Here are 85 books that Wayward fans have personally recommended if you like
Wayward.
Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
As an author of a dual-timeline thriller series set in Venice in the present-day and 16th century, I’ve spent countless hours researching the world’s most mesmerizing city. I’ve been there three times, including on a research trip. I’ve worked with historians and experts on various aspects and have explored the ancient streets and buildings first-hand. I’ve also read dozens of books set in Venice.
There are so many amazing books set in Venice, but no list is complete without Thomas Mann's Death in Venice. It’s a literary classic from 1912 that not only stands the test of time, it exceeds the hype.Death in Venice follows Gustav von Aschenbach, a famous author who travels to Venice in search of inspiration. Instead, he finds obsession. Death in Venice is erotic and dark, but what I love most about this book is how it captures the city’s bewitching personality.
One of the most famous literary works of the 20th century, the novella "Death in Venice" embodies themes that preoccupied Thomas Mann (1875–1955) in much of his work; the duality of art and life, the presence of death and disintegration in the midst of existence, the connection between love and suffering, and the conflict between the artist and his inner self. Mann's handling of these concerns in this story of a middle-aged German writer, torn by his passion for a Polish youth met on holiday in Venice, resulted in a work of great psychological intensity and tragic power. It is…
Fall 2028. Mickey Cooper, an elderly homeless man, receives an incredible proposition from a rogue pharmaceutical company: “Be our secret guinea pig for our new drug, and we’ll pay you life-changing money, which you’ll be able to enjoy because if (cough) when the treatment works, two months from now your…
The final book of the smash-hit Wayward Pines trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter, Recursion, and Upgrade.
What's inside was a nightmare. What's outside is a thousand times worse.
Welcome to Wayward Pines, the last town.
Secret Service agent Ethan Burke arrived in Wayward Pines, Idaho, three weeks ago. In this town, people are told who to marry, where to live, where to work. No one is allowed to leave; even asking questions can get you killed.
But Ethan has discovered the astonishing secret of what lies beyond the electrified fence that surrounds Wayward Pines…
As someone fascinated by life's "what ifs" and the paths we choose not to take, this book hit all the right notes for me.
Through Jason Dessen's eyes, I experienced every moment of his longing for the simple things we take for granted—family dinners, quiet evenings, familiar embraces.
While the story cleverly explores alternate realms through quantum mechanics, what really kept me turning pages was the very human question at the heart of the story: what would we sacrifice to protect the life we've chosen, even if another version of that life might seem more impressive on paper?
I devoured this book through two intercontinental flights—no small feat for someone who normally can't focus on anything but the plane’s slightest jiggle.
'Brilliant. . . I think Blake Crouch just invented something new' - Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher series.
From Blake Crouch, the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy, Dark Matter is sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human - a relentlessly surprising thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we'll go to claim the lives we dream of, perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Ready Player One.
'Are you happy in your life?' Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakes to find…
I wear many hats: veteran, PTSD-survivor, gardener, national security and law enforcement worker, certified beer judge, gardener, husband, and father. These last two are the most important by far. So, for my list, I wanted to pick my top five reads that your dad absolutely won’t be able to put down if you were to gift him one of these for Father’s Day! There are all kinds of reading dads out there, from History Dads to Thriller Dads to Fantasy Dads. This list has wonderful, unput-downable, slightly under-the-radar books for all the reading dads you know!
I love books with lots of twists and turns, I love realistic, near-future science fiction, and I love books with a beating, emotional heart at the center of even the wildest and action-packed storyline.
This book is a twisty-turny, mind-bending look at time travel where the science actually makes sense but doesn’t take a back seat to the propulsive narrative. Blake Crouch is a master of the modern thriller with a tech-heavy edge, while keeping a truly beating heart at the center of each story.
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…
Blake Crouch is my favorite sci-fi author and this earlier book from his collection does not disappoint. Story includes a major plot twist and surprise that will make you think about some big questions in life. The book is a bit different than the TV series. Both are good.
The one-million copy bestseller that inspired the Fox TV show.
Secret service agent Ethan Burke arrives in Wayward Pines, Idaho, with a clear mission: locate and recover two federal agents who went missing in the bucolic town one month earlier. But within minutes of his arrival, Ethan is involved in a violent accident. He comes to in a hospital, with no ID, no cell phone, and no briefcase. The medical staff seems friendly enough, but something feels...off. As the days pass, Ethan's investigation into the disappearance of his colleagues turns up more questions than answers. Why can't he get any…
Here's this coerced to go on a one-way mission with two others and they both are dead when he wakes up in his space ship. And it's all about this man alone overcoming every obstacle one could imagine. His persistence, the way he solves one issue after another, was fun and entertaining. The story is clever and smart.
