100 Books Like The Four

To be honest, I was a little nervous of the blurb given the emphasis on fast cars and hard drugs, but this book ended up being the sweaty, sultry, sexy, Gothic horror book I didn't know I needed, way more dark academia than drag-racing drug-gang. I particularly appreciated the messy and authentic way in which the main character was allowed to grapple with his identity while processing his grief. I quite liked that no explicit labels were ever applied and that there was a more fluid approach to identity and sexuality in this book. So, if you're into slow-burn southern Gothic horror with lush and vivid prose and don’t mind a gruesome ghost or two, this book is for you!

There has to be a Greek or Roman classic on this list if it’s going to feel like dark academia. Homer’s Iliad is great, but I went off the beaten path. I read this collection of dialogues in college, and my favorite is definitely the Phaedo, which recounts Socrates’ death. It’s short, dynamic, and easy to follow. Some philosophy is tough for non-philosophers to wrap their heads around, but Plato’s dialogue style of writing and Socrates’ clear arguments make it easier.

I’m always struck by the contentment Socrates finds, even though his death is unjust. I’ve never forgotten some of the things he says to his friends at the end.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here uses one of my favorite literary devices: dual timelines.

We bounce back and forth between Ambrosia (Amb) Wellington’s freshman year of college and her ten-year college reunion, where she is confronted by the secrets she has been keeping for the last decade. I’m a sucker for dark academia, and this book’s setting felt so real, it could have been my own alma mater.

I love how Megan Abbott combines beautiful writing with deeply chilling subject matter in all of her novels. In this book, she showcases her talent for exploring female ambition, friendship, and rage—that leads to murder.

As a teenager, Diane Fleming’s twisted relationship with both her parents and her drive to succeed is counterbalanced by her yearning for intimacy with her best friend, Kit Owens, the first-person narrator of the novel.

However, when Diane divulges her terrible secret, the aftereffects ripple in Kit’s life. As young women working together in the same science lab, the past catches up with both of them—in the bloodiest ways—binding them closer together. This is a page-turner that focuses on brilliant, passionate, troubled women.

John Keats is one of my all-time favorite poets. It breaks my heart to think of how many poems were left unwritten when he died young. The ones he left behind are melancholy and absolutely gorgeous. The language tastes like chocolate. He’s a master of using sound to evoke nostalgia (for people who care about the mechanics of these things. It’s okay if you don’t.) His poetry speaks for itself. Read one of his poems slowly, and you’ll feel like you’re lying in a moonlit meadow with a glass of wine, pondering eternity. 

Okay, technically, this is not a book. But it is the greatest work in the English language. When I do public speaking, I like to say my ” favorite mystery is Scandinavian.” Everyone nods. “There’s a questionable murder to begin, then a suicide, an attempted kidnapping, and a big fight when the two main characters die.” People nod again. “It’s called Hamlet. Have you ever heard of it?” And everyone laughs. 

I then ask the question: what is the difference between a mystery and a thriller? I believe in a mystery the protagonist is ahead of the reader. (Think classic detective novels such as The Big Sleep). But in a thriller, the audience is ahead of the protagonist. (Think a movie such as Wait Until Dark). In Hamlet, we have both. The first half is a mystery. Was his father really murdered? But in the crucial midpoint,… show more.

Talk about dark academia—what about a lecturer at Harvard Medical College murdering a Harvard graduate? Dr. George Parkman disappeared one day and was only found later, in pieces, and some of those pieces were in the medical school furnace. This book follows the case before CSI could help identify a man’s remains. It explores why, exactly, a man with such a promising future would decide to throw it all away—and how a janitor unlocked the solution made more complex by questions of class and new vs. old money.

Combining vampires, witches, royalty, dark academia, and spice into one book? Sign me up!

I found this book through Katie Wismer's YouTube channel, and it's a relief that I did. The writing style is like none other and sometimes even feels purple prose-y. Another thing I enjoyed was the characters; Valerie stands out in every way and proves it's okay to be different. I found I was rooting for her and her eventual friendships/relationships with the other individuals.

The plot kept me on the edge of my seat while other certain scenes had been gripping my blanket for dear life. I don't think I'll forget this book for a long time...especially not after that ending. 

We’ll start with another novel (there are many) inspired in part by the Leopold and Loeb crime. This one swaps Chicago for Pittsburgh, and changes their mismatch in IQs for a stark class divide.

One of the variations I most enjoy in this retelling is that university students Paul Fleischer and Julian Fromme are both damaged when they meet. Julian is scarred physically from a car crash in his youth, and Paul is still recovering emotionally from the death of his father.

Additionally, since the book is set in the 1970s, their sexual involvement with one another is more explicit than the original story could allow (though it still comes with social stigma).

A captivating work of dark academia and crime, the obsession between these two compels them to court their own ruin.

Told from a total of six perspectives, this book begins with the single most amazing prologue I’ve ever read. We learn that the clairvoyant family members of the FMC have predicted her whole life that one day, she will kill her true love. And it just so happens that a relative has come for a visit and immediately announces that this is the year the FMC will fall in love.

It’s so freaking good!

Of course watching that unfold from both the FMC and the MMC’s POVs kept me flipping pages fast, but I also enjoyed the other friendships, struggles, and romances happening in the other POVs. A solid multi-POV series I frequently recommend!