best horror book reviews

The 29 best horror books to stock up on for a spooky, creepy fall

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• Great horror novels can be scary, thrilling, or grotesque. 
• These books include Stephen King classics and new releases. 
• These horror picks make great gifts and late-night reads.

If you crave the skin-crawling, adrenaline-spiking, can't-look-away feeling of scary movies and haunted houses, then horror books might be the perfect fit for you. 

From paranormal short stories to horror classics like Stephen King's "It," horror novels give us the creepy-crawling feeling that stays long after we've closed the book and turned off the light. Whether you're searching for your first gory horror read or a new page-turning thriller, here are the best horror books to read in 2022.

The 29 best horror books to read in 2022:

"mexican gothic" by silvia moreno-garcia.

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $13.58

This Goodreads Choice Awards-winner is a gothic, historical horror about Noemí Taboada, who heads to the Mexican countryside after receiving a strange and alarming letter from her newly wed cousin. When she arrives at her new home, High Place, she faces a dark family past, buried secrets, and a house that may try to trap her, just as it seems to have done to others.

"It" by Stephen King

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $15.97

This well-known horror book is about seven adults returning to their hometown to face an evil they first discovered as teenagers: An unnamed, shape-shifting terror they call "It." If you read other Stephen King novels, the town of Derry, Maine appears again and again but it all began with "It." "It" is also a monster of a book — its many, many pages build to a must-read, terrifying masterpiece.

"When the Reckoning Comes" by LaTanya McQueen

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $15.81

When Mira fled her segregated southern hometown more than a decade ago, she left behind her best friend, a plantation rumored to be haunted, and the horrible memories from her youth. Returning only for her best friend's wedding on the eerie plantation, dark elements from the town's past and Mira's own history begin to unravel as the weekend begins.   

"Daisy Darker" by Alice Feeney

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $23.99

For those who loved Agatha Christie's " And Then There Were None ," "Daisy Darker" is a horror story about Daisy Darker's estranged family, who have gathered on a remote island for Nana's 80th birthday. When the tide traps them in and Nana is found dead, followed by another family member an hour later, they must untangle their secrets and find the killer if they want any chance to survive.

"A Dowry of Blood" by S.T. Gibson

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $24.30

"A Dowry of Blood" is a new, fantastical horror novel that reimagine's the story of Dracula's bride, Constanta, who was turned from a mortal peasant to the wife of an undying king. As Constanta begins to understand the true evil power of her husband, she unravels his dark secrets and must choose between love and her freedom in this queer, dramatic paranormal horror story. 

"White Smoke" by Tiffany D. Jackson

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $12.51

Mari thinks she's out-running the ghosts of her old life when her newly blended family relocates to a picture-perfect home in the Midwest, even if it's situated amongst far more dilapidated and secret-holding neighbors. In this haunted house horror story, strange things begin to happen in Mari's new home, but when her younger stepsister warns her of a friend who wants Mari gone, the danger becomes too real. 

"Night of the Living Rez" by Morgan Talty

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $15.26

This collection of 12 short horror stories is set in a Native community in Maine as individuals, families, and the community grapple with traumatic pasts and an uncertain future. Believable, unique, and achingly raw, these interconnected stories have moments of humor and emotion throughout those of horror and thrills.

"Hell House" by Richard Matheson

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $16.73

Stephen King called this book "the scariest haunted house novel ever written," so you know it's terrifying. Rolf Rudolph Deutsch is about to die, so he offers to pay a physicist and two mediums $100,000 each to find out what happens after death. The three of them travel to the Belasco house — more commonly referred to as the "Hell House" — for one night to learn how it earned its nickname. 

"Stillhouse Lake" by Rachel Caine

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $7.99

Gina was completely normal — an average housewife with a husband and two kids. When a car accident revealed her husband's secret life as a serial killer, she moved with her children to a home on a lake, far away from her husband's secrets and the stalkers who think she was part of it all. But when a body appears in the lake and threatening letters start to arrive, Gina — now a prime suspect — must protect herself and her kids from a killer who's tormenting her family. 

"What Moves the Dead" by T. Kingfisher

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $17.99

" What Moves the Dead " is a jaw-dropping horror retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Fall of the House of Usher." Alex Easton has rushed to the remote countryside after receiving word that their childhood friend, Madeline, is dying. Ill prepared for the nightmare that awaited them, Alex finds Madeline and her brother in an affected state and must unravel the secrets of the old home to save them all.

"Tender Is the Flesh" by Agustina Bazterrica

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $13.79

Most accurately described as "skin-crawling," this book centers on Marcos, who keeps his eyes on his work and away from the pain in his life. He works at the local processing plant, slaughtering humans — though, no one calls them that anymore. Since the government initiated "the Transition" after a sweeping virus made animal meat poisonous to humans, eating human meat — "special meat" — is legal, and having personal contact with the specimens is punishable by death. 

"The Sun Down Motel" by Simone St. James

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $10.79

If you want to feel the rush of knowing something terrible is coming, this paranormal horror story is for you. In 1982, Carly's Aunt Viv took a job at the Sun Down Motel, trying to save enough money to move to New York City. Now, Carly's working the front desk to discover what mysteries could have led to her aunt's disappearance. The entire book is suspenseful and mysterious but the horror scenes are next-level. I had to rush to finish this one before it got dark. 

"Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology" by Vince A. Liaguno & Rena Mason

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $15.80

" Other Terrors " is a horror anthology written by underrepresented horror writers on what it means to be viewed as the scary "other" in society. Whether it's people from "other" ethnicities or of "other" sexualities, these horror short stories monopolize the primal fear of the unknown.

"The Chestnut Man" by Soren Sveistrup

The Chestnut Man is a serial killer who leaves a handmade doll made of matchsticks and chestnuts at every crime scene. When a forensic team discovers a bloody fingerprint belonging to a government official's daughter who had been kidnapped and murdered a year ago, the detectives must follow the murderer's twisted clues before someone else ends up dead. This book is dark and unnerving, and you will likely find yourself unwilling to turn the next page, fearing what lies ahead. 

"NOS4A2" by Joe Hill

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $15.71

Victoria, a young girl with a talent for finding things, stumbles upon a bridge that can take her anywhere. She runs into Charlie Manx, who lures kids into a car that transports them to a horrifying playground called Christmasland. Victoria is the only child to ever escape Christmasland. Years later, Charlie hasn't forgotten about her — and is ready to take his revenge.

"Bird Box" by Josh Malerman

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $9.46

In a world created by Josh Malerman, there's something out there that, once seen, drives a person to deadly violence. Malorie is one of only a handful of survivors left after the mysterious thing took over the world. She needs to flee with her children, relying on their wit and hearing to stay alive. This is a horror story that will have you closing your curtains and hiding in your house until you get to the end. 

"Red Dragon" by Thomas Harris

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $8.99

You may be more familiar with the second book in the Hannibal Lecter series "The Silence of the Lambs," but if you're looking to read the whole story, you should start here. When a serial killer attacks families, the FBI turns to William Graham, one of the greatest profilers, who retired after the horrors he witnessed in capturing Hannibal Lecter. To solve this case, William finds he must turn to Lector for help. The violent point of view of the antagonist brings on the horror in full force — while demonstrating that the "good guy" isn't always the hero. 

"Lock Every Door" by Riley Sager

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $12.22

Riley Sager has written four suspenseful novels, each one balanced between thriller, mystery, and horror, but this one leans the most towards "horror" of the bunch. Jules' new job as an apartment sitter in one of Manhattan's most private and mysterious buildings comes with three rules: No visitors, no nights away from the apartment, and no disturbing the other residents. But the building is not what it seems to be — a dark history is rising within, summoning a race to find the truth before someone else goes missing. 

"Devolution" by Max Brooks

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $13.69

As the dust from Mount Rainier's eruption settles, Kate Holland's harrowing journals are found, revealing an account of the unnoticed Greenloop massacre and the legendary beasts behind it. From the author of "World War Z," this ominous horror story is action-packed, mind-bending, and utterly chaotic.

"The Exorcist" by William Peter Blatty

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $15.29

Adapted into one of the scariest films of all time, "The Exorcist" is about a mother and two priests who fight to free the soul of a young girl controlled by an evil and violent spirit. The deeper details of this novel are what make already scary scenes even scarier. Even if you've already seen the movie, the story has even more frightening information that heightens the fear.

"The Shining" by Stephen King

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $9.29

Jack Torrance is looking for a fresh start with his new job at the Overlook Hotel, where he can reconnect with his family and work on his writing in his free time. As winter sets in, Jack's days at the hotel get stranger and stranger, and the only one who notices is Danny, Jack's unique five-year-old son. Full of fleshed-out characters, this slower-paced book doesn't drag — it only builds up the fear to an unforgettable conclusion.

"Dracula" by Bram Stoker

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $3.71

We all know the famous "Dracula" persona — the one we mimic every Halloween with plastic fangs and upturned coat collars. But it doesn't really capture the 1897 classic gothic horror story, which depicts Dracula's move to England as he attempts to find new blood, spreading his undead curse along the way. The story is far more horrifying and twisted than you might anticipate, and will definitely change how you view the more heroic portrayals of modern-day vampires. 

"The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires" by Grady Hendrix

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $13.73

Set in 1990s Charleston, this novel is centered around a book club and the strange happenings around a newcomer who was brought into the club after one of the members was horribly attacked on her way home. This book has all of the southern charm, '90s nostalgia, and savagery that you might expect from the title alone. 

"The Other" by Thomas Tryon

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $15.95

Holland and Niles are twins, close enough to nearly read each other's thoughts but entirely different in personality. Their family is gathered for the summer to mourn their father's passing. With the boys' mother still locked in her room, Holland's pranks are growing more and more sinister and Niles isn't sure how much longer he can make excuses for his brother. 

"Imaginary Friend" by Stephen Chbosky

Best read with the lights on, "Imaginary Friend" is a haunting story where a young boy named Christopher goes missing in the town to which he and his mother just fled. Six days later, Christopher emerges from the woods with a voice in his head telling him to do one thing: Build a treehouse in the woods by Christmas, or his mother and everyone in the town will never be the same. 

"The Hollow Places" by T. Kingfisher

"The Hollow Places" is initially misleading. It starts off cute and funny, but quickly devolves into a terrifying novel with scenes so vibrantly written, they'll be sure to haunt readers long after they close the book. Kara finds a hole in the wall of her uncle's house that leads to a series of alternate realities, riddled with unsettling creatures that feed on fear. The world-building in this book is remarkable — Kingfisher creates something we couldn't previously fathom and yet something we so easily fear.

"The Only Good Indians" by Stephen Graham Jones

Available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $13.49

This follows four Indigenous men who are being tracked and haunted by an entity that lingers from a crime committed a decade prior. It's a horror story of revenge and identity as the men find they can't outrun the culture they left behind. This eerie story will continually shock you, yet ends so perfectly, you'll almost forgive the brutal scenes you endured to reach the end. 

"Rosemary's Baby" by Ira Levin

Available at Amazon, $24.37

In this classic horror story, Rosemary and Guy are a young couple settling into their New York apartment where it seems the neighbors are taking too keen of an interest in them, especially once Rosemary gets pregnant. The suspense in this novel is palpable, a waking nightmare that walks a thin line between unbelievable and yet completely real. This book is unnerving and sinister, one of the original horror novels that helped popularize the genre. 

"The Burning Girls" by C. J. Tudor

Reverend Jack Brooks arrives at Chapel Croft looking for a fresh start, yet is welcomed with an exorcism kit and a warning. Horrible things have happened at the church — protestant martyrs were burned centuries back, two teenage girls disappeared 30 years ago, and just a week prior, the vicar hung himself. This is a deeply woven and haunting ghost story, with strange and deadly mysteries throughout. 

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Read It and Scream

Here are eight knuckle-biting, nerve-ripping new tales, just in time for Halloween.

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By Danielle Trussoni

• Oct. 25, 2021

Overcoming dark times is the point of every scary story ever told. Whether it be pestilence or zombies, ravenous phantoms or vengeful witches, killers or psychos or ghouls from the beyond — the dramatic experience of being afraid, and the exhilaration of living through what we fear, bolster our will to survive. It may be as ancient as our ancestors telling stories around a fire, or as modern as a night alone with a horror novel, but the experience of imagining that which frightens us is a deeply human defense for life’s pageant of horrors.

Horrors of the mind are at play in Catriona Ward’s brilliant new novel, THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET (Tor Nightfire, 319 pp., $27.99), a terrifying exploration of human consciousness that excavates character like an ice pick chipping through an ancient glacier: The deeper one goes, the chillier it gets.

On the surface, the novel has a rather typical horror premise — a child, Lulu, goes missing at a lake, leaving an older sister desperate to find her. But as the story progresses, a far more startling and complicated plot emerges, one that has less to do with Lulu or the kidnapping, and more to do with how the human consciousness copes with the threat of violence.

