Science Fiction for intrigue
Dive into the best science fiction books filled with intrigue and suspense. Explore thrilling plots, mysterious worlds, and mind-bending twists in this curated list of top sci-fi reads.
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Exit, Pursued by a Bee
by Geoff Nelder
Exit, Pursued by a Bee is driven by a Southern-belle heroine-astronaut, involves a Palaeolithic mongrel called Kur, Glastonbury Festival chaos, steamy sex in space, a mean-momma loose-cannon journalist and an out-of-control general who'd fix anything by nuking it. They are all involved in the attempt to overcome time-quake calamities created when alien artifacts depart from Earth, oblivious to the chaos they leave behind.
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9Tail Fox
by John Courtenay Grimwood
Bobby Zha is a Sergeant in the San Francisco Police Department. His years on the force have made him numb to the world, and the people around him, including his wife and daughter. His sudden and unexplained murder leaves his family reeling, and the SFPD bewildered. But nobody is more bewildered then Sergeant Zha, when a nine-tailed celestial fox comes to him at the moment of his death, and tells him he has one chance to put things right. Now he’s trying to solve his own murder; trying to understand why he has been resurrected in another man’s body; and trying to repair the shattered pieces of his family’s life. But his time seems to be running out... From the shell-shattered ruins of Stalingrad in 1942 to the present-day politics of San Francisco's Chinatown, 9Tail Fox is evocative of place and crystal-clear in its depiction of character.
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Banner of Souls
by Liz Williams
One of Mars's most elite warriors must travel to Earth, where she is assigned to guard a very special child. The girl's name is Lunae and is grown from a secret genetic code. She alone can breach time's barrier and alter the shape of things to come.
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Adrift in the Oceans of Mercy
by Martin Booth
Space station Mir IV is on day 171 of its mission, encircling the Earth every 89 minutes. Yet, since day 36 it has carried only one passenger, the remaining cosmonaut from a 4-man crew. It is clear that ground control has abandoned his mission and alone among the stars he contemplates his fate.
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Time Travail
by Howard Waldman
Harvey Morgenstern promises a way to beat time, but the cranky genius' time-machine is anything but impressive - a dusty old black-and-white TV in the basement, stuck on one channel and showing a table-leg out of the 1930s, the ghostly image of a conversation between two long-dead women, a pair of dogs in ancient and endless copulation. Harvey promises better things to his penniless assistant, Jerry Weizman: a way to slow down time and project himself back to loved ones . above all back to Rachel Rosen, dead in mysterious circumstances half a century earlier, and loved by both men in their youth. Jerry is sucked into Harvey's obsession and visits the past. But how much of their visions are subjective distortions brought on by drugs, alcohol, yearning or growing mental unbalance? And why has Harvey hired Jerry after decades of estrangement following Rachel's death? Is it to vengefully expose him to the time machine's lethal rays . the same radiation that is killing its inventor?
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Oryx and Crake
by Margaret Atwood
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The first volume in the internationally acclaimed MaddAddam trilogy is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future—from the bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey—with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake—through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.
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2001: a Space Odyssey
by Arthur C. Clarke
The classic science fiction novel that captures and expands on the vision of Stanley Kubrick’s immortal film—and changed the way we look at the stars and ourselves. From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man ventures to the outer rim of our solar system, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a journey unlike any other. This allegory about humanity’s exploration of the universe—and the universe’s reaction to humanity—is a hallmark achievement in storytelling that follows the crew of the spacecraft Discovery as they embark on a mission to Saturn. Their vessel is controlled by HAL 9000, an artificially intelligent supercomputer capable of the highest level of cognitive functioning that rivals—and perhaps threatens—the human mind. Grappling with space exploration, the perils of technology, and the limits of human power, 2001: A Space Odyssey continues to be an enduring classic of cinematic scope.
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Tales of Pirx the Pilot
by Stanisław Lem
In Pilot Pirx, Lem has created an irresistibly likable character: an astronaut who gives the impression of still navigating by the seat of his pants-a bumbler but an inspired one. By investing Pirx with a range of human foibles, Lem offers a wonderful vision of the audacity, childlike curiosity, and intuition that can give humans the courage to confront outer space. Translated by Louis Iribarne. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book