Books like 'Controller'
Readers who enjoyed Controller by Jesse Kellerman also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi mystery psychological dystopia pollution-climate-change solarpunk season-summer post-apocalyptic literary-fiction disaster
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小蘑菇 by 一十四洲
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAn Zhe was a mushroom whose lifelong mission was to raise his own spore.One day, he lost his spore.He searched all over the world for a long time before finally seeing a familiar spore on the news.An Zhe desperately knocked on the door of a colonel in the human military.“Hello, Sir. Did your research turn out well? Can I have my son back after the research?”The colonel looked cold... -
Пикник на обочине. Отель «У погибшего альпиниста». Улитка на склоне by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsСталкер Рэд Шухарт, несущий смерть в мир, где живут его жена и дочь. Инопланетяне, волей или неволей творящие путчи на Земле, и инспектор Глебски, неспособный решить: боги они или сволочи. Прекрасные жрицы партеногенеза из Леса - не убивающие, нет, но делающие живое мертвым… И люди, вершащие суд над всем странным, необычным, не таким как принято... -
Alive by Courtney Konstantin
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsRafe Duncan has been working his family’s compound for years in the event of a global catastrophe-- and doomsday has finally arrived. Both he and Charlie Brewer work at a facility where secret government experiments are carried out, experiments that are classified even to them. Then the plague breaks loose, and hell arrives on earth...Categorized as:
dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook book epidemy female-author -
Heaven's River by Dennis E. Taylor
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsCivil war looms in the Bobiverse in this brand-new, epic-length adventure by best seller Dennis E. Taylor.More than a hundred years ago, Bender set out for the stars and was never heard from again. There has been no trace of him despite numerous searches by his clone-mates. Now Bob is determined to organize an expedition to learn Bender’s fate—whatever the cost... -
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The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsA classic science fiction novel by one of the greatest writers of the genre, set in a future world where one man's dreams control the fate of humanity. In a future world racked by violence and environmental catastrophes, George Orr wakes up one day to discover that his dreams have the ability to alter reality. He seeks help from Dr...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic 20th-century adult aliens alternate-history apocalyptic -
Blindness by José Saramago
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 72 ratingsFrom Nobel Prize–winning author José Saramago, a magnificent, mesmerizing parable of lossA city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" that spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and assaulting women... -
Evil Among Us by J.K. Accinni
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLorna, Jennifer and Seth struggle to reach the Hive amid the chaos of Armageddon... -
The Lathe Of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsWith a new introduction by Kelly Link, the Locus Award–winning science fiction novel by legendary author Ursula K. Le Guin, set in a world where one man’s dreams rewrite the future. During a time racked by war and environmental catastrophe, George Orr discovers his dreams alter reality. George is compelled to receive treatment from Dr...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic 20th-century adult aliens alternate-history apocalyptic -
Apex by Ramez Naam
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsGlobal unrest spreads as mass protests advance throughout the US and China, Nexus-upgraded riot police battle against upgraded protestors, and a once-dead scientist plans to take over the planet's electronic systems. The world has never experienced turmoil of this type, on this scale.They call them the Apex - humanity's replacement. They're smarter, faster, better. And infinitely more dangerous... -
Chinamerica.: Survivors of a post-apocalyptic world. by Alice Longo
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe mighty United States as we know it is gone,taken over by China after an undisclosed apocalyptic war,and giving birth to a dystopian Chinamerica.Jack Stride, a battle-hardened ex-military hero, survived the initial Chinese attack with his son, Zeke, and his new romantic partner, Lyn, only to be captured and thrown into a military work camp...Categorized as:
post-apocalyptic dystopia apocalyptic action-adventure sci-fi survival fiction suspense -
The Time Machine/The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsThe Time Machine and The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras... -
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHumankind discovers intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture, and sets off a high-stakes global competition to dominate the future. Rumors begin to spread of a dangerous species of hyperintelligent octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. The marine biologist Dr...Categorized as:
disaster dystopia literary-fiction pollution-climate-change adult ai animals anthropomorphism -
Feral Fate by Kendall Talbot
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe nightmare is far from over. After surviving the EMP blast that crippled their cruise ship, the exhausted passengers from Rose of the Sea finally reach dry land. But the deserted island has a sinister history, and one wrong step on its sandy shores can mean the difference between life and death.Gunner...Categorized as:
