Dying Inside (Robert Silverberg, 1972)

The novel's main character, David Selig, livies in New York City. He was born with a telepathic gift allowing him to read the minds of others and to manipulate people on a psychic level. In his youth, before he learned the true nature of his ability, he called it his 'luck'. Rather than use his superpower for any greater good, however, Selig squanders his gift and uses it only for his own lazy convenience (in one chapter he reads the newspaper through his father's eyes). His power has essentially made him into a lazy bum rather than any kind of superhuman.

As the novel progresses, Selig begins to lose his power and struggles to maintain his grip on reality as his perceptions change and his 'self preservation' ability to get what he wants goes down the drain.

Rating: 9/10

The Man in the Maze (Robert Silverberg, 1968)

When Dick Muller, repulsive to the entire human race after an encounter with an alien race leaves him terribly altered, arrives on the abandoned planet of Lemnos, he learns that Earth is in danger, forcing him to make a difficult decision - save the planet that scorned him or watch Earth be destroyed.

Rating: 9/10

Nightwings (Robert Silverberg, 1969)

A tale of pilgrimage and hope, betrayal and transformation. It was Avluela the Flier's scarlet and ebony wings that lead the Watcher to the seven hills of the ancient city, leaving the skies and deep space unguarded. And so the invaders came and conquered and Avluela became lost in the turmoil.

The World Inside (Robert Silverberg, 1971)

Urban Monad 116: A lofty spire a thousand stories high, where over 880,000 souls live out their perfectly regulated lives in peace and plenty. But inside their glorious world are a few who dare to doubt and dream: Aurea Holston - a beautiful young bride who fears leaving the only world she's ever known. Dillon Chrimes - cosmos group pop star, who becomes one of the urbmon in an orgiastic, mind-shattering trip. Jason Quevedo - historian, who gets his kicks from the perverse savagery of an earlier age. Siegmund Kluver - virile young man-on-the-way-up, who sees the nightmare behind the urbmon's shining facade. And Michael Statler - who dares to escape...

Two similar books dealing with overpopulation:
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
334 by Thomas Disch

The Majipoor Chronicles (Robert Silverberg, 1980)

Valentine, a wanderer who knows nothing except his name, finds himself on the fringes of a great city, and joins a troupe of jugglers and acrobats; gradually, he remembers that he is the Coronal Valentine, executive ruler of the vast world of Majipoor, and all its peoples, human and otherwise...

Rating: 9/10

The Book of Skulls (Robert Silverberg, 1972)

Candidates for eternal life must present themselves at the "Skullhouse" as a foursome. The brothers are happy to provide training in their secrets (including tantric sex) - but there's a price. The Ninth Mystery in the Book of Skulls states: "Two of thee we undertake to admit to our fold. Two must go into darkness". One of those four college students must willingly commit suicide. One is fated to be murdered by his own friends.

The narrative shuttles between their viewpoints, each distinct and sharply characterised. Rich, handsome, upper-class Timothy doesn't believe in immortality and is just going along with the gag. Eli the Jewish intellectual believes passionately. Ned, who is openly gay, has his own agenda involving Oliver, a Midwestern farm boy with tortured depths who says the Skullhouse is his only hope. Each in turn undergoes an ordeal of dreadful self-knowledge, after which the impossible choice of who wins and who loses seems natural, even inevitable.