10 Best SF Mystery Books Set in Future Societies!
There ain't nothing like a good SF mystery book to pique your interest and pull you into a universe like no other. You know, those kinds that transport you into the distant future, where societies are as mind-bending as they are compelling. Yeah, that's the stuff. We're talking about novels that perfectly blend advanced technology, civilizations so far from our reality, and a mystery that'll keep you hooked, page after page.
Whether you're a die-hard fan of science fiction already or just a mystery lover looking for a twist, this list right here is going to rock your reading world. We've hunted down and compiled 10 of the best SF mystery books, all set in future societies. Each pick won’t just show you an unpredictable future; they'll drop you smack dab in the middle of riveting conundrums.
So, strap yourself in. You're about to journey to societies in the future that might be dystopian, utopian, or somewhere in-between – but they're always 100% fascinating. Each mystery will be unlike anything you've unraveled before. Ready your reading glasses, and settle in. This is your ticket to the future, and believe us, it's a crazy, exciting ride. Grab a hold of it!
『Scythe』
"In a world where disease has been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed ('gleaned') by professional reapers ('scythes'). Two teens must compete with each other to become a scythe--a position neither of them wants. The one who becomes a scythe must kill the one who doesn't"--
Author | Neal Shusterman |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Simon and Schuster |
Release Date | Nov 22, 2016 |
Source | Google Books |
『Altered Carbon』
MAJOR NEW NETFLIX SERIES This must-read story is a confident, action-and-violence packed thriller, and future classic noir SF novel from a multi-award-winning author. Four hundred years from now mankind is strung out across a region of interstellar space inherited from an ancient civilization discovered on Mars. The colonies are linked together by the occasional sublight colony ship voyages and hyperspatial data-casting. Human consciousness is digitally freighted between the stars and downloaded into bodies as a matter of course. But some things never change. So when ex-envoy, now-convict Takeshi Kovacs has his consciousness and skills downloaded into the body of a nicotine-addicted ex-thug and presented with a catch-22 offer, he really shouldn¿t be surprised. Contracted by a billionaire to discover who murdered his last body, Kovacs is drawn into a terrifying conspiracy that stretches across known space and to the very top of society.
Author | Richard Morgan |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | |
Release Date | Jan 30, 2018 |
Source | Google Books |
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Author | |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | |
Release Date | |
Source | Google Books |
『Finch』
From Jeff VanderMeer, the author of Borne and Annihilation, comes the paperback reissue of his cult classic Finch. In a deserted tenement in an occupied city, two dead bodies lie on a dusty floor as if they have fallen out of the air. One corpse is cut in half, the other is utterly unmarked. One is human, the other isn’t. The city of Ambergris is half ruined, rotten, its population controlled by narcotics, internment camps, and acts of terror. But its new masters want this case closed, urgently. Detective John Finch has just one week to solve it or be sent to the camps. With no ID for the victims, no clues, no leads, and precious little hope, Finch’s fate hangs in the balance. But there is more to this case than meets the eye. Enough to put Finch in the crosshairs of every spy, rebel, informer, and traitor in town. Under the shadow of the eldrich tower the occupiers are raising above the city, Finch is about to come face-to-face with a series of mysteries that will change him and Ambergris forever. Why does one of the victims most resemble a man thought to have been dead for a hundred years? What is the murders’ connection to an attempted genocide nearly six hundred years ago? And just what is the secret purpose of the occupiers’ tower?
Author | Jeff VanderMeer |
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Price | $12.99 |
Publisher | Picador |
Release Date | Jan 11, 2022 |
Source | Google Books |
『The Intuitionist』
This debut novel by the two time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys wowed critics and readers everywhere and marked the debut of an important American writer. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. It is a time of calamity in a major metropolitan city's Department of Elevator Inspectors, and Lila Mae Watson, the first black female elevator inspector in the history of the department, is at the center of it. There are two warring factions within the department: the Empiricists, who work by the book and dutifully check for striations on the winch cable and such; and the Intuitionists, who are simply able to enter the elevator cab in question, meditate, and intuit any defects. Lila Mae is an Intuitionist and, it just so happens, has the highest accuracy rate in the entire department. But when an elevator in a new city building goes into total freefall on Lila Mae's watch, chaos ensues. It's an election year in the Elevator Guild, and the good-old-boy Empiricists would love nothing more than to assign the blame to an Intuitionist. But Lila Mae is never wrong. The sudden appearance of excerpts from the lost notebooks of Intuitionism's founder, James Fulton, has also caused quite a stir. The notebooks describe Fulton's work on the "black box," a perfect elevator that could reinvent the city as radically as the first passenger elevator did when patented by Elisha Otis in the nineteenth century. When Lila Mae goes underground to investigate the crash, she becomes involved in the search for the portions of the notebooks that are still missing and uncovers a secret that will change her life forever. Look for Colson Whitehead’s new novel, Crook Manifesto, coming soon!
