The 30 greatest dystopian books

One title on Forbes's list of the thirty greatest dystopian books of all time:

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (2017)

A novel that marries the dystopian and Magical Realism genres, Exit West explores the lengths people will go through to escape political turmoil. The narrative unfurls as a couple meets and marries in the Middle East, and as their country descends into chaos, learn of a magical door that can transport them to a new territory—for a price. The couple discover the true cost of freedom as the new world becomes victim to many of the issues they thought they had escaped from in this moving political allegory. This book is recommended for readers of complex political thrillers, lovers of magical realism and slow burning dystopias.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Exit West is among Ore Agbaje-Williams's seven top books featuring very complicated friendships, Gian Sardar's eight of the best novels about war-torn love, C Pam Zhang's top ten novels about moving and Helen Phillips's six notable novels involving alternate realities.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top books about conspiracy theories

James Ball is the Global Editor at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Previously special projects editor at The Guardian and special projects editor at BuzzFeed UK, James played a key role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the NSA leaks by Edward Snowden, as well as the offshore leaks, HSBC Files, Reading the Riots and Keep it in the Ground projects.

At WikiLeaks he was closely involved in Cablegate - the publication of 250,000 classified US embassy cables in 2010 - as well as working on two documentaries based on the Iraq War Logs.

Ball is the author of The Other Pandemic: How QAnon Contaminated the World.

At the Guardian he tagged five of the best books about conspiracy theories, including:

Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK by Gerald Posner

Most Americans believe that Lee Harvey Oswald didn’t act alone when he killed John F Kennedy – but this book should change their minds. It’s both meticulously reported and pacy as a thriller, and if it doesn’t convince you of the truth of the Kennedy assassination, nothing will.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Case Closed is among Allen Barra's five top JFK assassination books.

Also see Colin Dickey's ten brilliant books to understand conspiracy thinking and Anna Merlan's five of the best books on conspiracy theories in America.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven sport novels about more than athleticism

Adrian Markle is the author of the novel Bruise and many short stories. Originally from Canada, he now lives with his partner in Cornwall, UK, where he teaches English and Creative Writing at Falmouth University.

"[S]port novels are never only about sport," Markle claims.

As sport exists as a product of our political and politicized cultures, so then do explorations and depictions of it. Stories about sport are also stories about class, gender, race, identity, mental health, disability, or collective vs individual identity (though probably not all of them all at once).

At Electric Lit the author tagged seven contemporary novels about sport. One title on the list:

Breath by Tim Winton

Breath is a classic coming of age story. Pikelet is a loner. Too intellectual to fit in with the country kids, too low class to fit in with the city kids, he floats around alone until he meets another outcast, Loonie, the local wild boy, with whom he becomes best friends and surfing buddies. Eventually, the two of them fall in with Sando, an enigmatic and reclusive surfing guru, and his wife Eva, an angry and distant former athlete suffering from a chronic injury. Those relationships push the boys farther than they thought possible—no matter how dangerous that might be. Pikelet, Loonie, Sando, and Eva’s story is one of shifting loyalties and single-minded pursuits that have lifelong consequences. The descriptions of the surfing in particular paint it as something beautiful and powerful, terrible, and almost mystical.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Breath is among Renata Salecl's five top books on modern misery.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six iconic thrillers set in Italy

Tom Hindle hails from Leeds and lives in Oxfordshire with his wife, a cat and two surprisingly cunning tortoises.

He is the author of A Fatal Crossing, The Murder Game, and Murder on Lake Garda – which were inspired by masters of the crime genre such as Agatha Christie and Anthony Horowitz.

At the Waterstones blog Hindle tagged six favorite thrillers set in Italy, as is Murder on Lake Garda. One title on the list:

The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths

The tenth mystery in Elly Griffiths's brilliant Dr Ruth Galloway series, this particular outing sees Ruth travel to Italy at the request of a local archaeologist, who is eager for her help with a collection of bones he’s discovered in a rural village. With her daughter and a friend in tow, Ruth finds herself investigating a mystery that stretches all the way back to the war years. But it seems there are secrets someone will kill to protect, and when a fresh murder is committed, it quickly becomes clear that this once-dormant mystery may yet prove deadly.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Also see John Hooper's top ten books about Italy.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five of the best feminist caper stories

Tess Amy was born in Johannesburg but now enjoys a nomadic lifestyle, living between Europe and South Africa. She holds a master’s degree from The Durban University of Technology, is an outdoor enthusiast, animal lover and unfaltering optimist.

