The Outsider by Albert Camus

Yes! I have just read the first line of the entry for this book in "1001 Books to Read ...". It states: "The Outsider is a novel of absolute flatness." I couldn't have put it better myself. Quite bizarre ... the reader learns about the death of the narrator's mother, his relationship with a girl, his sort-of relationship with a neighbour, into whose life he becomes involved because it might sort of seem rude not to, although that would insinuate some sort of feeling of which there appears to be none, a murder occurs, a trial, an execution looms ... all dispassionately accounted, blankly, without emotion or apparent interest. Very strange book to read ...

A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene

I always enjoy a Graham Greene book, and this one was no exception, although I have read better. Querry arrives at a leproserie in the Congo, wanting simply to be away from his old life. He's bored with life. The priests mostly let him get on with it, just being, but an expat (or "colon") discovers who he is - "the" Querry - and gets involved being a busybody. Poor Querry.

There is an underlying theme of belief and non-belief, and an interesting, if quite bizarre, ending.