Author | Colson Whitehead |
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Price | $11.99 |
Publisher | Anchor |
Release Date | May 23, 2012 |
Source | Google Books |
『Station Eternity』
Amateur detective Mallory Viridian’s talent for solving murders ruined her life on Earth and drove her to live on an alien space station, but her problems still follow her in this witty, self-aware novel that puts a speculative spin on murder mysteries, from the Hugo-nominated author of Six Wakes. From idyllic small towns to claustrophobic urban landscapes, Mallory Viridian is constantly embroiled in murder cases that only she has the insight to solve. But outside of a classic mystery novel, being surrounded by death doesn’t make you a charming amateur detective, it makes you a suspect and a social pariah. So when Mallory gets the opportunity to take refuge on a sentient space station, she thinks she has the solution. Surely the murders will stop if her only company is alien beings. At first her new existence is peacefully quiet…and markedly devoid of homicide. But when the station agrees to allow additional human guests, Mallory knows the break from her peculiar reality is over. After the first Earth shuttle arrives, and aliens and humans alike begin to die, the station is thrown into peril. Stuck smack-dab in the middle of an extraterrestrial whodunit, and wondering how in the world this keeps happening to her anyway, Mallory has to solve the crime—and fast—or the list of victims could grow to include everyone on board….
Author | Mur Lafferty |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Penguin |
Release Date | Oct 04, 2022 |
Source | Google Books |
『The Water Knife』
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A "fresh, genre-bending thriller” (Los Angeles Times) set in the near future when water is scarce and a spy, a hardened journalist and a young Texas migrant find themselves pawns in a corrupt game. "Think Chinatown meets Mad Max." NPR, All Things Considered In the near future, the Colorado River has dwindled to a trickle. Detective, assassin, and spy, Angel Velasquez “cuts” water for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, ensuring that its lush arcology developments can bloom in Las Vegas. When rumors of a game-changing water source surface in Phoenix, Angel is sent south, hunting for answers that seem to evaporate as the heat index soars and the landscape becomes more and more oppressive. There, he encounters Lucy Monroe, a hardened journalist with her own agenda, and Maria Villarosa, a young Texas migrant, who dreams of escaping north. As bodies begin to pile up, the three find themselves pawns in a game far bigger and more corrupt than they could have imagined, and when water is more valuable than gold, alliances shift like sand, and the only truth in the desert is that someone will have to bleed if anyone hopes to drink.
Author | Paolo Bacigalupi |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Vintage |
Release Date | Apr 05, 2016 |
Source | Google Books |
『The City Inside』
A Best SFF of 2022 pick by The Washington Post | Book Riot | Quill to Live The City Inside, a near-future epic by the internationally celebrated Samit Basu, pulls no punches as it comes for your anxieties about society, government, the environment, and our world at large—yet never loses sight of the hopeful potential of the future. “They'd known the end times were coming but hadn’t known they’d be multiple choice.” Joey is a Reality Controller in near-future Delhi. Her job is to supervise the multimedia multi-reality livestreams of Indi, one of South Asia’s fastest rising online celebrities—who also happens to be her college ex. Joey’s job gives her considerable culture power, but she’s too caught up in day-to-day crisis handling to see this, or to figure out what she wants from her life. Rudra is a recluse estranged from his wealthy and powerful family, now living in an impoverished immigrant neighborhood. When his father’s death pulls him back into his family’s orbit, an impulsive job offer from Joey becomes his only escape from the life he never wanted. But as Joey and Rudra become enmeshed in multiple conspiracies, their lives start to spin out of control—complicated by dysfunctional relationships, corporate loyalty, and the never-ending pressures of surveillance capitalism. When a bigger picture begins to unfold, they must each decide how to do the right thing in a world where simply maintaining the status quo feels like an accomplishment. Ultimately, resistance will not—cannot—take the same shape for these two very different people. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Author | Samit Basu |
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Price | $11.99 |
Publisher | Tordotcom |
Release Date | Jun 07, 2022 |
Source | Google Books |
『Leech』
