All The SciFi Noir and Speculative Thrillers You Need to Get Through 2022

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Maybe it’s just the size of my apartment and my comparative isolation over the past two years, but I’ve rediscovered a love for stories set in tiny spaceships where no one can hear you scream (or cry into your cat’s fur or whatever). We’re also still in the midst of a technological revolution that blurs the line between crime writing and scifi, as well as benefitting from a long tradition of mingling the two in the service of exploring modern dystopian tendencies.

In the spirit of collaboration between the genres, I’ve collected a few scifi noirs and speculative thrillers that should appeal to crime readers (as well as fans of horror). This year’s science fiction seems to bring with it a new emotional intensity, as cataclysmic events become settings for character studies, and space travel turns inwards, exploring the nature of identity itself. The works below are arranged in order of publication date.

S.A. Barnes, Dead Silence
(Tor Nightfire, February 8)

S. A. Barnes has crafted a masterful horror thriller in space with Dead Silence. A small communications team at the edge of colonized space following a distress signal stumbles upon the wreck of the most luxurious space vessel in history, missing for decades. The team decides to claim their right to salvage the abandoned ship, but when they go on board, they’re not as alone as they think…An absolutely terrifying space horror.

Sarah Blake, Clean Air
(Algonquin Books, February 8)

In a not-too-distant future inspired by the author’s own struggles with allergies and asthma, pollen has become toxic, and the remainder of humanity is forced to live in giant bubbles that keep the pollen at bay. And then, of course, there’s a murder. As a native Texan, I would also like to add that this book really captures the feel of Cedar Fever season in Central Texas, when clouds of pollen billow through the air. I guess what I’m saying is, don’t move to Austin. But do buy this book!

Edward Ashton, Mickey7
(St. Martin’s, February 15)

Everyone knows that if you live long enough, sooner or later you will have to fight your own clone. In the perfect follow-up read to last year’s The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey, Mickey7 takes us to a remote space colony populated by “expendables,” or humans who have signed up to be sent on dangerous missions, then cloned with their memories preserved and sent out to die again. After dying six gruesome deaths, Mickey7 gets lost on scouting duty and by the time he gets back to base, there’s already a Mickey8. As Highlander taught us, there can be only one.

Rob Hart, The Paradox Hotel
(Ballantine, February 22)

Rob Hart blew my mind with his last book, The Warehouse (a perfect novel for understanding the behemoth that is Amazon), and his new book looks to be just as creatively realized. In the titular Paradox Hotel, time travelers check in to rest before their next flights to the past or present, dressed in lavish costumes from across history. When one of the hotel’s wealthy clients is found murdered, and only the hotel’s security manager can see the corpse, things start to get really weird. And with a blizzard surrounding the hotel and the timestream acting up, everyone’s trapped with a murderer on the loose. I cannot wait to read this shit.

Jo Harkin, Tell Me An Ending
(Scribner, March 1)

In this speculative thriller, a revolutionary technique has allowed those who wish to erase any memories they choose. Some want to know what they’ve had removed from their brain, while others prefer to remain in the dark about any memory loss at all. But some of those who elected not to know are now having flashes of their erased memories, and they’re confused, angry, and ready to sue. What will a powerful medical corporation do to keep the memory business running? And what if some of the patients didn’t elect to have any memories removed at all? I love big question thrillers, and this one promises to be just as thought-provoking as it is suspenseful.

Erin Kate Ryan, Quantum Girl Theory
(Random House, March 8)

Erin Kate Ryan’s debut is a fascinating alternate history of the life (and afterlife) of Paula Jean Welden, the Bennington College student who vanished while walking through the woods in 1946. Ryan imagines that Paula Jean has found another life as Mary Garrett, a young woman with a “second sight” who, in 1961, goes to North Carolina to find three other missing girls, two of whom are Black. But complicating her investigation are her visions of other possible lives. More than anything else, though, Ryan’s deep and simmering novel follows how the stories of missing girls become co-opted into other narratives, and how, in the process, they become other people. –Olivia Rutigliano, CrimeReads Associate Editor

Paul Cornell, Rosebud
(Tordotcom, April 26)

What a bizarre book! I’m about 40% in according to my e-reader and this shit is bonkers (in the best way possible). A small ship named Rosebud is manned by digital personalities that were once either human or otherwise granted personhood. The ship comes across another, much larger ship. Probably manned by pirates. And then they get trapped in a locked-room situation in temporary bodies. In space. It reads a bit like an existential detective mystery written while listening to a psychedelic cover of “The Monster Mash” on repeat.

K.C. Jones, Black Tide
(Tor Nightfire, May 10)

In this apocalyptic monster tale, a meteor shower brings something crashing down to earth, and that something has a lot of teeth. Two nihilistic loners brought together by a one night stand are stranded on the beach with the creatures (who also happen to be invisible) when they lose their car keys. Along for the ride is an adorable dog who’s the first to tell that the world is terribly awry. This one reads like You’re The Worst took place in the world of Melancholia. 

Sascha Stronach, The Dawnhounds
(Gallery/Saga Press, June 14)

What if you were murdered by your coworkers, then a strange power brought you back to life to seek your revenge? That’s the premise of The Dawnhounds, in which a former thief, now a beat cop, gets offed by two other officers in a magical, Maori-inspired futuristic city where even the buildings are alive. A heady combination of magic, science fiction, and mystery drives this novel, along with the strength of its queer protagonist and her mission of vengeance.

Blake Crouch, Upgrade
(Ballantine, July 19)

Blake Crouch has been a favorite of mine since I read Dark Matter, and Upgrade seems poised to be just as bold a combination of thought experiment and emotion. Logan Ramsay is infected with an undetectable virus that’s making him smarter. Maybe too smart, when he realizes what damage he can now do…

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