The times online has three fun lists about novels: 10 Spectacular second novels, 10 Cursed second novels, and 10 Literary one-hit wonders.
The Beautiful and Damned – F.Scott Fitzgerald
He confirmed the reputation won with This Side of Paradise two years earlier. The Beautiful and Damned was the Jazz Age chronicler’s first great novel, published by Scribner (who will publish Audrey Niffenegger’s second) in 1922. His third was The Great Gatsby.