18 books like Illusions

What to read after Illusions — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Blue Hand Edgar Wallace · 1923 · ★ 4.1 · 248p · ≈ 8h · Moderate Jim Steele, a clerk for a prominent London attorney, has the distasteful task of assisting a notorious client, Digby Groat, who stands to inherit the Jonathan Danton fortune. Danton’s infant daughter and closest heir, Dorothy, was thought to have died in a boating accident twenty years ago. Adding to the mystery, Dorothy’s mother, Lady Mary Danton, also disappeared around the same time. Jim… Shares Adventure

The Emperor's candlesticks Baroness Emmuska Orczy · 1908 · 100p · ≈ 3h · Moderate The Emperor's Candlesticks (1899) is a historical novel by Baroness Orczy and was her first book as an author. Shares Adventure

The House Without a Key Earl Derr Biggers · 2015 · 248p · ≈ 8h · Moderate Published in 1925, The House Without a Key introduces the kindly detective Charlie Chan, conceived by Earl Derr Biggers as a counter to the “Yellow Peril” stereotypes common in the era’s society. John Quincy Winterslip, having been sent by his family to convince his aunt to return to Boston, arrives in Honolulu to find that a rich family member with a shady past has been murdered. Detective… Shares Adventure

Piercing the Darkness Frank E. Peretti · 1986 · ★ 4.6 · 441p · ≈ 14h · Moderate The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5 (ESV) It all begins in Bacon’s corner, a tiny farming community far from the interstate. An attempted murder, a suspicious case of mistaken identity, and a ruthless lawsuit against a struggling Christian school threaten the peace of the small town. Sally Beth Roe, a young loner, finds herself in the middle of… Shares Allegories

Terror Keep Edgar Wallace · 1927 · 162p · ≈ 5h · Moderate Mr. J. G. Reeder, employed by the Department of Public Prosecutions, has developed a reputation for solving difficult criminal cases using his unique understanding of human nature, which he calls his “criminal mind.” After a notorious bank robber and murderer escapes from prison, Mr. Reeder must match wits with Crazy John Flack, the “cleverest crook in the world,” who previously vowed to kill the… Shares Adventure

The avenger Edgar Wallace · 1924 · 202p · ≈ 6h · Moderate When a severed head is discovered, Mike Brixan of the Foreign Office is asked to return from Europe and assist in apprehending the murderer, known as “The Headhunter.” The trail leads to Chichester and the set of a motion picture crew located on an English manor. Brixan discovers that the scriptwriter has a connection with both The Headhunter and an unscrupulous neighbor with a history of… Shares Adventure

The door with seven locks Edgar Wallace · 1926 · 184p · ≈ 6h · Moderate As a practical joke, Sub-Inspector Dick Martin, about to retire, is asked to find a stolen library book. Before long, Dick finds himself intrigued by the nature of the book—and the attractiveness of Sybil, the librarian. Now in private practice, Dick accepts a job that requires him to chase an elusive nobleman, Lord Selford, across the world and is subsequently surprised to find that his favorite… Shares Adventure

The Council of Justice Edgar Wallace · 1920 · 153p · ≈ 5h · Moderate The Red Hundred, an anarchist organization led by a woman of unmatched oratorical skill known as the Woman of Gratz, has set its sight on the destruction of several British institutions. The Four Just Men, a band of wealthy gentlemen notorious for punishing those unreachable by conventional justice, appear to be the only group capable of opposing them. After thwarting The Red Hundred’s plans by… Shares Adventure

The secret house Edgar Wallace · 1919 · ★ 3.3 · 161p · ≈ 5h · Moderate A stranger and foreigner arrives at the offices of a small publication in London only to be faced by the “editor” whose face is completely swathed in a veil. Nothing is as it seems, and it quickly becomes evident that both are bent on more than lively gossip about the elite. Blackmail and opportunism is the order of the day. When two men are found shot to death outside the door of Mr. Farrington… Shares Adventure

Room 13 Edgar Wallace · 1920 · ★ 3.5 · 184p · ≈ 6h · Moderate After having spent almost three years in prison Johnny Gray is released, only to be dismayed to find that his ladylove has been pressured by her father, an old friend of his, into marrying another man. Soon after, Johnny discovers that the bridegroom is actually a suspected counterfeiter and the son of a notorious criminal plotting to ruin his friend by exposing his nefarious past. Johnny is… Shares Adventure

The three just men Edgar Wallace · 1929 · ★ 3.3 · 260p · ≈ 8h · Moderate Having recently been pardoned by the British government, the Just Men continue their mission to bring criminals to justice, but now by employing mostly legal means. London has been terrorized with the death of several men connected with Doktor Oberzohn, the head of an international cartel, with the deaths thought to have been caused by an escaped venomous snake. After forming a detective agency,… Shares Adventure

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store James McBride · 2023 · ★ 3.9 · 561p · ≈ 18h · Moderate In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighbourhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared… Shares General fiction

The Mystery of the Strange Messages Enid Blyton · 1969 · ★ 4.2 · 160p · ≈ 5h · Moderate Mr. Goon, the policeman, can't understand it. Messages keep coming to him, popping up all over the place. But who is sending them? He thinks it is Fatty, playing tricks on him but this is the first the Five Find-Outers have heard about the messages. It all becomes a remarkable mystery, and one which the Five just have to solve. Shares Adventure

In black and white Rudyard Kipling · 1880 · 96p · ≈ 3h · Challenging Tales of native life in India, in Oriental style. Shares Adventure

The Garden of Eden

The Garden of Eden Ernest Hemingway · 1986 · ★ 4.0 · 247p · ≈ 8h · Moderate The last uncompleted novel of Ernest Hemingway, published posthumously in 1986, charts the life of a young American writer and his glamorous wife as they explore gender, sexuality, and desire—all while falling in love with the same woman.A sensational bestseller when it appeared in 1986, The Garden of Eden is the last uncompleted novel of Ernest Hemingway, which he worked on intermittently from… Shares Allegories

The tightrope men Desmond Bagley · 1973 · ★ 3.8 · 276p · ≈ 9h · Moderate Giles Denison's life is turned upside down when he awakes to find himself in a luxurious hotel in Oslo and, peering into the bathroom mirror, discovers the face of another man! He has been kidnapped from his flat in London and transformed into famous Finnish scientist, Dr Harold Feltham Meyrick. Compelled to adjust to his new persona (including meeting his daughter) and to play out the role… Shares Adventure

Running blind Desmond Bagley · 1970 · ★ 3.7 · 231p · ≈ 7h · Moderate "It'll be simple", they said at the Department. "You'll just be a messenger boy". But to Alan Stewart, on a deserted road in Iceland with a murdered man at his feet, it looks anything but simple. Someone very ruthless is after the innocent-looking parcel he carries, and Kenniken, a Russian agent with the best of reasons for hating him, has followed him to Iceland. Shares Adventure

The Man Who Knew Edgar Wallace · 1918 · ★ 3.4 · 145p · ≈ 4h · Moderate John Minute, formerly an unscrupulous African mining magnate, has flown to England, but can’t escape his past. Constantly threatened by blackmailers, he fears death and financial ruin. At the suggestion of the commissioner of police, “The Man Who Knows” is hired to assist in determining the source of these threats. But after John is murdered, suspicion is cast on his nephew, who calls on The Man… Shares Adventure

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