Books like 'The Marriage of Sticks'
Readers who enjoyed The Marriage of Sticks by Jonathan Carroll also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary fantasy horror urban fantasy psychological magical-realism literary-fiction hauntings dark cheating
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The Magnus Archives: Season 4 by NOT A BOOK
15 ratingsThe Magnus Archives is a horror audiobook written by Jonathan Sims, directed by Alexander J. Newall and distributed by Rusty Quill. Sims narrates the stories in-character as the main character, Jonathan Sims, the newly-appointed head archivist of the fictional Magnus Institute; an institution based in London centred on research into the paranormal... -
The Magnus Archives: Season 2 by NOT A BOOK
14 ratingsThe Magnus Archives is a horror audiobook written by Jonathan Sims, directed by Alexander J. Newall and distributed by Rusty Quill. Sims narrates the stories in-character as the main character, Jonathan Sims, the newly-appointed head archivist of the fictional Magnus Institute; an institution based in London centred on research into the paranormal... -
The Magnus Archives: Season 3 by Jonathan Sims
14 ratingsThe Magnus Archives is a horror audiobook written by Jonathan Sims, directed by Alexander J. Newall and distributed by Rusty Quill. Sims narrates the stories in-character as the main character, Jonathan Sims, the newly-appointed head archivist of the fictional Magnus Institute; an institution based in London centred on research into the paranormal... -
The Magnus Archives: Season 5 by Johnathan Sims
12 ratingsThe Magnus Archives is a horror audiobook written by Jonathan Sims, directed by Alexander J. Newall and distributed by Rusty Quill. Sims narrates the stories in-character as the main character, Jonathan Sims, the newly-appointed head archivist of the fictional Magnus Institute; an institution based in London centred on research into the paranormal... -
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The Dex-Files by Karina Halle
19 ratingsThe truth is out there...The Dex-Files is a compilation novel that accompanies the Experiment in Terror Series and is not to be-read as a stand-alone. In the Dex-Files we find a variety of scenes and chapters from the enigmatic Dex Foray's POV from books #1-6 in the series. Some of these scenes have been previously published, albeit from Perry's POV, while other scenes are completely new... -
The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
42 ratingsMara Dyer knows she isn't crazy. She knows that she can kill with her mind, and that Noah can heal with his. Mara also knows that somehow, Jude is not a hallucination. He is alive. Unfortunately, convincing her family and doctors that she's not unstable and doesn't need to be hospitalised isn't easy. The only person who actually believes her is Noah... -
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky
25 ratingsHarry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is a work of alternate-universe Harry Potter fan-fiction wherein Petunia Evans has married an Oxford biochemistry professor and young genius Harry grows up fascinated by science and science fiction. When he finds out that he is a wizard, he tries to apply scientific principles to his study of magic, with sometimes surprising results... -
Hunting Fear by Kay Hooper, Dick Hill
20 ratingsHe's no ordinary kidnapper. Not only does he strike again and again, but he collects the ransom, gets away safely, and leaves his helpless hostages dead. Now, after months of eluding the best that law enforcement can put against him, this monster has left nothing in his wake but a cold trail of unconnected victims. He's no ordinary cop... -
Thunderbird by Chuck Wendig
13 ratingsIn the fourth installment of the Miriam Black series, Miriam heads to the southwest in search of another psychic who may be able to help her understand her curse, but instead finds a cult of domestic terrorists and the worst vision of death she’s had yet. Miriam Black is being developed as a TV series by Starz with the producers of Breaking Bad... -
Demon Hunts by C.E. Murphy
18 ratingsSeattle police detective Joanne Walker started the year mostly dead, and she's ending it trying not to be consumed by evil. Literally.She's proven she can handle the gods and the walking dead. But a cannibalistic serial killer? That's more than even she bargained for. What's worse, the brutal demon can only be tracked one way... -
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
41 ratingsYears ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction magical-realism 21st-century action-adventure adult book classics -
The Magus of Hay by Phil Rickman
12 ratingsWhen a man's body is discovered in the picturesque town of Hay-on-Wye, his death appears to be "unnatural" in every sense. Merrily Watkins, parish priest, single mother, and exorcist, is drafted in to investigate, in this 12th installment A man's body is found below a waterfall. It looks like suicide or an accidental drowning—until DI Frannie Bliss enters the dead man's home... -
