The Man Who Fell to Earth, by Walter Tevis

Thomas Jerome Newton walks out of the Kentucky wilderness looking like something not entirely of this world. Like a contemporary Musk or Bezos, this tall, thin enigma introduces tech that builds a rocket to the stars and changes modern life. However, while Newton reaps all the earthly rewards, the planet is slowly killing him--just as it did one of his predecessors nearly 2000 years before. Set in a shadowy America filled with mistrust and prone to all manner of addictive temptations, this 1963 parable by the author of The Hustler and The Queen’s Gambit uses scifi to portray the (in)human condition in a way that is as awe inspiring as it is tragic.