Books like 'Failed State'
Readers who enjoyed Failed State by Christopher Brown also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical sc-fi alternate history mystery dystopia solarpunk suspense near-future legal crime
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Saving Time by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsLife is good for Team Weird, now heroes and fully fledged Time Police officers. Luke can't wait to bear arms. Jane has a date. And Matthew still hasn't had his hair cut.But Time waits for no one and neither do criminal masterminds. A major threat to the Timeline is looming, one far deadlier than mere idiots who want to change history... -
![Hard Time by Jodi Taylor]()
Hard Time by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsA time slip in Versailles, problems in the Ice Age and illegal time travellers in need of rescue. Must be a job for the Time Police. Luke, Jane and Matthew are back and ready to cause havoc, inadvertently or otherwise, in their latest adventures, moving towards the end of their grunt work and towards becoming fully fledged Time Police officers... -
![11/22/63 by Stephen King]()
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 79 ratingsOn November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Stephen King’s heart-stoppingly dramatic new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination—a thousand page tour de force... -
![What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by Jodi Taylor]()
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsMax is back! New husband, new job, and a training regime that cannot fail – to go wrong! Take one interim Chief Training Officer, add five recruits, mix with Joan of Arc, a baby mammoth, a duplicitous Father of History, a bombed rat, Stone Age hunters, a couple of passing policemen who should have better things to do, and Dick the Turd...Categorized as:
near-future suspense action-adventure adult alpha-mc alternate-history alternate-universe audiobook -
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![An Argumentation of Historians by Jodi Taylor]()
An Argumentation of Historians by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsBehind the seemingly innocuous facade of St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, a different kind of academic work is taking place. Just don’t call it “time travel”―these historians “investigate major historical events in contemporary time.” And they aren’t your harmless eccentrics either; a more accurate description, as they ricochet around history, might be unintentional disaster-magnets...Categorized as:
near-future suspense action-adventure adult alpha-mc alternate-history audiobook book -
![Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor]()
Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe eleventh book in the bestselling Chronicles of St Mary's series. If you love Jasper Fforde, Ben Aaronovitch or Doctor Who, you won't be able to resist Jodi Taylor.You know what they say. Hope for the best. But plan for the worst.Catch up with the tea-soaked disaster magnets in their latest madcap adventure as they hurtle their way around History...Categorized as:
dystopia suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book female-author -
![Lies, Damned Lies, and History by Jodi Taylor]()
Lies, Damned Lies, and History by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 34 ratings'I've done some stupid things in my time. I've been reckless. I've broken a few rules. But never before have I ruined so many lives or left such a trail of destruction behind me.'As Max would be the first to admit, she's never been one for rules. They tend to happen to other people. But this time she's gone too far and everyone is paying the price...Categorized as:
near-future suspense action-adventure adult alpha-mc alternate-history alternate-universe angst -
![No Time Like The Past by Jodi Taylor]()
No Time Like The Past by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsThe fifth book in the bestselling British madcap time-travelling series, served with a dash of wit that seems to be everyone’s cup of tea.Behind the seemingly innocuous facade of St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, a different kind of academic work is taking place. Just don’t call it “time travel”—these historians “investigate major historical events in contemporary time...Categorized as:
dystopia near-future suspense action-adventure adult alpha-mc alternate-history audiobook -
![A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor]()
A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThe third book in the bestselling British madcap time-travelling series, served with a dash of wit that seems to be everyone’s cup of tea.Behind the seemingly innocuous facade of St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, a different kind of academic work is taking place. Just don’t call it “time travel”—these historians “investigate major historical events in contemporary time...Categorized as:
near-future politics suspense action-adventure adult alpha-mc alternate-history audiobook -
![The System of the World by Neal Stephenson]()
