10 Books for Dad that are Definitely More Thoughtful Than a New Tie

Sleeping Giants, by Sylvain Neuvel
Neuvel’s debut has it all: government conspiracies, international political intrigue, and giant robots. Or, more accurately, a giant robot, scattered in pieces all over the globe. As a young girl, Dr. Rose Franklin discovered the giant hand of an alien robot in the woods near her house, and as an adult she leads the team working on discovering the rest of its parts—and the enormous figure’s purpose. When an accident reveals the robot to the world, other nations demand access, and the mystery of its origins and purpose may be solved—but whether or not the answers are what we would like them to be is another issue altogether. Told in a series of interview transcripts, newspaper clippings, and other ephemera, Sleeping Giants is ideal for any Dad who likes their ideas big and their robots bigger.

Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson
Speaking of big ideas, if Dad is the sort of sci-fi fan who’s a “go big or go home” type, Stephenson’s most recent novel is the perfect choice—it is, after all, a book in which the moon literally explodes in the first sentence. As usual Stephenson combines plausible science with human frailties, extrapolating an apocalypse in a story whose huge scale doesn’t undercut the drama of how the human race might be reduced to the thinnest possible thread and yet still survive to possibly reclaim the world that gave birth to it. If Dad’s looking for a big, meaty story to sink into and savor, this is the gift for him.

The Everything Box, by Richard Kadrey
Not everyone wants their SFF adventures done up in shades of gray, and Kadrey’s newest book is the ideal read for the lighthearted urban fantasy fan. If Dad’s a fan of Kadrey’s Sandman Slim series, he’ll absolutely love The Everything Box, which is a little lighter in tone but no less jammed full of ideas, angels, demons, and plenty of magic. A thief specializing in magical items is hired to steal the titular box, which is also being sought by the angel that lost it millennia before—when he was supposed to use it to wipe out the human race entirely. You won’t be able to see the plot turns coming, and Kadrey’s nimble writing carries the reader along on an adventure Dad won’t soon forget.

Fool Me Once, by Harlan Coben
If Dad’s more of a thriller guy, Coben’s newest is the perfect gift. Maya, a war veteran, opens the book burying her husband—but when she sees her allegedly deceased husband on her newly installed Nanny Cam, she’s plunged into an investigation that tests all of her skill as a combat veteran as well as the loyalty of her friends—and the people she gained as a family through marriage. Their icy, wealthy, insular world never felt right to Maya, and her search for answers leads the reader into twists that would be impossible for a less skilled writer to pull off. Coben does it more than once, and you’ll definitely be Dad’s favorite if you give him this book.

Valiant Ambition, by Nathaniel Philbrick
The history-loving Dad is almost a cliché, but we’ll allow it because it’s a good cliché and because everyone should be reading Philbrick’s incredible examination of the Revolutionary War, with a focus on the two men who dominated its early years: George Washington and Benedict Arnold. Philbrick will surprise even a well-read historian with some of the revelations about the personalities and politics of the early Revolution, and his in-depth examination of Washington and Arnold offer up plenty of surprises as he reveals the former wasn’t the perfect leader he’s sometimes imagined to be, and the latter wasn’t entirely unjustified in the anger and sense of betrayal that led his name to become shorthand for treachery.

Everybody’s Fool, by Richard Russo
Twenty-plus years ago Richard Russo gifted the world with the character of Sully Sullivan in one of the best novels of the late 20th century: Nobody’s Fool. Whether or not Dad is a fan of that novel (who isn’t, though?), Russo—who won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction—remains one of our most entertaining and insightful writers. Everybody’s Fool isn’t a sequel that requires knowledge of the first novel, although it helps. Any Dad who likes great writing will enjoy this one, and if you want some extra bonus points on Father’s Day, why not give Dad both novels together, so he can really enjoy exploring the world of North bath, Maine?

Smoke, by Dan Vyleta
Most books are built from similar materials, whether it’s spies or wizards or aliens or cops and robbers. Why not surprise Dad with a truly unique, truly fascinating book that doesn’t follow any existing template? In Smoke Vyleta creates an alternative Victorian Britain where people’s sins—their dark thoughts, evil impulses, and unpure motivations—manifest physically as an oily black smoke that stains their clothes and skin. The upper classes assert their right to rule by dint of their lack of Smoke, proving their purity, but a pair of friends at an elite school where self-control is taught to the future leaders of the world may have discovered that the world isn’t at all what it seems. For the Dad looking for something unexpected, this is the perfect book to give.

Fireman, by Joe Hill
With Fireman, Joe Hill offers Dads and book lovers everywhere a tense, imaginative horror story about a disease that emerges initially as tattoolike patterns on their skin, then causes spontaneous combustion. As society crumbles under the strain, an infected pregnant woman flees the Cremation Crews that have formed to destroy the infected, and finds her way to a camp of infected who are slowly learning to live with—and control—the plague within them. Hill, son of Stephen King, offers up a story that fans of King, The X-Files, or Fear the Walking Dead will love, so if those are on Dad’s short list, this is the book for him.

Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee
Not everything is about thrills and chases, aliens and robots—Harper Lee has passed on, but she has left us with two incredible novels. Indelible American classic To Kill a Mockingbird has its roots in Go Set a Watchman, sharing characters, themes, and location, but Watchman has its own story to tell and its own points to make. If Dad’s a literary maven, he’ll jump at the chance to read another book by Lee and gain some insight into her creative process and her ultimate legacy.

Zero K, by Don DeLillo
A novel primarily concerned with death and the preservation of the body and mind until cures and other breakthroughs can be found might sound dark and impenetrable. And when you hear it’s by Don DeLillo, dark and impenetrable seems certain—but DeLillo’s 17th novel is surprisingly lightfooted and even funny, without sacrificing any of his trademark density and tangents. Jeffrey Lockhart travels to a remote compound to be with his billionaire father after the death of his stepmother; the compound is where Lockhart Senior is funding research into preserving people until they can be revived. If Dad’s serious about his reading, why not plug him into what will likely be the water cooler book of the summer? Not only will he be on the cutting edge of the literary scene, he’ll have read a fantastic book—and this Father’s Day will be the one where you got the gift right.