The Confidence Games is her debut contemporary fiction novel. She also writes historical fiction as T.A. Willberg.

At CrimeReads Amy tagged five "favorite feisty feminist caper stories," including:

The Housekeepers by Alex Hay

Set in 1905, London, this is the only historical caper I’ve come across recently and its unique setting really gives it a stand-out edge. With humour, gutsy characters and twists galore, this book is a gem. Historical fiction has always been my favourite genre to read (followed closely by thrillers and contemporary crime), and when done well—as in The Housekeepers—these stories offer insight and perspective into the ways humanity has changed (for better or worse) over the past decades and centuries.

The Housekeepers tells the tale of Mrs King, who, after being fired from her position as head housekeeper at Mayfair’s finest home, recruits a ragtag group of women to help her pull off a grand heist in the name of revenge.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten books about women colliding with wild creatures

Julia Phillips is the author of the bestselling novels Bear and Disappearing Earth, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and one of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the Year. A 2024 Guggenheim fellow, she lives with her family in Brooklyn.

[Writers Read: Julia Phillips (June 2019)]

At Electric Lit Phillips tagged ten books in which

the women who meet wild creatures, both animal and mythical, are often trapped in their own lives. Domestic drudgery rules. They’re homemakers, caretakers, wives and mothers and daughters and sisters who are struggling against the limitations imposed on them. When they meet a beast, though, they are able to get to a previously inaccessible wildness. They break away from human rules, a strictly human world, and into something other—something extraordinary, something free. The beast outside provokes the transformation within.

One title on the list:

Chouette by Claire Oshetsky

This poetic and wonderfully odd story is about a woman who gives birth to an owl. Everyone around the main character, Tiny, is shocked, even repulsed, but Tiny adores her dear, bizarre little bird. And thanks to the strength of the writing, we readers completely understand why. Oshetsky’s artistic vision here is unparalleled. I could not get enough.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Fifteen books about Appalachia

In 2020 at Book Riot Kendra Winchester tagged fifteen books in "the rich tradition of Appalachian literature," including:

When These Mountains Burn by David Joy

When These Mountains Burn features two men deeply impacted by the opioid crisis in Appalachia. In this work of Appalachian Noir, Joy proves a master storyteller, and once you’ve finished this book, you’ll be heading to the bookstore to pick up his backlist.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Also see Kaytie Norman's seven eye-opening books about Appalachia and Katie Pickard Fawcett's five favorite books of Appalachia.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight thrillers & horror novels set at terrible summer camps

Molly Odintz is the managing editor for CrimeReads and the editor of Austin Noir, now available from Akashic Books. She grew up in Austin and worked as a bookseller before becoming a Very Professional Internet Person. She lives in central Texas with her cat, Fritz Lang.

At CrimeReads Odintz tagged eight top thrillers and horror novels set at terrible summer camps, including:

Liz Moore, The God of the Woods

Liz Moore’s Long Bright River was a spectacular pivot to crime for Liz Moore and her new one should cement her reputation. It’s a great summer read about missing children at a summer camp, with a tinge of “all of this has happened before” looming around the edges. Reading this felt like discovering Tana French’s In the Woods—and not just because of the “child disappeared in the woods” angle, but because it’s unputdownable and thrillingly constructed.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven novels about brilliant freaks

Jane Flett is a Scottish writer who lives in Berlin. Her debut novel is Freakslaw.

