Books like Lexicon by Max Barry

At a secluded school near Arlington, Virginia, pupils learn no history or science, but how to persuade—training to unlock and manipulate minds with precision language. The elite graduate as “poets,” tasked with advancing an unnamed organization. Emily Ruff, a cunning street performer in San Francisco, is spotted by recruiters and drawn into this world populated by names like Brontë and Eliot. Here, people are segmented into personality types, and one’s mind is vulnerable to linguistic manipulation. Emily must conceal her true self to avoid being coerced, becoming the school’s prodigy—until the unexpected intrusion of love threatens her survival. Concurrently, Wil Parke, a seemingly ordinary man, is attacked in an airport bathroom and learned that he is an “outlier,” immune to the society’s segmentation. Faced with a secret war and relentless pursuers, he seeks refuge in Broken Hill, Australia, purportedly lying over an ancient glyph of power. "Lexicon" blends contemporary anxieties over privacy, identity, and data collection with timeless questions about the coercive force of language, delivering a suspenseful, romance‑laden thriller.

First publish date: 2013