With season 2 of Severance airing weekly, it makes sense that fans need something to keep them busy between episodes. Thankfully, there are a few great books out there with all of the right vibes. Full of slow-burn strangeness, workplace-based weirdness and memory-related mysteries, these seven books will entertain you long after season 2 is complete.
The Regional Office is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales
The Regional Office, a secret organization of super-powered female assassins, defends the world from darkness – until a prophecy foretells its downfall from within. Rose, a young recruit turned traitor, leads an attack against the organization, eager to prove herself. Meanwhile, Sarah, a devoted defender with a possibly mechanical arm, fights to protect the only home she’s ever known. As their fates collide, the battle will determine the future of the Regional Office, and possibly the world.
While on the surface it’s zanier than Severance, The Regional Office is Under Attack! chronicles the rise and fall of a shadowy, mysterious organization. Some employees know that the business is a front, while others are oblivious, and shifting narratives allow for double-crossing and deception in this truly wild ride.
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Lakewood by Megan Giddings
When Lena Johnson drops out of college to support her family, she takes a high-paying job in the remote town of Lakewood, Michigan. The benefits seem too good to be true: free housing, medical care. The catch, however, is a secret research program she must never discuss. As she becomes a test subject for bizarre experiments – eye drops that change eye color, pills that erase bad thoughts – Lena begins uncovering a disturbing truth. Now, she must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice for her family, and at what cost to herself.
The Lakewood, Michigan of Megan Giddings’ debut feels like the perfect place for a Lumon Industries office. Lakewood evokes a terrifying world of medical experimentation on unwitting victims, with a focus on racism and the moral dilemmas many working-class families face.
Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin
A global notification reveals that thousands of people once chose to erase a memory. Now, they have the chance to restore it. Finn, suspecting his wife of infidelity, Mei, haunted by a city she’s never visited, William, a former inspector battling PTSD and Oscar, a man with almost no past, must decide whether to reclaim their lost truths. Meanwhile, Noor, a psychologist at the Nepenthe memory clinic, begins questioning the morality of memory removal, risking everything to uncover the true cost of this technology.
With elements of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Black Mirror, Tell Me an Ending is perfect for Severance fans. Jo Harkin’s debut is a dark, emotional look at grief, memory and the lies we tell ourselves to survive.
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Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke
When mid-level PR employee Gerald finds himself mysteriously uploaded into his company’s Slack channels, his coworkers assume it’s a joke – until his productivity skyrockets. While his bosses are thrilled by his hard work, Gerald enlists his colleague Pradeep to help him escape. But as the digital void grows more surreal, Gerald begins to question whether he even wants to leave.
Told entirely through Slack messages, Several People Are Typing is a truly original and absurdist workplace comedy. Like the innies, Gerald is perpetually trapped at work and desperate to discover the truth – and a way out.
Severance by Ling Ma
Candace Chen barely notices when a plague devastates New York – until she’s one of the last uninfected left. Wandering the empty city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost, she clings to routine, but survival alone isn’t sustainable. Enter Bob, a domineering tech worker leading a group of survivors to a place called the Facility, where he promises safety and a fresh start. But Candace carries a secret Bob must never discover. As trust erodes, she must decide whether to stay under his control or risk everything to escape.
Obvious titular similarity aside, Ling Ma’s Severance doesn’t appear to have much in common with the show. However, her book proves
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The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
The Memory Police takes place on an unnamed island where items – and people – are gradually disappearing. Most residents are oblivious, but those who remember live in fear of the Memory Police, who erase the disappeared from collective memory. When a struggling novelist discovers her editor is in danger, she hides him beneath her floorboards. As fear and loss surround them, they turn to her writing as the last means of preserving the past.
In The Memory Police, the people in charge do everything they can to control those around them, including messing with their minds. Yoko Ogawa’s book is a surreal story about the power of memory and trauma, themes that fit perfectly with those in Severance.
Tell the Machine Goodnight by Katie Williams
Pearl’s job is to make people happy: literally. As a happiness technician, she provides tailored recommendations for contentment, and by all accounts, she’s good at it. But happiness is hard to quantify, especially when her own son, Rhett, seems to thrive in his unhappiness. A sensitive, unconventional teen, Rhett views rejecting joy as its own pursuit of meaning. Pearl should be the perfect person to help him, but unlike her customers, Rhett’s emotions can’t be optimized or measured. As she struggles to bridge the gap between them, Pearl must confront the limits of both her profession and her role as a mother.
Tell the Machine Goodnight is one big thought experiment: imagine if there was a machine that could tell you exactly what to do to be happy. Katie Williams explores our obsession with technology and quick fixes as well as the uncanny influence of positive psychology with subtle speculative elements and more warmth than a lot of the books on this list.
These strange, speculative books are all available at your local independent bookstore or Bookshop.org. Which of these Severance-like reads will you pick up first? Let us know below!
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