If what hooked you was riding inside Ben Reich’s ruthless head as he murders Craye D’Courtney and then scrambles to outwit Lincoln Powell’s Esper net, you’ll love living with Gully Foyle in The Stars My Destination. Foyle’s a vindictive, barely civilized force of nature whose crimes and improvisations escalate a planetary manhunt much like Reich’s cat‑and‑mouse with the Espers. Bester again lets you savor audacious schemes, brutal reversals, and a finale that, like Reich’s “demolition,” detonates both plot and psyche.

If you loved the telepathic chess match between Lincoln Powell and Reich—those tight interrogations, the Esper Guild’s rules, and the procedural hunt after D’Courtney’s killing—The Caves of Steel delivers a classic SF mystery. Detective Elijah Baley and his partner R. Daneel Olivaw probe a locked‑room murder in a stratified future city, using forensic logic and social insight that echo Powell’s cool, methodical dismantling of Reich’s alibi (jingles and all). It scratches that speculative‑detective itch with airtight clues and mounting pressure.

If the typographic bursts of Esper chatter and ad‑slogans—like Reich’s weaponized jingle, “Tenser, said the Tensor”—made The Demolished Man feel electric, Stand on Zanzibar amplifies that formal experimentation. Brunner assembles headlines, dossiers, ads, and micro‑vignettes into a living collage of tomorrow, achieving the same immersive, high‑velocity texture Bester used to render telepathy and mass media crowding Powell’s investigation. It’s a daring formal ride with the same sense of being inside a noisy, neon mindscape.

If Reich’s unraveling psyche—his buried history with Barbara D’Courtney, the Oedipal reveal, and the terrifying promise of “demolition”—stuck with you, A Scanner Darkly channels that same psychological intensity. Undercover agent Bob Arctor loses himself behind layers of duplicity and tech surveillance, blurring self and mask the way Reich’s bravado masks a crumbling interior Powell keeps probing. It’s intimate, paranoid, and heartbreaking—perfect if you prized Bester’s blend of crime plot and mental disintegration.

If you enjoyed the pure propulsion of Reich’s objective—murder, cover‑up, and staying ahead of Powell’s Espers from first page to “demolition”—The Quantum Thief hits the same throttle. Master thief Jean le Flambeur is sprung from a cosmic prison to pull an audacious job across post‑human Mars, with pursuers as relentless as Powell and puzzles as devious as Reich’s alibi games. Every chapter moves like Bester at full sprint, packing cunning schemes, reveals, and a mission that won’t let go.