Figment by Cameron Jace
14 ratingsAfter her encounter with the Cheshire Cat, Alice Wonder can hardly tell reality from imagination. But when kids have their head chopped off and stuffed in watermelons all over the city, it's clear that another Wonderland Monster has arrived, possibly scarier than the Cheshire... -
White Silence by Jodi Taylor
16 ratings*The first instalment in the new, gripping supernatural thriller series from international bestselling author, Jodi Taylor.* "I don't know who I am. I don't know what I am." Elizabeth Cage is a child when she discovers that there are things in this world that only she can see. But she doesn’t want to see them and she definitely doesn’t want them to see her... -
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The Devil's Only Friend by Dan Wells
19 ratingsJohn Wayne Cleaver hunts demons: they've killed his neighbors, his family, and the girl he loves, but in the end he's always won. Now he works for a secret government kill team, using his gift to hunt and kill as many monsters as he can......but the monsters have noticed, and the quiet game of cat and mouse is about to erupt into a full scale supernatural war... -
The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
32 ratingsMara Dyer wants to believe there's more to the lies she’s been told.There is.She doesn’t stop to think about where her quest for the truth might lead.She should.She never had to imagine how far she would go for vengeance.She will now.Loyalties are betrayed, guilt and innocence tangle, and fate and chance collide in this shocking conclusion to Mara Dyer’s story.Retribution has arrived... -
A Wild Light by Marjorie M. Liu
14 ratingsView our feature on Marjorie Liu’s A Wild Light.For too long Maxine Kiss has felt an inexplicable darkness inside her-a force she channels into hunting the demons bent on destroying the human race. But when she finds herself covered in blood and crouched beside her grandfather's dead body with no memory of what happened, Maxine begins to fear that the darkness has finally consumed her... -
Over Your Dead Body by Dan Wells, Kirby Heyborne
16 ratingsJohn and Brooke are on their own, hitchhiking from town to town as they hunt the last of the Withered through the Midwest - but the Withered are hunting them back, and the FBI is close behind... -
Last Call by Tim Powers
18 ratingsTwenty years ago Scott Crane abandoned his career as a professional poker player and went into hiding, after a weird high-stakes game played with Tarot cards. But now the cards - and the supernatural powers behind them - have found him again.Crane's father killed gangster Bugsy Siegel in 1948 to become the Fisher King, and to keep that power he is determined to kill his son...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history arthurian -
Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko
24 ratingsThe definitive English language translation of the internationally bestselling Ukrainian novel—a brilliant dark fantasy with "the potential to be a modern classic" (Lev Grossman), combining psychological suspense, enchantment, and terror that makes us consider human existence in a fresh and provocative way.Our life is brief . .Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction magical-realism 21st-century action-adventure audiobook boarding-school book -
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
37 ratingsBeneath the towering bleached ribs of a dead, ancient beast lies the city of New Crobuzon, where the unsavory deal is stranger to no one--not even to Isaac, a gifted and eccentric scientist who has spent a lifetime quietly carrying out his unique research... -
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
43 ratingsMara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.It can.She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is.She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. She's wrong... -
Brother Odd by Dean Koontz
36 ratingsLoop me in, odd one.The words, spoken in the deep of night by a sleeping child, chill the young man watching over her. For this was a favorite phrase of Stormy Llewellyn, his lost love, and Stormy is dead, gone forever from this world. In the haunted halls of the isolated monastery where he had sought peace, Odd Thomas is stalking spirits of an infinitely darker nature... -
Everville by Clive Barker
24 ratingsOn the borderland between this world and the world of Quiddity, the sea of our dreams, sits Everville. For years, it has lived in ignorance of the gleaming shore on which it lies. But its ignorance is not bliss... -
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Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Faria Stolarz
24 ratingsLast fall, sixteen-year-old Camelia fell for Ben, a new boy at school who had a very mysterious gift – psychometry, the ability to sense the future through touch. But just as Camelia and Ben's romance began to heat up, he abruptly left town. Brokenhearted, Camelia has spent the last few months studying everything she can about psychometry and experiencing strange brushes with premonition... -
