Severanceturns office culture on its head with it's eery sci-fi vibes, but I can't stop watching it. With only a few episodes left, I've been searching for similar books to read because I need more tales of looming conspiracy theories. It's the one thing that's keep me from doomscrolling so I'll gladly take fictionalized depictions of wild occurrences at the moment. Not to mention it's just fun reading different authors' ideas of secretive policies gone wrong and their effects on the people they're designed to keep in line.
Sounds like fun, right?
Here's the best books like Severance that are full of mind-bending conspiracy theories
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Editorial assistant Nella Rogers has been longing to see a familiar face at Wagner Books because she's the only Black girl there. When she's not feeling lonely, she tries to ignore the sweeping passive-aggressive comments she often hears. In her mind, all her frustration would be erased if she had another black girl to relate to. Surprisingly, Nella's wish comes true when Hazel joins the Wagner Books team and they strike up a fun friendship.
But just as soon as Nella gets comfortable, Hazel becomes the new token girl and overshadows her. While trying to stomach that, Nella soon starts to receive threatening messages that make her fearful. Is her life in danger or is it all in Nella's head?
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Sara's been looking forward to going back home, but her anticipating is cut short when she's intercepted by the Risk Assessment Administration. According to them, she's on their watch list because her dreams alerted them of a future crime she'll be at the center at. To make sure she's not a real threat, they inform her she'll be watched for a little less than a month and then she'll be released.
Left with no other choice, Sara joins other women who have are begin held and she finds it odd how many of them haven't done anything wrong yet. What's worse is that the retention center keeps changing its policies which leaves the women imprisoned longer than they were led to believe. Their only hope? A rogue resident who's not afraid to ask questions and cause mayhem.
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Similar to The Dream Hotel, I Who Have Never Known Men focuses on more imprisoned women. But this time the women are housed in an underground cage with no recollection of what's going on. It seems they're all suffering from the same case of amnesia and aren't even aware of the days or months. While the other women accept their conditions and try to adjust to them, one young prisoner isolates herself from them. They don't know it yet, but she'll be the one to free them all.
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Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter
Cassie's role at a Silicon Valley start-up company is one she's come to dread. It's a cyclical incubus of overtime, supervisors without boundaries, and tasks she'd rather not do. Also, she's noticed that some of her other other colleagues' burnout causes them to commit suicide as they succumb to the weight of always be "on" for their jobs. The only thing that seems to keep Cassie company is an internal void that seems to feed off her emotions.
Between her unplanned pregnancy and harmful work environment, she'll have to decide if chasing the glittering promise of success is more important than her sanity.
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In the future lives a drug dealer who specializes in things that erases his clients' memories. The company he works for knows that people are caught up in the throes of capitalism and leans on the expectation they'd liked to eventual forget the harsh world around them. As for the dealer, he moves aimlessly from country to country and engages in fruitless encounters with people he doesn't care about. Though he uses humor to as self-deflection, readers will be able to see the stark reality he lives in by the end of the books.
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Ellice Littlejohn is a hotshot attorney in Atlanta who's earned her place in the law world. She even enjoys a friends-with-benefits situation with her supervisor, but that changes when he's found murdered in his office. Instead of attaching herself to the situation, she decides to fade into the background because her previous life would complicate things for her.
Miraculously, she receives a promotion that puts her in her former supervisor's shoes and it unnerves her. From discovering illegal deals to facing the biggest conspiracy theory of her career, Ellice will be forced to make decisions that have intense consequences.
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Jason Dessen awakens after a stranger asks him a pivotal question about his life, but he can't remember what happened right before that. All he knows is that he's being observed by people in hazmat suits who seem to know more about him than he does.
It doesn't take long for Jason to understand the life he had before seemingly doesn't exist where he is now. That he's somehow not the man he remembers himself being. Now he's left to uncover if he's still dreaming or if this reality is one he created.
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Gerald's mind is now attached to his PR firm's Slack channels which has somehow made him more productive than before. This comes at the time where employees are allowed to work remotely which makes some of his co-workers believe he's taking advantage of his job. For Gerald, this is alarming because he doesn't know how to get back to his body.
From a major PR disaster to the reality something's off in the office, Several People Are Typing explores a different side of hybrid and work-from-home life.
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Mae Holland's just been hired by the Circle and feels thrilled because it's one of the most prominent internet companies. It works to create a continuous link between users emails and the rest of their lives so they don't have to assume different identities on the world wide web.
Having access to this modern company makes Mae feel like she's made it so she willingly partakes in the perks her job offers. From company parties to cute clubs, what could go wrong?
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New hire Stephen Jones has just started his job at Zephyr Holdings and willingly accepts his place as another worker in the grand company. However things look from the outside isn't how they are behind closed doors because everyone from the receptionist to the sales reps partake in unusual behavior. Plus, the CEO still hasn't made an appearance. For Jones, this seems like an absurd reality that's hard to escape from.
But, what will he discover the longer he remains employed at Zephyr Holdings?
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Does author Max Barry know something we don't? Based on Jennifer Government, it seems like he does because he highlights the effects of having a private government.
Readers will learn what happens when employees take the last name of the job they're employed at which chains them to it like never before. However Merchandising Officer Hack Nike is put in an odd situation where he has to take lives in order to bolster interest in expensive sneakers. He doesn't realize this, but he's sealed his fate when Jennifer Government notices him.
Facing her own problems, she's sure he's the perfect mark that'll place her in the position she covets the most.
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Anya St. Clair's a fashion editor who's crafting a life anyone would kill to have. She may know a thing or two about that because she's left several people behind in order to position herself to have success. The only person standing in her way now is Sarah Taft, the person Anya wishes she could naturally be.
The only way she'll be able to solve her problem is by pretending to be Sarah's friend and going in for the kill when the latter least expects it.
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Evelyn Kominsky Humamoto knows she should be excited about getting married soon, but all she can do is worry about her future contribution to the world. She doesn't even know if she's ready to embrace family life, but everyone around her seems fulfilled with the choices they're making.
Deciding to place her academic focuses on the back burner, Evelyn lands a job at an internet company that's developing a happiness app. But it's clear she struggles to fit in with Silicon Valley's bros or the demographic social media praises the most.
Just when she's at her wits' end, an interesting situation pushes her to decide what being happy looks like for her.
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When the staff of company crash land on an island amidst a well-deserved celebration, strange things begin to occur. It's not that the island is destitute because it's not. It's the perfect form of paradise and includes amenities that keep them satisfied.
However, chief emotional manager Kristen is having a hard time trying to stabilize her co-workers' emotions as they realize they're truly cut off from the world. Though she's usually great at her job, this remote island with it's glossy technology may prove to be deadlier than she and her co-workers imagined.
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