Speculative Thriller Versus Dystopian Fiction

A corporation offers a cleaner, safer, more efficient life. There is one small catch: it may also be editing your choices, your memories or your idea of what a choice even is. That is where the speculative thriller versus dystopian fiction debate gets interesting. Both genres can make you suspicious of a polished headquarters, a helpful algorithm and anyone saying, “This is for your own good.” But they create tension in different ways.

If you love The Matrix, Inception, The Truman Show or a particularly unsettling episode of Black Mirror, you already know the feeling. Reality develops a hairline crack. Somebody notices it. Then the book starts tightening the screws.