"[Leech] is The Thing meets The Alienist . . . beautifully written and so strangely humane . . . I will follow this writer anywhere going forward." —Gillian Flynn, New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl A surreal and horrifying debut, Hiron Ennes's Leech defies our understanding of identity, heredity, and bodily autonomy. The RUSA Best Horror Novel of 2023! Finalist for the British Fantasy Newcomer Award! An October "Great Reads" Indie Next Pick! A Wall Street Journal Best Book! “A wonderful new entry to Gothic science fiction, impeccably clever and atmospheric. Think Wuthering Heights... with worms!”—Tamsyn Muir MEET THE CURE FOR THE HUMAN DISEASE In an isolated chateau, as far north as north goes, the baron’s doctor has died. The doctor’s replacement has a mystery to solve: discovering how the Institute lost track of one of its many bodies. For hundreds of years the Interprovincial Medical Institute has grown by taking root in young minds and shaping them into doctors, replacing every human practitioner of medicine. The Institute is here to help humanity, to cure and to cut, to cradle and protect the species from the apocalyptic horrors their ancestors unleashed. In the frozen north, the Institute's body will discover a competitor for its rung at the top of the evolutionary ladder. A parasite is spreading through the baron's castle, already a dark pit of secrets, lies, violence, and fear. The two will make war on the battlefield of the body. Whichever wins, humanity will lose again. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Author | Hiron Ennes |
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Price | $11.99 |
Publisher | Tordotcom |
Release Date | Sep 27, 2022 |
Source | Google Books |
『Recursion』
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of Dark Matter and the Wayward Pines trilogy comes a relentless thriller about time, identity, and memory—his most mind-boggling, irresistible work to date, and the inspiration for Shondaland’s upcoming Netflix film. “Gloriously twisting . . . a heady campfire tale of a novel.”—The New York Times Book Review NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Time • NPR • BookRiot Reality is broken. At first, it looks like a disease. An epidemic that spreads through no known means, driving its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. But the force that’s sweeping the world is no pathogen. It’s just the first shock wave, unleashed by a stunning discovery—and what’s in jeopardy is not our minds but the very fabric of time itself. In New York City, Detective Barry Sutton is closing in on the truth—and in a remote laboratory, neuroscientist Helena Smith is unaware that she alone holds the key to this mystery . . . and the tools for fighting back. Together, Barry and Helena will have to confront their enemy—before they, and the world, are trapped in a loop of ever-growing chaos. Praise for Recursion “An action-packed, brilliantly unique ride that had me up late and shirking responsibilities until I had devoured the last page . . . a fantastic read.”—Andy Weir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Martian “Another profound science-fiction thriller. Crouch masterfully blends science and intrigue into the experience of what it means to be deeply human.”—Newsweek “Definitely not one to forget when you’re packing for vacation . . . [Crouch] breathes fresh life into matters with a mix of heart, intelligence, and philosophical musings.”—Entertainment Weekly “A trippy journey down memory lane . . . [Crouch’s] intelligence is an able match for the challenge he’s set of overcoming the structure of time itself.”—Time “Wildly entertaining . . . another winning novel from an author at the top of his game.”—AV Club
Author | Blake Crouch |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Ballantine Books |
Release Date | Mar 10, 2020 |
Source | Google Books |
And there you have it, folks! These 10 stunning SF mystery novels set in dystopian futures are our top picks for you. Each one promises to transport you to enthralling universes, where plot twists lurk around every corner and each page unravels thought-provoking insights about the state of humanity and its future. This ain't your regular detective mysteries. Nah, mate, these futuristic novels pack enough punch to take you on a journey through time and space, while keeping you guessing till the very end. Whether you're a sucker for cyberpunk cities, alien civilizations, or technological apocalypse, this list's got something for everyone. So, folks, buckle up for a mind-blowing journey that's part thriller, part science fiction, and all awesomeness. We guarantee that each one of these books is a roller coaster ride that you won't be able to put down. So, clear your calendar, find a comfy spot, and dive into these magnificent worlds. Happy reading!
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