If you were gripped by Luke, Kalisha, and Avery being weaponized in the Institute’s Back Half—and by how their TP/TK could be twisted into assassination and coercion—then Firestarter will hit the same nerve. Charlie McGee’s pyrokinesis makes her the target of “The Shop,” another shadowy agency that rationalizes any atrocity for the “greater good.” Like Luke’s flight to DuPray and Tim Jamieson’s stand, Charlie and her father are on the run, forcing brutal confrontations over who gets to control a child’s power.

If the nail-biting escape from the Institute—through the Front Half, the Boxcar, and finally toward DuPray—was your favorite stretch, you’ll vibe with The Angel Experiment. Max and her flock are genetically altered kids who bolt from the School, then turn the tables on their captors. The forward drive mirrors Luke’s single-minded push to free the others and expose Mrs. Sigsby’s operation, trading test rooms and punishment tokens for cages and hunters called Erasers.

If the Institute’s grim punishments, midnight abductions, and cold-blooded “greater good” rhetoric unsettled you, NOS4A2 matches that dark pulse. Where Mrs. Sigsby turns kids into tools, Charlie Manx preys on them for his own twisted immortality. The tone—like the torture rooms of Back Half and that ruthless raid on DuPray—is uncompromisingly grim, but the resilience of characters who fight back will hit the same cathartic notes as Luke and Tim’s last stand.

If the Institute’s justification for exploiting Luke and Avery—nudging assassinations to avert worse futures—made you wrestle with ends-versus-means, The Power digs into that same dilemma. As girls worldwide awaken an electrically lethal gift, governments and opportunists escalate control in ways that echo the Institute’s calculus. You’ll recognize the uneasy question that haunts Mrs. Sigsby’s speeches and Luke’s refusal to accept them: what do we become when we decide the “right” outcome excuses the harm?

If the bond between Luke, Kalisha, Nicky, Iris, and Avery—passing notes, protecting each other in the Front Half, and risking everything for a breakout—won you over, Six of Crows offers that same found-family heartbeat. Kaz Brekker’s crew of misfits leans on trust and grit to infiltrate a fortress and save a target no one else can. The camaraderie under pressure echoes those late-night whisper networks and the way the kids refuse to leave anyone behind.