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through…
The Martians failed in 1894. In 1915, humanity won't be so lucky.
It’s 1915, and the trenches of the Somme are already hell for German soldier Emil Zimmerman. But when the familiar, terrifying howl of a Martian Wanderer sounds across the battlefield, he knows the true war has just begun.…
Stephen King is such an amazing writer, but if, like me, you don't read horror, your selection is limited. This incredibly inventive, incredibly researched, incredibly compelling book was one I couldn't stop talking about. My book club loved it too! And the ending--I couldn't guess how he was going to land that plane, but he did. Amazing.
Now a major TV series from JJ Abrams and Stephen King, starring James Franco (Hulu US, Fox UK and Europe, Stan Australia, SKY New Zealand).
WHAT IF you could go back in time and change the course of history? WHAT IF the watershed moment you could change was the JFK assassination? 11.22.63, the date that Kennedy was shot - unless . . .
King takes his protagonist Jake Epping, a high school English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, 2011, on a fascinating journey back to 1958 - from a world of mobile phones and iPods to a new world of…
The Chicago World Fair was the greatest fair in American history. This is the story of the men and women whose lives it irrevocably changed and of two men in particular- an architect and a serial killer. The architect is Daniel Burnham, a man of great integrity and depth. It was his vision of the fair that attracted the best minds and talents of the day. The killer is Henry H. Holmes. Intelligent as well as handsome and charming, Holmes opened a boarding house which he advertised as 'The World's Fair Hotel' Here in the neighbourhood where he was once…
As soon as I could read, my dad introduced me to the science fiction greats like Bradbury and Asimov. From there, I branched out to comics and fantasy. However, the tales that connected to me always had one thing in common: relatable characters. Whether it was the musing of Bradbury’s protagonists or the Hulk’s desire to be left alone, they all resonated with me personally. As a science fiction and fantasy author, it’s my job to make that same connection. Instead of escaping into imaginary realms, I have to figure out how to better observe the real world so I can tell better stories.
This book took me on a journey with a group of unlikely heroes, starting with their decision to enlist to fight in the war, following them through their training as paratroopers, and ending the conflict. Like many World War II veterans, they were volunteers. But the anticipation leading up to D-Day and the hell they went through in the woods of Bastogne was more than anyone could have ever expected.
Few histories of World War II hit me as hard as this one. As a child of the 1960s and 1970s, the war has always fascinated me. I’d read about the strategy, the epic battles, and the atrocities committed by the Axis Powers, but I’ve returned to this book many times over the past thirty years.
They fought on Utah Beach, in Arnhem, Bastogne, the Bulge; they spearheaded the Rhine offensive and took possession of Hitler's Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgaden. Easy Company, 506th Airborne Division, U.S. Army, was as good a rifle company as any in the world. From their rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to D-Day and victory, Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company, which kept getting the tough assignments. Easy Company was responsible for everything from parachuting into France early D-Day morning to the capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden. BAND OF BROTHERS is the account of the men of…
If the future can be edited—who decides what gets erased? Broken Code is a high-stakes biotech conspiracy thriller where power isn’t seized—it’s engineered.
Harper “Brass” Brasfield, a Memphis attorney barely holding her life together, stumbles onto a case that exposes a disturbing experiment: behavior-altering gene edits designed to control who…
I listened to Slaughtehouse Five narrated by actor Ethan Hawke. Yes, a difficult story to experience, filled with profanity and the conjuiring of graphic images. But the writing? Brilliant. Sometimes, we're meant not to like what we see and hear, and Kurt Vonnegut's experience as a soldier who witnessed the destruction of Dresden during World War II is the foundation for fantastical story. His searing descriptions, unsympathetic characters, and cynisicm may belie his anti-war message. Many dislike Vonnegut's tome, and the book remains banned in some libraries. But I discovered a story worth my time and consideration. The classics, like Slaughthouse-Five, remain the classics.
A special fiftieth anniversary edition of Kurt Vonnegut’s masterpiece, “a desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century” (Time), featuring a new introduction by Kevin Powers, author of the National Book Award finalist The Yellow Birds
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time
Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had…
