Books like Burning paradise by Robert Charles Wilson

Cassie Klyne lives in a 2015 United States that has never seen war, depression, or catastrophe. The country has long enjoyed unprecedented peace and prosperity, but Cassie knows its utopia masks a hidden truth. For decades, an extraterrestrial entity has quietly influenced human progress through interference with early radio communications, subtly altering history to its ends. Cassie’s parents were the first to discover this manipulation, and they were killed for their knowledge along with most of those who shared the truth. Their survivors fled and went into hiding, adopting ordinary lives to avoid detection. Cassie and her younger brother Thomas have been under her aunt Nerissa’s protection for eight years, when the threat returns. Now, nonhuman predators hunt for the long‑hidden family, forcing Cassie to confront the idea that humanity may be part of a larger, unseen experiment. The story blends science‑fiction intrigue with a coming‑of‑age narrative set against an alternate world where peace masks surveillance and manipulation.

First publish date: 2013