The Wicker King by K. Ancrum
21 ratingsWhen August learns that his best friend, Jack, shows signs of degenerative hallucinatory disorder, he is determined to help Jack cope. Jack’s vivid and long-term visions take the form of an elaborate fantasy world layered over our own—a world ruled by the Wicker King... -
Deadly Little Games by Laurie Faria Stolarz
20 ratingsHigh school juniors Camelia and Ben have discovered a powerful bond: They both possess the power of psychometry, the ability to see the future through touch. For Ben, the gift is a frightening liability. When he senses a strong threat or betrayal, he risks losing control. Camelia's gift is more mysterious. When she works with clay, her hands sculpt messages her mind doesn't yet comprehend... -
The Bones of Others by Vickie McKeehan
12 ratingsSome monsters live in your head. Not this one.Brutalized as a young girl by a vile sexual predator, Skye Cree is a survivor. Guided by the visions of her mystical spirit guide to the whereabouts of abducted girls, she uses her unique abilities to turn her horrifying past into a positive force for justice... -
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
45 ratingsThe dead don't talk. I don't know why. But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Sometimes the silent souls who seek out Odd want justice. Occasionally their otherworldly tips help him prevent a crime. But this time it’s different... -
The Fisherman by John Langan
24 ratingsIn upstate New York, in the woods around Woodstock, Dutchman's Creek flows out of the Ashokan Reservoir. Steep-banked, fast-moving, it offers the promise of fine fishing, and of something more, a possibility too fantastic to be true... -
Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
38 ratingsI see dead people. But then, by God, I do something about it.Odd Thomas never asked for his special ability. He's just an ordinary guy trying to live a quiet life in the small desert town of Pico Mundo. Yet he feels an obligation to do right by his otherworldly confidants, and that's why he's won hearts on both sides of the divide between life and death... -
Dead Men's Boots by Mike Carey
18 ratingsYou might think that helping a friend's widow to stop a lawyer from stealing her husband's corpse would be the strangest thing on your To Do list. But life is rarely that simple for Felix Castor. A brutal murder in King's Cross bears all the hallmarks of a long-dead American serial killer, and it takes more good sense than Castor possesses not to get involved... -
The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All by Laird Barron
16 ratingsOver the course of two award-winning collections and a critically acclaimed novel, The Croning, Laird Barron has arisen as one of the strongest and most original literary voices in modern horror and the dark fantastic... -
Murder of Angels by Caitlín R. Kiernan
10 ratingsFrom the award-winning author of Silk and Threshold...To find the solace she seeks, Niki Ky must return to the house on the side of Red Mountain in Birmingham, Alabama, to finish what her lover Spyder Baxter started. Her odyssey will take her places no human was meant to travel, and she will face creatures no human should ever have to face.. -
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Spirits That Walk in Shadow by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
10 ratingsRoommates Jaimie Locke and Kim Calloway are each looking to find a new life at college. It’s Jaimie’s first time Outside—away from her large, complicated family and their magical traditions—and she wants to learn what nonmagical life is like. Kim is anxious to escape the depression that’s been dragging her down since last year so she can make new friends and create the art she loves... -
The Televisionary Oracle by Rob Brezsny
6 ratingsMillions of people already live their lives in accordance with Rob Brezsny's "Real Astrology" prophecies. But the time has come for a deeper dose of Brezsny's brain. The Televisionary Oracle is an archetypal roller-coaster that would make Rumi dizzy and leave Carl Jung gasping for breath...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult alpha-mc anthologies contemporary female-mc feminism -
Sanctum by Madeleine Roux
24 ratingsIn this haunting, fast-paced sequel to the New York Times bestselling photo-illustrated novel Asylum, three teens must unlock some long-buried secrets from the past before the past comes back to get them first... -
Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King, Richard Chizmar
34 ratingsThe little town of Castle Rock, Maine has witnessed some strange events and unusual visitors over the years, but there is one story that has never been told... until now.There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs...Categorized as:
dark magical-realism 21st-century audiobook bildungsroman book coming-of-age contemporary -
The Night Inside by Nancy Baker