The System of the World by Neal Stephenson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsThe System of the World, the third and concluding volume of Neal Stephenson's shelf-bending Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver and The Confusion), brings the epic historical saga to its thrilling - and truly awe-inspiring - conclusion...Categorized as:
crime politics suspense 21st-century action-adventure adult alchemy alternate-history -
![The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal]()
The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsMary Robinette Kowal continues her award-winning Lady Astronaut series, which began with The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky, with The Relentless Moon.The Earth is coming to the boiling point as the climate disaster of the Meteor strike becomes more and more clear, but the political situation is already overheated. Riots and sabotage plague the space program...Categorized as:
apocalyptic crime dystopia political-intrigue politics suspense action-adventure adult -
![A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor]()
A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsSt Mary’s is back and is facing a battle to survive in this, the fourth instalment of the Chronicles. Max and Leon are re-united and looking forward to a peaceful lifetime together. But, sadly, they don’t even make it to lunchtime...Categorized as:
near-future suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history alternate-universe audiobook book -
![Executed by R.R. Haywood]()
Executed by R.R. Haywood
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe team of heroes extracted from their timelines to stop the impending apocalypse didn’t think they needed a leader.But they’ve got one anyway.With their mission in tatters, Miri has been called in to steady the ship. And to focus them on their assignment: preventing the end of the world.The problem is, the world doesn’t know it’s in danger...Categorized as:
apocalyptic crime dystopia suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook -
![Doing Time by Jodi Taylor]()
Doing Time by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsIntroducing The Time Police, the brand-new series by international bestselling author, Jodi Taylor - an irresistible spinoff from the much-loved Chronicles of St Mary's series. Perfect reading for fans of Doctor Who, Terry Pratchett and Jasper Fforde. 'The best way to describe this book: lots of fun' British Fantasy Society'Inventive and entertaining..Categorized as:
crime suspense action-adventure alternate-history alternate-universe audiobook book comedy -
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![The Gangster by C.S. Poe]()
The Gangster by C.S. Poe
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratings1881—Special Agent Gillian Hamilton, magic caster for the Federal Bureau of Magic and Steam, has recovered from injuries obtained while in Shallow Grave, Arizona. Now back in New York City, Gillian makes an arrest on New Year’s Eve that leads to information on a gangster, known only as Tick Tock, who’s perfected utilizing elemental magic ammunition... -
![The Carnelian Crow by Colleen Gleason]()
The Carnelian Crow by Colleen Gleason
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEver since the debacle of the Chess Queen Enigma, Mina Holmes and Evaline Stoker have laid low, trying to settle back into their quiet lives as young ladies of London. But the Holmesian deductive abilities won't remain dormant for long, and when Mina receives a strange package from a winged, midnight visitor, she is catapulted into a new, dangerous adventure: the search for The Carnelian Crow... -
![A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor]()
A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBook Two in the madcap time-travel series based at the St Mary's Institute of Historical Research that seems to be everyone's cup of tea...Categorized as:
crime near-future suspense 21st-century action-adventure adult alpha-mc alternate-history -
![The Jackal’s House by Anna Butler]()
The Jackal’s House by Anna Butler
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSequel to The Gilded ScarabSomething is stalking the Aegyptian night and endangering the archaeologists excavating the mysterious temple ruins in Abydos. But is it a vengeful ancient spirit or a very modern conspiracy…... -
![The Very First Damned Thing by Jodi Taylor]()
The Very First Damned Thing by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEver wondered how it all began?It’s two years since the final victory at the Battersea Barricades. The fighting might be finished, but for Dr Bairstow, just now setting up St Mary's, the struggle is only beginning... -
![The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey]()
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn an alternate world where nobody won WWII, three brothers are the only boys left in an orphanage whose dark secret is the reason for their existence—and the key to their survival—from the acclaimed author of Pet.After a very different outcome to WWII than the one history recorded, 1979 England is a country ruled by a government whose aims have sinister underpinnings and alliances...Categorized as:
dystopia crime europe british-isles united-kingdom england fiction historical-fiction -