The novel is told by a chorus of characters who unspool their experiences in first person. These perspectives are then buttressed by a third-person narrative that follows Lulu’s sister as she attempts to hunt down the kidnapper. At first, this shifting among characters feels disorienting, and the choice to include a cat’s point of view verges on silly, but as the novel builds momentum, the structure makes sense. These multiple narrators are like pieces of a cracked mirror, each shard reflecting a central fracture.

Indeed, fragmentation is the point. When a crank psychiatrist known as “the bug man” theorizes that our idea of the “self” doesn’t exist, and that “each living thing and object, each stone and blade of grass, has a soul, and all these souls together form a single consciousness,” Ward’s ambitions become clear: This isn’t a novel about a kidnapping, but a deeply frightening deconstruction of the illusion of the self. In an afterword, Ward writes that she “wrote a book about survival disguised as a book about horror.” In fact, she’s written a novel of existential dread that explores the nature of humanity, our connection to God and the universe, and the monstrosity of that connection.

Tananarive Due’s spellbinding THE BETWEEN (Harper Perennial, 287 pp., paper, $16.99) opens with 7-year-old Hilton James finding his beloved grandmother dead on the floor, “cold as just-drawn well water.” Hilton runs for help but when he returns, Nana is alive, sort of — she has slipped into a strange state of in-betweenness, a place between life and death where the laws of reality no longer apply.

Decades later, married and the head of a rehab center, Hilton is triggered into this state himself when a white supremacist threatens his wife, Dede, a newly elected judge, and their children. As Hilton tries to stop the man, his reality began to distort and twist, leaving him in a sunken place between terror and doubt.

“The Between,” Due’s debut novel, was originally published in 1995, but it feels as relevant as anything written in 2021, a sad testament to the fact that white supremacy hasn’t diminished in the past decades. There is a pointed political and social layer to this novel that, when juxtaposed with the internal terrors of Hilton’s life, creates a complex portrait of the Black experience in America, one in which aggression, gaslighting and the need to assess and reassess threats, real and imagined, are the stuff of daily life. “While Black horror is a much more recognized and appreciated subgenre than it was when I wrote this novel, the social fears that helped create it are still alive and well,” Due writes in the preface of this new edition. “Some monsters never die.”

Due brings readers into this experience with eerie, beautiful prose that gives the novel a shimmer of the otherworldly. There is a moment when Hilton sees a woman hovering in the “murky phosphorescent gray-green mist” coming off a swimming pool only to discover, when he looks closer, that it is Nana. Is it a ghost? A memory? Or simply refracted light in fog? Thanks to the constant blurring of reality and hallucination, nightmare and memory, the reader becomes as unsettled as Hilton.

Daryl Gregory’s startling literary horror novel, REVELATOR (Knopf, 333 pp., $27), begins as Stella Wallace returns to the backwoods of Tennessee to live with her grandmother Motty. Stella and Motty’s kinship is instantly recognizable: They have an inherited condition that colors their white skin with splotches of red. But the women are special in other ways. They were born part of a line of Revelators, women who communicate with the God in the Mountain, a monstrous being who lives in a cave near the family’s cabin.

Stella communes with the God, taking on his thoughts and relating his messages to a growing group of followers. But such divine communion demands a steep price. The messages live inside her long after she’s left the cave, inhabiting her mind and body, even creating stigmata. In one scene Stella, laid out on a slab of rock, is offered up to a monster: The God “slipped down toward her through the dark — a limb, flat as the foreleg of a praying mantis. Its torso became visible, a pale mass gleaming like mother-of-pearl. Half a dozen limbs fanned out behind it, gripping the rock.” Stella’s reaction isn’t terror, but closer to falling in love: “She’d never seen anything so beautiful.” And indeed, “Revelator” is a thing of beauty, brutal in the vein of Cormac McCarthy, a novel in the Southern Gothic tradition that is fresh and deeply disturbing.

In Stephen Graham Jones’s MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW (Saga/Simon & Schuster, 398 pp., $26.99), Jennifer “Jade” Daniels is the ultimate “horror chick,” a 17-year-old slasher film obsessive who dyes her hair blue, works as a summer janitor at her high school and struggles to break free from her abusive father. Jade sees the world as a horror film, wearing “slasher goggles” that color and distort her vision. When Jade meets Letha Mondragon, a rich girl from a gated community across the lake, it’s only natural that she casts her as the Final Girl in the slasher film of her life.

Jade, “the death metal girl, the D&D girl, the devilchild, practically was the walking, talking cover for ‘Sleepaway Camp II.’” She’s pure candy for fans of the genre. But Jade is also a deeply damaged young woman. She struggles to communicate and lies to herself and others, all while trying to come to terms with a traumatic past. Though she does ultimately find a way to the truth, for much of the novel she is a distant, perplexing character, one whose contradictions put her at a remove from everyone, including the reader. While this may be the point — someone like Jade isn’t ever going to be relatable — it makes for a frustrating protagonist.

Jones is a heady writer; gentrification, class and race all come into play here. But while the ideas are sound, the execution is not. The writing can feel rushed and the plot is unfocused, spinning around Jade as she tries to find her way.

Horror films scare us through exteriority: Image and sound come together to create the illusion of danger. Horror novels frighten through interiority: We experience fear through the inner life of a character, their thoughts, their consciousness. Jones has written a novel about a girl whose identity is defined by horror films — a girl who sees her inner world through an exterior lens. Bringing these modes of storytelling together is an ambitious project, but the result feels flat. Jade sees her most intimate experiences as something outside of herself, and yet one wants to see the world through her eyes, to understand her story. At one point she addresses her use of horror as an emotional crutch, saying, “Horror’s not a symptom, it’s a love affair.” Like all great love affairs, Jade’s relationship with horror is a private, unknowable thing, one that doesn’t allow anyone — not even the reader — inside.

Nothing is scarier than a Brian Evenson short story, as his new collection, THE GLASSY, BURNING FLOOR OF HELL (Coffee House Press, 238 pp., paper, $16.95), shows. Evenson is the Svengali of horror fiction, a hypnotic artist whose work lures one in sentence by sentence, only to shock with insight. Transformative, twisted and utterly surreal, Evenson’s stories are written with the eye of a miniaturist, every detail adding shadow and gloss.

In “The Shimmering Wall,” the narrator lives in a city contained by “semitransparent and flickering walls,” a “firm, jelly-like membrane” that acts as a permeable barrier between one world and another. The narrator’s parents died crossing this barrier and, despite the danger, he tries to break through, too. The result is terrifying: “With a sucking sound, it drew my fingers in, and then my hand … the sensation was odd and disorienting, as if my hand were being taken apart and put together in a way that made it something else.”

Evenson’s stories enact this process on the reader, taking the known world apart and replacing it with something new and strange. Take “The Extrication,” a four-page story about two survivors of a ruined world. One restrains the other and puts him through a terrible procedure that results in biological transformation. Why?

In order to adapt. “As the world sickens further, as the air grows poisonous, as the oceans die, so too must we shift and change if we care to survive. We must extricate ourselves from humanity and become something other than ourselves.” That this extrication is unthinkably terrible, and involves great pain, is only to be expected.

In Zoje Stage’s GETAWAY (Mulholland, 352 pp., $28), Imogen, a writer who has lived through a massacre at a synagogue, is “lured out of her hermit’s cave” and to the Grand Canyon by her sister Beck in an effort to find some peace in nature.

When Beck invites Tilda, an old friend with whom Imogen has fallen out, the stage is set. Tilda is not made for the Grand Canyon. She’s an “American Idol” finalist turned Instagram influencer who was recently given a book advance “five times what Imogen had been paid for her first finally-got-the-damn-thing-published novel.” But Beck believes a seven-day hike will help heal old wounds, and so they head out over Tonto Platform to Boucher Trail. A premise full of dramatic possibilities becomes even more intense when the women are ambushed by “Red Fred,” a scraggly ex-con. What began as a respite from reality spirals into a struggle for survival.

Stage is a writer with a gift for the lyrical and the frightening. She creates gorgeous descriptions of nature, with its “colors so rich she could smell them: flamingo rock, terra-cotta dirt, cornflower sky” in one paragraph, and heart-stopping scenes of violence in the next. And while the story itself isn’t surprising — anyone familiar with James Dickey’s “Deliverance” can guess what will happen — Stage’s characters are so engrossing, her ability to create tension so deft, that “Getaway” feels original, and very scary.

Mindfulness apps are frightening beasts, but a mindfulness app that delves deep inside the psyche to control dreams? Pure horror. The premise of WHERE THEY WAIT (Emily Bestler/Atria, 387 pp., $27), Scott Carson’s compulsively readable psychological horror novel, rests upon anxiety and a need to soothe it. Nick Bishop, an unemployed journalist, is hired to write a profile of Bryce Lermond, a wealthy tech entrepreneur whose mindfulness app, Clarity, is about to hit the market. Nick is skeptical, but when he tries it, he discovers that it is the “Inception” of mindfulness apps. In a series of chilling sessions, we experience the mind-warping power of Clarity’s incantations called “sleep songs,” meditations taken from an ancient source and sung by a ghostly voice, “an eerie, whispering wail, a sound caught between a warning and an invitation, a sound that could conjure thoughts of a night hunt with hounds and now one of a tall, ancient church with stained-glass windows and high ceilings and flickering candles” that inspires all who hear it to commit suicide. Think Enya with a razor blade.

Carson’s storytelling is like the Clarity app: It’s easy to get hooked and hard to forget. After reading “Where They Wait,” you may find that earbuds take on a sinister quality, and downloading an app — especially one that is supposed to promote mindfulness — calls up a strange, haunting voice in your head.

Caitlin Starling’s THE DEATH OF JANE LAWRENCE (St. Martin’s, 362 pp., $27.99) is a jewel box of a Gothic novel, one filled with ghosts and sorcery, great stores of romance, medical curiosities and so much galloping about in carriages that there is hardly a moment to catch your breath.

Jane Shoringfield needs a husband, and Dr. Augustine Lawrence fits her purposes to a T. But what begins as a marriage of convenience transforms into a love affair that pulls her into Augustine’s past. The problems begin on their wedding night. Although they had decided that Jane would never sleep at Augustine’s crumbling manor, Lindridge Hall, that agreement is broken when a storm hits, stranding Jane, and revealing Augustine to be a very different man than she had believed.

Half of the pleasure of Starling’s novel is the world she’s constructed. Set in an alternate postwar England of crumbling manors, bloody surgical theaters and hidden crypts, it would be easy to sink into the delicious gloom. But there is too much happening to get comfortable: Jane proves herself as persistent as Jane Eyre in overcoming an ill-fated marriage. And while Augustine’s past is more than she bargained for, she shows she is his equal in love and magic.

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The Best Horror Novels of 2022

For horror fans, this year was a feast after many years of famine..

To be a horror fan in 2022 is to find yourself at a feast after many years of famine. You’re not just limited to writers named King , Straub, or Koontz anymore — horror fiction has come back with a vengeance over the past decade after a long fallow period (at least in mainstream publishing). With well over 250 new horror books published this year , there’s something for everyone, whether you’re looking for a gently creepy gothic tale or the most transgressive splatterpunk imaginable. Here are the best on shelves.

10. The Hacienda , Isabel Cañas

There’s just something irresistible about the gothic. You can hardly walk through a bookstore without tripping over any number of gothic variations, innovations, and pale imitations. What makes The Hacienda a refreshing change of pace is how straightforward it is: It’s a classic historical gothic novel, impeccably executed. Cañas isn’t reinventing the wheel here; she’s just making a really, really good wheel.

The standard gothic elements are all here: a remote estate crumbling into decay, a woman searching for stability in an unstable world, a husband with dark secrets, and, of course, a haunting. But rather than the damp English moors, we find ourselves joining Beatriz at her new husband’s estate, Hacienda San Isidro, in the baking Mexican countryside shortly after the Mexican War of Independence. San Isidro doesn’t want Beatriz there, and the longer she stays, the darker and more violent her dreams and visions become. Enter Padre Andrés, a young troubled priest hiding brujo powers. Together, they must try to uncover the hatred at the heart of San Isidro or risk becoming its next victims. The Hacienda is romantic, frightening, claustrophobic, and entirely satisfying.

9. All the White Spaces , Ally Wilkes

Wilkes’s debut novel is a compelling feat of historical horror storytelling about an early-20th-century polar expedition beset by a series of disasters. After their ship sinks, the members of the Randall expedition must try to survive the winter on the frozen plains of Antarctica and hope for rescue the following year. But something is stalking them on the ice — something impossible, something that takes the shapes of their lost friends and loved ones. As the explorers fall one by one, young Jonathan Morgan must try his best to stay alive even as the spirits of his dead brothers call to him through the snow. Some of the best survival horror we’ve read in years with a uniquely menacing adversary at its heart.