disaster dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult apocalyptic book -
The Ferryman by Justin Cronin
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsFounded by the mysterious genius known as the Designer, the archipelago of Prospera lies hidden from the horrors of a deteriorating outside world. In this island paradise, Prospera's lucky citizens enjoy long, fulfilling lives until the monitors embedded in their forearms, meant to measure their physical health and psychological well-being, fall below 10 percent... -
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After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhat happens when the lights go off after what might truly be an end-of-the-world event? How do you stay alive? Who do you trust? How much do you have to sacrifice?'After the Lights Go Out is a terrifying yet hope-filled story of disaster, deceit, love, sacrifice and survival...Categorized as:
dystopia post-apocalyptic abuse action-adventure apocalyptic book contemporary family -
Pestilence by Victor Methos
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA race against the clock...The most lethal virus in history has begun its spread to the mainland United States. Fast-spreading and with the ability to take over the host's immune system, the pathogen seems unstoppable.A fight for survival...Dr. Samantha Bower of the Centers for Disease Control has encountered the virus before and it nearly cost her her life... -
The Marriage Act by John Marrs
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhat if marriage was the law? Dare you disobey?Britain. The near-future. A right-wing government believes it has the answer to society’s ills — the Sanctity of Marriage Act, which actively encourages marriage as the norm, punishing those who choose to remain single... -
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFirst published to acclaim in Germany, The Wall chronicles the life of the last surviving human on earth, an ordinary middle-aged woman who awakens one morning to find that everyone else has vanished. Assuming her isolation to be the result of a military experiment gone awry, she begins the terrifying work of survival and self-renewal...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic 20th-century action-adventure adult animals apocalyptic -
Outbreak Chaos by Boris Bacic
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHeld in captivity by an evil group, Heather must find a way to save her sister. She’ll learn the hard way that the group doesn’t let people leave without heavy consequences.After narrowly escaping death, James and Angela find refuge in Krista’s house. They think they’re safe for the night. They’re dead wrong, and they realize it too late when they hear scratching inside the closet... -
Atlas Alone by Emma Newman
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHugo Award winner Emma Newman returns to the captivating Planetfall universe with a novel about vengeance, and a woman deciding if she can become a murderer to save the future of humanity.Six months after she left Earth, Dee is struggling to manage her rage toward the people who ordered the nuclear strike that destroyed the world... -
Slated by Teri Terry
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsA riveting psychological thrillerKYLA HAS BEEN SLATED - her memory erased, her personality wiped blank. This is the government's way of dealing with teen terrorists: give them a fresh start as a new person. They teach Kyla how to walk and talk again, give her a new identity and a new family, and tell her to be grateful for this second chance...Categorized as:
dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure alpha-mc amnesia audiobook book coming-of-age -
The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOn an evening in late summer, the great financier Harry Wainwright, nearing the end of his life, arrives at a rustic fishing camp in a remote area of Maine. He comes bearing two things: his wish for a day of fishing in a place that has brought him solace for thirty years, and an astonishing bequest that will forever change the lives of those around him...Categorized as:
literary-fiction season-summer 20th-century adult aging audiobook book coming-of-age -
Contain by Saul W. Tanpepper
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThey thought they were safe. They were wrong.CONTAIN (BUNKER 12 series pilot)Three years. That's how long Finnian Bolles has been hiding inside the impregnable walls of the hydroelectric complex known as Bunker 8. Three years, with enough resources to last him and the other thirty survivors three more...Categorized as:
dystopia post-apocalyptic action-adventure apocalyptic book cyberpunk fiction genetic-engineering -
Baby X by Kira Peikoff
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhen any biological matter can be used to create life, stolen celebrity DNA sells to the highest bidder–or the craziest stalker–in this propulsive thriller.With a vivid imagining of the future, Gattaca meets Black Mirror in Kira Peikoff’s Baby X... -
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Precisely Terminated by Amanda L. Davis
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWith microchips implanted in their skulls at birth, the slaves of Cantral and Cillineese have labored under the tyrannical rule of the Nobles and their computers for decades. Monica, a Noble who avoided the implanting and escaped a death sentence at the age of four, is now sixteen and is in hiding... -
