Book picks similar to
Rosetta by R.J. Johnson


science-fiction
mystery
scifi
fiction

A Borrowed Man


Gene Wolfe - 2015
    Technology has made significant advances, and there are more robots--and clones.One such is E.A. Smithe, a borrowed person, a clone who lives on a third-tier shelf in a public library. His personality is an uploaded recording of a deceased mystery writer. Smithe is library property, not a legal human. The father of Colette Coldbrook, a wealthy library patron, has disappeared and been proclaimed dead. She decides to check Smithe out of the library because he is the surviving personality of the author of Murder on Mars. A physical copy of that book was the sole item in her father's safe, and it contains an important secret, the key to immense family wealth. Her brother, Conrad, turned up dead in the family home shortly after giving the book to her. Colette has reached the end of her options. She's afraid of the police, and there are others who might want the book's secret. Smithe is her last hope. Borrowing him might help her find the connection between the deaths and Murder on Mars. Together they find something far beyond their expectations--something almost anyone would kill for.

Extracted


R.R. Haywood - 2017
    But his good intentions turn catastrophic when an early test reveals something unexpected: the end of the world.A desperate plan is formed. Recruit three heroes, ordinary humans capable of extraordinary things, and change the future.Safa Patel is an elite police officer, on duty when Downing Street comes under terrorist attack. As armed men storm through the breach, she dispatches them all.'Mad' Harry Madden is a legend of the Second World War. Not only did he complete an impossible mission—to plant charges on a heavily defended submarine base—but he also escaped with his life.Ben Ryder is just an insurance investigator. But as a young man he witnessed a gang assaulting a woman and her child. He went to their rescue, and killed all five.Can these three heroes, extracted from their timelines at the point of death, save the world?

The Gemini Effect


Chuck Grossart - 2012
    By dawn, only a dead city remains, eerily quiet and still, except for mutant beasts that hide from the light, multiply, and await the shadows of night to continue their relentless advance.Ordered to investigate the unfolding crisis, biowarfare specialist Carolyn Ridenour barely escapes the creatures’ nocturnal onslaught, saved in the nick of time by Colonel Garrett Hoffman, who lost hundreds of his troops to a swarm that neither bombs nor bullets can stop.As Carolyn and Garrett race to stop the plague, a battered and broken government prepares to release the fury of America’s nuclear arsenal on its own soil and its own citizens. The Gemini Effect was originally published as The Mengele Effect. This edition has been completely edited and revised, including significant plot changes.

Evolution


Kelly Carrero - 2012
    He knew what she was. And like him, she was born this way.Now if finding out that people like her shouldn’t exist was bad enough, Jades best friend is kidnapped by the psycho who’s terrorised her dreams. With the help of Aiden, she has to figure out how to saver her, before it’s too late.But what Jade doesn’t know, is not everything is what it seems. She is merely a puppet in a sadistic game to find out what she is truly capable of – and the game has only just begun.

(R)evolution


P.J. Manney - 2015
    As the founder of Biogineers, he is on the cusp of revolutionizing brain therapies with microscopic nanorobots that will make certain degenerative diseases become a thing of the past. But after his research is stolen by an unknown enemy, seventy thousand people die in Las Vegas in one abominable moment. No one is more horrified than Peter, as this catastrophe sets in motion events that will forever change not only his life but also the course of human evolution.Peter’s company is torn from his grasp as the public clamors for his blood. Desperate, he turns to an old friend, who introduces him to the Phoenix Club, a cabal of the most powerful people in the world. To make himself more valuable to his new colleagues, Peter infuses his brain with experimental technology, exponentially upgrading his mental prowess and transforming him irrevocably.As he’s exposed to unimaginable wealth and influence, Peter’s sense of reality begins to unravel. Do the club members want to help him, or do they just want to claim his technology? What will they do to him once they have their prize? And while he’s already evolved beyond mere humanity, is he advanced enough to take on such formidable enemies and win?

The Atlantis Gene


A.G. Riddle - 2013
    They will set off a race to unravel the deepest secrets of human existence--and an event that could change humanity forever.

London Falling


Paul Cornell - 2012
    Then his prize suspect Rob Toshack is murdered in custody. Furious, Quill pursues the investigation, co-opting intelligence analyst Lisa Ross and undercover cops Costain and Sefton. But nothing about Toshack's murder is normal. Toshack had struck a bargain with a vindictive entity, whose occult powers kept Toshack one step ahead of the law -- until his luck ran out. Now, the team must find a 'suspect' who can bend space and time and alter memory itself. And they will kill again.As the group starts to see London's sinister magic for themselves, they have two choices: panic or use their new abilities. Then they must hunt a terrifying supernatural force the only way they know how: using police methods, equipment and tactics. But they must all learn the rules of this new game - and quickly. More than their lives will depend on it.

The Prodigal Hour


Will Entrekin - 2011
    Instead, he interrupts a burglary during which his father, Dennis, is shot and killed.What begins as a homicide investigation escalates when the Joint Terrorism Task Force arrives. Where he hoped for solutions, Chance finds only more questions: who killed his father, and why? Was his father--a physicist at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study--working on dangerous research? Why did Dennis build a secret laboratory in his basement?Chance might not know the answers, but Cassie Lackesis, Dennis' research assistant, thinks she does. She isn't certain Dennis discovered a way to time travel, but she knows who told her: Chance.Together with Cassie, Chance will go on a journey across time and space that will challenge his every notion of ideas like "right" and "good." One young man's desire to make a difference will become, instead, a race against time as he tries to prevent forces he could never understand from not just destroying the universe but rendering it nonexistent.When every action has a reaction, every force its counter, Chance will find that the truest measure of his character is not what he wants but what he will do when the prodigal hour returns.