8. White Horse , Erika T. Wurth

Two days after Kari was born, her mother walked out, never to return. Years into her dysfunctional adulthood, Kari rediscovers her mother’s bracelet, and her world starts to unravel: Suddenly, she sees things no one else can see, up to and including the horrific specter of a woman who just might be her mother and the Lofa, a malevolent creature from Chickasaw folklore. Driven to discover the truth behind these visions, Kari encounters unexpected revelations about several other tragedies in her past, all tilting toward a frightening conclusion. It’s a propulsive read with a lived-in neo-noir feel — Kari slouches through Denver’s dive bars and no-name used bookstores, given beautiful life on the page — and Wurth has a real gift for evoking nostalgia without letting it overtake the story she’s telling. It’s also a perfect entry point for any reader who likes mysteries or thrillers but isn’t sure about horror just yet.

7. No Gods for Drowning , Hailey Piper

Piper, who recently won the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel for last year’s delightfully fucked-up and tremendously imaginative vagina dentata mutant story Queen of Teeth , is an undeniable rising star in horror, and she shows no signs of slowing down with multiple books publishing this year and next. No Gods for Drowning is an audacious novel, a mind-bending blend of noir, mythology, urban fantasy, apocalypse story, and murder mystery. In a city abandoned by the gods and beset by chronic flooding and monsters, a serial killer stalks the streets, leaving victims strewn in her wake — but she’s just trying to help. Really. When the gods start to return, however, an even greater mystery unfolds, one of cosmic significance. Fans of the unclassifiable and the weird should not skip this one.

6. The Devil Takes You Home , Gabino Iglesias

Desperate for funds to pay his young daughter’s medical expenses, Mario reluctantly takes a job as a killer for hire — but his daughter doesn’t survive, and neither does his marriage, and it turns out it’s not so easy to quit such a profession. When he is offered a life-changing amount of money for one last job stealing money from the cartel, Mario accepts against his own better judgment. What follows is a brutal journey across America’s southern border and back again through an underworld in which unearthly powers are used for unsavory purposes (there’s a scene involving bolt cutters that haunts our dreams). It’s a devastating book about cyclical violence, poverty, and love, one that posits that the true test of life in America may ultimately be deciding which devil you sell your soul to.

5. A Black and Endless Sky , Matthew Lyons

Equal parts cosmic horror, road-trip adventure, and adrenaline-fueled thriller, Lyons’s sophomore novel swings for the fences. On a trip through the mountains and deserts of the American West, semi-estranged siblings Nell and Jonah find themselves pursued by a violent biker gang bent on revenge, an itinerant stranger who sees more than most, and the Thing inside Nell that has decided to hitch a ride. Lyons is an engaging writer who doesn’t shy away from his characters’ worst traits — both protagonists are, to put it gently, a mess — but you can’t help but root for them anyway. The pace is breakneck, the villains deliciously detestable, and the action top-notch — plus you’re in for some of the most viscerally memorable scenes of body horror we’ve read in a long time.

4. Just Like Home , Sarah Gailey

Gailey is one of those rare writers who jumps from genre to genre with virtuosic ease, and their first foray into horror is remarkably accomplished. Vera has come home to take care of her dying mother’s affairs, which means returning to the house where her infamous father killed his victims. All is not well in the house, of course — a menacing artist is hell-bent on using the family’s tragic history as fodder, Vera keeps finding notes in her father’s handwriting, and there’s the matter of the thing under the bed that won’t let her sleep through the night. Just Like Home deploys familiar haunted-house and true-crime tropes so adeptly that even the most seasoned horror reader may miss the narrative sleight of hand at work here until it’s too late and the story has turned into something else entirely. The last act of this novel is like nothing we’ve ever read before.

3. Jackal , Erin E. Adams

Adams’s debut novel follows Liz, a Black woman, back to her majority-white Pennsylvania hometown for her best friend’s wedding. But when her goddaughter, Caroline, goes missing during the reception, Liz finds herself desperately trying to unravel a decades-long string of disappearances — all Black girls, all eventually found dead with their hearts removed, all connected somehow to the woods outside of town. Adams shows a real talent for writing flawed, nuanced, real characters (Liz’s complicated relationship with her mother is particularly resonant) and does incredible work illustrating just how isolating and destabilizing it is to be the only Black girl in a white town. That alone would be enough, but she also reaches deep into the real-life history of race and class stratification in Johnstown to bring a new level of resonance to the story. The payoff, when it comes, is well worth the ride.

2. Ghost Eaters , Clay McLeod Chapman

A legitimately terrifying ghost story and also a thoughtful and smart (if grim) exploration of how addiction destroys lives, Ghost Eaters should make Chapman a star, if there’s any justice in the world. After her ex, Silas, dies by overdose, Erin is offered a chance to speak to him one last time using a drug that allows for communication with the dead. There’s a catch, of course (isn’t there always?), which is that you don’t necessarily choose which ghosts you see — or how long they hang around. And once they realize you can see them, they’re not inclined to let you go. It’s an intense, thrilling tale of grief and addiction and will leave you all too aware of how crowded America is with ghosts.

1. Manhunt , Gretchen Felker-Martin

In an era of cultural remakes, remixes, knockoffs, and infinite bland variations on corporate IP, it’s all too rare to encounter a book like Manhunt — a true original that not only eviscerates an existing subgenre (gender-based apocalypse stories like Y: The Last Man , in this case) but also plants a flag in its steaming corpse and says, This is the future of queer horror.

Anger simmers underneath every word of Felker-Martin’s prose as she tells a story of trans women and men fighting for survival after a plague transforms anyone with a certain amount of testosterone into a feral monstrosity. In the world of Manhunt , the already life-or-death nature of transition is taken to new heights: Protagonists Beth and Fran have to scavenge enough estrogen to keep from succumbing to the virus while Robbie tries to forge a life in a state of persistent dysphoria since taking testosterone is a death sentence. Their odyssey across a postapocalyptic New England showcases an array of threats, from feral men to militant TERFs, self-loathing chasers to rich-idiot survivalists. The book is timely, visceral, grotesque, unflinching, and unexpectedly fun, full of sex and gore and messy, beautiful humanity; think of it as The Road with a sense of humor and 110 percent more queer sex.

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The 69 Best Horror Books of All Time

These works will have you sleeping with the lights on.

Our product picks are editor-tested, expert-approved. We may earn a commission through links on our site. Why Trust Us?

Plus, many of horror's main tropes and creepy creatures come, originally, from literature. Vampires, zombies, Frankenstein's monster, and plain old hauntings have graced the pages of classic horror writers for centuries. Contemporary writers are adding more entries to the horror monsters hall of fame, like Stephen King with his many, many novels adapted into films and television shows , his son Joe Hill, Chuck Wendig, Victor LaValle, and others. If there's one thing for certain, it's this: no matter what's going on in the world around us, humans will always love scaring themselves for a bit of a thrill. Horror isn't going anywhere any time soon, so any time is the best time to get into the genre.

And even when things are doing so great, horror is the perfect genre to turn to. Sometimes dipping your toe into the macabre and dark can bring a sense of relief. Even better if there's a character or two you can root for through all the terrible moments. It shows us there's always a light in the darkest of times.

Below we have some of the best horror books to read, whether you're a casual fan of the genre or a dedicated reader of everything spooky. We might not have all your favorites, but we've got classics, modern twists on said classics, plus brand new voices we think are pushing the horror genre into new and exciting directions. At least one of these reads will give you the fright you're craving.

The Exorcist

One of the best horror movies of all time is based on William Peter Blatty's book of the same name. The book follows a possessed eleven-year-old, and two priests who attempt to exorcise her.

The Shining

Stephen King is is household name of the horror genre, in no small part due to his prolific productivity–he's written and published more than 70 books–and how many of his short stories and books have been adapted into television shows and movies. The Shining is the most famous of his adaptations, especially since the critically-acclaimed filmmaker Stanley Kubrick directed it. King isn't a fan of the film version, which is all the more reason you should read the original and compare for yourself.

Stephen King's debut novel, Carrie 's longstanding popularity is no doubt due to the gruesome 1976 film starring Sissy Spacek. The chilling tale of a bullied teenager with telekinetic powers pushed to the brink is one you hear once and never, ever, forget.

NOS4A2: A Novel

Joe Hill (Stephen and Tabitha King's son) is also a notable modern horror writer in his own right. One of his best-known books is the vampire novel NOS4A2 , which had a brief television adaptation starring Zachary Quinto. The story follows a vampire who abducts children and takes him to a place he calls "Christmasland".

The Other Black Girl: A Novel

This debut novel focuses on the only Black woman at a publishing company. When another Black woman is hired, she expects to find an ally, but instead finds an adversary. Fans of books which touch on poignant topics–like representation in media and publishing–will enjoy this unsettling book.

Tender Is the Flesh

This dystopian novel imagines a world where all animal meat is contaminated due to a virus, so the consumption of human meat becomes legal. A human meat supplier is the narrator, and we see how he grapples with the ethic of his reality.

Woman, Eating: A Literary Vampire Novel

How does a vampire survive in the modern world? That's what Woman, Eating examines. Lydia, a mixed-race vampire, struggles to take care of her ailing (vampire) mother while also exploring her identity–and if she even enjoys being a vampire at all.

A Certain Hunger

This dark novel follows a food critic. She loves everything about food, and is eagerly willing to try just about any delicacy. So when she murders a man, she can't resist taking a piece of him with her and serving it up for dinner.

Bunny: A Novel

Mona Awad's Bunny is a Mean Girls -esque horror story about a graduate student who loses herself in a mysterious clique. The book has various twists, so much that it's hard to say much about the book without spoiling it. It's perfect for dark academia fans.

Devil House: A Novel

This horror novel is a mediation on the genre, while also creating a new scary story at the same time. A true crime writer decides to purchase the house where two grisly murders occurred. As he explores the town and learns more about the house's background, he also examines his own life and career.

Inspired by the story of the Donner Party, The Hunger is a fictional novel following the Donner Party, not just as they face starvation and harsh weather, but as they realize something is making members of the party disappear.

Her Body and Other Parties: Stories

Carmen Maria Machado's short story collection is not only a chilling read, but a beautifully written one. This incredible group of stories is full of memorable ideas, like a salesclerk who discovers a secret in the seams of prom dresses or a recreation of various episodes of Law and Order: SVU, which is even better than you can imagine.

Mexican Gothic

Anyone who enjoys Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak will love Mexican Gothic , which follows a young woman who visits a mansion where her married cousin lives and tries to get to the bottom of the strange family who owns the property. There's horror, romance, and intrigue. It's an exciting book from an incredible voice.

It: A Novel

Stephen King's It is a horror novel exploring themes of adolescence and adulthood. A dark spirit terrorizes a group of children by appearing in a physical form of their worst fears—particularly a clown named Pennywise.

Cujo: A Novel

Stephen King loves to tap into various childhood fears–bullying, clowns–and in Cujo , he focuses on dogs. A mother and child are terrorized when a neighborhood dog becomes a monster.

Dracula gets props for being the vampire book, but Carmilla deserves its flowers. Not only does it predate Bram Stoker's novel, but it features a not-so-subtle relationship between two women; the lonely Laura, and the mysterious Carmilla. If you're a fan of vampires and want to delve into the history of the genre, read Carmilla .

Dracula: Unabridged and Fully Illustrated

A book which needs little introduction, Dracula has forever impacted the way we view undead cannibals who can turn into bats. The gothic novel helped craft the image of vampires as mysterious yet fascinating creatures, a precursor to the seductive interpretation books, films, and television shows would present vampires as years later. Part of the reason Dracula has persisted all these years (beyond his prevalence in just about everything) really is because of just how good the book is. We promise it's worth the read.

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein , like Dracula, has stayed in the public consciousness for so long on account of its thrilling story, but also an overwhelming inclusion of the monster in various media. A young scientist creates a sentient creature in a strange experiment, ultimately wreaking havoc on the world around him.

The Changeling: A Novel

A man searches for his wife when she vanishes into thin air, after committing a terrible act. Apple TV+ is adapting the book for television, with Lakeith Stanfield set to star and executive produce.

The Island of Dr. Moreau

H. G. Wells is one of the major science fiction/horror writers of the 19th century. Truth be told, we could probably put most if not all of his work on this list and call it horror. The Island of Dr. Moreau is just one notable work out of many. When a shipwrecked man is saved, he discovers he's landed on an island owned by a mad scientist who creates humanoid beings through cruel experimentation on animals.

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In the Mood for April Fears: New Horror Books!

Emily Martin

Emily has a PhD in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, MS, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU in Milledgeville, GA, home of Flannery O’Connor. She spends her free time reading, watching horror movies and musicals, cuddling cats, Instagramming pictures of cats, and blogging/podcasting about books with the ladies over at #BookSquadGoals (www.booksquadgoals.com). She can be reached at [email protected].

View All posts by Emily Martin

This month’s books include dark haunted forests, authoritarian trees, ancient vampires with violent vendettas, and abandoned planets where sinister secrets hide behind every corner. What’s more, we’re also getting heroines who face monsters and ghosts head-on, cruel games that get out of hand, vampire colonies reawakened, and searches into the self that dig up secrets best kept hidden. April also promises mysterious murders, supernatural happenings that shed light on real-life horrors, new events that bring up old traumas, and plenty of generational trauma. (It is horror, after all…that’s kind of how we roll in this genre.)

