Books like 'The Scarecrow'
Readers who enjoyed The Scarecrow by Ronald Hugh Morrieson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery horror 20th century action / adventure comedy psychological contemporary crime literary-fiction
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The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 73 ratingsMoscow, 1929: a city that has lost its way amid corruption and fear, inhabited by people who have abandoned their morals and forsaken spirituality. But when a mysterious stranger arrives in town with a bizarre entourage that includes a giant talking cat and a fanged assassin, all hell breaks loose... -
Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsWhen the children of his village were struck with a mysterious illness, Number Ten Ox sought a wiseman to save them. He found master Li Kao, a scholar with a slight flaw in his character. Together, they set out to find the Great Root of Power, the only possible cure...Categorized as:
classics crime humor 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history ancient-china -
Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsStark lives in Colour, a neighbourhood whose inhabitants like to be co-ordinated with their surroundings – a neighbourhood where spangly purple trousers are admired by the walls of buildings as you pass them. Close by is Sound, where you mustn’t make any, apart from one designated hour a day when you can scream your lungs raw... -
The Witches by Roald Dahl
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 73 ratingsThis is not a fairy-tale. This is about real witches. Real witches don't ride around on broomsticks. They don't even wear black cloaks and hats. They are vile, cunning, detestable creatures who disguise themselves as nice, ordinary ladies...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age contemporary humor 20th-century action-adventure animals audiobook -
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The Golden Apple by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNausea, then microamnesia, then the laughing jag, then sex. Be patient. The clear light comes next. Then we can discuss Truth. As if we haven't been discussing it all along. -Hagbard Celine, The Golden Apple Illuminatus! Part II, from the original and genuine trilogy of conspiracies, is performed in all its unabridged brilliance by a full ensemble cast... -
The Stranger by Max Frei
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe millions-selling fantasy epic of the new Russian literary icon-a freeloading freebooter who finds a new home in a magical world Max Frei's novels have been a literary sensation in Russia since their debut in 1996, and have swept the fantasy world over. Presented here in English for the first time, The Stranger will strike a chord with readers of all stripes...Categorized as:
contemporary humor 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-universe audiobook book -
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsBrace yourself, America, for Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting—the novel and the film that became the cult sensations of Britain. Trainspotting is the novel that first launched Irvine Welsh's spectacular career—an authentic, unrelenting, and strangely exhilarating episodic group portrait of blasted lives. It accomplished for its own time and place what Hubert Selby, Jr...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age contemporary crime humor literary-fiction psychological suspense -
Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsA wine connoisseur with an infallible palate and a sinister taste in wagers. A decrepit old man with a masterpiece tattooed on his back. A voracious adventuress, a gentle cuckold, and a garden sculpture that becomes an instrument of sadistic vengeance. Social climbers who climb a bit too quickly. Philanderers whose deceptions are a trifle too ornate...Categorized as:
classics contemporary crime humor suspense 20th-century action-adventure anthologies -
The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsrelates the adventures of Satan, the sinless nephew of the biblical Satan, in Eseldorf, an Austrian village in the year 1702. Twain wrote this version between November 1897 and September 1900. "Eseldorf" is German for "Assville" or "Donkeytown"...Categorized as:
classics humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies audiobook -
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 52 ratingsDear Reader,I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe... -
Leviathan by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe ultimate weapon isn't this plague out in Vegas, or any new super H-bomb. The ultimate weapon has always existed. Every man, every woman, and every child owns it. It's the ability to say No and take the consequences. - Hagbard Celine, LeviathanIlluminatus! Part III cheerfully ushers in the apocalyptic high-camp conclusion of the Illuminatus! Trilogy... -
The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories by Connie Willis
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThis new collection of stories from the multi-award-winning author of Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog contains:A Letter from the ClearysAt the RialtoDeath on the NileThe Soul Selects Her own SocietyFire WatchInside JobEven the QueenThe Winds of Marble ArchAll Seated on the GroundLast of the WinnebagosTen stories - which have all won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award or both - are...Categorized as:
classics humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens anthologies -
Memoirs of an Invisible Man by H.F. Saint
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA freak accident renders an ordinary stock analyst invisible, and though invisibility has its pitfalls, he is able to eavesdrop his way into amassing a fortune in this side-splitting, tear-jerking mixture of fantasy and nightmare... -
The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsDear Reader,If you have picked up this book with the hope of finding a simple and cheery tale, I'm afraid you have picked up the wrong book altogether. The story may seem cheery at first, when the Baudelaire children spend time in the company of some interesting reptiles and a giddy uncle, but don't be fooled...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age contemporary crime humor suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