![The Mayan Prophecy by Alex Scarrow]()
The Mayan Prophecy by Alex Scarrow
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsLiam O’Connor should have died at sea in 1912.Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010.Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026.But all three have been given a second chance—to work for an agency that no one knows exists. Its purpose: to prevent time travel destroying history..Categorized as:
dystopia action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book children-books fiction historical -
![High Cotton by Joe R. Lansdale]()
High Cotton by Joe R. Lansdale
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis collection of Joe R. Lansdale stories represents the best of the “Lansdale” genre—a strange mixture of dark crime, even darker humor, and adventure tales. The stories are varied in setting and theme, but they are all pure Lansdale—eerie, amusing, and occasionally horrific. In “The Pit,” modern gladiators square off against one another using Roman methods...Categorized as:
apocalyptic crime suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history anthologies drama -
![A Girl in Time by John Birmingham, Vanessa Johansson]()
A Girl in Time by John Birmingham, Vanessa Johansson
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsThe past is another country. A dangerous one. On the eve of a huge, breakout success, a poor but brilliant young game developer is pulled out of her world, and time itself, by a cowboy desperately searching for the daughter he lost two hundred years ago. Cady McCall is ready to be rich and famous. She’s sacrificed everything, putting her work ahead of family and friends... -
![The Chess Queen Enigma by Colleen Gleason]()
The Chess Queen Enigma by Colleen Gleason
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAnd then she mouthed a word at me—an unmistakable word that told me everything I needed to know. “Checkmate.”Evaline Stoker & Mina Holmes have reluctantly agreed to act as social chaperones and undercover bodyguards for Princess Lurelia of Betrovia, who has arrived in London to deliver a letter that details the secret location of an ancient chess queen that’s been missing for centuries... -
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![The Queen Is Dead by Kate Locke]()
The Queen Is Dead by Kate Locke
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNothing lasts forever---and immortality isn't all its cracked up to be.When her brother Val gets in over his head in an investigation of Half-Blood disappearances and goes missing himself, it's up to Xandra, newly crowned Goblin Queen, to get him back and bring the atrocities to light... -
![Time's Divide by Rysa Walker]()
Time's Divide by Rysa Walker
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Cyrists are swiftly moving into position to begin the Culling, and Kate’s options are dwindling. With each jump to the past or the future, Kate may trigger a new timeline shift. Worse, the loyalties of those around her—including the allegiances of Kiernan and the Fifth Column, the shadowy group working with Kate—are increasingly unclear...Categorized as:
dystopia suspense action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book female-author female-mc -
![Time's Edge by Rysa Walker]()
Time's Edge by Rysa Walker
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTo stop her sadistic grandfather, Saul, and his band of time travelers from rewriting history, Kate must race to retrieve the CHRONOS keys before they fall into the Cyrists' hands. If she jumps back in time and pulls the wrong key--one that might tip off the Cyrists to her strategy--her whole plan could come crashing down, jeopardizing the future of millions of innocent people... -
![Time and Time Again by Ben Elton]()
Time and Time Again by Ben Elton
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIt’s the 1st of June 1914 and Hugh Stanton, ex-soldier and celebrated adventurer is quite literally the loneliest man on earth. No one he has ever known or loved has been born yet. Perhaps now they never will be.Stanton knows that a great and terrible war is coming. A collective suicidal madness that will destroy European civilization and bring misery to millions in the century to come...Categorized as:
dystopia political-intrigue politics suspense 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure adult -
![Gates of Rome by Alex Scarrow]()
Gates of Rome by Alex Scarrow
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsLiam O’Connor should have died at sea in 1912.Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010.Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026.But all three have been given a second chance—to work for an agency that no one knows exists. Its purpose: to prevent time travel destroying history..Categorized as:
dystopia action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book children-books fiction historical -
![Hatshepsut's Collar by A.W. Exley]()
Hatshepsut's Collar by A.W. Exley
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 23 ratings"Loving you is easy, it's living with you that's killing me."An ancient Egyptian artifact is driving Queen Victoria insane, and that's not top of Cara Devon's growing list of problems.Viscount Nathaniel Lyons is a man of numerous secrets, but there is one in particular that threatens his fledgling relationship with Cara... -
