If you loved The Basic Eight's unreliable narration from Flannery Culp and the way her version of events kept you guessing, you'll be delighted by Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Blue van Meer, the precocious narrator, leads you through a maze of academia, social climbing, and murder, all filtered through her erudite, skewed perspective. The book’s blend of wit, literary references, and shifting truths will keep you on your toes to the very end.

If what drew you to The Basic Eight was Flannery’s sly, self-aware rationalizations and the group’s increasingly dubious morality, you’ll be riveted by The Secret History. Donna Tartt’s classic follows a clique of elite students at a small college as their intellectual games spiral into murder and cover-up, with each member’s ethical boundaries dissolving in shocking ways.

If you appreciated how The Basic Eight fragments and toys with chronology—mixing diary entries, study guides, and flashbacks—A Visit from the Goon Squad will fascinate you. Jennifer Egan’s novel leaps across decades and characters, weaving together interconnected stories in a patchwork of forms, from traditional prose to PowerPoint slides, always keeping you slightly off-balance.

If you enjoyed Flannery Culp’s sharp, sardonic narration and her wry observations about high school life, you’ll appreciate Holden Caulfield’s iconic voice in The Catcher in the Rye. Both narrators pull you into their teen worlds with biting humor and confessional honesty, revealing their vulnerabilities between the lines.

If The Basic Eight’s blend of macabre events and sly, deadpan humor kept you hooked, you’ll relish We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Merricat Blackwood’s oddball narration, the darkly comic family secrets, and the unsettling atmosphere create a similarly delicious fusion of creepiness and wit.