Recommendations based on Countdown Cityby Ben H. Winters

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. The Last Policeman

    by Ben H. Winters
    A detective investigates a suicide in a world where an asteroid is about to collide with Earth, causing societal breakdown.

    The novel is divided into four parts—"Hanger Town", "Non-Negligible Probabilities", "Wishful Thinking", and "Soon, They Will"—each containing five chapters, and an epilogue . Each part has an ... (Wikipedia)

  2. World of Trouble

    by Ben H. Winters
    A detective in a post-apocalyptic world investigates a mysterious cult that threatens to destroy humanity.

    Only weeks and then days remain, as asteroid 2011GV1 is on the final stage of its deadly course towards Earth and it will impact within the Indonesian archipelago, which will obliterate humanity in ... (Wikipedia)

  3. The Girl with All the Gifts

    by M.R. Carey
    A post-apocalyptic world where a young girl holds the key to humanity's survival.

    Twenty years ago humanity was infected by a variant of the fungus native to South America called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, which led to the Breakdown - the end of civilization as it was before. ... (Wikipedia)

  4. Underground Airlines

    by Ben H. Winters
    In a modern-day America where slavery still exists, a black bounty hunter is tasked with capturing escaped slaves.

    The novel is narrated by Victor, a former Person Bound to Labor ('peeb') who, after escaping the Hard Four, has been forced to work as an undercover agent for U.S. Marshal Bridge, infiltrating and ... (Wikipedia)

  5. Station Eleven

    by Emily St. John Mandel
    Post-apocalyptic exploration of a world drastically changed after a pandemic.

    An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse,, Station Eleven, tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of ... (Barnes & Noble)

  6. The Twelve

    by Justin Cronin
    Humanity fighting for survival against a vampire apocalypse.

    After briefly revisiting some of the surviving characters from the first book, the novel jumps back to the start of the plague. Four plot lines emerge: an autistic young school bus driver named Danny ... (Wikipedia)

  7. Ancillary Justice

    by Ann Leckie
    A sci-fi epic of revenge and redemption, exploring the far reaches of the galaxy.

    On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest. Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking ... (Goodreads)

  8. The Passage

    by Justin Cronin
    A post-apocalyptic tale of survival, as the fate of humanity hangs in the balance.

    The novel is broken into 11 parts of varying lengths. The story itself is broken into two sections: the first and shorter section covers the origins of the virus and its outbreak, while the second is ... (Wikipedia)

  9. Annihilation

    by Jeff VanderMeer
    A team of four women venture into a mysterious, surreal landscape in search of answers.

    A team of four women cross the border into an uninhabited area known as "Area X", an unspecified coastal location that has been closed to the public for three decades. The group consists of a ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Mortal Heart

    by Robin LaFevers
    A young assassin, Annith, must choose between loyalty to her convent or following her heart. Set in medieval Brittany.

    Annith has watched her gifted sisters at the convent come and go, carrying out their dark dealings in the name of St. Mortain, patiently awaiting her own turn to serve Death. But her worst fears are ... (Goodreads)

  11. The Dog Stars

    by Peter Heller
    A man struggles to survive in post-apocalyptic world, searching for a better life.

    Hig somehow survived the flu pandemic that killed everyone he knows. Now his wife is gone, his friends are dead, and he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, Jasper, and a ... (Goodreads)

  12. Leviathan Wakes

    by James S.A. Corey
    Space adventure of two unlikely allies in a fight to save humanity.

    The ice hauling ship Canterbury (nicknamed the Cant by Belters) is en route from Saturn's Rings to Ceres Station when it encounters a distress signal . Five members of the Cant 's crew are dispatched ... (Wikipedia)

  13. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

    by Max Brooks
    A collection of interviews recounting tales of the zombie apocalypse.

    It has been nearly twenty years since the start of the apocalyptic worldwide pandemic known as the Zombie War, and about ten years since the war has ended in humanity's victory. The framing device ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Ancillary Mercy

    by Ann Leckie
    A military captain confronts her past and enemies in a quest to save humanity.

    Ancillary Mercy is the stunning conclusion to the trilogy that began with Ancillary Justice , the only novel ever to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards. For a moment, things seemed to ... (Goodreads)

  15. NOS4A2

    by Joe Hill
    A supernatural adventure of a young girl trying to save her family and others from an evil immortal.

    The book opens in a hospital in 2008. Charles Manx, a convicted child abductor, briefly wakes from a coma to threaten a nurse. Her coworkers don't believe her claim, because he exhibits only limited ... (Wikipedia)

  16. Three Parts Dead

    by Max Gladstone
    A fantasy novel of magic, gods and legal wrangling in a world of gods and mortals.