Burnout by Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCutter Dunn is a ghost. Unchipped and unregistered he exists as a nonperson, living off-the-grid, unrecognized by the facial recognition software built into every smart glass device that provides everyone with everything they want and need. According to the official system, he doesn't even exist... -
20 Minutes To Go Viral by Daniel Hurst
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSomething is spreading in the peaceful town of Amberfall. Something that threatens the whole of humanity. Something is going viral. 20 Minutes. 20 People. 20 stories that will make you want to stay inside and never greet another human being again. This is a short novella about a viral outbreak in a small town in the Lake District and shows how quickly disease can spread amongst the population...Categorized as:
literary-fiction dystopia fiction suspense mystery 21st-century psychological sci-fi -
Bewilderment by Richard Powers
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAstrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos, invents planets every night for a bedtime story. He raises Robin, 9, after a car crash took their Aly. The family is strict vegetarians, Theo tells us each dish.Robin is bright, but full of anger that explodes in a flash. He suffers over animals tortured, killed to feed humans...Categorized as:
disaster dystopia literary-fiction pollution-climate-change 21st-century adult animals audiobook -
Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsBefore you see the movie, read the original novel! First published more than thirty-five years ago, Pierre Boulle's chilling novel launched one of the greatest science fiction sagas in motion picture history, from the classic 1968 movie starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell, through four sequels and two television series . . . and now the newest film adaptation directed by Tim Burton... -
The Clearing by Shalini Boland
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn the ravaged future, children are disappearing.Riley lives safely behind her Perimeter Fence,but soon she’ll have to confront the terrible truth of what’s happening outside. An old enemy is approaching. Threatening to extinguish her way of life.To save herself, Riley must fight to save another. She must put herself in the last place she ever wanted to be.This is the terrifying sequel to OUTSIDE... -
One of the Boys by Jayne Cowie
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIf you could test your son for a gene that predicts violence, would you do it?Antonia and Bea are sisters, and doting mothers to their sons. But that is where their similarities end.Antonia had her son tested to make sure he didn’t possess the "violent" M gene.Bea refuses to let her son take the test. His life should not be determined by a positive or negative result... -
Uncanny by Sarah Fine
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsTwo sisters. One death. No memories.Cora should remember every detail about the night her stepsister, Hannah, fell down a flight of stairs to her death, especially since her Cerepin—a sophisticated brain-computer interface—may have recorded each horrifying moment. But when she awakens after that night, her memories gone, Cora is left with only questions—and dread of what the answers might mean... -
A Better World by Sarah Langan
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe author of Good Neighbors , “one of the creepiest, most unnerving deconstructions of American suburbia” (NPR), returns with a provocative and disconcerting novel about a woman questioning her new home in an exclusive company town after a night out goes terribly wrong.Welcome to Plymouth Valley... -
The Unfamiliar Garden by Benjamin Percy
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe night the sky fell, Jack and Nora Abernathy’s daughter vanished in the woods. And Mia’s disappearance broke her parents’ already fragile marriage. Unable to solve her own daughter’s case, Nora lost herself in her work as a homicide detective...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult aliens audiobook book -
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Black Hole by Bucky Sinister
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThere are no old drug addicts. That's what everyone says, at least. So how did Chuck get to his forty-third birthday and find himself still neck-deep in this scene? He knows he's the creepy old guy with the drugs or the guy who's too old to be at the party doing everyone else's drugs, but if it ain't broke ... Well, he manages to make it to work at the dwarf whale distributor every day... -
The Registration by Madison Lawson
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsYou can’t outrun the RegistrationImagine it’s legal to commit one murder in your lifetime–if you Register the victim and accomplish the kill within fourteen days. So when Lynell Mize stands in line to Register the man who abused her as a child, she’s shocked to hear a stranger Register her to be killed... -
Meet Me at Blue Hour by Sarah Suk
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets Past Lives in this gripping, emotional story of two childhood friends navigating the fallout of one erasing their memory of the other, from acclaimed author Sarah Suk.Seventeen-year-old Yena Bae is spending the summer in Busan, South Korea, working at her mom’s memory-erasing clinic...Categorized as:
season-summer literary-fiction asia east-asia south-korea romance young-adult sci-fi -
Thrill Switch by Tim Hawken