10 ratingsArdeth Alexander’s life is the wholly predictable one of a graduate student. She lives by schedules – for papers due, classes to attend, small jobs of research to complete for extra income. Ardeth is the responsible one – steady, dependable, maybe even a little boring.One day, when she is out for her customary early morning walk, all that changes... -
Perfect Circle by Sean Stewart
10 ratingsWilliam ""Dead"" Kennedy has problems. He's haunted by family, by dead people with unfinished business, and by those perfect pop songs that you can't get out of your head. He's a 32-year-old Texan still in love with his ex-wife. He just lost his job at Pet-Co for eating cat food. His air-conditioning is broken, there's no good music on the radio, and he's been dreaming about ghost roads...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction low-fantasy magical-realism adult book contemporary dark-fantasy -
Ballad for a Mad Girl by Vikki Wakefield
10 ratingsEveryone knows seventeen-year-old Grace Foley is a bit mad. She’s a prankster and a risk-taker, and she’s not afraid of anything—except losing. As part of the long-running feud between two local schools in Swanston, Grace accepts a challenge to walk the pipe. That night she experiences something she can’t explain. The funny girl isn’t laughing anymore... -
Alice by Christina Henry
29 ratingsA mind-bending new novel inspired by the twisted and wondrous works of Lewis Carroll... In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo the screams of the poor souls inside. In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blond, hangs in tangles down her back... -
I'll Be Watching You by Samuel M. Key, Charles de Lint
8 ratingsIn the early 1990s, Charles de Lint wrote and published three dark fantasy novels under the pen name "Samuel M. Key." Now, beginning with Angel of Darkness and From a Whisper to a Scream and concluding with I'll Be Watching You, Orb presents them for the first time under de Lint's own name.Rachael Sorenson feared she would never escape her ex-husband's abuse... -
Better the Devil You Know by Bey Deckard
8 ratingsNovel (40 000 words) Genre(s): Horror, torture, paranormal, serial killer This is not a romance. Tags: graphic torture, murder, paranormal, forced incest, rape Byron is tall, handsome, well spoken, wealthy, and has outstanding taste in wine and food. You’ll be impressed by his impeccable attire and eloquence in conversation, ranging from Baroque art to the newest advances in pharmacology... -
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Strange Weather by Joe Hill
26 ratingsA collection of four chilling novels, ingeniously wrought gems of terror from the brilliantly imaginative, Joe HillSnapshot is the disturbing story of a Silicon Valley adolescent who finds himself threatened by “The Phoenician,” a tattooed thug who possesses a Polaroid Instant Camera that erases memories, snap by snap.A young man takes to the skies to experience his first parachute jump. . -
Raising Stony Mayhall by Daryl Gregory
16 ratingsIn 1968, after the first zombie outbreak, Wanda Mayhall and her three young daughters discover the body of a teenage mother during a snowstorm. Wrapped in the woman’s arms is a baby, stone-cold, not breathing, and without a pulse. But then his eyes open and look up at Wanda — and he begins to move...Categorized as:
dark action-adventure alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary -
The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce
16 ratingsSam and his friends are like any normal gang of normal young boys—roaming wild around the outskirts of their car-factory town, daring adults to challenge their freedom. Then one day Sam wakes to find the tooth fairy sitting on the edge of his bed—but this is not the benign figure of childhood myth. This is an enigmatic presence that both torments and seduces him, changing his life forever...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century book coming-of-age contemporary dark-fantasy -
Insomnia by J.R. Johansson
16 ratingsHer eyes saved his life.Her dreams released his darkness. After four years of sleeplessness, high school junior Parker Chipp can't take much more. Every night, instead of sleeping, he enters the dreams of the last person he's made eye contact with. If he doesn't sleep soon, Parker will die. Then he meets Mia... -
Where the Trains Turn by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen
6 ratingsI don’t like to think about the past. But I cannot stop remembering my son.Emma Nightingale prefers to remain grounded in reality as much as possible. Yet she’s willing to indulge her nine year-old son Rupert’s fascination with trains, as it brings him closer to his father, Gunnar, from whom she is separated... -
Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle
6 ratingsLucretia’s best friend and upstairs neighbor Sunny—a sweet pitbull of a kid, even as she struggles with a mysterious illness—has gone missing...
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