Roadside Picnic

Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.

Now I'm definitely playing Pacific Drive

The origin of the Stalker movie, then the Stalker games and finally Pacific Drive; I can definitely see why it spawned so much different media. Roadside Picnic is a masterclass in pulling you in through what you're not told rather than what you are, little about the Zone is explained, years of time are skipped and major action sequences are cut as unnecessary. The book is more interested in the effects the Zone's bounty has on humanity than glorying in the sci-fi or horror aspects of it, though you'll both sci-fi and horror fans will still find enough to keep them happy. A lot goes on in Roadside Picnic and the authors trust you to figure large chunks of it out from context rather than laboriously explaining. That leads to a tight, engrossing read which I can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone.