If Jason Taverner waking to find every record erased left you hooked on slippery reality, you’ll love how Inspector Tyador Borlú must “unsee” half his world while chasing a murder across BesŹel and Ul Qoma. Like Taverner dodging checkpoints and relying on a forger named Kathy to survive, Borlú navigates an authority that polices perception itself. The way General A. Felix Buckman’s apparatus enforces order echoes the shadowy Breach—both systems make reality feel like a law you can break.

If the hyper-regimented checkpoints, dossiers, and ever-present threat of arrest around Taverner—and Buckman’s cold, methodical pursuit—gripped you, Orwell’s vision will feel chillingly familiar. Where Taverner scrambles for forged papers and tries to stay a step ahead of the security machine, Winston Smith struggles to keep a private self under total surveillance. Both worlds ask the same gut-punch question: what remains of a person when the state can edit reality?

If Taverner’s overnight nonexistence—and the way facts wobble beneath Buckman’s investigation—thrilled you, Ubik turns that vertigo up to eleven. Joe Chip and his crew watch their world regress and contradict itself, just as Taverner watches identity documents, fame, and memory prove unreliable. Where Buckman’s breakdown exposes a crack in authority, Ubik pries those cracks wide open, asking whether any anchor point in reality can be trusted.

If the oneiric unease of Taverner’s vanished identity—and Buckman’s relentless, almost ritualistic hunt—stuck with you, Ice will feel like stepping deeper into that dream. A nameless narrator chases a woman through collapsing landscapes and militarized zones, the way Taverner flees from raid to raid as reality keeps tilting. It’s that same cold, surreal pressure where desire, control, and state power blur into a haunting chase.

If Buckman’s investigation—clinical, menacing, and morally murky—was as compelling as Taverner’s run for cover, Lethem’s futuristic noir will scratch the itch. Conrad Metcalf digs through a case in a society where questioning can cost you, much like Taverner’s every conversation risks exposure at an ID stop. The off-kilter tech and altered social rules twist reality the way Dick’s world does, turning a simple “who are you?” into a loaded, dangerous riddle.