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These books are ranked using the setting labels extracted for The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag.
Setting labels used: Chicago, 1940s, mid-20th century, urban, pulp-era, mirror world, alternate reality, multi-dimensional space, mental institution
This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their setting embeddings are close.
Ten years after saving the world, a traumatized hero discovers the battle may not be over after all.
Why this is here
Setting labels: Chicago · contemporary Earth · alternate Earth · parallel universe · magical reality · post-war world · celebrity culture
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.1802
In an alternate America without the internet, a misfit memoirist navigates a strange tech culture, family, and an eerie gift.
Why this is here
Setting labels: alternate America · present-day alternate reality · internetless world · greater Chicagoland · suburban setting · late 20th century background · contemporary America (alternate)
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2017
A kidnapped physics professor wakes in a different life and must fight to return to the family he knows.
Why this is here
Setting labels: Chicago · small college · urban · contemporary · alternate realities · multiverse · lab setting · warehouse setting
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2030
A dispatcher in a world where murder rarely sticks gets pulled into a deadly conspiracy that makes him a suspect.
Why this is here
Setting labels: Chicago · alternate earth · near future · present day · what-if world · global phenomenon · corporate world · urban crime setting
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2036
A survivor hunts a time-traveling serial killer who stalks women across decades from a mysterious Chicago house.
Why this is here
Setting labels: Chicago · Depression era · 1930s · 1980s · 1990s · 20th century · historical Chicago · alternate time access · magical house · urban decay
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2048
A young believer is dropped into a baffling experimental city and rises through its chaos as its hidden logic unravels.
Why this is here
Setting labels: artificial city · isolated city · possibly other planet · alternate reality · 20th century transplants · twentieth-century historical cross-section · surreal cityscape
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2107
An alien virus reshapes post-WWII America, spawning heroes, monsters, and a shared-world saga of linked stories.
Why this is here
Setting labels: post-World War II · 1940s · 1950s · 1960s · 1970s · 1980s · New York City · Manhattan · United States · alternate history · shared-universe world
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2114
A ragtag rebel cell battles psychic oppression, alien powers, and reality-warping conspiracies in a dense, psychedelic comic epic.
Why this is here
Setting labels: contemporary · 1990s · late 20th century · urban · secret underground world · multiverse · interdimensional · psychic reality · near-apocalyptic · global
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2114
A grieving man is pulled into parallel lives and a deadly confrontation with his own double.
Why this is here
Setting labels: Chicago · contemporary · stormy night · rainy night · urban setting · alternate realities · parallel worlds
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2136
An alien hunter in near-future Chicago investigates serial murders and is forced into an uneasy alliance with a suspect.
Why this is here
Setting labels: near-future · future Earth · alternate future · Chicago · New Chicago · alien-integration world · urban setting
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2165
A teen outcast discovers her visions are past-life time travel—and someone is hunting her across time.
Why this is here
Setting labels: present day · historical past · time travel · Limbo · afterlife-adjacent · multiple eras · 1920s Chicago · Jamestown · World's Fair · 1960s
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2169
An autistic memory-technologist navigates first love, hostile reactions, and a strange memory tech in a sequel told from his POV.
Why this is here
Setting labels: alternate world · modern setting · urban setting · workplace setting · memory palace
Semantic match: ranked by setting
Distance: 0.2177