The horror hits, they just keep coming, and here are nine horror reads you’re not going to want to miss out on this month. If fear is what you came for, these books will keep you shaking underneath your sheets all month long. Happy reading, horror fiends!

The Black Girl Survives in This One , edited by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell (Flatiron Books, April 2)

It’s no secret that Black characters are often vulnerable in traditional horror stories. But not this time. In this collection of YA horror stories, Black girls battle horrors both real and supernatural, and, yes, they survive to tell the tale. This collection includes stories from Erin E. Adams, Monica Brashears, Charlotte Nicole Davis, Desiree S. Evans, Saraciea J. Fennell, Zakiya Dalila Harris, Daka Hermon, Justina Ireland, L.L. McKinney, Brittney Morris, Maika & Maritza Moulite, Eden Royce, and Vincent Tirado. We also get a foreword by Tananarive Due.

This Skin Was Once Mine: And Other Disturbances by Eric LaRocca (Titan Books, April 2)

Eric LaRocca has quickly become a must-read for any horror fan who loves quick and dirty horror that isn’t afraid to get weird and wild and, yeah, also a little disgusting. This new collection includes four new horror stories from the Splatterpunk Award-winning author. That includes the title story “This Skin Was Once Mine,” in which a woman comes to terms with the dark secrets that will change everything she thought she knew about her late father.

The Gathering by C. J. Tudor (Ballantine Books, April 9)

The weather might start warming up in April, but this latest novel from C. J. Tudor, author of The Chalk Man , is sure to make you shiver. You know, because it’s set in Alaska. But also, it’s scary. When a young boy is found dead and all the blood drained from his body, the citizens of the small Alaskan town Deadhart know what happened to him. And who was responsible. A death like this hasn’t occurred in the past 25 years, but everyone knows about the Colony, a community of vampyrs living deep in the woods.

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes (Tor Nightfire, April 9)

April is also bringing horror fans a new one from S.A. Barnes, the author of Dead Silence . This new horror sci-fi mash-up is set on an abandoned planet. Here, psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray will establish residency with a small exploration crew. Ophelia hopes to help the crew recover from the recent loss of their colleague, who died under tragic circumstances. But not long after the group arrives on the planet, it becomes clear to Ophelia that the crew is hiding something. They seem uninterested in opening up to Ophelia about what happened, instead spending their days exploring this strange and mysterious planet. Then, their pilot is violently murdered, and despite the lack of trust amongst the group, they must now all work together to figure out what happened.

Myrrh by Polly Hall (Titan Books, April 9)

If you enjoy Eric LaRocca’s disturbing brand of horror and the mind-bending works of Catriona Ward, pick up Myrrh on April 9. This is a story of two women; Myrrh is desperately searching for her birth parents in the seaside towns of South England. But Myrrh’s search is frustratingly difficult, and with every new roadblock, the goblin growing inside her threatens to explode. Meanwhile, Cayenne is stuck in a loveless marriage and longs for a child. As she sees her husband grow closer with his own daughter — her stepdaughter — desperations cause her to make a decision that will change their lives forever.

Immortal Pleasures by V. Castro (Del Rey, April 16)

From V. Castro, the author of  The Haunting of Alejandra , comes a horrifying new tale of an ancient Aztec vampire who travels the modern world avenging conquered peoples, reclaiming their stolen artifacts and returning them to their homelands. Malinalli’s travels take her to Dublin, where she searches for stolen Aztec skulls that are connected to her own past. But in this city, she finds something unexpected — two mortal men who speak to Malinalli’s other desires in different ways.

Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina (Berkley, April 16)

If I could describe Indian Burial Ground in one would, it would be “eerie.” Want more words? Here’s what’s happening. Noemi Broussard longs to leave the reservation she grew up on behind, but her plans are dashed when her boyfriend, Roddy, dies under mysterious circumstances. Everyone assumes it was a suicide, but to Noemi, the story just isn’t adding up. Something strange is happening on the reservation, and Noemi is determined to get to the bottom of it, no matter how terrifying the truth may be.

Weird Black Girls by Elwin Cotman (Scribner, April 16)

From Philip K. Dick Award finalist Elwin Cotman comes a thought-provoking short story collection that explores the horrors of living in the world as a Black person. These seven literary horror stories call upon the fantastical and the supernatural to explore the very real fears and anxieties of being Black in our contemporary world. From a town controlled by a violent tree that punishes children to a day of LARPing that takes a surprising turn, these inventive stories will definitely surprise you.

All Thing Seen and Unseen by RJ McDaniel (ECW Press, April 23)

Last but certainly not least, rounding out April is a debut queer horror novel from RJ McDaniel. The story follows Alex Nguyen, a chronically ill college student whose life is quickly unraveling. Following a recent suicide attempt and a long hospitalization, Alex finds herself without a job, without a romantic relationship, without money to pay for school, and without a place to live. Then she’s offered a lifeline in the form of a job housesitting for the summer at a mansion on a gulf island. But the mansion — surrounded by a mysterious (and possibly magic) forest and an unsettling, insular community — brings back traumatic memories Alex has long repressed.

As always, you can find a full list of new releases in the magical New Release Index , carefully curated by your favorite Book Riot editors, organized by genre and release date.

Want even more horror to keep you scared all year round? Be sure to subscribe to T he Fright Stuff for weekly scares. Let’s stay creepy!

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The Best Horror Books of 2024 (So Far)

Our favorites are digging grim tunnels into territory old and new, from haunted houses to whimsical horror comedies.

So far, 2024 has been brimming with fantastic horror stories . I’ve done my absolute best to curate a list of the must-read titles released up to this point. The most promising element of the list below is in the breadth, depth, and variety of the darkness at play. Unlike previous “golden” eras of horror, there is no dominant trend. Rather, horror writers are digging their own grim tunnels into territory old and new. Retro haunted-house stories sit alongside extreme body horror. Whimsical horror comedies work in tandem with serious political subcurrents. Horror is not just responding to the perma-crisis we’re all living through; it’s providing respite and escape from it. Horror teaches as much as it terrifies. It heals as much as it hurts.

This list contains titles from the whole spectrum of the genre. There are stories to satisfy the most bloodthirsty tastes, and some that will lead the uneasy on their first forays into the shadowy end of the library. Stay with us, because we’ll be updating the list as the year continues.

Enjoy. It’s good to be scared.

The House of Last Resort, by Christopher Golden

Really good haunted houses are few and far between. These days, the spirit-infested home too often falls into high camp or is put to such elevated metaphorical purpose that it forgets to actually be scary. The House of Last Resort has no such problem. When Tommy and Kate relocate from the U.S. to a drowsy Italian village, it’s supposed to be a better life. Of course, their new abode makes a mockery of this well-being kick. The titular house comes complete with hidden rooms, hallucinations, and a historical entanglement in the Catholic Church’s struggle against some very persistent demons. Golden draws on the very best of seventies and eighties pulp-horror influences, with hordes of rats, ambulatory corpses, and a grand diabolic finale. But he makes time for quiet moments of chilling intensity, including a kitchen-table conversation that ranks among the most disquieting scenes of the year. The House of Last Resort is horror that goes hard but never forgets to be fun. It’s the author’s finest novel to date.

This Wretched Valley, by Jenny Kiefer

If you watched the climbing documentary Free Solo and thought, Okay, climbing a nine-hundred-foot cliff face without a rope is scary, but you know what it really needs? Murder ghosts!, then Kiefer’s debut will scratch your itch. This Wretched Valley follows four intrepid fools into the deep Kentucky woods, where they plan to map and climb a brand-new ascent. Of course, like any backcountry worthy of a horror fan’s time, their chosen ground is saturated with bloody history. It doesn’t take kindly to interlopers, either, particularly these vain, self-absorbed numskulls. There are comparisons to be made to Scott Smith’s adventure-horror classic The Ruins , but most crucial is Kiefer’s absolute lack of mercy for her characters. For much of the book, you gleefully anticipate their foreshadowed deaths, but the manner of their end is so brutal and so desolate that you can’t avoid a creeping empathy. Kiefer has stared you down. She has more belly for this than you. She wins.

Among the Living, by Tim Lebbon

Lebbon’s most recent novels serve as a loose thematic trilogy, connected by a focus on high-octane adventure and a backdrop of quickening climate disaster. However, whereas Eden and The Last Storm were genre-splicing affairs, Among the Living goes full-bore on the horror, pitting an uneasy assemblage of climate activists and mineral excavators against a viral threat long buried in the Arctic tundra. This is no mere illness, though. What Lebbon conjures up is an intelligent disease, able to control its hosts’ thoughts and behavior, creating a paranoiac trap in which the characters cannot even trust their own motivations. It’s easy to think of comparisons— The Thing, The Last of Us —but Lebbon brings a flair for action scenes and his experience with endurance sport, propelling the story with unexpected physical and psychological dimensions. Fast paced, compulsive, suitably horrifying: Among the Living reads like Michael Crichton having a particularly bad dream.

In the Valley of the Headless Men, by L.P. Hernandez

If you’re familiar with Canada’s Nahanni Valley, you’ll know that wilderness has a history and lore thick enough to fill several novels. Seriously, you should take a Wikipedia dive; thank me later. All that mystery is buried in the substrata of In the Valley of the Headless Men , but Hernandez’s excursion resembles the surrealism of Jeff VanderMeer ’s Annihilation , though less cold and less austere. Hernandez has a particular gift for the details of grief: the final sip of a dead mother’s lemonade, a lost child’s sock tucked safely in a purse; each is a small totem of heartbreak. And though the flesh of his novella is pared to the bone, somehow he still accommodates a trio of characters—each with their own arc of loss and redemption—on a shared journey to some ineffable, elusive truth. As for what else waits there, I shan’t tell you. it’s best you decide for yourself…and I’m still not sure that I even really know.

The Haunting of Velkwood, by Gwendolyn Kiste

What if an entire neighborhood became a ghost? Not just the people but the buildings and the street itself? And what if three girls escaped that fate, then returned twenty years later to see what remained of the homes and families they left in that sunlit purgatory? It’s a concept high enough to give you a nosebleed, but Kiste reins it in masterfully, never worrying too much about the mad logic of the situation. Instead, she centers the story on more mundane forms of haunting: the dark gravity of memory, family, and trauma. The Haunting of Velkwood reads like a literary double negative, a brand-new thing emerging from the overlap of Twin Peaks ’ suburban uncanny and the melancholy nostalgia of The Virgin Suicides . Kiste doesn’t shy away from these references (David Lynch is everywhere in Velkwood ), but she’s still written one of the most original—and downright strange—novels of the year so far.

Mouth, by Joshua Hull

Before turning to fiction, Hull wrote the screenplay for Glorious , a cult horror movie about an eldritch entity invoking apocalypse through a glory hole in a public-bathroom stall. Though not a sequel of any kind, Hull’s debut novella shares much of his movie’s grindhouse DNA. It also has a hole of its own in the titular Mouth: an inexplicable toothed orifice in the ground inherited by Randy, a good ol’ all-American drifter. Randy’s attempt to satisfy Mouth’s hunger forces him into a partnership with Abigail, a young woman with secrets to keep and vengeance to seek. Mouth comes in handy there. The novella is rapid and raw and unburdened by plot complexity, but there’s something so endearing about both the book and its innocent monster that you can’t help but cheer them on. Imagine Roger Corman’s take on Frankenstein and you’re somewhere close to Mouth ’s goofy charm.

King Nyx, by Kirsten Bakis

King Nyx is at the softer end of the horror color chart. There are no ghosts or demons, and there’s barely any blood (though there are life-size marionettes to haunt your dreams). Instead, Bakis has crafted a compelling period mystery centered on the island home of a wealthy tycoon whose wives just keep dying before their time. When a young woman accompanies her husband on a personal writing retreat to the island, everything seems immediately off. The couple are quarantined in a private cabin. She sees strange bearlike figures in the woods and finds mysterious notes aplenty. All the oddity suggests something very wrong is going on in the Big House. It’s all wonderfully bizarre, but buried beneath the novel’s gothic veneer is an interrogation of supposed male genius, balanced so precariously on the shoulders of unremembered women. King Nyx is one of those thrillers that smuggle real substance into their scares without ever taking on a lecturing tone. It’s also a great gateway novel for readers who would usually shy away from horror’s excesses.

The Angel of Indian Lake, by Stephen Graham Jones

Graham Jones made this list in 2022 and again in 2023 with the first two installments of the Indian Lake Trilogy. Now, with The Angel of Indian Lake , he absolutely sticks the landing. In this third and concluding volume, we return to the bruised and bloodied town of Proofrock, Idaho, for a final confrontation between Jade Daniels and the many monsters in her past, her present, and her head. Just as in the preceding books, Angel begins in the cold chaos of violence and metatextual references, which slowly coalesce into something human, heartfelt, and, by the end, emotionally overwhelming. Unexpected bodies rise and fall, and at no point could even this seasoned horror reader rest easy that the absolute worst would not come to pass. The Angel of Indian Lake is an almost indecent success; Jones should not have been able to guide this freewheeling, snowballing mass of story home. But he does. And like its now-iconic heroine, it remains defiant and unbowed to the end.

