Binge-worthy TV and book pairings

There is great fun to be had in chasing a topic or setting across formats: getting into a TV show and then delving more into that world with a novel that explores a similar storyline, or vice versa. From hackers to courtroom drama to Jack the Ripper, here are a few ideas to get you started.

Mr. Robot
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Alif the Unseen

Mr. Robot is a moody, atmospheric TV show featuring a hacker who gets pulled into a shadowy anarchistic group bent on taking down Evil Corp, a corporation that seemingly has influence everywhere.

Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (Seattle author!) centers on a young Arab-Indian hacker-for-hire as he tries to avoid State security while working on code that could provide a quantum leap forward in technology.

How to Get Away With Murder
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Just Mercy

How to Get Away With Murder focuses on ace defense attorney Annalise Keating and five of her law students as they defend clients weekly, and also as they investigate a more complex murder.

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson is nonfiction. Defense attorney Stevenson uses riveting case studies to demonstrate the injustice inherent in our legal system, while also following the case of Alabama death row inmate Walter McMillian from beginning to end.

Ripper Street
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The Yard

Ripper Street takes place in the wake of Jack the Ripper’s unchecked killing spree in Victorian London, and follows Inspector Edmund Reid and the notorious H Division as they tackle crime in the tough East End.

The Yard by Alex Grecian also follows the Metropolitan Police after their failure to capture Jack the Ripper, as the recently formed “Murder Squad” partners with the first forensic pathologist in Scotland Yard. (First in a series)

~ posted by Andrea G.