Authors "who fall somewhere between Umberto Eco and Dan Brown"?
April 5, 2020 8:33 AM Subscribe
A close relative is looking for novels to read, and asked me to ask Metafilter if anyone knows of any authors who fall "somewhere between Umberto Eco and Dan Brown." He suggested that people would know what he meant by that, but I am available to pass any clarifying questions along as needed.
Hmmm! Atmospheric mysteries that combine history and philosophy in an intelligent but not opaque way, eh?
One book I read recently and thought was amazing was Karen Maitland's Company of Liars. Not a ton of philosophy, but some; and incredibly suspenseful and atmospheric. Far more approachable than Eco, but really well told and smart.
None of the other books of hers I've picked up subsequently have been quite as good.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:46 AM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
One book I read recently and thought was amazing was Karen Maitland's Company of Liars. Not a ton of philosophy, but some; and incredibly suspenseful and atmospheric. Far more approachable than Eco, but really well told and smart.
None of the other books of hers I've picked up subsequently have been quite as good.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:46 AM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Iain Pears An Instance of the Fingerpost perhaps. John Crowley's AEgypt might also appeal.
posted by crocomancer at 8:50 AM on April 5, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by crocomancer at 8:50 AM on April 5, 2020 [5 favorites]
Arturo Perez Reverte? I feel like The Club Dumas is basically what you'd get if Dan Brown wrote Foucault's Pendulum.
posted by zeptoweasel at 8:53 AM on April 5, 2020 [16 favorites]
posted by zeptoweasel at 8:53 AM on April 5, 2020 [16 favorites]
Very much agree that Arturo Perez-Reverte is a great start here. A more Dan-Brown-leading author would be Brad Meltzer who writes good historicalish mystery type books that are good reads. The Culper Ring series has some good American history in it.
A few other options, I tend to like bookish mysteries.
- The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell
- The Codex by Douglas Preston
- The Geographer’s Library by Jon Fasman
- The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (would strongly NOT suggest the book after that one)
posted by jessamyn at 9:09 AM on April 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
A few other options, I tend to like bookish mysteries.
- The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell
- The Codex by Douglas Preston
- The Geographer’s Library by Jon Fasman
- The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (would strongly NOT suggest the book after that one)
posted by jessamyn at 9:09 AM on April 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
Lemprière's Dictionary, by Lawrence Norfolk
posted by Segundus at 9:25 AM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Segundus at 9:25 AM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Q, by Luther Blissett.
The chapters are short, like Dan Brown's, at least.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 9:31 AM on April 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
The chapters are short, like Dan Brown's, at least.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 9:31 AM on April 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
Tim Powers, who mostly writes speculative fiction that slips through the cracks in real history. Good starting points are Declare and Last Call.
posted by zamboni at 9:32 AM on April 5, 2020 [10 favorites]
posted by zamboni at 9:32 AM on April 5, 2020 [10 favorites]
Possibly The Magus by John Fowles, although it's been quite a long time since I read it.
posted by bricoleur at 10:08 AM on April 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by bricoleur at 10:08 AM on April 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
Maybe The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny. The other books in the series are great too but have totally different subject matter.
posted by Red Desk at 10:12 AM on April 5, 2020
posted by Red Desk at 10:12 AM on April 5, 2020
Katherine Neville, The Eight. She has other books in the same vein but this is the standout. Chess, Charlegmagne, the French Revolution, codes and a lot more.
posted by PussKillian at 10:18 AM on April 5, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by PussKillian at 10:18 AM on April 5, 2020 [6 favorites]
This is a great question. I'd suggest The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
and Cloud Atlas or The Thousand Autumns of Jacob deZoet by David Mitchell
posted by Mchelly at 10:23 AM on April 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
and Cloud Atlas or The Thousand Autumns of Jacob deZoet by David Mitchell
posted by Mchelly at 10:23 AM on April 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
They should read The Crying of Lot 49. It's a similar story to Foucalt's Pendulum (Eco) and The DaVinci Code (Brown), but perhaps waaaaaay at the Eco end of the spectrum. It's short though, unlike either of the other two.
I came to recommend David Mitchell as well. Many of his books inhabit a universe that includes the themes that your relative has seen in Eco and Brown, and they wrap together nicely in The Bone Clocks
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:36 AM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
I came to recommend David Mitchell as well. Many of his books inhabit a universe that includes the themes that your relative has seen in Eco and Brown, and they wrap together nicely in The Bone Clocks
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:36 AM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
I too vote for Perez Reverte.
posted by praemunire at 10:49 AM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by praemunire at 10:49 AM on April 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Nthing the Fingerpost. That is a phenomenal book, and it's nice and long so perfect for pandemic times.
posted by BlahLaLa at 11:01 AM on April 5, 2020
posted by BlahLaLa at 11:01 AM on April 5, 2020
The Secret of Fatima is a lot of fun and somehow believably crosses a Catholic Priest with James Bond. Reads quick like Dan Brown but has decent historical exposition à la Eco.
posted by Lucubrator at 11:19 AM on April 5, 2020
posted by Lucubrator at 11:19 AM on April 5, 2020
The Professor and the Madman has that kind of feel, but is a true story.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and The City of Falling Angels are similar, but somewhat more sensationally told. All are great reads.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:16 PM on April 5, 2020
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and The City of Falling Angels are similar, but somewhat more sensationally told. All are great reads.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:16 PM on April 5, 2020
Robertson Davies's Cornish Trilogy (The Rebel Angels and What's Bred in the Bone for sure, and to a lesser extent The Lyre of Orpheus) haven't been mentioned yet. They're a little lighter in tone than Brown and Eco but works of medieval and Renaissance art play important parts and there are motifs of tarot and astrology.
I would agree with Arturo Perez Reverte, particularly The Club Dumas (substantially different than the movie) and The Flanders Panel. Tim Powers's work is in the same vein (complicated, portentous historical mysteries) but definitely has a fantasy/magic element that may or may not be OK with your friend.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 4:59 PM on April 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
I would agree with Arturo Perez Reverte, particularly The Club Dumas (substantially different than the movie) and The Flanders Panel. Tim Powers's work is in the same vein (complicated, portentous historical mysteries) but definitely has a fantasy/magic element that may or may not be OK with your friend.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 4:59 PM on April 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
Oh yeah and if you want to get wrapped up in a series, there's a pretty good series by Daniel Silva about Gabriel Allon, an Israeli assassin/art restorer, which has a lot of interesting tours through Italy, Israel, the US and some other places and has a lot of interesting art derails. It comes from a very specific political place (Allon works for Israeli intelligence, there can be some othering of some Arab concerns though it's not anti-Palestine) but if that might work with your relative's tastes there are a lot of books, they're decently good, and I feel like they hit a middle point that they are looking for. Here's a link to a description of the first book which gives you a sense of it.
posted by jessamyn at 9:39 AM on April 6, 2020
posted by jessamyn at 9:39 AM on April 6, 2020
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posted by warriorqueen at 8:44 AM on April 5, 2020 [2 favorites]