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Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsShe's a catwalk model who has everything: a boyfriend, a career, a loyal best friend. But when a sudden motor 'accident' leaves her disfigured and incapable of speech, she goes from being the beautiful centre of attention to being an invisible monster, so hideous that no one will acknowledge she exists...Categorized as:
classics contemporary crime humor literary-fiction psychological suspense 20th-century -
The Falcon's Malteser by Anthony Horowitz
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen the vertically-challenged Johnny Naples entrusts Tim Diamond with a package worth over three million pounds, he's making a big mistake. Tim Diamond is the worst detective in the world... -
The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsThe Third Policeman is Flann O'Brien's brilliantly dark comic novel about the nature of time, death, and existence... -
Factotum by Charles Bukowski
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsOne of Bukowski's best, this beer-soaked, deliciously degenerate novel follows the wanderings of aspiring writer Henry Chinaski across World War II-era America. Deferred from military service, Chinaski travels from city to city, moving listlessly from one odd job to another, always needing money but never badly enough to keep a job...Categorized as:
classics contemporary crime humor literary-fiction psychological suspense 20th-century -
Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 54 ratingsThere is an alternate cover edition here.Jody never asked to become a vampire. But when she wakes up under an alley dumpster with a badly burned arm, an aching neck, superhuman strength, and a distinctly Nosferatuan thirst, she realizes the decision has been made for her...Categorized as:
contemporary crime humor literary-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
Switch Bitch by Roald Dahl
Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsIn Switch Bitch four tales of seduction and suspense are told by the grand master of the short story, Roald Dahl.Topping and tailing this collection are The Visitor and Bitch, stories featuring Dahl's notorious hedonist Oswald Hendryks Cornelius (or plain old Uncle Oswald) whose exploits are frequently as extraordinary as they are scandalous...Categorized as:
classics contemporary crime humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Bunnicula: The Celery Stalks at Midnight by James Howe, Victor Garber
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBunnicula is missing! Chester the cat makes a chilling discovery--Bunnicula the vampire bunny has vanished from his cage in the Monroe household...Categorized as:
classics humor suspense 20th-century action-adventure animals anthropomorphism audiobook -
Bunnicula by Deborah Howe, James Howe
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsBEWARE THE HARE!Is he or isn't he a vampire? Before it's too late, Harold the dog and Chester the cat must find out the truth about the newest pet in the Monroe household -- a suspicious-looking bunny with unusual habits..Categorized as:
classics contemporary humor suspense 20th-century action-adventure animals anthropomorphism -
Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 65 ratingsFrom the author of the underground sensation Fight Club comes this wickedly incisive second novel, a mesmerizing, unnerving, and hilarious vision of cult and post-cult life.Tender Branson—last surviving member of the so-called Creedish Death Cult—is dictating his life story into the flight recorder of Flight 2039, cruising on autopilot at 39,000 feet somewhere over the Pacific Ocean...Categorized as:
classics contemporary crime humor literary-fiction psychological suspense 20th-century -
The Eye in the Pyramid by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson
Rated: 3.82 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsIt was a deadly mistake. Joseph Malik, editor of a radical magazine, had snooped into rumors about an ancient secret society that was still alive and kicking. Now his offices have been bombed, he's missing, and the case has landed in the lap of a tough, cynical, streetwise New York detective... -
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Dial-a-Ghost by Eva Ibbotson
Rated: 3.81 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Dial-a-Ghost Agency finds good homes for ghosts. And Fulton and Frieda Snodde-Brittle are looking for a few frightening ghosts to "accidentally" scare their young cousin and heir, Oliver, to death. The ladies at the Dial-a-Ghost Agency have the perfect match: the Shriekers, two bloodstained and bickering horrors... -
The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western by Richard Brautigan
Rated: 3.87 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsThe time is 1902, the setting eastern Oregon. Magic Child, a fifteen-year-old Indian girl, wanders into the wrong whorehouse looking for the right men to kill the monster that lives in the ice caves under the basement of Miss Hawkline's yellow house. What follows is a series of wild, witty, and bizarre encounters. The book was originally published in 1974...Categorized as:
classics contemporary humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
My Teacher Fried My Brains by Bruce Coville
Rated: 3.79 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBrains are sizzling in the seventh grade...The first day of seventh grade is probably the worst day of Duncan Dougal's life... -
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G.K. Chesterton, José Laurênio de Mello
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsG. K. Chesterton's surreal masterpiece is a psychological thriller that centers on seven anarchists in turn-of-the-century London who call themselves by the names of the days of the week. Chesterton explores the meanings of their disguised identities in what is a fascinating mystery and, ultimately, a spellbinding allegory... -
My Teacher Glows in the Dark by Bruce Coville