The Black Girl Survives in This One, edited by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell

As I’ve covered elsewhere , horror has not traditionally been kind to characters of color. Evans and Fennell’s anthology is sure to become a key text in the Black horror renaissance working to correct that injustice. The stories included here share one crucial characteristic: Each features a young Black female protagonist who must survive—but otherwise it’s a sprawling survey of horror’s various subsections, every one refreshed by the Black female gaze. L.L. McKinney’s “Harvester” is nightmarish Americana about a very unusual cornfield. Zakiya Dalila Harris ’s “TMI” is an of-the-moment technophobic satire about privacy and identity, while Evans’s “The Brides of Devil’s Bayou” offers old-school Southern Gothic of the finest stripe. The Black Girl Survives in This One may be billed as young-adult literature, but stories like Monica Brashears’s “The Skittering Thing” are pure adult-grade nightmare fuel. The best of them pose a question that underlies the entire anthology: Is surviving the same thing as having a happy ending?

Bless Your Heart, by Lindy Ryan

This has been a pretty bleak and bloody list of stories so far. Let Ryan pour some sunshine into your TBR. Bless Your Heart is the tale of the Evans women, a matriarchal dynasty who run the funeral home in their small, quaint corner of Southeast Texas. Unfortunately, the dead in their town don’t always stay dead, forcing generations of Evanses to moonlight as ghoul killers. During a particularly bad infestation of undead, the elderly Ducey (horror’s best octogenarian for a good while), her daughter Lenore, and her adult granddaughter Grace must deal with the problem while indoctrinating young Grace into their clandestine guardianship. The word that immediately springs to mind is charming, as this novel has plenty of local color and turns of phrase. However, what elevates Bless Your Heart beyond pastiche is Ryan’s willingness to revel in full-on gore and to follow through on some genuine, last-minute emotional stakes. This was announced as the first in a series of novels, and I can’t wait to see—and try to work out—what’s going to happen next.

This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances, by Eric LaRocca

In the few years since LaRocca burst onto the horror scene with Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke , he has steadily grown a reputation for wielding disgust and excess to singular effect. This new collection contains four novelettes, each spinning around twin themes of obsession and harm. In the title story, an estranged daughter goes home for her father’s funeral, only to discover truly hideous secrets in her family home. “All the Parts of You That Won’t Easily Burn” may go off in a batshit-crazy direction toward the end, but the central conceit of a self-harming cult with a penchant for broken glass evokes the very best of Clive Barker’s Books of Blood body horror. It’s the closing story, though—on the surface the smallest and most superficial—that really got under my skin. “Prickle” presents a vicious game of one-upmanship between two elderly friends that takes the book to a gleeful, capering conclusion. It shows that beneath his coat of many nasty colors, LaRocca has a very good (and very dark) sense of humor.

Diavola, by Jennifer Thorne

I talk a lot about “fun” horror—the kind of horror that tries to scare you, for sure, but makes the process entertaining, enjoyable, a romp, rather than a raid on your psyche. This is exactly what Thorne delivers in Diavola . As with Christopher Golden’s The House of Last Resort , Thorne transports the reader to a tiny Italian village for some very dysfunctional family drama, though any loving central relationship is replaced with the hilariously maddening repartee between Anna and her siblings. Their scratchy dynamic is a grounding contrast to the supernatural goings-on, revolving around a tower in their villa that should not be opened. Shocker: It’s opened, and craziness ensues. Diavola is a gothic gem, as full of sharply observed characterization as it is genre tropes. I read it in two sittings and even now I’m not sure if I was supposed to laugh as much as I did. Pack this for your next holiday and avoid talking to your own family.

The Underhistory, by Kaaron Warren

The Underhistory may be the most intriguing horror novel of the year so far. It’s a blend of ghost story and home-invasion thriller in which a group of criminals descends upon a haunted house in the middle of a guided tour. That’s enough of a concept to set the novel apart, but Warren fully commits to a structural conceit that exposes how the architecture of houses and story are one and the same. Each chapter is titled after the whimsical name that the elderly guide, Pera, has given to the rooms of her home. While she takes her customers through the details of the house—all the while trying to placate and manage the bad men in their midst—she also reveals her own gothic history, embedded in the peculiarities of each room. Gradually, we learn that Pera is far more capable than we (or her assailants) imagine her to be. And her house is a very bad place to invade. The Underhistory reads like Shirley Jackson or Catriona Ward at their most gothically playful. It’s a wholly unique intellectual exercise and a deeply compelling page-turner.

Incidents Around the House, by Josh Malerman

Malerman’s Incidents Around the House is the only book on this list not yet published. But I include it now rather than in later installments because I want to give you the chance to buy this on the very day it’s released. It’s a deeply discomfiting, imaginatively ripe, yet ruthlessly efficient novel in which eight-year old Bela is targeted by a malign presence in her home. This “Other Mommy" hounds the girl with a request to “go into your heart.” What follows is a chase narrative of claustrophobic terror that almost transcends articulation. Glimpses of Other Mommy are elusive to the point of impressionism (she has long, hairy arms and “ slides across the floor”). What does this mean? What is she? We never know, as we are only ever given the compromised perspective of a frantic child or a terrified adult. It’s as if Malerman has channeled something into the very sentences of this novel, something that is so much greater than the sum of its linguistic parts. Simply put—and I do not say this lightly— Incidents Around the House is the most purely effective horror novel I have ever read.

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Horror Palace

The Best in Horror - You have everything to fear!

Horror Book Reviews

Horror Palace provides honest succinct horror book reviews.  Each is a concise summary of the book providing a description, critical analysis, and evaluation of its significance as a horror book.  Importantly, our evaluation will help you determine if you would appreciate and enjoy reading it.

Latest Horror Book Reviews

• Never DEAD (Book Review) Never –DEAD has a very interesting origin. Typically, a book will inspire a film or TV program, but here the reverse is true. Never – DEAD was inspired by a short television program screened at the 2016 MystiCon Independent Film Festival. Furthermore, Never-DEAD Author Ann Greyson was a leading actor in the program portraying ...
• I Wish (Book Review) Editor’s Note: Horror Palace has reviewed more books by author Lex Sinclair than any other horror writer. Needless to say, he holds a special place in our horror literature heart. As his books continued coming thru the office for review, I would think to myself that I would like to review the book. Something seemed to ...
• Abhorrent (Book Review) After finishing this collection of short horror stories, entitled Abhorrent, I had one distinct thought; Michelle Merz is a talent waiting to explode into great things. So, if you can appreciate a fresh voice, in the process of finding its calling inside the world of horror, give Merz a shot at keeping you up at ...
• Ancient Illusions (Book Review) Ancient Illusions is the third book in the Ancient Secrets series, and the hero of the story will be facing a challenge that is more personal than anything he has faced before. More importantly, Joanne Pence has added another great adventure to a collection that was impressive from the start. Her experience shines through the ...
• The Slime (Book Review) The Slime is a book by Lex Sinclair that does not disappoint, and it gives “deadly infestations” a whole new shape and form. With the unique style I have come to recognize from Sinclair, I got swept away fairly quickly by the ordeal he places in front of his characters. And on top of always ...

Reviews are sorted alphabetically by title, with an excerpt from each book linked to the complete horror book review.

