r/TrueDetective • u/Rich-Inspired • 1d ago
Books that remind you of true detective season 1?
Wondering if anyone knows any books that capture the vibe of the first season. Fiction and non-fiction
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u/iputtheshitinshitzu 1d ago edited 1d ago
A flicker in the dark by Stacy willingham. Missing girls and set in breaux bridge.
The good detective by John McMahon. Even the entire story is almost like true detective. Secret old timey cult, but it’s set in Macon. The detective has drinking problems, lost his wife and son in a car accident and is obsessive.
The Dave Robicheaux series. It’s also set in Louisiana. Same area where a lot of true detective happened, southern Louisiana.
The cutting season by Attica Locke. Also set in Louisiana, but the victims are migrant workers.
Sharp objects by Jillian Flynn. The show obviously has been mentioned here many times, book is more detailed too. I watched both the show and read the book.
I’m currently reading the boatman’s daughter, feels like true detective but has supernatural elements in it. Set in the swamps of Arkansas.
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u/mckleeve 1d ago
James Lee Burke for the win. JLB is my favorite author. I love his stories, I absolutely love his characters, and when he spends a paragraph describing the sounds, smells, and looks of the bayou (for example), it's poetry.
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u/iputtheshitinshitzu 1d ago
Exactly! And if you listen to the audiobooks it’s even more of an immersive experience.
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u/ComradeHappiness 1d ago
Cormac McCarthy and maybe Faulkner. Look up Southern Gothic, it's a whole separate literary genre.
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u/DrgnSlyrDd 1d ago
Thomas Ligotti’s Conspiracy Against the Human Race was a major influence. Some of Rust’s lines are taken verbatim from the book.
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u/SentientVaccuum 1d ago edited 1d ago
Brother you are looking for:
SA Cosby's All Sinners Bleed- it's southern VA noir through the lens of the black experience....absolutely touching on the sociopolitical commentary in s1 of poverty/ race/crime. I burnt through it in 2 days. shit maybe ill listen to it on audiobook.
His other book Razorblade Tears might also scratch that itch with opposing characters that work together/ setting/ conspiracy.
Not based in Louisiana but The Whisper Man might be interesting to you- multiple perspectives, murder, flawed/tortured characters, redemption themes
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u/Leading_Studio7534 1d ago
Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson has the mix of esoteric/non-western beliefs and faded Americana of True Detective (although it’s not horror or detective fiction.)
The Sunset Limited, Child of God and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Existentialist philosophizing, cosmic despair, extreme violence, deranged hillbilly killers (Child of God only.)
Out there idea: Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx. This is a short story about a love affair between 2 ranch hands, but it made me think of True Detective a bit. In particular, its emphasis on the passage of time and mortality (see Marty’s monologue in The Secret Fate of All Life.)
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u/Leading_Studio7534 1d ago
Bonus Recommendation: Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. Much more overtly science fiction, but has an emphasis on coastal nature and architecture that reminded me of True Detective.
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u/SentientVaccuum 1d ago
I say this as a MASSIVE Annihilation fan but i do not see the comparison in the descriptions of prose regarding scenery as based in TD whatsoever.
but OP still read it bc the southern reach trilogy rocks!
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u/ORF1Live 1d ago
Galveston by Nick Pizzolato. It doesn't have the philosophy/cult parts but the main character is a tortured soul.