Flett's fiction has been commissioned for BBC Radio 4 and features in Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading. She is a recipient of the Scottish Book Trust New Writer Award, the New Orleans Writing Residency and the Berlin Senate Stipend for non-German literature. Her work has also been Highly Commended in the Bridport Prize and performed at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

At Electric Lit Flett tagged seven favorite novels about brilliant freaks, including:

Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis

It’s November 2008 when the monster dogs arrive in Manhattan by helicopter. Biomechanically engineered by a mad Prussian surgeon, these dogs walk upright, dine with silver cutlery balanced in their prosthetic hands, and talk intelligently through mechanical voice boxes. They are deeply uncanny, but New York has always been a city that embraces oddballs, and so the monster dogs quickly become reluctant celebrities, appearing on chat shows and hosting lavish balls. The story is told through various forms: newspaper articles, diary entries, even an opera libretto. I didn’t know I needed to read an opera written by a dog until I got my hands on this bizarre and brilliant novel, but I did, and so do you. It is perfect in every way.

Read about the other novels on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five of the best body horror novels

Monika Kim is a second-generation Korean-American living in Los Angeles’ Koreatown.

In her first novel, The Eyes are the Best Part, she writes:

Ji-won is a seemingly normal college student whose life unravels after her father’s departure and the arrival of her mother’s creepy new Caucasian boyfriend, George. After eating a fish eye for luck during a traditional Korean meal, Ji-won develops a morbid obsession with George’s blue eyes, culminating in acts of violence that confront the white male gaze in a very literal fashion.

At the Guardian Kim tagged five favorite titles for readers who "have the intestinal fortitude for body horror tales." One novel on the list:

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Yeong-hye is stuck in a nightmare. Against her family’s wishes, she has become a vegetarian. When her family physically forces her to eat meat, they set in motion a series of events that will change her life for ever. Han Kang’s writing is beautiful and evocative, and her ambitious novel tackles mental illness, consent, misogyny and autonomy.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Vegetarian is among Adam Biles's top ten allegories, M. S. Coe's eleven titles about women on the brink, and Amy Sackville's ten top novels about painters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six creepy novels about stalking & obsession

Born and raised in North London, S.B. Caves is the international bestselling author of A Killer Came Knocking and I Know Where She Is, which The Sun described as "sinister, unsettling and gripping."

His new high concept thriller is Honeycomb.

Caves now lives in South London with his wife and two sons.

At CrimeReads the author tagged six creepy novel about stalking and obsesson "with some of the most twisted plots and even more twisted antagonists." One titele on the list:

The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura

There is something oddly dreamy and effortlessly troubling about this short but memorable novel by Natsuko Imamura. The story is told from the perspective of our narrator, The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan, as she slips into a deep and seemingly motiveless infatuation with her new colleague, whom she refers to as The Woman in the Purple Skirt. What unravels is a subtle study of loneliness; our narrator is apparently unaware of how bizarre and downright creepy her spying becomes, as she shadows the subject of her curiosity through the mundane minutiae of their work as housekeepers at a hotel, before invading the most intimate aspects of her private life. The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan’s behavior, while never overtly threatening, is precisely unsettling because of how normal she makes her stalking seem. There is an unrelenting persistence to her observations that go mostly unnoticed throughout, yet the thought of someone dedicating all their energy and mental bandwidth to an unwitting participant is truly chilling.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

The best books with kickass women characters

James L’Etoile is a former associate warden in a maximum-security prison, hostage negotiator, facility captain, and director of California’s state parole system, and he uses his twenty-nine years “behind bars” as an influence in his award-winning novels, short stories, and screenplays. His novels include Dead Drop, Black Label, At What Cost, Bury the Past, and Little River.

Face of Greed is his latest novel and the first book in the Detective Emily Hunter Mystery Series.

At Shepherd L’Etoile five favorite books with kickass women characters, including:

Death in the Family by Tessa Wegert

Secrets always intrigue me. Shana Merchant has secrets, and she’s spent years running from them. Shana’s past writhes around her like a poisonous vine. She can’t break free from it, and if she’s not careful, it will suffocate everything around her.

The first book in this series establishes Shana as a smart, once-successful big-city cop, but this isn’t a simple redemption story. I found Shana’s path over the course of this series insightful as she tries to overcome PTSD after being held by a serial killer—not just any serial killer. The connection between the two blew me away and it threads through the series.

Fantastic characters, immersive settings, and tight plots drew me into this series, and I’m waiting for more.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Q&A with Tessa Wegert.

--Marshal Zeringue