Science fiction and fantasy thrillers are often seen as frivolous, action-packed page turners, as critically dismissed as they are compulsively consumed. But a fast pace is more than a generic quality; speed today deserves attention as a subject in its own right, whether in the propagation of misinformation through social networks, the opaque and instantaneous transfers of capital into cryptocurrencies and tax havens or the cataclysmic changes in our climate. The acceleration at the hearts of these vast structures and systems is outpacing our ability to discuss and constrain their effects on us — so here are some books that work hard to catch up.

Claire North’s 84K (Orbit, paper, $15.99) is a vicious, engrossing portrait of unregulated capitalism carried to its logical conclusion. In a near-future Britain, human rights have been abolished; people are only as important as their worth to the Company that runs the government. People convicted of crimes, no matter how heinous, are fined; failure to pay sends them to “the patty line,” where they work in indentured servitude until they’ve settled their debt to society. Functionally, what this means is that the wealthy can do whatever they please while more and more people are forced into work camps, especially as it’s cheaper for the Company to employ those who’ve been convicted of crimes than those who haven’t.

Theo Miller is an adjuster employed by the Criminal Audit Office. His job is to determine the value of human lives and the indemnity owed for any given crime. But Theo — a milquetoast, middle-class middleman — isn’t entirely what he seems: His name and history are a lie. When Dani Cumali, a woman from his secret past, turns up threatening to expose him, he grudgingly helps her — until he finds her dead, her assassin casually phoning in the murder in order to pay the indemnity. From that point on, Theo takes up Dani’s struggle to reveal the depth and breadth of the Company’s evil.

“84K” is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s a terrifying look at capitalism’s slippery slopes and a realistic depiction of how a person’s will can shrivel into apathy and fear. On the other, it’s not an easy reading experience. This may be intentional on North’s part as a sort of structural storytelling: Capitalism is vague and diffuse, so why shouldn’t the narration follow suit? North has used carriage returns as punctuation in other novels, but usually for mechanical reasons, like indicating a body swap; in “84K,” random line breaks combine with almost constant ellipses to lend the novel a distracted air, where no one seems able to carry a thought to its conclusion. This is a deliberate stylistic choice — but it’s also exasperating, even allowing for the fact that Theo is meant to be an exasperating character, an Everyman whose motivations are arbitrary and haphazard.