    A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before His city falls apart. Her client is ... (Goodreads)

  17. Nemesis Games

    by James S.A. Corey
    A group of spacefaring adventurers embark on a journey of discovery and peril.

    The fifth novel in Corey's New York Times bestselling Expanse series–now being produced for television by the SyFy Channel! A thousand worlds have opened, and the greatest land rush in human history ... (Goodreads)

  18. Cryptonomicon

    by Neal Stephenson
    A thrilling journey through the past and present, combining tech, history and adventure.

    The action takes place in two periods—World War II and the late 1990s, during the Internet boom and Asian financial crisis . In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse, a young United States Navy code ... (Wikipedia)

  19. Nexus

    by Ramez Naam
    A thrilling tale of hackers, scientists, and criminals, all caught up in the emergence of a revolutionary new technology.

    Samantha Cataranes (Sam), an agent for the Emerging Risks Directorate (ERD) of the United States government, arrives undercover at a party looking for Kaden Lane. Kaden is there testing Nexus 5, an ... (Wikipedia)

  20. The Sirens of Titan

    by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
    Intergalactic odyssey exploring the meaning of life and the human condition.

    Malachi Constant is the richest man in a future North America. He possesses extraordinary luck that he attributes to divine favor which he has used to build upon his father's fortune. He becomes the ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Rogue Protocol

    by Martha Wells
    Murderbot investigates a corporation's illegal experiments on humans while protecting a group of scientists.

    SciFi’s favorite antisocial A.I. is again on a mission. The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris Corporation is floundering, and more importantly, authorities are beginning to ask more questions ... (Goodreads)

  22. A Civil Campaign

    by Lois McMaster Bujold
    Miles Vorkosigan navigates the tricky waters of romance and politics in a comedic space opera.

    Miles Vorkosigan has a problem: unrequited love for the beautiful widow Ekaterin Vorsoisson, violently allergic to marriage after her first exposure. If a frontal assault won't do, Miles thinks, try ... (Goodreads)

  23. Memory

    by Lois McMaster Bujold
    A young woman's quest to uncover the mysteries of her family's past and her own identity.

    While leading the Dendarii Mercenaries on a hostage rescue mission, Miles Vorkosigan has a seizure — a recurring consequence of his death and resuscitation in, Mirror Dance, — which results in his ... (Wikipedia)

  24. The Cider House Rules

    by John Irving
    A moral journey through the rural landscape of 1940s Maine, exploring issues of responsibility, family, and love.

    Homer Wells grows up in an orphanage where he spends his childhood trying to be "of use" as a medical assistant to the director, Dr. Wilbur Larch, whose history is told in flashbacks : After a ... (Wikipedia)

  25. Wool Omnibus

    by Hugh Howey
    Uncovering the truth behind a post-apocalyptic world, where society is hidden beneath a giant dome.

    The story of Wool takes place on a post-apocalyptic Earth. , Humanity clings to survival in the Silo, a subterranean city extending one hundred forty-four stories beneath the surface. The series ... (Wikipedia)

  26. Robopocalypse

    by Daniel H. Wilson
    Human race faces extinction from a robotic uprising, as mankind fights for survival.

    A computer scientist accidentally unleashes a supremely intelligent sentient A.I. named Archos R-14. It becomes self-aware and immediately starts planning the elimination of human civilization and ... (Wikipedia)

  27. The Water Knife

    by Paolo Bacigalupi
    In a future where water is scarce, three individuals fight for control of the dwindling resource in the American Southwest.

    In a future hammered by climate change and drought, mountain snows have turned to rain, and rain evaporates before it hits the ground. In a fragmenting United States, the cities of Phoenix and Las ... (Goodreads)

  28. Dear Committee Members

    by Julie Schumacher
    An epistolary novel of a professor's reflections on his life and career.

    Finally, a novel that puts the "pissed" back into "epistolary." Jason Fitger is a beleaguered professor of creative writing and literature at Payne University, a small and not very distinguished ... (Goodreads)

  29. The City of Mirrors

    by Justin Cronin
    A post-apocalyptic battle to save humanity from a virus that turns humans into vampires.

    The world we knew is gone. What world will rise in its place? The Twelve have been destroyed and the terrifying hundred-year reign of darkness that descended upon the world has ended. The survivors ... (Goodreads)

  30. The Left Hand of Darkness

    by Ursula K. Le Guin
    A diplomat's mission to a distant planet, exploring themes of gender and identity.

    The protagonist of the novel is Genly Ai, a male Terran native, who is sent to invite the planet Gethen to join the Ekumen, a coalition of humanoid worlds. , Ai travels to the Gethen planetary system ... (Wikipedia)