![Skykeep by Joseph R. Lallo]()
Skykeep by Joseph R. Lallo
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt has taken some adjustment, but Nita Graus has made quite a home for herself among the crew of the Wind Breaker. Under her skillful care it has become one of the only airships to stay aloft without the continuous repair and oversight of the vile and manipulative fug folk...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia action-adventure alpha-mc alternate-history audiobook book female-mc -
![The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine, Tee Morris]()
The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine, Tee Morris
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsCertainly no strangers to peculiar occurrences, agents Wellington Books and Eliza Braun are nonetheless stunned to observe a fellow passenger aboard Britain's latest hypersteam train suddenly vanish in a dazzling bolt of lightning. They soon discover this is not the only such disappearance - every case inexplicably unexamined by the Crown...Categorized as:
crime political-intrigue suspense action-adventure alpha-mc alternate-history audiobook book -
![The Defector by Chris Hadfield]()
The Defector by Chris Hadfield
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIsrael, late 1973. As the Yom Kippur War flares into life, a state-of-the-art Soviet MIG fighter is racing at breakneck speed over the arid scrublands below . . . and promptly disappears...Categorized as:
crime political-intrigue fiction historical-fiction audiobook sci-fi mystery espionage -
![Devils Unto Dust by Emma Berquist]()
Devils Unto Dust by Emma Berquist
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsLife out here is hard. So you have to be harder.Willie has always survived. No matter what life in Glory, Texas, has thrown at her. The sickness that swept through the state and turned most living creatures into terrifying shakes. Her own mother succumbing to the disease. Her father disappearing into saloons and gambling and liquor. Willie survives...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia suspense action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book coming-of-age -
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![Polostan by Neal Stephenson]()
Polostan by Neal Stephenson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe first installment in Neal Stephenson’s three-part Bomb Light cycle, Polostan follows the early life of the enigmatic Dawn Rae Bjornberg. Born in the American West to a clan of cowboy anarchists, Dawn is raised in Leningrad after the Russian Revolution by her Russian father, a party line Leninist who re-christens her Aurora...Categorized as:
politics crime political-intrigue fiction historical-fiction sci-fi historical audiobook -
![The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North]()
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 58 ratingsSome stories cannot be told in just one lifetime. Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia suspense 21st-century action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book -
![The Engineer by C.S. Poe]()
The Engineer by C.S. Poe
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratings1881—Special Agent Gillian Hamilton is a magic caster with the Federal Bureau of Magic and Steam. He’s sent to Shallow Grave, Arizona, to arrest a madman engineer known as Tinkerer, who’s responsible for blowing up half of Baltimore. Gillian has handled some of the worst criminals in the Bureau’s history, so this assignment shouldn’t be a problem...Categorized as:
crime legal action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book enemies-to-lovers -
![West by Lizzy Ford]()
West by Lizzy Ford
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIf you could change history, would you?College graduate Josephine “Josie” Jackson answers ‘yes’ to the question on a survey while visiting an Old West tourist trap. The next morning, she wakes up in Indian Territory in the 1840s, where she’s given a mission to complete before she can return to her time: to reset history by finding and stopping the man responsible for a horrific massacre... -
![1635: Music and Murder by David Carrico]()
1635: Music and Murder by David Carrico
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratings1635: Murder and Music.Music . . .It's been said that musicians live for the next new sound. Well, the musicians of Europe were presented with the biggest new sound ever when the Ring of Fire brought the future back to 1631... -
![Theater of Spies by S.M. Stirling]()
Theater of Spies by S.M. Stirling
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe second novel in an alternate history series where Teddy Roosevelt is president once more right before WWI breaks out, and on his side is the Black Chamber, a secret spy network watching America's back... -
![The 9/11 Machine by Greg Enslen]()
The 9/11 Machine by Greg Enslen
