10 Books Spiritually Like Taylor Sheridan’s Gritty Westerns, Crime Dramas and Moral Conflicts
A dark Appalachian family story
David Joy’s Where All the Light Tends to Go centers on a young man forced to work in his abusive father’s rural Appalachian meth ring. He must decide whether to remain with his family or escape with his first love.
The novel became the 2023 film Devil’s Peak, starring Billy Bob Thornton and Robin Wright. The film was poorly received and failed at the box office, while the book’s rural setting, harsh realism and themes of generational trauma recall elements of Sheridan’s work.
A perilous Western romance
In Amy Harmon’s Where the Lost Wander, Naomi, a newly widowed artist, meets John, a half-Pawnee guide, on the Overland Trail in 1853. Their relationship unfolds amid the dangers of the journey.
The novel shares qualities with Sheridan’s 1883, including a view of the wilderness as threatening rather than romantic. Harmon’s lyrical, melancholy style shapes a story that challenges familiar myths of the Wild West.
Oil and industrial power
Upton Sinclair’s Oil! follows the son of a wealthy California oil tycoon as he comes of age during the 1920s oil boom. He struggles between his father’s exploitation and his growing concern for workers.
The novel loosely inspired Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood. Its depiction of a lawless industrial frontier may also appeal to fans of Sheridan’s Landman and Yellowstone.
A thriller beyond the Western
Terry Hayes began his career as an Australian journalist and later made his screenwriting debut with Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. His first novel, I Am Pilgrim, appeared in 2013.
The story follows Pilgrim, a retired American secret agent drawn back into service. He must pursue a radicalized doctor who is planning a catastrophic bioterrorist attack against the United States, a premise suited to readers of Sheridan’s non-Western work such as Lioness.
Key points
- Where All the Light Tends to Go follows a young man trying to escape an abusive family’s meth operation.
- Where the Lost Wander sets a romance against the dangers of the 1853 Overland Trail.
- Oil! examines exploitation and class conflict during California’s 1920s oil boom.
- I Am Pilgrim follows a retired agent pursuing a doctor planning a bioterrorist attack.