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDetective Ada Byron is pumped to finally be assigned her first murder case... until she sees the crime scene. Someone has been killed exactly the same way as her father was seven years earlier.To see if this is a copycat, or something more sinister, Ada must work with her personal nightmare Jazlin Switch - the programmer who murdered her dad... -
Don't Worry, Darling by Carey Van Dyke, Shane Van Dyke
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDon't Worry, Darling is a psychological thriller about a 1950s housewife whose reality begins to crack, revealing a disturbing truth underneath. This screenplay featured in the 2019 Black List, and is now in development with Olivia Wilde attached as director. Wilde will also appear in the film alongside Florence Pugh, Chris Pine, Shia LaBeouf and Dakota Johnson... -
The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsHow far would you go to protect your family?Ann Brooks never thought she’d have to answer that question. Then she found her limits tested by a crisis no one could prevent. Now, as her neighborhood descends into panic, she must make tough choices to protect everyone she loves from a threat she cannot even see...Categorized as:
disaster dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook book -
The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn this mind-bending novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Miracles, a young mother and her unconventional psychiatrist encounter strange dimensions of the human mind and love as they try to understand the eerie things that are happening to Jane...Categorized as:
literary-fiction sci-fi fiction mystery contemporary audiobook psychological mental-illness -
Calypso's Guest by Andrew Sean Greer
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA bargain with the gods throws two men together in a timeless short story of adventure and unrequited love inspired by The Odyssey by Andrew Sean Greer, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Less . A man in exile, banished to a planet far from home and cursed with immortality, discovers that a ship has crash-landed near his settlement. After two hundred years, his heart’s desire has come true... -
Five Minds by Guy Morpuss
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsONE BODY. FIVE MINDS. ONE KILLER.The Earth's growing population has finally been controlled. Lifespans are limited to eighty years, except for those who make an extreme choice: to become a commune. Five minds sharing one body, living for four hours at a time. But with a combined lifespan of nearly 150 years.Alex, Kate, Sierra, Ben and Mike are a commune...Categorized as:
dystopia post-apocalyptic adult alternate-history amateur-sleuth book crime cyberpunk -
Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDystopian debut about a tech company that deletes unwanted memories, the consequences for those forced to contend with what they tried to forget, and the dissenting doctor who seeks to protect her patients from further harm...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction adult audiobook book contemporary fiction genetic-engineering -
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Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsJason Tavener woke up one morning to find himself completely unknown. The night before he had been the top-rated television star with millions of devoted watchers. The next day he was just an unidentified walking object, whose face nobody recognised, of whom no one had heard, and without the I.D. papers required in that near future...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book classics -
The Compound by Aisling Rawle
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsYou wake up in a compound in the middle of the desert, along with nine other women.All of you are young, all beautiful, all keen to escape the grinding poverty, political unrest and environmental catastrophe of the outside world.You realise that cameras are tracking your every move, broadcasting to millions of reality TV fans.Soon, ten men will arrive on foot – if they all survive the journey... -
The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsImagine a drug that makes your brain function with perfect efficiency, tapping into your most fundamental resources of intelligence and drive, releasing all the passive knowledge you'd ever accumulated. A drug that made you focused, charming, fast, even attractive. Eddie Spinola is on such a drug. It's called MDT-48, and it's Viagra for the brain-a designer drug that's redesigning his life... -
House of Stairs by William Sleator
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOne by one, five sixteen-year-old orphans are brought to a strange building. It is not a prison, not a hospital; it has no walls, no ceiling, no floor. Nothing but endless flights of stairs leading nowhere, except back to a strange red machine. The five must learn to love the machine and let it rule their lives...Categorized as:
dystopia post-apocalyptic season-summer 20th-century action-adventure book children children-books -
Plague by Lisa C. Hinsley
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA new strain of bubonic plague is diagnosed in London. Before it can be contained it spreads through the population, faster and more deadly than anyone could have imagined. Three weeks is all it takes to decimate the country.Johnny tells Liz not to phone the NHS when their young son starts to show symptoms... -
The Body Snatchers (Stephen King Horror Library) by Jack Finney, Stephen King
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsThis edition of Finney's horror classic contains an introduction by Stephen King as well as a modernized text...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens apocalyptic
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