The best books on paranoia 📚

One problem inherent to stories involving exorcisms is the task of making the unbelievable believable. How does an author get past the barrier of making a non-religious reader buy into the premise that a Catholic priest is the only person worthy of defeating evil incarnate? Paul Tremblay cracked the exorcism code with his 2015 tale of sisterly love, demonic possession, and reality TV. If the writer can ground the reader in enough realism through character and setting, suddenly those preconceived belief systems begin to melt, at least temporarily. By telling the story from the perspective of an eight-year-old girl watching… show more.

I love Iain Banks’ work and this book seems to encapsulate the best of his early work: epic sci-fi, mental breakdown, and fantastic comedy. Switching between three storylines, one of which contains the best imagery in all SF and fantasy, Walking On Glass mixes reality with insanity and imagination with the every day to superb effect.

Agent Scylla was dead, but they brought him back because someone is holding a contest, a contest to see who can create the deadliest weapon. As Scylla navigates a world he’s been out of touch with for too long, he finds that there’s something on its outskirts, pulling all the wrong strings. A thrilling espionage adventure drenched in paranoia, this was the most fun I ever had being terrified to learn the truth. The only book I ever read that I literally could not put down. Its momentum – the need to find out what the contest was about and… show more.