• “Beasts Shall Reign Over the Earth!” by Michael and Danny D’Agostino (Book Review) Beasts Shall Reign Over the Earth! is a detective thriller/horror novel by two brothers, namely Michael and Danny D’Agostino. Their combined efforts aim to bring you into a story that unfolds in downtown Manhattan, and they use quite a distinct style doing it. In fact, it puts a very light spin on what would be ...
• “Big Smoke” The Apocalypse Virus Trilogy – Book 1 by R.F. Blackstone (Book Review) R.F. Blackstone is the debut author of Big Smoke, the first book in a fast-paced action novel series entitled The Apocalypse Virus Trilogy that goes from political to apocalyptic in one smooth motion. With a style that is likely to keep your attention right up until the last page, Blackstone creates a female hero that ...
• “Dark: a collection” by Michelle Merz (Book Review) For readers looking to take a journey into the darkest part of your soul, Michelle Merz has put together the perfect selection of stories. The title of the collection, Dark, is definitely appropriate once you finish the first short nightmare, and you probably won’t forget about it for a while. With an amazing style and ...
• 2 pm on a Black Summer’s Day V1 (Book Review) 2 P.M on a Black Summer’s Day is the debut horror book by IP Spall. The plot involves enemies working together to fight the greater evil. It is a mixture of popular horror genre topics, such as witchcraft and demons, but is not as dark as one would expect. Instead, there’s always a silver lining ...
• A Collection of Short Horror Stories (Book Review) Horror stories combined into one text. The leading tale is about a man who is practically brainwashed to kill. He murdered his wife, parents, and 52 others.
• A Dark and Winding Road (Book Review) The collection of short stories entitled “A Dark and Winding Road”, written by Matthew Weber, is refreshing to say the least. It’s great to find a writer that is able to complement his original ideas with a superb talent for writing. He has truly breathed new life into a genre that has been lacking creatively ...
• A Demon Lies Within (Book Review) This story is based on an abusive husband and father who gets murdered. In the depths of hell he discovers the ability to possess and torture the living, which turns into a quest for revenge against his family. Great book for those who like tense exorcisms and demonic possession.
• A Life of Death (Book Review) A Life of Death is not your typical horror novel, but it can definitely pass as a very suspenseful and sometimes gruesome read. Weston Kincade is the author of the series, A Life of Death being the first book in the trilogy captivates his audience by tapping into a slightly old-school style of writing. Kincade ...
• A Pack Of Wolves (Book Review) A werewolf pack known as “The Family” tries to keep their intentions good and moves away from over-population. However, they run into problems with mercenaries that want them dead and a rogue family member who goes an apocalyptic mission. A unique mixture of Western action and Fantasy storytelling.
• A Psycho’s Medley by Terry West A true perspective from the minds of 6 serial killers, separated into 6 different short stories. The first story, which also shares the title of the book, is mostly written in a diary format. It explores the motivation and details of killing from a man who is waiting for his trial to start.
• Ancient Shadows (Book Review) An Archeologist finds himself pitted against ancient demons and modern conspirators where one by one, a horror film director, a judge, and a newspaper publisher meet brutal deaths. A link exists between them, and the deaths have only begun…
• Antitheus (Book Review) G.A. Minton, award winning author of the book Trisomy XXI, delivers his second supernatural horror novel entitled Antitheus. The stage is set in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and it focuses on a group of clergymen who get slaughtered while attending a conference. Minton does not take very long to get the action started, and from ...
• Arcane (Book Review) An angel called Arcane defends the human race against an onslaught from Arioch, the president of Hell. Arcane only has willing mortal humans on his side while Arioch enjoys the full arsenal of demons spawned from Hell. Will the human race manage to survive this reign of terror?
• As the Blade Cuts (Book Review) For extremely dark poetry lovers, this collection by Eric Kapitan should soothe the aching beast. It’s called “As the Blade Cuts” and the poems within the pages are nothing short of stylishly gruesome. Kapitan goes on a journey with his internal struggles, passionate about everything associated with pain and mutilation. In fact, this collection allows ...
• Ascendance (Book Review) C. Jones makes her debut with the short story entitled “Ascendance”, and what a debut it is. It’s graphical and dark nature is enough to make veterans like Stephen King take another look at true horror. Within the pages of this book is a story that is very difficult to read. Not because it doesn’t ...
• Barrow of The Damned (Book Review) Barrow of the Damned is a young adult novel by Jonathan J. Drake, and it introduces a plot you will not typically read about. Live Action Role Playing (LARP) is the engine that drives the book into a dark place underneath the ground, where life is anything but a game. It is the first time ...
• Blackstone (Book Review) Blackstone Penitentiary is well-known for being haunted due to its source of existence. Now the seemingly lifeless and deserted prison will welcome a caretaker called Anthony Creighton and his team, which has taken on the mission to find life after death. Getting out alive is the tricky part.
• Bled Out (Book Review) An 18 year old Kenny Arthur has a near death experience, only to return with the message that an unnatural plague is going to strike. His desire to save the world without a real clue on how to do it takes him through a couple of difficult and painful situations.
• Bray Road (Book Review) Scott Newman is a new author on the horror scene, and he makes his debut with Bray Road, a re-take on some classic werewolf horror. While Newman was quite brave to take on this particular theme out of the shoot, he did a good job of keeping the story fresh and interesting. Therefore, along with ...
• Burning Down Paradise (Book Review) Burning Down Paradise is a poetic story by Eric Kapitan, and it’s a tale the reaches the depths of hell. My first thoughts as I write this review is that sensitive readers should steer clear of this title because it’s really as gruesome as the title suggests. With a good handle between telling a story ...
• Burning House (Book Review) The fire is unlike anything anyone has ever seen. With one poor soul still trapped inside, a group of firefighters suit up and head into the flames on a rescue mission. But an ancient evil has awoken. As the walls burn around them, the crew soon find themselves trapped and prey to a shape-shifting force ...
• Cicada Summer (Book Review) Readers who appreciate the outdoors and a good dose of horror, will find Cicada Summer a very entertaining book if you are scouting for something good. Written by Jeff Dosser with a clear love for nature and all the things that crawl in it, Dosser’s knowledge and research really help to provide a deeper level ...
• Cirque Du Mort (Book Review) Cirque Du Mort by Anastasia Catris isn’t just a collection of flash fiction horror stories. It’s a visual and literary journey into a freak show circus that will leave chills running down your spine. The combination of illustrations along with the dark tales makes this book a collector’s item every horror fan should own. With ...
• Class Four: Those Who Survive (Book Review) Class Four: Those Who Survive is the latest novel by Duncan P. Bradshaw in a continuous apocalyptic story. It picks up where Class Three left off and it explores several different storylines, but the main focus comes down to a man and his mission to find safety for the boy within his care. With a great ...
• Class Three (Book Review) Duncan P. Bradshaw is the author of the new book entitled “Class Three” and he delivers somewhat of a different spin on a zombie apocalypse. With rather colorful characters the reader is thrown into a world where a typical day turns into something nobody expected, except for one particularly eager character called Phillip. Bradshaw starts the ...
• Cobra Z (Book Review) Sean Deville delivers a different perspective on what it could be like if a zombie outbreak occurs in modern day London. His novel, entitled “Cobra Z”, is the first of three books that take a serious look at a very popular epidemic. The biggest challenge staring Deville in the face is to stand out in ...
• Come As You Are: A Short Novel and Nine Stories (Book Review) Come As You Are: A Short Novel and Nine Stories is a collection, featuring a short novel and several short stories. Steven Ramirez is the capable voice behind the supernatural gloom and thrills, and you will quickly learn that this author has a very subtle skill. His target audience for the short novel and I assume ...
• Crogian (Book Review) As Crogian, a top secret military operation in Speaker (Alaska) takes a turn for the worst; the residents are forced to journey to Houston in order to find sanctuary. The only problem is that the journey involves abominations that want to kill them and very harsh forces of nature.
• Dark Shadow of Babylon (Book Review) Dark Shadow of Babylon is a paranormal/horror book written by Julian Speed. The cover is a clear indication that readers will encounter a series of gruesome events, but there is also a great adventure awaiting. The first chapters look at the origin of the evil that creeps into modern times and Speed adds a nice ...
• Dark Teardrops (Book Review) Catherine Tramell is the voice behind the horror novel entitled DarkT eardrops, a story that is fuelled by a classic inspiration, namely “The Exorcist”. Although it bears a striking resemblance to this cult classic thanks to the eerie atmosphere and relatively slow pace, Dark Teardrops can easily be separated as a contemporary piece. It is disturbing ...
• Dead Rage (Book Review) Dead Rage: A Zombie Apocalypse is the third book from Nicholas Ryan and it sees him building on the zombie stories he has written so far. Ryan has been compared to writers such as Max Brooks and many of his readers appreciate his descriptive style. His choice of genre is definitely daring, given it has ...
• Dead Religion (Book Review) A hotel explosion in Mexico that seems to be connected to an American citizen causes something much more sinister to surface. FBI agent James Allison is sent to investigate, but only finds that religion has deeper dimensions than he originally thought, especially the religion of the accused Alex Valdez.
• Dead! Dead! Dead! (Book Review) From the collaborative efforts of Paul Mannering and Bill Ball comes the zombie novel entitled “Dead! Dead! Dead!” Given the popularity of the genre it’s not the easiest challenge to come up with something that is truly original. But it has to be said that Mannering and Ball have delivered a solid story with enough ...
• Desert Flower (Book Review) Two girls are thrown together by fate. One, an unwilling vampire, and the other a victim of infant marriage. Both are alone, scared and lost. Their paths cross and their sisterhood strengthens their ability to overcome the odds. However, some of the decisions they have to make are simply too difficult.
• Devil Let Me Go (Book Review) A collection of thirteen short stories covering numerous elements all based on fear and horror. The tales are varied as they are interesting and it promises to entertain readers from all types of horror genres. Some of the stories have been published before and some are new editions.
• Devils Maintenance (Book Review) Thaxson Patterson II is the author of Devils Maintenance, a psychological thriller based on a very interesting concept. It’s an all-out war of the minds with the trickiest creature in all creation, namely the Devil. The most attractive element of the book has to be the original plot. It gets the reader thinking and inspires ...
• Don’t Fear The Reaper (Book Review) Don’t Fear the Reaper: Vol. 1, is the latest horror novel by Lex Sinclair. His experience in the genre shines through a story that ventures into the supernatural world of death. In fact, Sinclair mixes up a few elements we’ve seen before, creating something unique to his style and taste. With an obviously high-quality standard of ...
• Don’t Fear the Reaper Part 3 (Book Review) This is it. This is Lex Sinclair’s final book for the “Don’t Fear the Reaper” trilogy, and it’s everything I thought it’d be…and then some. Sinclair puts his distinct skill and style to the test when he offers you an ending you won’t quickly forget, to a trilogy you probably won’t want to put down. ...
• Don’t Fear The Reaper Part 2 (Book Review) Lex Sinclair’s nightmare continues with Don’t Fear the Reaper Part 2. It picks up where the first book ended, and you can be sure that you’ll be getting that distinct Sinclair style with it. This is a man who will stay true to his precise way of writing, and he’s not showing any signs of ...
• Double Barrel (Book Review) From six different writers come a collection of twelve horror stories, entitled “Double-Barrel”. Does it do justice to the rather picturesque name? It definitely does, and it’s good to know there are upcoming writers who can perfectly measure shock value. There’s just something brilliant about the indie writing scene regarding the horror genre, which is ...
• Evil Among Us (Book Review) This book is based on facts gathered by the author regarding a man called Kleason who butchered two young men from Texas. The strange part is that these murders took place in the same year as the Chainsaw Massacre killings. Ultimately it builds the case leading to his execution.
• Frozen: A Short Story of Horror (Book Review) An archeology adventure becomes a nightmare when an expedition party sets out to investigate the findings of a perfectly preserved creature. When the party reaches the half human creature, terrifying events start to occur. For some it means death and others permanent emotional damage.
• Hell’s Shadows (Book Review) The first thing to notice about Hell’s Shadows is the sophisticated style translated through a simplistic choice of words. Dean Klein, the author, has no intentions of confusing his readers. Instead, he wants to tell them a tale of horror, within a fashion that will leave them bound till the end. Klein really got the ...
• HouseBroken (Book Review) From the author simply known as The Behrg comes the twisted tale entitled “Housebroken”, and it is sadistic as it is haunting. Horror and thriller fans that pick up this book will have to ready themselves for an experience that will affect them mentally and physically. Even though it’s not the most original plot, it ...
• In The Mind of Revenge (Book Review) In the Mind of Revenge is the first book in Liv Hadden’s new series entitled The Shamed, and she’s definitely off to a good start. Don’t expect a typical hero and don’t expect anything less than brutal honesty. Through the eyes of the main character the reader gets caught up in a mass of emotional ...
• Inheritance: The House Pledged to Evil (Book Review) Inheritance: The House Pledged to Evil is the first book by debut author Randolph Lord, and it comes with a rather dark twist. Unlike most of the books that have gone through this review process, Lord’s story is based on personal experience. Although this can be considered a novel, there are elements of a manuscript ...
• Island of the Dolls (Book Review) Island of the Dolls is a thriller/horror novel by Jeremy Bates and it’s based on an actual island covered with dolls. The story takes the reader on a special trip to that mysterious, strange, and most of all, terrifying place. A very engaging Bates introduces an entertaining cast of characters while giving them life in ...

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Discover the 12 Best Horror Book Series of All Time

Horror has been a staple of the literary world for centuries, with chilling tales that capture our imaginations and send shivers down our spines. There are countless series that have earned their place within the hallowed halls of horror literature, entertaining and terrifying readers generation after generation. In this article, we will take you on a terrifying journey through the best horror book series of all time. We’ll explore classic horror series that shaped the genre, modern horror series that will keep you up at night, and psychological horror series that will haunt your mind.

The Classics That Shaped the Genre

Horror literature has been around for centuries, but some classic horror series have stood the test of time, leaving a lasting impact on the genre and inspiring countless authors who came after them. Their unforgettable characters, settings, and storylines have made these series some of the most iconic in horror literature history.

H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos

Considered one of the founding fathers of modern horror, H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos left an indelible mark on the genre. This series of interconnected stories and novels brought to life a universe of cosmic terror, terrifying creatures, and ancient, powerful beings. Lovecraft’s unique blend of science fiction and supernatural horror created a lasting legacy, influencing numerous authors and transcending the boundaries of literature to permeate other forms of media, including film, television, and tabletop games.

Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos has inspired countless adaptations and spin-offs, including the popular tabletop game “Call of Cthulhu,” which allows players to immerse themselves in Lovecraft’s terrifying universe. The game has become a cult favorite among horror and tabletop gaming enthusiasts, and has even spawned its own line of merchandise and collectibles.

Stephen King’s The Dark Tower Series

Master storyteller Stephen King has penned many masterpieces throughout his prolific career. Among them, The Dark Tower series stands out as an epic saga spanning eight novels, weaving together elements of horror, fantasy, western, and science fiction. Centered around Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger, and his quest to reach the enigmatic Dark Tower, the series explores themes of good versus evil, redemption, and the struggle against the unfathomable forces of darkness.

King’s imaginative storytelling and memorable characters have made The Dark Tower series an enduring classic. The series has also been adapted into a comic book series, a film, and a television series, further cementing its place in popular culture.

Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles

Long before vampires sparkled in the sunlight, Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles introduced readers to a seductive, dark world of immortal beings. This series of novels, beginning with the beloved “ Interview with the Vampire ,” follows the lives, adventures, and internal struggles of vampires Lestat, Louis, Armand, and others.

Rice’s lush prose and complex characters gave new depth to vampire lore, making The Vampire Chronicles a must-read series for horror and gothic literature enthusiasts alike. The series has also been adapted into several films, including the 1994 film “Interview with the Vampire,” starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

Clive Barker’s Books of Blood

Comprising six volumes, Clive Barker’s Books of Blood is a collection of short stories that delve into the darkest corners of human nature and psyche. From stories about ancient monsters, insatiable appetites, and vengeful spirits, to tales exploring the depths of human depravity and madness, Barker’s skillful storytelling and vivid imagination have earned his work comparisons to the likes of Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft.

The Books of Blood remain a cornerstone of modern horror literature and a must-read for any genre fan. Barker’s work has also been adapted into several films, including the 1987 film “Hellraiser,” which he also directed.

Modern Horror Series That Will Keep You Up at Night

While the classics have set the stage, modern horror series continue to push the boundaries and terrify readers with fresh nightmares. These recent entries to the horror pantheon may keep you awake long into the night, so be sure to keep the lights on.

Joe Hill’s Locke & Key

Combining horror with the graphic novel format, Joe Hill’s Locke & Key series is a riveting and chilling tale of a family tragedy, supernatural forces, and a mysterious manor filled with magical keys that unlock hidden powers. Featuring atmospheric artwork by Gabriel Rodríguez, this series expertly balances character-driven storytelling with supernatural horror, appealing to both fans of traditional horror literature and graphic novels .

The series follows the Locke family as they move into their ancestral home, Keyhouse, after the brutal murder of their father. As they settle into their new surroundings, they discover that Keyhouse holds dark secrets and supernatural powers that threaten to destroy them all. With each key they discover, the Lockes uncover new dangers and must fight to keep the evil forces at bay.

Locke & Key is a unique and captivating series that will keep readers hooked until the very end.

Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan’s The Strain Trilogy

Collaborating with bestselling author Chuck Hogan, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro brought his visionary storytelling to the printed page with The Strain Trilogy . This series combines elements of horror, thriller, and apocalyptic fiction , depicting a world grappling with a deadly vampiric virus that threatens to wipe out humanity. With rich, detailed world-building and a relentless pace, The Strain Trilogy is a captivating read for fans of horror and thriller fiction.

The series begins with the arrival of a mysterious plane at JFK airport, which turns out to be carrying a deadly virus that turns its victims into vampires. As the virus spreads, a small group of survivors must band together to fight for their survival and find a way to stop the virus from spreading further.

The Strain Trilogy is a fast-paced and thrilling series that will leave readers on the edge of their seats.

M.R. Carey’s The Girl with All the Gifts Series

In a world decimated by a fungal infection that turns humans into mindless, flesh-eating ‘hungries,’ M.R. Carey’s The Girl with All the Gifts series offers a fresh and thrilling take on the zombie apocalypse genre. Touching on themes of survival, humanity, and acceptance, these novels follow the journey of a unique and gifted child named Melanie, who might hold the key to humanity’s salvation. Intricately plotted and richly imagined, this series offers an emotional and gripping spin on traditional horror tropes.

