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The Asylum

Matt Dymerski

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Similar in premise + setting

These books are ranked using the premise + setting labels extracted for The Asylum. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Premise labels used: mental institution, doctor investigation, patient accounts, secret truth, insanity, hidden conspiracy, descent into madness

Setting labels used: asylum, mental institution, horror reality

This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their premise + setting embeddings are close.

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Strange Bodies

Marcel Theroux · 2013

A dead academic seems to return in a new body, pulling a psychiatrist and a conspiracy into questions of identity and immortality.

Why this is here

Premise labels: identity theft · consciousness transfer · body swap · immortality quest · forgery · metaphysical conspiracy · mad science · authenticity crisis

Setting labels: modern London · psychiatric hospital · mental asylum · secure facility · historical academic milieu · contemporary setting · speculative reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2122

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Beyond the Wall of Sleep

H.P. Lovecraft · 1919

An asylum intern probes a violent patient’s strange dreams and discovers a reality beyond sleep and the stars.

Why this is here

Premise labels: dream world · asylum patient · alien mind · psychic link · cosmic revelation · possession · hereditary memory · altered consciousness

Setting labels: mental hospital · state asylum · winter · rural America · Catskills · dreamscape · cosmic reality · early 20th century

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2437

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Absolute Martian Manhunter (2025-) #1

Deniz Camp · 2025 · Absolute Martian Manhunter (2025)

An FBI agent survives a bombing and begins experiencing a reality-bending psychic shift that blurs human and alien identity.

Why this is here

Premise labels: alien identity · dual self · investigative mystery · mind reading · psychic perception · survival after explosion · unstable reality · body-sharing

Setting labels: federal workplace · hospital setting · crime scene investigation · psychological reality · psychedelic reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2440

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Hospital

Han Song · 2023 · Hospital

A business trip turns nightmarish when a mysterious illness traps one man inside a dystopian hospital system.

Why this is here

Premise labels: mystery illness · hospital system · medical bureaucracy · patient powerlessness · corrupt institution · labyrinthine system · survival quest · escape attempt · medicalized society · systemic critique

Setting labels: dystopian future · hospital setting · medical institution · C City · China · bureaucratic system · speculative future · authoritarian society · medicalized world · labyrinthine interior

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2517

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K-Pax

Gene Brewer · 1995 · K-Pax

A psychiatrist records sessions with a patient who claims to be an alien from K-PAX, and the truth stays uncertain.

Why this is here

Premise labels: alien claim · psychiatric patient · identity mystery · delusion or reality · utopian world · therapeutic inquiry · human-alien encounter · mysterious abilities

Setting labels: psychiatric hospital · New York City · Manhattan · contemporary setting · outer space · alien world · utopian planet · single-site setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2519

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Ultraviolet

R.J. Anderson · 2011 · Ultraviolet

A teen in a psychiatric ward tries to prove she’s sane while the truth behind a missing classmate keeps changing.

Why this is here

Premise labels: teen mental institution · missing girl · murder suspicion · unreliable narrator · hidden ability · synesthesia · extraordinary powers · identity crisis

Setting labels: mental institution · psychiatric hospital · teen ward · contemporary setting · Canada · small-town high school · science-fiction reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2585

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The Murders of Molly Southbourne

Tade Thompson · 2017 · Molly Southbourne

A girl whose blood creates murderous doubles must survive her own body, her secrets, and the rules that keep her alive.

Why this is here

Premise labels: doppelgänger horror · blood curse · self-hunting · survival · identity crisis · medical horror · biological anomaly

Setting labels: isolated farm · college · off-the-grid upbringing · small-scale domestic setting · body-horror reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2596

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False Memory

Dean Koontz · 2001

A married couple confronts escalating phobias and missing time, uncovering a sinister mind-control scheme.

Why this is here

Premise labels: mind control · false memories · phobia outbreak · psychiatric manipulation · brainwashing · subconscious control · mysterious illness · ordinary couple under threat

Setting labels: contemporary · urban domestic · therapist office · medicalized setting · real-world setting · psychological realism · small-circle social world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2598

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The Coma

Alex Garland · 2004

After a brutal attack, a man awakens in a strange in-between world and tries to piece together reality before it slips away.

Why this is here

Premise labels: coma · amnesia · altered consciousness · dream state · identity loss · wake-up quest · psychological mystery · reality distortion · subconscious journey · survival

Setting labels: London Underground · hospital · home · urban setting · dreamscape · inner mental world · liminal state · contemporary setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2599

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Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water

Vylar Kaftan · 2019

A telepath trapped in a cave prison with only her lover starts hearing another mind that may expose everything.

Why this is here

Premise labels: telepath prison · memory loss · escape attempt · survival · hidden truth · mind prison · forbidden telepathy · survival under oppression

Setting labels: prison planet · underground caverns · labyrinth · alien world · future · dystopian future · claustrophobic setting · mindscape

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2641

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Professor Dowell's Head

Alexander Belyaev · 1981

A scientist’s severed head remains alive, pulling an assistant into a dangerous web of experimentation and betrayal.

Why this is here

Premise labels: reanimated head · human experimentation · mad scientist · medical breakthrough · body transplants · ethical dilemma · scientific ambition · living heads

Setting labels: laboratory · medical setting · psychiatric asylum

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2672

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Intercepts: A Horror Novel

T.J. Payne · 2026

A covert experimenter’s work turns personal when a hidden government weapon starts haunting his grieving daughter.

Why this is here

Premise labels: human experimentation · secret facility · government conspiracy · remote viewing · psychic weaponization · sensory deprivation · revenge · father-daughter protection · mind control · surveillance state · hidden abilities

Setting labels: secret underground facility · laboratory · padded cells · sensory deprivation chamber · covert government site · contemporary setting · paranoia-driven workplace · home setting · surveillance culture · high-security institution

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2677

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