Hello, first post here.
It's been a while since a book has knocked me on my ass. I usually read non fiction and comic books. I would like to step into fiction, but I'm not sure where to start.
I usually enjoy stories that are down to earth, violent, gritty and set in the modern-ish era. I enjoy morally-gray characters operating at different levels of scumbag. I like when characters have flaws and are vulnerable. Noir, Pulp, Neo-Westerns usually check most of these boxes, so I tend to go in this direction, but I'm honestly open to pretty much anything. I'm super open to short stories and anthology works, but I do enjoy long formats too.
I hate common tropes and predictable outcomes. I like to be surprised. Hence why I like stories where good and bad guys aren't easily distinguishable. I'm not against horror and sci-fi works, but I didn't have a good run so far in these genres (Lovecraft just doesn't do it for me I'm afraid. A Canticle for Leibowitz didn't either). Really not into medieval/fantastic work.
Here is a couple of work of fiction I especially enjoyed from different mediums, maybe that might help you people to figure out what I'm looking for, I'm not even sure myself.
Books:
-First Blood
-No Country for Old Men
-The Road
-Unknown Soldiers
-The Warriors
Comics:
-100 Bullets
-Blacksad
-DMZ
-The Punisher (Garth Ennis run)
-Scalped
-Sheltered
-Southern Bastards (probably the best comic series I've ever read)
Movies:
-Hell of High Water
-No Country for Old Men
-Old Henry
-Sicario
-The Town
-Wind River
There, I hope my request is complete enough. I'm really looking forward to reading your suggestions. Thank you very much.
by Ready_Volume_8043