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Masterminds

Gordon Korman

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Similar in premise + setting

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

Premise labels used: hidden conspiracy, isolated community, crime-free town, secret experiment, clones, criminal masterminds, truth discovery, parents are hiding something, escape plot, investigation

Setting labels used: small town, isolated community, New Mexico, present day, utopian veneer, desert setting, controlled environment, secluded town, fictionalized contemporary 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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American Elsewhere

Robert Jackson Bennett · 2013

An ex-cop inherits a house in a hidden New Mexico town and uncovers a family mystery tangled with cosmic horrors.

Why this is here

Premise labels: inheritance mystery · small-town secrets · ex-cop protagonist · missing mother · hidden town · research-lab fallout · cosmic intrusion · otherworldly residents · family mystery · outsider enters closed community

Setting labels: New Mexico · small town · rural America · isolated town · desert setting · mesa setting · mountain town · post-1950s aesthetic · mid-century atmosphere · parallel reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1467

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Wayward

Blake Crouch · 2013 · Wayward Pines

A newly appointed sheriff in a surveillance-bound town must solve a murder while navigating buried truths and rebellion.

Why this is here

Premise labels: isolated town · surveillance state · secret society · murder investigation · resistance movement · hidden truth · last town

Setting labels: small town · isolated community · fenced town · surveillance town · post-apocalyptic world · dystopian future · rural Idaho

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1729

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Pines

Blake Crouch · 2012 · Wayward Pines

A federal agent wakes in a strange Idaho town with no ID, no exit, and a mystery that keeps deepening.

Why this is here

Premise labels: missing agents · amnesia · isolated town · no way out · secretive community · investigation gone wrong · survival thriller · hidden truth · conspiracy

Setting labels: small town · isolated town · Idaho · contemporary setting · contained setting · fenced town · suburban Americana · mountain town · woods and cliffs · secretive community

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1790

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Remember Me Gone

Stacy Stokes · 2022

A teen training in her family’s memory-erasing business uncovers missing time, town secrets, and a buried past.

Why this is here

Premise labels: memory deletion · stolen memories · family secret · small-town secret · hidden history · unreliable memory · forbidden truth · investigation · buried past · ethical dilemma

Setting labels: small town · Texas · desert town · rural setting · isolated community · mine town · contemporary setting · atmospheric setting · southern setting · possible dystopian undertones

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1798

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The Shadow over Innsmouth

H.P. Lovecraft · 1936

A curious traveler visits a shunned seaside town and uncovers a terrifying secret about its people and his own past.

Why this is here

Premise labels: isolated town · forbidden town · family history · hidden ancestry · cosmic horror · seaside horror · cult secrets · underwater beings

Setting labels: New England · seaside town · small town · decaying town · isolated community · coastal setting · underwater realm · fictional town

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1915

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The Memory Ward

Jon Bassoff · 2025

A mail carrier in a too-perfect Nevada town uncovers blank letters, hidden pages, and a reality he can’t trust.

Why this is here

Premise labels: idyllic town · blank letters · memory loss · identity crisis · reality questioning · hidden truth · investigation · secret town · gaslighting · mind-bending mystery

Setting labels: small-town Nevada · isolated town · suburban setting · idyllic community · desert town · 1950s vibe

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1954

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The Others

Jeremy Robinson · 2018 · Infinite

A grieving PI hunting a missing girl stumbles into a cross-country alien conspiracy with cults, mercenaries, and cover-ups.

Why this is here

Premise labels: missing child · private investigator · alien conspiracy · government cover-up · UFO lore · child trafficking · ragtag team · unlikely allies · mystery investigation

Setting labels: modern day · American Southwest · Colorado · Colorado City · Arizona · New Mexico · Southwest desert · small-town setting · cult compound

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1962

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Welcome to Night Vale

Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor · 2015 · Welcome to Night Vale

In a surreal desert town, two women chase strange mysteries that keep circling back to the words “King City.”

Why this is here

Premise labels: small town weirdness · community radio · mystery investigation · missing person · identity search · family conflict · unexplained phenomena · conspiracy

Setting labels: desert town · American Southwest · small town · surreal world · supernatural reality · fictional community radio

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1982

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Sunbirth

An Yu · 2025

In an isolated desert village, two sisters endure a fading sun, strange beacons, and a family mystery tied to their missing father.

Why this is here

Premise labels: vanishing sun · isolated village · sisterhood · family mystery · survival · quiet apocalypse · mysterious transformation · unknowable phenomenon

Setting labels: isolated village · desert settlement · lakeside town · small town · climate-collapse setting · speculative world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1996

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Bite Risk

S.J. Wills · 2023 · Bite Risk

In a town where adults turn into werewolves monthly, a teen and his friends uncover a deeper, more sinister secret.

Why this is here

Premise labels: isolated town · werewolf world · kids protect adults · secret conspiracy · small-town mystery · monster in plain sight · controlled experiment · hidden truth · virus outbreak · coming-of-age crisis

Setting labels: remote town · small town · isolated community · post-disruption world · dystopian future · confinement nights · full moon cycle · near-future science fiction · contained setting · small-town surveillance

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2006

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Midnight

Dean R. Koontz · 1989

In a fogbound California town, outsiders and locals uncover a tech experiment turning people into something inhuman.

Why this is here

Premise labels: small town under threat · mad scientist · secret experiment · human transformation · emotion removal · body horror · tech paranoia · survival against evil · investigation of deaths · missing sister

Setting labels: small town · coastal town · northern California · nighttime · foggy atmosphere · 1980s setting · near-present fictional reality · isolated community

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2067

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Feedback

Robison Wells · 2012 · Variant

A teen fugitive finds a supposedly safe town is just another layer of the same deadly experiment.

Why this is here

Premise labels: escape attempt · surveillance state · captivity · twisted experiment · hidden control · school conspiracy · robot doubles · impostor town · truth-seeking · survival game

Setting labels: isolated school · small town · woods · confined setting · experimental facility · controlled community · near-future dystopia · fictional reality · camp

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2131

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