In fiction, I'm drawn to work that sits at the intersection of literary and commercial, with a strong narrative engine and a clear psychological or emotional hook. I gravitate toward books that are unsettling, intimate, and obsessive - stories that burrow under the skin and linger long after the final page. I love morally complex characters, unreliable narrators, and books driven by desire, power, loneliness, jealousy, or rage. Voice matters enormously to me, but never at the expense of momentum: I'm always looking for fiction that is both stylish and compulsively readable.

I'm especially interested in novels that explore identity, intimacy, alienation, class, gender, and obsession - often through dark humor, menace, or emotional extremity. I love secrets, transgressions, cultish dynamics, closed worlds, and stories where something feels slightly off from the very beginning.

Fiction

Psychological literary suspense - Character-driven novels where tension comes from interiority, relationships, and dread rather than procedural mechanics. Think slow-burn unease, obsession, and moral ambiguity rather than twist-for-twist’s sake. (The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson; I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid; Tony and Susan by Austin Wright; The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain; The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides)

Dark, cerebral campus or closed-world novels - Academic settings, insular communities, cultish friend groups, or elite environments where power, secrecy, and moral rot thrive. (The Secret History by Donna Tartt; The Guest by Emma Cline)

Female rage and transgressive women - Angry, obsessive, unlikable, ambitious, erotic, destructive, or deeply conflicted women. I love books that refuse to soften or explain women’s darkness. (novels by Ottessa Moshfegh; Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill; Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan; My Husband by Maud Ventura; Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann; Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott)

Literary horror and body horror - Horror rooted in psychology, desire, control, and the body - especially when it intersects with social critique. I'm open to disturbing material when it is purposeful, restrained, and well-executed. (The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson; Tender Is the Flesh and The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica)

Unsettling relationship stories - Romantic, platonic, familial, or sexual relationships that are consuming, asymmetric, manipulative, or destructive. (Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin)

Existential and philosophical fiction with plot - Big ideas grounded in story - identity, time, faith, morality, isolation - handled with restraint and narrative clarity. (The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath; novels by Paul Auster; novels by Ian McEwan)

Sharp, voice-forward literary fiction - Distinctive voices with bite, intelligence, and emotional precision. Often funny, sad, abrasive, or observational, with an emphasis on interior life rather than plot mechanics. (Liars by Sarah Manguso; The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy; novels by Sally Rooney)

Romantic, voice-driven commercial fiction - Emotionally intelligent, voice-forward commercial fiction centered on love, longing, and relationships. (novels by Emily Henry, The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue; Good Material and Ghosts by Dolly Alderton)

International or translated fiction with edge - Especially novels that interrogate gender, desire, power, or obsession through a cultural or political lens. (Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali; Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk; Berlin by Bea Setton)

Lightly speculative / allegorical literary fiction - High-concept or speculative elements used in service of emotional, philosophical, or relational storytelling rather than world-building. (Shark Heart by Emily Habeck)

In nonfiction, I'm drawn to narrative-driven work that reads with the urgency and propulsion of a novel while remaining rigorously reported. I'm especially interested in books that explore human behavior, power, secrecy, survival, and moral ambiguity - stories that illuminate how people think, decide, endure, and justify their actions under pressure. I gravitate toward journalism, history, and investigative nonfiction with a strong narrative spine, cinematic scope, and intellectual ambition. I'm less interested in prescriptive or instructional books, and more interested in nonfiction that asks big questions and trusts the reader to engage with complexity.