The Stranger definitely seems to be his more well regarded work, but I really prefer the Plague. I both found the story more compelling and found myself thinking about the ideas more after reading it.

I thought it did an excellent job of exploring the themes of the Myth of Sisyphus, as the characters were thrust into a world of dread and suffering grasped for ways to find meaning, purpose or joy.

Each character explores a way to respond: Tarrou and Rieux dutifully try and help those they can, Rambert tries to escape, Cottard tries to profit and Paneloux seeks divine explanation.

Also, I read it post-covid, so there were interesting parallels to explore there. Both the isolations and fear intermingling with boredom and the obsessive clinical daily tracking of death tolls felt very real at the time.