Books like 'This Side of Paradise'
Readers who enjoyed This Side of Paradise by Steven L. Layne also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi mystery action / adventure psychological dystopia humor teens family law-enforcement
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Golden in Death by J.D. Robb
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsIn the latest thriller in the #1 New York Times bestselling series, homicide detective Eve Dallas investigates a murder with a mysterious motive―and a terrifying weapon.Pediatrician Kent Abner received the package on a beautiful April morning. Inside was a cheap trinket, a golden egg that could be opened into two halves... -
![Пикник на обочине. Отель «У погибшего альпиниста». Улитка на склоне by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky]()
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... -
![I, Robot by Isaac Asimov]()
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 76 ratingsThey mustn't harm a human being, they must obey human orders, and they must protect their own existence...but only so long as that doesn't violate rules one and two. With these Three Laws of Robotics, humanity embarked on a bold new era of evolution that would open up enormous possibilities - and unforeseen risks...Categorized as:
dystopia law-enforcement 20th-century action-adventure ai alternate-history anthologies audiobook -
![Alive by Courtney Konstantin]()
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... -
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![Heaven's River by Dennis E. Taylor]()
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... -
![Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, Andy Weir]()
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, Andy Weir
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 87 ratingsJason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie—when his reality shatters.- - -'Are you happy in your life?'Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious...Categorized as:
dystopia family 21st-century action-adventure alternate-history alternate-universe audiobook book -
![Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith]()
Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsStark lives in Colour, a neighbourhood whose inhabitants like to be co-ordinated with their surroundings – a neighbourhood where spangly purple trousers are admired by the walls of buildings as you pass them. Close by is Sound, where you mustn’t make any, apart from one designated hour a day when you can scream your lungs raw... -
![默读 by Priest]()
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![Ubik by Philip K. Dick]()
Ubik by Philip K. Dick
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsGlen Runciter runs a lucrative business—deploying his teams of anti-psychics to corporate clients who want privacy and security from psychic spies. But when he and his top team are ambushed by a rival, he is gravely injured and placed in “half-life,” a dreamlike state of suspended animation... -
![Chinamerica.: Survivors of a post-apocalyptic world. by Alice Longo]()
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:
dystopia apocalyptic action-adventure sci-fi post-apocalyptic survival fiction suspense -
![The Horror at Murden Cove by D.D. Black]()
The Horror at Murden Cove by D.D. Black
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA triple homicide. A blind witness. What is the sound of evil?Late one night, two young couples walked to a park in an affluent Bainbridge Island neighborhood to celebrate the sale of their tech startup. The next morning, three mutilated bodies were found.One witness was left alive. Blind from birth, she didn't see anything. But she heard everything... -
![The Doll by Cora Taylor]()
The Doll by Cora Taylor
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsWhile Meg is recovering from rheumatic fever her grandmother gives her the old-fashioned family doll named Jessie, and when Meg falls asleep holding Jessie, she wakes up to discover that she has gone back in time and is now Morag, a girl traveling the Canadian prairies by covered wagon... -
![Deleted by Ruth Mitchell]()
Deleted by Ruth Mitchell
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThree things happen when technophobe Lucy learns to mindhack.1. Her brilliant crush becomes her boyfriend2. Together they solve small crimes.3. She’s deleted from his memory-and everyone else’sNow the only person looking for the college freshman is a mysterious young hacker who erases memories for profit. If he finds her, he will wipe out her memories-or worse... -
![K-Pax by Gene Brewer]()
K-Pax by Gene Brewer
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsImagine a time and space traveler from another planet. One that looks human and exemplifies the ideal world he comes from, a world free from human nature's greed and cruelty. That creature would be "prot", as he calls himself, the newest patient at the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute.Prot seems to know more than he should about faster-than-the-speed-of-light-travel... -
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![The Humans by Matt Haig]()
The Humans by Matt Haig
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 63 ratingsBody-snatching has never been so heartwarming . . .The Humans is a funny, compulsively readable novel about alien abduction, mathematics, and that most interesting subject of all: ourselves. Combine Douglas Adams’s irreverent take on life, the universe, and everything with a genuinely moving love story, and you have some idea of the humor, originality, and poignancy of Matt Haig’s latest novel... -
![Feral Fate by Kendall Talbot]()
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... -
![The Program by Suzanne Young]()
The Program by Suzanne Young
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsIn Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive... -