Rivers of London


Ben Aaronovitch - 2011
    Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

The Quarter Storm


Veronica Henry - 2022
    Gifted with water magic since she was a child, Reina is devoted to the benevolent traditions of her ancestors.After a ritual slaying in the French Quarter, police arrest a fellow vodouisant. Detective Roman Frost, Reina’s ex-boyfriend—a fierce nonbeliever—is eager to tie the crime, and half a dozen others, to the Vodou practitioners of New Orleans. Reina resolves to find the real killer and defend the Vodou practice and customs, but the motives behind the murder are deeper and darker than she imagines.As Reina delves into the city’s shadows, she untangles more than just the truth behind a devious crime. It’s a conspiracy. As a killer wields dangerous magic to thwart Reina’s investigation, she must tap into the strength of her own power and faith to solve a mystery that threatens to destroy her entire way of life.

The Man of Legends


Kenneth C. Johnson - 2017
    The bet pays off, resulting in a story that will be popular with book clubs and fun to discuss.” —Associated Press New York City, New Year’s weekend, 2001. Jillian Guthrie, a troubled young journalist, stumbles onto a tantalizing mystery: the same man, unaged, stands alongside Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, and Gandhi in three different photographs spanning eighty-five years of history.In another part of town, Will—an enigmatic thirty-three-year-old of immense charm, wit, and intelligence—looks forward to the new year with hope and trepidation. Haunted by his secret past and shadowed by a dangerous stranger, he finds himself the object of an intense manhunt spearheaded by an ambitious Vatican emissary and an elderly former UN envoy named Hanna.During the next forty-eight hours, a catastrophic event unites Will, Jillian, and Hanna—and puts them in the crosshairs of a centuries-old international conspiracy. Together, the three must unravel an ancient curse that stretches back two millennia and beyond, and face a primal evil that threatens their lives and thousands more.Award-winning science-fiction mastermind Kenneth Johnson blends epic adventure, romance, and evocative drama into an intense supernatural thriller rooted in one of the great untold legends of human history.

Muleshoe (Mike Bishop #1)


Jess Butcher - 2011
    When Mike Bishop arrives in Muleshoe seeking a legendary cache of rare gold coins, he enlists the aid of local Sheriff Laura Moss. The Sheriff cautiously joins Bishop’s search and together they discover a link between the gold and an unexplained series of grisly murders spanning more than a century. But others are racing to recover the treasure as well. The line between good and evil blurs as Bishop and Laura struggle to survive a murderous local legend … a legend that promises to turn the Kansas prairie black with blood.

Genesis Code


Eliza Green - 2012
    An alien dying to stop him. Could a government conspiracy put them both six feet under?Investigator Bill Taggart will stop at nothing to find his missing wife. But standing between him and the truth is a secretive alien species on a distant planet. When his government pushes him to observe the species ahead of plans to relocate Earth’s population, Bill veers off course and straight into the path of one alien.The surprising confrontation forces Bill to question whether the investigation into the savage species is needed. But when official government intel disagrees with the cold hard facts, he worries there might be another reason for the relocation plans.A snap government order leaves the investigator in limbo and facing off against a new enemy that is more dangerous than the first. Worse, this enemy appears to live close to home.A devastating set of plans is soon revealed that will destroy the lives on two worlds. And Bill is caught in the middle. Can he stop chasing ghosts long enough to save humanity from the real enemy?Genesis Code is the first novel in this dystopian society thriller. If you enjoy incredible world building, complex characters, and disturbing secrets, then you'll love Eliza Green's intricately woven dystopian series. Fans of Lindsay Buroker, Jasper T. Scott and Chris Fox have read and enjoyed this series.

A Question of Will


Alex Albrinck - 2012
    They burned down his house. They beat him within an inch of his life. And then they realized they had the wrong man.They should have killed him when they had the chance.Will Stark is a thirty-five-year-old self-made billionaire. He's happily married and father to a young son he adores. He's well-loved in his community for his philanthropic efforts. He lives in a beautiful home inside a private, secure community designed to provide safety for his family from those who would do them harm.His idyllic world is shattered when, despite his best efforts, men storm his community, murder his family in their home, and burn his house down. In his efforts to rush to the aid of those he loves, Will is seized, beaten, and nearly killed.And as it's happening, the men who've attacked him realize they've mistaken him for someone else.Will's rescue from certain death brings him into the midst of a battle between two factions of a secret society, one in which members learn the secrets of developing superhuman abilities. And it's a battle in which a man named Will Stark has been the focal point. Will seizes the opportunity to learn these secrets, and battle those who destroyed his family. His own rapid development, however, means he may become a target for attack of his own accord.As he builds his new life, however, Will is faced with a critical decision. Will he use his new abilities to seek out vengeance? Or will he risk everything he has to save those he holds most dear?

Toby Streams the Universe


Maya Lassiter - 2011
    He also helps his private investigator best-friend with the occasional case--all while trying not to read the future of every person he meets. Such as Toby's new neighbor, a beautiful painter hiding from her violent Ex. Or Toby's psychic, sex-pot, sister, scared of her own future. Or his quirky virtual-assistant, struggling to care for her sick child. Toby wants to help them all, but his super-psychic father trained him not to interfere, lest he lose his own sanity in the process. Toby's father knew everything--he must have had good reasons for his rules. Of course, he vanished nearly a year ago...Then a voice speaks in Toby's mind, offering a path away from the dark future predicted by the Family Histories--if only Toby will challenge what his father taught him and learn to use his visions, rather than merely control them. Now Toby must find his father, uncover the identity of the voice, and save his friends from their futures, all while figuring out how to live inside his own, increasingly strange mind.