Crime Fiction Books to Read If You Miss Netflix’s Black Mirror Series
The thing that tends to captivate audiences about Black Mirror is its depth. Not only is there a fresh, hellish dystopia in each episode… we’d expect that of any dark science fiction. In addition to the initial problem, there are cascading failures of other problems within the initial conceit. And that makes it fascinating. In honor of the next season, returning to our screens in 2025, or to keep things going after you binge it, here are eight books that read like Black Mirror.
Lauren Beukes might be the Black Mirror “dupe,” as the kids like to say… or maybe Black Mirror is her dupe. It’s hard to say, and either way, this book of hers belongs on this list, too. Meet Bridge: a woman with paralysis of choice. Bridge’s mother, Jo has just died unexpectedly. When Bridge goes to settle her affairs, she discovers one of Jo’s obsessions in her things, the dreamworm. With the dreamworm, Bridge can move into other realities, and in doing that, she wants to discover what happened to her mother. But will she be able to figure it out before the other people hunting for the dreamworm find it? And find her?
In this hard science fiction novel, the company Tendeka controls everywhere you go through your mobile phone. They’re in support of the current political regime, so if your phone tracks you doing anything outside of what’s allowed, they disconnect your phone for a while. By the way, this is a virtual reality game that takes place in the real world. It’s told from four different first-person perspectives, and it definitely has the gritty science of Black Mirror.
Qualityland is the perfect place. Social advantages and career opportunities of each resident are measured in a universal, karmic ranking system. Algorithms also match each person with their ideal partner—even when that partner changes. And there’s TheShop, which sends you things before you even know you want them. So when a package gets delivered to Peter Jobless… and he actually doesn’t want the package, he decides to return it. And prove the entire perfect algorithm imperfect.
New York City has become a full-on dystopia. There have been multiple pandemics and climate change has been fully realized. And anyone can buy any body they want. So when Kobo, a talent scout for baseball teams owned by Big Pharma, sees his brother murdered at home plate… he doesn’t just have the usual obstacles to solving a crime. He’s navigating a whole host of genetic modification and science fiction disguises.
Enjoy the mental gymnastics that is this list of Black Mirror-like books!
Mary Kay McBrayer is the author of America’s First Female Serial Killer: Jane Toppan and the Making of a Monster. You can find her short works at Oxford American, Narratively, Mental Floss, and FANGORIA, among other publications. She co-hosts Everything Trying to Kill You, the comedy podcast that analyzes your favorite horror movies from the perspectives of women of color. Follow Mary Kay McBrayer on Instagram and Twitter, or check out her author site here.
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