![Wayward by Blake Crouch]()
Wayward by Blake Crouch
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsWelcome to Wayward Pines, population 461. Nestled amidst picture-perfect mountains, the idyllic town is a modern-day Eden...except for the electrified fence and razor wire, snipers scoping everything 24/7, and the relentless surveillance tracking each word and gesture.None of the residents know how they got here. They are told where to work, how to live, and who to marry...Categorized as:
dystopia law-enforcement action-adventure adult apocalyptic audiobook book contemporary -
![Why You Were Taken by J.T. Lawrence]()
Why You Were Taken by J.T. Lawrence
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsImagine discovering your murdered parents were really your abductors. Then you find out you're on the hit list, too. In tomorrow's world, a troubled woman approaches Kirsten with a warning and a wafer key and is later found dead...Categorized as:
dystopia law-enforcement action-adventure adult audiobook book conspiracies cyberpunk -
![Devil's Pocket by John Dixon]()
Devil's Pocket by John Dixon
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe follow-up to the critically acclaimed Phoenix Island, which reads like "Lord of the Flies meets Wolverine and Cool Hand Luke" (F. Paul Wilson, creator of Repairman Jack) and inspired the CBS TV show Intelligence.With a chip in his head and hundreds more throughout his body, sixteen-year-old Carl Freeman was turned from an orphan with impulse control issues into a super-soldier... -
![Vanquished by S.E. Green]()
Vanquished by S.E. Green
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOne island. Seven deadly sins.*Abducted from their life in Miami, Valerie and her sister wake up in a secret society run by the world's most powerful people. Now "property" of a sadistic tyrant, Valerie joins other captives who are forced to compete in gladiator style fights and to participate in the elite's deviant fantasies... -
![Borderless by Eliot Peper]()
Borderless by Eliot Peper
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsInformation is power, and whoever controls the feed rules the world in this all-too-plausible follow-up to the science fiction thriller Bandwidth.Exiled from Washington after a covert operation gone wrong, Diana is building a new life as a freelance spy, though her obsessive secrecy is driving away the few friends and allies she can count on... -
![After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson]()
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... -
![Slated by Teri Terry]()
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... -
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![The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester]()
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsIn a world in which the police have telepathic powers, how do you get away with murder?Ben Reichs heads a huge 24th century business empire, spanning the solar system. He is also an obsessed, driven man determined to murder a rival. To avoid capture, in a society where murderers can be detected even before they commit their crime, is the greatest challenge of his life...Categorized as:
dystopia law-enforcement 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book classics -
![Contain by Saul W. Tanpepper]()
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 action-adventure apocalyptic book cyberpunk fiction genetic-engineering hard-sci-fi -
![Mad Powers by Mark Wayne McGinnis]()
Mad Powers by Mark Wayne McGinnis
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsRob Chandler, regaining consciousness, realizes he's somehow been involved in a horrendous car accident. In pain and unable to move, he has no memory of his identity, or how the hell he'd gotten on that deserted desert road in the middle of nowhere. He has little time to contemplate his situation when he sees an 18-wheeler barreling down on him... -
![Precisely Terminated by Amanda L. Davis]()
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]()
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... -
![Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle]()
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 Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood]()
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsThe Blind Assassin opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental. But just as the reader expects to settle into Laura's story, Atwood introduces a novel-within-a-novel... -
![The Royal Family by William T. Vollmann]()
The Royal Family by William T. Vollmann
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSince the publication of his first book in 1987, William T. Vollmann has established himself as one of the most fascinating and unconventional literary figures on the scene today...Categorized as:
humor law-enforcement 21st-century action-adventure adult book classics contemporary -
![The Clearing by Shalini Boland]()
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... -
![The Starlight Watchmaker by Lauren James]()
The Starlight Watchmaker by Lauren James
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWealthy students from across the galaxy come to learn at the prestigious academy where Hugo toils as a watchmaker. But he is one of the lucky ones. Many androids like him are jobless and homeless. Someone like Dorian could never understand their struggle - or so Hugo thinks when the pompous duke comes banging at his door...Categorized as:
law-enforcement action-adventure aliens book children children-books fiction friendship -
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![The Castle by Franz Kafka]()
The Castle by Franz Kafka
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 49 ratingsTranslated and with a preface by Mark HarmanLeft unfinished by Kafka in 1922 and not published until 1926, two years after his death, The Castle is the haunting tale of K.’s relentless, unavailing struggle with an inscrutable authority in order to gain access to the Castle... -