The series begins with Melanie, a young girl who is being held in a facility with other children who are infected with the fungal virus. As the facility is attacked by hungries, Melanie and a small group of survivors must journey across a dangerous and decimated landscape to find safety and a cure for the virus.

The Girl with All the Gifts series is a thought-provoking and haunting exploration of what it means to be human in a world that has been destroyed by a deadly virus.

Paul Tremblay’s A Head Full of Ghosts and Disappearance at Devil’s Rock

With a unique focus on family dynamics and the corrosive power of fear, Paul Tremblay’s horror novels, A Head Full of Ghosts and Disappearance at Devil’s Rock , have earned widespread critical acclaim. A Head Full of Ghosts centers on a family in crisis as their daughter exhibits signs of possession, while Disappearance at Devil’s Rock explores the aftermath of a boy’s mysterious vanishing. In both works, Tremblay masterfully blends psychological suspense with supernatural elements to keep readers on the edge of their seats.

A Head Full of Ghosts follows the story of the Barrett family, who are struggling to cope with their daughter Marjorie’s sudden and terrifying changes in behavior. As they turn to religion and exorcism to try and save her, they begin to question their own sanity and the true nature of Marjorie’s possession.

Disappearance at Devil’s Rock follows the story of a mother searching for her missing son, who vanished in the woods near a local landmark known as Devil’s Rock. As she delves deeper into the mystery of her son’s disappearance, she uncovers dark secrets and supernatural forces that threaten to consume her.

Tremblay’s novels are gripping and unsettling, exploring the depths of human fear and the unknown.

Psychological Horror Series That Will Haunt Your Mind

For those who crave a deeper, more cerebral brand of terror, psychological horror series delve into the darkest depths of the human mind, exploring the twisted realities and nightmarish secrets hidden within. These series will leave you questioning your own sanity and pondering the horrific possibilities lurking beneath the surface of everyday life.

Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves

At first glance, Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves may not seem like a traditional horror series, but this mind-bending, labyrinthine novel offers a singularly terrifying reading experience. Simultaneously a haunted house story, an academic puzzle, and a love letter to the act of reading, House of Leaves takes readers down a rabbit hole of darkness, obsession, and chilling discovery. As the novel’s layered, nonlinear narrative unfolds, readers are immersed in a world that blurs the line between fiction and reality, leaving a lasting impact even after the final page is turned.

Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Shirley Jackson is a master of psychological horror, and her two most famous works, The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Li ved in the Castle, are prime examples of her talent for creating atmosphere and suspense. In The Haunting of Hill House, a paranormal investigator, and his team experience chilling and unexplainable occurrences at the titular haunted mansion. We Have Always Lived in the Castle tells the story of the troubled and reclusive Blackwood sisters, whose lives take a sinister turn with the arrival of a mysterious cousin. Both novels explore the darkest corners of human psychology and the chilling uncertainties that lie just beneath the surface of ordinary life.

Thomas Harris’s Hannibal Lecter Series

In his chilling series of novels featuring the brilliant and cannibalistic Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Thomas Harris delves deep into the dark world of criminal psychology. From the unforgettable introduction of Lecter in “ Red Dragon ,” to his iconic battle of wits with FBI Agent Clarice Starling in “ The Silence of the Lambs, ” and beyond, the Hannibal Lecter Series pulls readers into a chilling and enthralling world where the line between sanity and madness is precariously thin. Harris’s masterful storytelling and complex, captivating characters make this series a classic of psychological horror.

Josh Malerman’s Bird Box and Malorie

With his debut novel, Bird Box , and its sequel, Malorie , Josh Malerman crafted a terrifying world in which an unseen presence drives people to insane violence at the slightest glimpse. Centered around the resourceful and resilient Malorie, these novels follow her struggle to protect her children and find a safe haven in a world gone mad. Malerman’s evocative writing and unique premise have earned Bird Box and Malorie acclaim from horror fans and critics alike.

In conclusion, the horror genre offers a rich tapestry of nightmares, from the classics that shaped modern horror literature to groundbreaking contemporary series that push the boundaries of terror. Whether you prefer supernatural chills, psychological thrillers, or apocalyptic nightmares, there is a horror book series for every voracious reader. Dive into these terrifying tales and discover the best horror book series of all time – if you dare.

What book is the best introduction to the horror genre?

If you want to read a classic horror, then Dracula by Bram Stoker is an excellent choice. It is one of the first novels written in the genre and includes many of the tropes now used in modern horrors. Stephen King’s Misery is an excellent contemporary horror for new readers and is relatively short compared to his other novels.

Are horror novels similar to thrillers?

Horrors and thrillers can provide readers with the same heart-pounding tension and jaw-dropping reveals, but the tropes of each genre vary widely. If you enjoy dark thrillers, you’ll probably enjoy horror novels too.

What is the most popular horror book series?

Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series has been immensely popular since its release. It combines horror with a dark Western narrative and revolves around a deeply twisted plot.

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Best Horror Book Review Blogs in 2024

Showing 74 blogs that match your search.

karl's book blog

https://www.karlcalagan.com/

Karl's book blog features reviews of mostly horror, historical, mystery, thriller, and queer literature. All are welcome!

Blogger : Karl Khumo Calagan

Genres : Horror

🌐 Domain authority: 5

👀 Average monthly visits: 100 p/mo

💌 Preferred contact method: Website contact form

⭐️ Accepts indie books? No

Indie Reader

http://indiereader.com/

There were over 391,000 books self-published in 2012. That's a lot of company (and competition!) for any author.åÊIndieReader offers the best value for reviews, bar none. IR's reviewers & some of the best in the field & will let you know if you've achieved what you set out to do. Charges may apply. IR also recommends titles to the HUFFINGTON POST and USA TODAY.

Blogger : The IndieReader Team

🌐 Domain authority: 49

👀 Average monthly visits: 15,000 p/mo

⭐️ Accepts indie books? Yes

The LitBuzz Hive

https://www.thelitbuzz.com/

A book review site featuring a diverse Hive of voices reading and sharing, we have a vast palette. We welcome both indie and traditionally-published authors - at no charge for reviews, ever.

Blogger : The LitBuzz Hive

🌐 Domain authority: 7

👀 Average monthly visits: 300 p/mo

💌 Preferred contact method: Email

Fantasy Book Critic

http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/

Please keep in mind Fantasy Book Critic receives dozens of review requests every week, so it is not always possible to respond immediately. If you do not hear from someone after 21 days, then feel free to send a follow-up query. Should your request interest one of our reviewers, you will be contacted regarding coverage on Fantasy Book Critic. Thank you for your interest in Fantasy Book Critic.

Blogger : The FBC Team

🌐 Domain authority: 47

👀 Average monthly visits: 9,000 p/mo

Kirkus Reviews

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/

Book reviews and recommendations from the most trusted voice in book discovery. We've reviewed the nation's top publishers' books since 1933. Our coverage includes the big 5 houses, small presses, genre publishers & more.

Blogger : Kirkus Reviews Team

🌐 Domain authority: 79

👀 Average monthly visits: 880,000 p/mo

💌 Preferred contact method: Submission manager

What Jamie Read

https://whatjamieread.com/

What Jamie Read is a book review blog focused on uplifting the voices of diverse authors and stories.

Blogger : Jamie Schultz

🌐 Domain authority: 2

👀 Average monthly visits: 1,500 p/mo

Bite into Books

http://www.biteintobooks.com/

Hi there! My name is Esther, I'm a 25 year old teacher from The Netherlands. Since I started this blog, I've been getting requests to review books. I've made you a Q&A to be sure we speak the same language.

Blogger : Esther

🌐 Domain authority: 23

👀 Average monthly visits: 3,000 p/mo

The Creative Muggle

https://www.thecreativemuggle.com/

The Creative Muggle is a place for anyone who wants to read books. You can find fascinating reading lists to have a productive reading time in your busy life. From charming romance novels to propulsive thrillers, you are in for a literary treat!

Blogger : Stephy George

🌐 Domain authority: 20

👀 Average monthly visits: 20,500 p/mo

Heyit'sCarlyRae Book Club

http://www.heyitscarlyrae.com

I'm an Instafamous Book Blogger who loves all genres of novels. Reading is my passion!

Blogger : Carly-Rae London

🌐 Domain authority: 12

👀 Average monthly visits: 8,000 p/mo

Anu Reviews

http://www.anureviews.com/

Anu Reviews is open to receiving review copies of the books from publishers and authors. I use images from the publisher or author websites. In case someone had objection to use of images from their websites, please let me know, I will click my own picture of the book cover which may not be as good as yours.

Blogger : Anu

🌐 Domain authority: 32

Fueled By Chapters

https://fueledbychapters.com/

Fueled By Chapters mainly features reviews and discussions about books, lifestyle, and other pop-culture topics.

Blogger : Inah

🌐 Domain authority: 3

👀 Average monthly visits: 1,600 p/mo

Books In Brogan

http://booksinbrogan.com/

I enjoy reading somewhat eclectic range of book, but I especially enjoy reading paranormal, science fiction, fantasy and contemporary romance in both adult and YA books. I'm not a huge fan of horror I also don't read much erotica or anything overly graphic, abusive or with a blatant amount of excessive violence.

Blogger : Brogan

🌐 Domain authority: 11

The Chrysalis BREW Project

https://thechrysalisbrewproject.com/

The Chrysalis Books, Reviews, and Everything Written (BREW) Project is an up-and-coming platform that aims to help content creators and audiences to grow, thrive, and soar through reviews, interviews, features, news, press releases, podcasts, and promotions. BREW hosts the monthly and annual BREW Readers' Choice Awards, the annual BREW Book Excellence Awards, and the quarterly and annual BREW International Blog Awards.

Blogger : Esperanza Pretila

🌐 Domain authority: 18

Booklover Book Reviews

https://www.bookloverbookreviews.com/

WELCOME BOOKLOVERS! I’m Jo, an Aussie book reviewer. I started this website in 2009 and quickly realised I enjoy writing and blogging about books almost as much as reading them. Hope you enjoy browsing my book reviews & following my reading adventures.

Blogger : Joanne

🌐 Domain authority: 36

👀 Average monthly visits: 4,000 p/mo

I'm All Booked Up

https://imallbookedup.com/

We write book reviews, list posts and author interviews. We're open to guest posts.

Blogger : Christy and Claire

🌐 Domain authority: 21

So you want to find a book blog?

If you’re a voracious reader, you might think of a book blog as an oasis in the middle of the desert: a place on the Internet that brims with talk about books, books, and more books.

Well, good news — we built this directory of the 200 of the best book blogs  to satiate your thirst. Take a walk around, use the filters to narrow down your search to blogs in your preferred genre, and feel free to bookmark this page and come back, as we do update it regularly with more of the best book blogs out there. 

If you’re an aspiring author, you might see a book blog more as a book review blog: a place where you can get your yet-to-be published book reviewed. In that case, you’ll be glad to know that most of the book blogs in our directory are open to review requests and accept indie books! We expressly designed this page (and our book marketing platform, Reedsy Discovery ) to be useful to indie book authors who need book reviews. If you’re wondering how to approach a book blog for a review request, please read on. 

You’ve found a book blog. Now what? 

Let’s say that you’re an author, and you’ve found a couple of book blogs that would be perfect fits to review your book. What now? Here are some tips as you go about getting your book reviews:

• Be sure to read the review policy. First, check that the book blog you’re querying is open to review requests. If that’s the fortunate case, carefully read the blog’s review policy and make sure that you follow the directions to a T.  
• Individualize your pitches. Book bloggers will be able to immediately tell apart the bulk pitches, which simply come across as thoughtless and indifferent. If you didn’t take the time to craft a good pitch, why should the blogger take the time to read your book? Personalize each pitch to up your chances of getting a response. 
• Format your book in a professional manner before sending it out. Ensure that your manuscript isn’t presented sloppily. If the book blogger asks for a digital ARC, you might want to check out apps such as Instafreebie or Bookfunnel. 
• Create a spreadsheet to track your progress. Wading through so many book blogs can be troublesome — not to mention trying to remember which ones you’ve already contacted. To save yourself the time and trouble, use a simple Excel spreadsheet to keep track of your progress (and results). 

Looking to learn even more about the process? Awesome 👍 For a detailed guide, check out this post that’s all about getting book reviews . 

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15 Horror Novels to Look Out For in 2024

Slashers, serial killers, supernatural entities, and splatterpunk.

This year’s crop of excellent upcoming horror novels includes folk horror, wilderness thrillers, slashers in space, serial killers in the city, and a wide variety of supernatural entities. There’s plenty of queer romance and some well-earned queer vengeance. The gothic continues to reign supreme, but splattergore makes a respectably bloody showing. Amusingly, there are also two different novels on this list about Americans renting haunted Italian villas…I know, the list is going up in February, but I included January titles anyway.

