Patrick McCabe 1994
- What it is
-
A narrator who doesn't tell you the truth · it leaves you shaken
- Genre
- Literary Crime
Everything below shares at least two of these traits, or sits with it in some reader's stack. We tell you why as you go.
Books similar to The butcher boy
Coming from The butcher boy? Start with American Psycho, Sharp Objects, We Have Always Lived in the Castle. 45 more below, each with why it fits.
7 books
The closest to yours
American Psycho
Bret Easton Ellis 1991
It tells it with no filter · you end up rooting for the wrong people
Sharp Objects
Gillian Flynn 2007
It tells it with no filter · it's hiding a secret
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Shirley Jackson 1962
It gets under your skin, but in a classic
Fight Club
Chuck Palahniuk 1996
It tells it straight · you end up rooting for the wrong people
Defending Jacob
William Landay 2012
It leaves you shaken · you end up rooting for the wrong people
Notes on a Scandal
Zoe Heller 2003
It ties your stomach in a knot · you end up rooting for the wrong people
A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess 1972
It tells it with no filter, but in science fiction
11 books · Alike in just one
Only it gets under your skin
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad 1985
It tells it with no filter · no clean hands here
Asylum
Patrick McGrath 1998
It stirs you up inside · no clean hands here
We Need to Talk about Kevin
Lionel Shriver 2003
It tells it straight · nobody is entirely good
The secret history
Donna Tartt 1992
It ties your stomach in a knot · you end up rooting for the wrong people
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Iain Reid 2016
It ties your stomach in a knot · you'll keep turning it over for days
El Filatelista
Nicolas Feuz 2025
It tells it with no filter · the truth comes out bit by bit
Beloved
Toni Morrison 1987
It leaves you shaken · the truth comes out bit by bit
1984 and Animal Farm
George Orwell 1978
It gets under your skin · a society that controls everything
Tender Is the Flesh
Agustina Bazterrica 2015
It leaves you shaken · you end up rooting for the wrong people
9 books · Alike in just one
Only unreliable narrator
Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov 1777
In common with yours: unreliable narrator · you end up rooting for the wrong people
The Secret Scripture
Sebastian Barry 2008
It leaves you shaken · a farewell that moves you
Under the volcano
Malcolm Lowry 1947
It tells it with no filter · it stays with you
Atonement
Ian McEwan 2001
In common with yours: unreliable narrator · a farewell that moves you
The Sense of an Ending
Julian Barnes 2011
In common with yours: unreliable narrator · it won't tell you everything at once
Trust
Hernán Díaz 2022
In common with yours: unreliable narrator · you end up rooting for the wrong people
The go-between
L. P. Hartley 1953
In common with yours: unreliable narrator · comforting, like coming home
Little Big Man
Thomas Berger 2004
Like yours: unreliable narrator · comforting, like coming home
21 books
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Readers put them together in Underrated novels nobody ever recommends
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Grouped with yours in Underrated novels nobody ever recommends
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It leaves you shaken · fierce and defiant
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It leaves you shaken · a farewell that moves you
Stoner
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It leaves you shaken · a farewell that moves you
Amoniaco
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It tells it with no filter · nobody is entirely good
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Melancholic and unhurried · all in one day, one night or one summer
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It won't tell you everything at once · no clean hands here
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A love story that hurts · a love story that makes you laugh
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
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It tells it with no filter · nobody is entirely good
My Sister, the Serial Killer
Oyinkan Braithwaite 2018
It stirs you up inside · funny, and it bites
Of mice and men
John Steinbeck 1937
It makes you cry, in a good way · a farewell that moves you
Shipping News
Annie Proulx 1993
It makes you laugh · a love that builds slowly
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