![Pattern Recognition by William Gibson]()
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
Rated: 3.91 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsCayce Pollard is an expensive, spookily intuitive market-research consultant. In London on a job, she is offered a secret assignment: to investigate some intriguing snippets of video that have been appearing on the Internet. An entire subculture of people is obsessed with these bits of footage, and anybody who can create that kind of brand loyalty would be a gold mine for Cayce's client...Categorized as:
dystopia law-enforcement 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook book classics -
![Hour of Judgement by Susan R. Matthews]()
Hour of Judgement by Susan R. Matthews
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBurkhayden is a subject colony, leased by the Bench to a Dolgorukij familial corporation for economic exploitation. When a Nurail woman from the service house is brutally raped and beaten, Andrej Koscuisko –- Ship’s Inquisitor on board the Jurisdiction Fleet Ship Ragnarok –- is called upon to render services under contract... -
![Black Hole by Bucky Sinister]()
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... -
![Edge of Destruction by Franklin W. Dixon]()
Edge of Destruction by Franklin W. Dixon
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsVOICE OF DOOMIn the middle of a gala political banquet, Fenton Hardy is kidnapped, Then a mysterious caller outlines his terrifying demand: unless he receives twenty million dollars, Fenton Hardy - along with many thousands of innocent victims - will be infected with a fatal virus...Categorized as:
law-enforcement mystery fiction young-adult children-books action-adventure children sci-fi -
![The Perimeter by Shalini Boland]()
The Perimeter by Shalini Boland
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Perimeter is a darkly captivating dystopian tale of adventure, danger, love and redemption that will have you on the edge of your seat and up at night turning the pages to find out what happens in the end.In this fractured world, a sinister force is coming for Riley, and the only things keeping her safe are a perimeter fence and the people she loves...Categorized as:
dystopia family law-enforcement action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook book domestic-drama -
![The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley]()
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... -
![The Neil Gaiman at the End of the Universe by Arvind Ethan David, Neil Gaiman]()
The Neil Gaiman at the End of the Universe by Arvind Ethan David, Neil Gaiman
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA man awakens, adrift in deep space, with little memory of who he is – only to discover that he is the commander of a space mission; the rest of the crew is gone; and he is apparently a writer of some small renown named Neil Gaiman... -
![A Blind Eye by G.M. Ford]()
A Blind Eye by G.M. Ford
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe rules never mattered much to Frank Corso, rogue reporter, successful true crime writer, and honorable loner with a dangerous edge. The fact that two Texas troopers have a warrant with his name on it means nothing to him -- except run -- which he does in the company of photojournalist Meg Dougherty, his former lover and perhaps one true friend...Categorized as:
law-enforcement mystery fiction crime suspense action-adventure psychological audiobook -
![London 2012 : What If? by Ian C.P. Irvine]()
London 2012 : What If? by Ian C.P. Irvine
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe most imaginative and gripping mystery you may ever read! When James Quinn went to bed last night, everything was as it should be. But when he wakes up the next morning and goes to work, his world has changed... -
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![Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert]()
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsDune Messiah continues the story of the man Muad'dib, heir to a power unimaginable, bringing to completion the centuries-old scheme to create a super-being."Brilliant...It is all that Dune was, and maybe a little bit more... -
![Lexicon by Max Barry]()
Lexicon by Max Barry
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAt an exclusive school somewhere outside of Arlington, Virginia, students aren't taught history, geography, or mathematics--at least not in the usual ways. Instead, they are taught to persuade. Here the art of coercion has been raised to a science...Categorized as:
dystopia humor 21st-century action-adventure audiobook boarding-school book coming-of-age -
![Квест by Boris Akunin]()
Квест by Boris Akunin
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratings"Квест" - новый роман из серии "Жанры", в которой Борис Акунин представляет образцы всевозможных видов литературы, как существующих, так и изобретенных автором.К числу последних относится и "роман-компьютерная игра" - книга, которую можно не только читать, но в которую можно и играть. Этот остросюжетный роман построен по законам и логике компьютерной игры...Categorized as:
law-enforcement 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook book espionage fiction -
![A Long Shadow by David Beckler]()
A Long Shadow by David Beckler
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn this dystopian vision of London, public safety is in private hands—and nobody is beyond the reach of the ‘law’.The constant threat of terrorism has left London under round-the-clock surveillance and in the tightening grip of privatised security firms... -
![The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn]()
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]()
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...
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