Jenny Kiefer, This Wretched Valley (Quirk, January 16)

A group of climbers heads to a remote valley to scale an impossible cliff in this tense wilderness horror. Of course, things do not turn out as planned, as Jenny Kiefer takes us through a litany of nature’s terrors and man’s folly, including some white knuckle scenes of rock climbing without ropes.

Christopher Golden,  The House of Last Resort (St Martin’s, January 30)

This is the first of two haunted house in Italy novels on this list! In the latest high-concept horror from the reliably terrifying Christopher Golden, a couple working remotely move to Italy and buy a cool house with a dark backstory.  They probably deserve what’s coming to them in terms of expats and housing shortages, honestly…Although the town they move to is suffering severe population decline (attributed to the lure of the city, rather than the body count of the local ghosts).

Tracy Sierra,  Nightwatching (Pamela Dorman Books/Viking, February 6)

Tracy Sierra has done the impossible: changed my mind about the home invasion thriller. In  Nightwatching,  a young widow is shocked one night to find an intruder in her home, and spends several desperate hours using all her wit and wiles to protect her children and find a way to seek help. While much of the story is about the night itself, just as gripping is what happens afterwards.

Kirsten Bakis,  King Nyx (Liveright, February 27)

The first novel from Kirsten Bakis in 25 years! In  King Nyx,  set during the height of the Spanish Influenza, a sensible woman of a certain age and her flighty yet devoted husband head to a remote island. They’re looking forward to a stay at the manse of an eccentric robber baron; her husband is hoping to finish his magnum opus on meteorological anomalies (rains of fish, frogs, blood, etc), and Bakis’ narrator simply wishes to get some rest. Upon arrival, however, they find out that multiple girls have gone missing from the rehabilitation home/workhouse also located on the island, and they must isolate in quarantine for at least two weeks before they even meet with their mysterious benefactor. There are neighbors in quarantine as well, also on the island for an intellectual retreat, and Bakis’ narrator soon teams up with the kindred spirit next door to understand what’s going on. Bakis’ symbolism is particularly on point, with a creepy garden, a beautiful set of parakeets, and automata aplenty. Future students will highlight the crap out of this book.

Gwendolyn Kiste, The Haunting of Velkwood (Saga, March 5)

Kiste wowed me with her psychedelic take on classic gothic heroines,  Reluctant Immortals,  and her new novel is just as eloquent in defending women’s right to determine their own fate (and follow their own hearts). In The Haunting of Velkwood,  a neighborhood that appears to have vanished is the subject of a new documentary on unexplained phenomena. Only three of the original residents escaped the town, and now, the film crew wants them to go back in. But the documentarians don’t understand that what these three left behind is dangerous, dormant, and wants to see them pay for what they did before they left…Eerie and evocative!

Jennifer Thorne,  Diavola (Tor Nightfire, March 26)

I was a big fan of Jennifer Thorne’s folk horror  Lute  so I devoured her new book, and what a fabulous read it was.  Diavola  takes place mostly in a Tuscan villa where a family has gathered to dine, drink, and bicker; meanwhile, the villa’s ghosts grow hungry, and ready to punish those who disturb their rest.  Diavola  is an evocative gothic with a hilarious sense of petty family dynamics, and I enjoyed every word.

Stephen Graham Jones, Angel of Indian Lake (Saga, March 26)

Finally, we get the conclusion to Stephen Graham Jones’ era-defining Indian Lake trilogy with  The Angel of Indian Lake.  I am in awe of how good these books are, and the third certainly lives up to the well-deserved hype. Stephen Graham Jones also has another novel coming later this year that I’m just as excited for: I Was a Teenage Slasher, to be published by Saga on July 16.

S.A. Barnes,  Ghost Station  (Tor Nightfire, April 9)

S.A. Barnes is quickly gaining a reputation for her claustrophobic and oh-so-creepy space horror. I first came to her work through last year’s  Dead Silence,  which took a salvage crew to the haunted remains of a  Titanic- inspired luxury space cruiser. Her new novel,  Ghost Station,  features a psychologist in a lonely outpost desperate to prevent an outbreak of a murderous and mysterious condition among the secretive crew. I’m waiting to read this one until the next time I’m on a plane—the recycled air and potential for terrifying disaster really adds a certain  je ne sais quoi  to the experience…

Liz Kerin, First Light (Tor Nightfire, April 23)

In this sequel to Liz Kerin’s emotional vampire horror  Night’s Edge,  Kerin’s heroine is finally rid of her toxic, abusive mother, and ready to go after the monster who made her mother that way. Kerin is skillful at depicting monstrosity as a metaphor for addiction and domestic violence, and showing the contradictions between loving impulses and engrained bad behavior.

Johanna van Veen, My Darling Dreadful Thing (Poisoned Pen Press, May 14)

Another gothic take on spiritualism, and a novel one! Johanna van Veen’s haunting debut follows a young woman and her hungry spirit companion as they leave behind a life of swindling seances for a new friendship (and budding romance) with an heiress in possession of her own otherworldly companion. What do these two women and their companions want? What will they do now that they have met each other? And what will those surrounding do in order to assuage their jealous suspicions?

E. K. Sathue, Youthjuice (Hell’s Hundred, June 4)

In the first release from Hell’s Hundred, the new horror imprint from Soho Press, E. K. Sathue’s main character earns all the press release’s comparisons to Patrick Bateman. Just a run-of-the-mill sociopath at first, the narrator soon gets sucked into the murderous enterprise of a wellness company with an incredibly suspicious number of missing former interns and a CEO who appears to bathe in blood. This book makes me glad that I interned at an archive…Although I did go on a serum buying spree about half-way through reading it.

Gretchen Felker-Martin, Cuckoo (Tor Nightfire, June 11)

Gretchen Felker-Martin forever won my heart with her splattterpunk horror novel  Manhunt,  and now she’s done it again with a queer conversion camp thriller that is truly terrifying to read. Felker-Martin writes with sensitivity and righteous fury about the many torments the teenage characters are forced to endure in the name of heteronormativity, and the stakes are ever higher as the kids begin to realize that even those who leave the camp are no longer themselves—and many will not leave at all. Felker-Martin excels at creeping out readers with her off-kilter descriptions and gory details, and I wouldn’t open this one up while eating. Also quick shoutout to one of the only authors out there with consistently sympathetic fat characters who also get to have sex. Thank you, Gretchen!

Paul Tremblay, Horror Movie (William Morrow, June 11)

The “books about cursed productions” trend continues, as horror maestro Paul Tremblay takes us onto the set of the shot-for-remake of a legendary cult classic that never made it to the screen.  Horror Movie  is narrated by the actor who played the monstrous object of derision known as “The Thin Kid” in the first production, and has agreed to reprise the role in the remake. We’re not sure if we can trust his recollections, but his disturbing account provides plenty of fodder to condemn both the original film and the remake.

Monika Kim,  The Eyes are the Best Part (Erewhon Books, June 25)

In this darkly funny psychological horror, a college student must protect her mother and her sister from her mother’s creepy new boyfriend. Like all the other men in their lives, he’s trying to reduce their humanness into stereotypes about doll-like, submissive Asian women, and Kim’s protagonist is certainly not going to let him get away with it. She’s also spending a lot of time having intense dreams about eating bright blue eyes, standing over her sleeping enemies and fantasizing their demise, and generally losing touch with reality in a way that pays plenty of dividends by the novel’s end.

John Fram, No Road Home (Atria, July 23)

A wealthy preacher’s compound is the setting for this gothic parable from the author of  The Bright Lands. The narrator of  No Road Home, newly wedded to the beautiful scion of a megachurch pastor, is visiting his wife’s family for the first time when a storm closes them off from the rest of the world just as their patriarch is found dead. Even before the disturbing demise, Fram’s hero is already having second thoughts about the marriage: her relatives keep making snide remarks about his gender nonconforming son, it turns out his wife only married him to unlock her own inheritance, every family member appears to be keeping secrets, and someone’s been painting threatening messages warning of vengeance to come. Oh, and there’s also a ghost and some very disturbing paintings…

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80 Best Horror Book Review Blogs and Websites

• This Is Horror Magazine
• The Scary Reviews
• Horror Writers Association
• Oldstyle Tales Press Blog
• Too Much Horror Fiction
• RA for All: Horror
• Monster Complex Blog
• HorrorAddicts.net » Books
• Bark At The Ghouls
• Well Worth A Read
• Bloody Disgusting » Book
• BookBub Blog » Horror
• Horror News » Books
• Horror World
• SCREAM Magazine
• GBHBL » Horror Book Reviews
• The Horror Review
• Erica Robyn Reads
• Nightmare Magazine
• SFFWorld » Book Reviews
• FanFiAddict » Horror
• GORELETS Blog
• Horror Cult Films » Book
• Longbox of Darkness
• TBM Horror » Book Reviews
• Horror Novel Reviews
• Jen Med's Book Reviews » Horror
• The Coycaterpillar Reads Blog » Horror
• Ginger Nuts of Horror » Horror Book Reviews
• The Gothic Library
• Craig DiLouie Blog
• BookGeeks » Horror
• Denver Horror Collective
• JenJenReviews » Horror/Thriller/Mystery
• Horror Spotlight
• Dark Horror Tales
• Books Blog » Horror
• Scare Street
• Zezee with Books » Horror
• David's Book Blurg » Horror
• A Literary Escape » Horror
• Read By Dusk » Horror
• Diversity in Horror Fiction
• The Blog Where Horror Dwells
• Nocturnal Revelries
• Dark Reads Blog
• mybookspage
• Unsettling Reads Blog » Horror
• Indies Today » Horror
• TheBookBeard
• Here's the Fucking Twist
• Folk Horror Revival
• Janine's Ghost Stories
• Greater Vancouver Horror Writers Blog
• I Read, Therefore I Blog » Horror
• Happy Goat Horror » Book Reviews
• GhostvilleHero » Horror Book Reviews
• Vogue Horror » Book Reviews
• Burial Books Blog
• Kendall Reviews
• Under the Covers Book Blog » Horror
• The Chrysalis Brew Project » Horror
• Njkinny's Blog » Horror
• Mystery and Horror Blog
• Book Den » Horror
• HOWL Society » Review
• Spooky Middle Grade Blog
• Book Blogger List » Horror
• Writer Dan Soule Blog
• Lionel Ray Green Blog
• Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviewer

Horror Book Review Bloggers

• Horror Book Review Newsletter

Horror Book Review Blogs

Here are 80 Best Horror Book Review Blogs you should follow in 2024

1. This Is Horror Magazine

2. The Scary Reviews

3. Horror Writers Association

4. Oldstyle Tales Press Blog

5. Too Much Horror Fiction

6. RA for All: Horror

7. Monster Complex Blog

8. HorrorAddicts.net » Books

9. Bark At The Ghouls

10. Well Worth A Read

11. Bloody Disgusting » Book

12. BookBub Blog » Horror

13. Hellnotes

14. Horror News » Books

15. Horror World

16. SCREAM Magazine

17. GBHBL » Horror Book Reviews

18. The Horror Review

19. Erica Robyn Reads

20. Erica Robyn Reads

21. Nightmare Magazine

22. SFFWorld » Book Reviews

23. FanFiAddict » Horror

24. GORELETS Blog

25. Horror Cult Films » Book

26. Longbox of Darkness

27. TBM Horror » Book Reviews

28. Horror Novel Reviews

29. Nightfire

30. Jen Med's Book Reviews » Horror

31. The Coycaterpillar Reads Blog » Horror

32. Ginger Nuts of Horror » Horror Book Reviews

33. The Gothic Library

34. Craig DiLouie Blog

35. BookGeeks » Horror

36. Denver Horror Collective

37. JenJenReviews » Horror/Thriller/Mystery

38. Horror Spotlight

39. Dark Horror Tales

40. Books Blog » Horror

41. Scare Street

42. Zezee with Books » Horror

43. David's Book Blurg » Horror

44. A Literary Escape » Horror

45. Liam Smith

46. Read By Dusk » Horror

47. Diversity in Horror Fiction

48. The Blog Where Horror Dwells

49. Nocturnal Revelries

50. Dark Reads Blog

51. mybookspage

52. Unsettling Reads Blog » Horror

53. Indies Today » Horror

54. TheBookBeard

55. Here's the Fucking Twist

56. Folk Horror Revival

57. Janine's Ghost Stories

58. Greater Vancouver Horror Writers Blog

59. I Read, Therefore I Blog » Horror

60. Happy Goat Horror » Book Reviews

61. GhostvilleHero » Horror Book Reviews

62. Vogue Horror » Book Reviews

63. Burial Books Blog

64. Kendall Reviews

65. Under the Covers Book Blog » Horror

66. The Chrysalis Brew Project » Horror

67. Njkinny's Blog » Horror

68. Mystery and Horror Blog

69. Book Den » Horror

70. HOWL Society » Review

71. Spooky Middle Grade Blog

72. Book Blogger List » Horror

73. Writer Dan Soule Blog

74. Lionel Ray Green Blog

75. Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviewer

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