The best anti hero books

Beatrice, an up-and-coming corporate lawyer, is looking forward to taking some much-needed time off during a long weekend stay with her cousin Holly and her family, who are hosting a charity ball at their country house, along with some extra house guests, officers from her uncle’s regiment. On arrival, Beatrice is faced with Benedict, a charismatic but obnoxious army captain she had met the previous year, whom she loathes. She’s startled to realize that she and Benedict have explosive sexual and romantic chemistry that will change their lives.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, this novel takes Beatrice and Benedict’s witty bantering to a whole new level.

The Council is the governing Coven over the Land of Five, a region entirely inhabited—and split apart—by witches with varying powers. Lilith Lace, a witch thought to be born powerless, happily resides in Ignis, the Coven of Fire, until she suddenly develops telekinesis, an ability only seen in some witches born in Mentis, the Coven of the Mind. She's terrified of it, unsure who she can trust. Her best friends, Helena and Clio, are hot and cold about what she can do, leaving Lilith even more unsure about her future.

At her Arcane Ceremony, the truth comes out. When the Council learns what she can do, she’s taken under their wing and is finally told the truth—everything she’s learned about the Land of Five, herself included, have been nothing but lies.

The old building in a rundown part of Metro was a perfect place to find a body, but they wouldn't have dragged Joe Borland out of retirement if it still had its skin. It's been twenty years since he battled the Variant Effect, and twenty since he let his partner get skinned alive. Now both of them are ordered back into action to meet a terrifying new threat.

Sometimes when you need a hero, you get Joe Borland.

Eight bodies were found in less than four hours in Briar County, Ohio. Every significant member of a local family, their ages ranging from 16 to 44, were shot execution-style inside of four different homes not far apart. Local, Federal, and State law enforcement officers swarmed the community, interviewing more than 50 people and combing the wooded areas surrounding the crime scenes. The Ohio Attorney General said the massacre was “pre-planned” and “sophisticated.” A businessman out of Cincinnati offered a $25,000 reward to anyone with answers.

But when the answers started to come, they only raised more questions. Fingers began to point, family conflicts grew, and before this crime was solved, one more local would be found dead.

Avery Vey lives on Level 4 of New San Francisco, far removed from the war that rages on Echo, the sister planet just beyond the hypergate. She wants nothing to do with Earth’s pointless crusade against the native race of that world. After a routine bioscan, the Earth Federation beats down Avery’s door and takes her into custody. When fellow prisoner Finn Lunitia helps her escape, they find that Avery has incredible powers—that no human should possess.

As Finn drags her to Echo, Avery is unwillingly labeled a savior for their people. But to rescue her grandmother, she must master her gifts, as well as the political games that govern both worlds. With each step she takes, the planet—and Finn—begin to take hold of her heart.

In this YA fantasy novel, Jawan, apprentice of the powerful earth mage, finds himself trapped in a world one-billionth his normal size where subatomic beings hail him as the hero who comes to save them. Jawan knows he doesn’t belong in this world and longs to go home, but he must stop Antipan whose machinations threaten both worlds.

Marianne Arcadia expected to marry Jeremiah and raise a family. Edsen Balm had no more hope than to stay close to Marianne. Jameel Singh intended to travel home to Terra to meet his fiancée’s parents. Hanaka Moon was meant to oversee the next generation of ship-born and pass the mantle of healer to her daughters. Meera Singh wanted to prove herself as the brightest new diamond in Mother Shiva’s crown. Cornelia Conti hoped to get her embroidery done and to find a shampoo that didn’t contain Stay-colour. All their plans crash-landed with the starship Elysian Dawn but that, as they say, was just the beginning.

Channel surfing, I saw a commercial where people were eating worms for the reality TV program Fear Factor. I thought, why would somebody watch worm eating for entertainment? What would I eat for all that media attention? These questions compelled me to write a book where an overweight banker is kidnapped and made the star of a reality TV show called Diet Extreme. Locked inside a studio in the middle of the Alabama woods, Jasmine is tortured with fancy food, brainwashed with self-help videos, and badgered with exercise routines for her growing mass of livestream fans.  

In Mick’s quiet Missouri town, strangers stand out—especially mysterious women who vandalize cars in broad daylight. It’s strange, but none of Mick’s business… until he notices the woman’s busted lip. The right thing to do is offer her a ride—which is how he ends up with her knife against his throat in his own apartment.

Waapikoona has nearly reached her quota of bodies to raise her sister from the dead. But she stalls killing Mick, sensing another regret she’ll have to carry in her already dark world. She’s crossed the circle of time, made a pact with a powerful underworld demon, and angered the thunderbirds. Mick can’t escape his new calling: stop Waapikoona and the unquiet she’s dragged into his town.

The Salon of Exiled Artists in California is a biography of Salka Viertel, a Jewish actress who emigrated to Hollywood and was popularly known as the screenwriter of the Swedish actress Greta Garbo. Besides, she had a salon in Santa Monica, California, which was attended by a large part of the European intelligentsia in exile. Salka was a very modern and interesting woman for her time who should be recognized as such.

The book deals with topics such as Salka Viertel's alleged bisexuality and the number of friends she had, to name but a few: Albert Einstein, Charles Chaplin, Sergei Eisenstein, F. W. Murnau, Max Reinhardt, Arnold Schönberg, Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, Greta Garbo, Montgomery Clift... Also, like Gertrude Stein and other notorious women, she had her literary salon through which writers like Truman Capote, Christopher Isherwood, Gore Vidal, and many other writers passed. Other themes she covers are the Berlin of the 1920s; the transition from silent to spoken film, as seen from the Mecca of Hollywood. Then, the rise of Hitler and what it meant for the Jewish condition; the exile of those intellectuals who could not return to their respective countries because of the Second World War. Later, the Cold War and the witch-hunt against communism. The truth is that the background to the life of Salka Viertel and her circle of friends encompasses the great events of the 20th century.