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsASIN moved from less recent edition hereDr. Donald Ellis lost his family on 9/11. But while others grieved, or plotted revenge, Dr. Ellis threw himself into a long-dormant research project. He traded his lab at the University of New York for an ugly riverfront warehouse in Brooklyn... -
![The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield]()
The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsAn exceptional debut thriller and “exciting journey” into the dark heart of the Cold War and the space race from New York Times bestselling author and astronaut Chris Hadfield (Andy Weir, author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary). 1973: a final, top-secret mission to the Moon. Three astronauts in a tiny spaceship, a quarter million miles from home. A quarter million miles from help...Categorized as:
crime political-intrigue politics suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history amateur-sleuth -
![Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson]()
Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPressed into service when World War II breaks out in the Pacific, the USS Walker---a Great-War vintage "four-stacker" destroyer---finds itself in full retreat from pursuit by Japanese battleships. Its captain, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Patrick Reddy, knows that he and his crew are in dire straits...Categorized as:
dystopia suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history alternate-universe -
![Heart of Iron by Bec McMaster]()
Heart of Iron by Bec McMaster
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn Victorian London, if you’re not a blue blood of the Echelon then you’re nothing at all. The Great Houses rule the city with an iron fist, imposing their strict ‘blood taxes’ on the nation, and the Queen is merely a puppet on a string…Lena Todd makes the perfect spy...Categorized as:
crime dystopia political-intrigue suspense action-adventure adult alpha-mc alternate-history -
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![Beauty and the Clockwork Beast by Nancy Campbell Allen]()
Beauty and the Clockwork Beast by Nancy Campbell Allen
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsJane Eyre meets Beauty and the Beast. When Lucy Pickett arrives at Blackwell Manor to tend to her ailing cousin, Kate, she finds more than she bargained for. A restless ghost roams the hallways, werewolves have been reported in the area, and vampires lurk across the Scottish border. Lord Miles himself is clearly hiding a secret...Categorized as:
dystopia suspense action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book fairy-tale female-author -
![A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard]()
A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPerfect for fans of Libba Bray's The Diviners and Cassandra Clare's The Infernal Devices series, this spellbinding sequel to Something Strange and Deadly delivers a mix of supernatural forces and intense romance, set against the enchanting backdrop of nineteenth-century Paris.With her brother dead and her mother insane, Eleanor Fitt is alone...Categorized as:
dystopia suspense action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book dark dark-fantasy -
![The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross]()
The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn 1897 London, something not quite human is about to awaken... When mechanical genius Emily is kidnapped by rogue automatons, Finley Jayne and her fellow misfits fear the worst. What's left of their archenemy, The Machinist, hungers to be resurrected, and Emily must transplant his consciousness into one of his automatons—or forfeit her friends' lives... -
![The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man by Mark Hodder]()
The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man by Mark Hodder
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIt is 1862, though not the 1862 it should be. . . . Time has been altered, and Sir Richard Francis Burton, the king’s agent, is one of the few people who know that the world is now careening along a very different course from that which Destiny intended... -
![A Web of Air by Philip Reeve]()
A Web of Air by Philip Reeve
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTwo years ago, Fever Crumb escaped the war-torn city of London in a travelling theatre. Now she arrives in the extraordinary crater city of Mayda, where buildings ascend the cliffs on funicular rails, and a mysterious recluse is building a machine that can fly. Fever is the engineer he needs - but ruthless enemies will kill to possess their secrets...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book children female-mc -
![Divide and Conquer by Carrie Ryan]()
Divide and Conquer by Carrie Ryan
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsScholastic's next multi-platform mega-event begins here!Dak, Sera, and Riq might be in over their heads when they attempt to stop a Viking invasion!Hundreds of ships carrying thousands of warriors are laying siege to medieval Paris. The Parisians are holding their own, but the stalemate can only last so long...Categorized as:
dystopia suspense action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book children children-books
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