The Twenty Days of Turin
Giorgio De Maria
1977 · 224 pages · Horror
How it reads
The Twenty Days of Turin is horror (literary urban horror, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. It's a slow burn: character-driven, with a payoff that comes from accumulation rather than twists. It rewards attention and suits unhurried reading more than five-minute gaps.
It's set in a big city setting, in the historical past, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are power and politics, secrets and class and society. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is left open, for you to argue about. At 224 pages it's a quick read. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something eerie
- you have time to settle in
- you want something to chew on
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy or heartwarming
- you're reading in five-minute gaps
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- horror
- Author gender
- male
- Author experience
- prolific veteran
- Setting: place
- big city
- Setting: time
- historical
- Mood / feeling
- eerie
- Pace
- slow burn
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- short
- Narrative style
- third person, several viewpoints
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- moderately known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- power and politics, secrets, class and society
- Ending style
- ambiguous
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
- The Shadow at the Bottom of the WorldThomas LigottiShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
The Witching HourAnne RiceShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
Her Fearful SymmetryAudrey NiffeneggerShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn- Wyrd and Other DerelictionsAdam L.G. NevillShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
- The ListenersJordan TannahillShares: eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn, ambiguous ending
- When I Arrived at the CastleE.M. CarrollShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
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