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsKidnapped in Space?Peter Thompson has had some pretty weird teachers in his time. By the time he discovers that his newest teacher glows in the dark, he’s flying away from Earth in a spaceship full of aliens and there’s no one he can call. How do you report an alien to the F.B.I...Categorized as:
coming-of-age humor 20th-century action-adventure aliens book children children-books -
Return to Groosham Grange: The Unholy Grail by Anthony Horowitz
Rated: 3.71 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSomeone is trying to destroy David Eliot?s school. A year ago, he?d have given anything to see the end of Groosham Grange and its ghastly, monstrous teachers. Now, he?s on track to win the Unholy Grail, a cup of magical power rewarded to the star pupil. But a series of suspicious mishaps has the space between David and the new boy, Vincent King, narrowing at an alarming rate...Categorized as:
humor 20th-century action-adventure audiobook boarding-school book children children-books -
The Demon Headmaster by Gillian Cross
Rated: 3.79 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsDinah moves in with the Hunter family and starts going to the same school as her foster-brothers Lloyd and Harvey. It's not easy, as they seem to hate her, and school is really strange. Pupils suddenly talk like robots and do weird things - even Dinah finds herself acting oddly.She's sure the headmaster has some kind of power over them, and is determined to find out more...Categorized as:
classics humor 20th-century action-adventure anthologies children children-books comedy -
Groosham Grange by Anthony Horowitz
Rated: 3.77 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFrom Anthony Horowitz, a Groosham . . . make that gruesome . . . new adventure! Sent to Groosham Grange as a last resort by his frustrated parents, thirteen-year-old David Eliot quickly discovers that his new boarding school is very peculiar. New pupils are made to sign their names in blood . . . the French teacher cancels classes on days there�s a full moon . .Categorized as:
coming-of-age humor suspense 20th-century action-adventure audiobook boarding-school book -
Never Trust a Dead Man by Vivian Vande Velde
Rated: 3.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSelwyn is brokenhearted when the beautiful Anora chooses to marry the awful,but rich, Farold. It's bad enough when Farold beats Selwyn up in front of the villagers. But nothing prepares Selwyn for Farold's being found murdered. All accusing fingers point to Selwyn, who is promptly sealed in a burial cave with Farold's corpse.But they're not alone in the cave... -
Felicia's Journey by William Trevor
Rated: 3.69 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWilliam Trevor's Last Stories is forthcoming from Viking.Felicia is unmarried, pregnant, and penniless. She steals away from a small Irish town and drifts through the industrial English Midlands, searching for the boyfriend who left her. Instead she meets up with the fat, fiftyish, unfailingly reasonable Mr. Hilditch, who is looking for a new friend to join the five other girls in his Memory Lane...Categorized as:
classics contemporary crime humor literary-fiction psychological suspense 20th-century -
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My Teacher Is an Alien by Bruce Coville
Rated: 3.71 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsSixth grade is just out of this world!Susan Simmons can tell that her new substitute teacher is really weird. But she doesn't know how weird until she catches him peeling off his face -- and realizes that "Mr. Smith" is really an alien! At first no one will believe her except Peter Thompson, the class brain. When Peter and Susan discover Mr...Categorized as:
classics coming-of-age contemporary humor 20th-century action-adventure aliens audiobook -
Zodiac by Neal Stephenson
Rated: 3.73 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsSangamon Taylor's a New Age Sam Spade who sports a wet suit instead of a trench coat and prefers Jolt from the can to Scotch on the rocks. He knows about chemical sludge the way he knows about evil -- all too intimately. And the toxic trail he follows leads to some high and foul places...Categorized as:
contemporary crime humor literary-fiction suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The Grotesque by Patrick McGrath
Rated: 3.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsParalysed, mute and confined to a wheelchair, former palaeontologist Sir Hugo Coal recounts the events that led to his 'cerebral accident', as well as his suspicions of his butler Fledge, who he suspects is plotting to replace him as Lord of Crook Manor...Categorized as:
classics contemporary crime humor literary-fiction psychological suspense 20th-century -
Young Zaphod Plays It Safe by Douglas Adams
Rated: 3.65 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsYoung Zaphod Plays it Safe is a novella by Douglas Adams set in his The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy universe. It doesn't appear as a standalone work, but is included with several collections. The story is a prequel to the events in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and has the young Zaphod Beeblebrox working as a salvage ship operator... -
Blast from the Past by Ben Elton
Rated: 3.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsReady to follow Nick Hornsby and Helen Fielding as the next big thing from Cool Britannia to hit America is Ben Elton. Already known to a wide public television audience as the funnyman behind Blackadder, The Young Ones, and The Thin Blue Line, Elton, author of Popcorn , lights up the literary sky with Blast from the Past... -
Dead Babies by Martin Amis
Rated: 3.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIf the Marquis de Sade were to crash one of P.G. Wodehouse's house parties, the chaos might resemble the nightmarishly funny goings-on in this novel by the author of London Fields. The residents of Appleseed Rectory have primed themselves both for a visit from a triad of Americans and a weekend of copious drug taking and sexual gymnastics...Categorized as:
classics contemporary crime humor literary-fiction psychological suspense 20th-century
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