mulvey 2024 Unknown English
17173 Your Own Dark Shadow Jack Fennell 2024 Unknown English
17173 All The Good Things You Deserve Elaine Feeney 2024 Unknown English
17173 Crooked Seeds Karen Jennings 2024 Unknown English
17173 The Glass Girl Kathleen Glasgow 2024 American English
17173 Woman Of Winter Vona Groarke 2024 Irish English
17173 Cherrywood Jock Serong 2024 Australian English
17173 Children In Tactical Gear Peter Mishler 2024 Unknown English
17173 House Of Lilies Juliet Firnhaber-Baker 2024 Unknown Unknown
17173 Stay With Me Ayobami Adebayo 2017 Nigerian English
17173 Incendiary Chris Cleave 2005 British English
17173 Plastic Scott Guild 2024 Unknown English
17173 Mary Toft; Or, The Rabbit Queen Dexter Palmer 2019 American English
17173 Jedenie Ivan Medeši 2018 Slovak Slovak