Summer reading 2016: Science fiction

New Pompeii, by Daniel Godfrey, Titan Books, RRP£7.99/$14.95

Pompeii has been recreated in a former Soviet republic, complete with the residents of the original doomed city, snatched from the past by an unscrupulous corporation. What could possibly go wrong? Godfrey’s intricately plotted, tremendously gripping time-travel thriller evokes Michael Crichton at his best.

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United States of Japan, by Peter Tieryas, Angry Robot, RRP£8.99/$14.99

Sometimes you just feel the need for a story about giant robots, virtual reality and sumo wrestlers. Fortunately, that’s where Tieryas’s Japan-inflected novel comes in. Set in a counterfactual timeline where the Axis powers won the second world war, this dystopian detective tale takes dark, unexpected, sometimes brutal turns.

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The End of the World Running Club, by Adrian J Walker, Del Rey, RRP£7.99

After an asteroid strike destroys most of Britain, Ed finds himself separated from his wife and children. To rejoin them he must cross 500 miles of ravaged country on foot, in a matter of weeks. The journey pushes him to his physical and emotional limits, and towards a spiritual epiphany as well.