story books scary

The 50 Best Horror Books of All Time Will Scare You Sh*tless

Our number one pick has inspired generations of nightmares.

Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. We may earn a commission from these links.

Horror is a broad church. Definitions abound.

For some, horror is a genre founded on trope and convention: a checklist of blighted houses and monstrous secrets, men in masks and women in white nightgowns. For others it hinges on atmosphere and tone.

This is before we even attempt a historical context. Scholars trace the legacy of literary horror back to the British Gothic fictions of the eighteenth century, when castles were haunted, monks were evil, and anywhere beyond the edges of Protestant England was tinged sinister. Others locate the genre’s origins in a slate of late-Victorian novels and their roster of horror icons. Dracula, Dorian Gray, Dr. Jekyll–these figures emerged from a culture in crisis, when twin anxieties about masculinity and modernity birthed urban nightmares. Contemporary readers may look no further than the horror ‘boom’ of the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. It was an era dominated by brand-name authors, with epic sales and matching page-lengths.

With such a weight of contention, any attempt at a list of ‘best’ horror novels is doomed to disagreement. That’s fine. All lists are subjective. We have, however, tried to celebrate the breadth of horror—to highlight those books that establish something about the genre or push it forward into new realms. It’s worth noting that we have confined our choices to novels. Short horror fiction has a parallel ­­but distinct history that would require a survey all of its own.

You will see some unexpected inclusions in this list, and some surprising absences. Certain big names are missing because their greatest contributions are in short form, or because their books tread ground better travelled by others. Equally, some of these choices may cause horror fans’ eyes to wrinkle in confusion. But perhaps, in the end, that’s the secret of horror: it’s personal. It’s about how it makes you feel.

Here, then, is our ranking of the best horror novels of all time.

Gallery / Saga Press The Loop

You could argue that body horror is the purest horror. It taps into our basest fears: the vulnerability of our own bodies to infection, mutation, and destruction. In The Loop, a Pacific Northwest town falls prey to a parasite that transforms its youth into ravening fiends. After a short build-up, young adult sensibility blossoms darkly into scenes of extreme violence and bodily damage. The Loop is fiction’s closest equivalent to the films of David Cronenberg, with a jaw-dropping central set-piece that rivals the most fevered excesses of horror cinema.

Open Road Media Harvest Home, by Thomas Tryon

After quitting his career as a Hollywood star, Thomas Tryon turned to writing and gave us a pair of bestselling horror novels. The Other may be better known, but Harvest Home is the true chiller. In classic New England Gothic style, a nice family relocates to a Quaint Little Town™ only to discover hideous secrets about the corn crop. What follows is an ultra slow-burn of tightening anxiety, with a folk-horror finale that rivals 1973’s other pagan classic, The Wicker Man , or even Ben Wheatley’s 2011 shocker, Kill List. The final passages are as bleak as horror got in the ‘70s.

Atria Books The Other Black Girl, by Zakiya Dalila Harris

At first glance, the terrors of The Other Black Girl appear slight. Harris’ workplace thriller spends ample time cataloguing the microaggressions endured by Nella, the only woman of color at a major New York publishing house. However, when Hazel, the titular other Black girl, joins the firm, the novel moves into more uncanny territory. The result is a scalpel-sharp instrument of social horror—a book that exposes monstrousness in the minutiae of office politics and the complacent evil of white privilege. It’s particularly telling that Harris wrote the book after working in New York publishing…

Valancourt Books The Auctioneer, by Joan Samson

The Auctioneer may be the bestselling horror novel that most people have never heard of. It sold a million copies on release, garnered praise from genre heavyweights, and was further distinguished by the author’s death soon after publication. Yet Samson’s novel remained in obscurity for decades until Grady Hendrix and Valancourt Press reissued it as part of the Paperbacks from Hell series. In the figure of the titular auctioneer, Perly Dinsmore, and the havoc wreaked by his manipulation of a rural New Hampshire community, Samson’s novel refers back to Shirley Jackson’s ”The Lottery,” and must surely be the inspiration behind Leland Gaunt, the malignant shopkeeper in Stephen King’s Needful Things.

G.P. Putnam's Sons The Hunger, by Alma Katsu

The Hunger takes one of the darkest incidents in American history and makes it more horrible still. Katsu’s retelling of the Donner Party’s catastrophic attempt to cross the Sierra Nevadas in winter begins with the death of a child and heads onward, like the wagon train, into deeper horror. It’s slow progress, too. The Hunger takes its time to get to the awful fate we know is waiting. Some people may buck at the pace and the way Katsu dangles the grisliest elements of the story just out of reach. But for those who appreciate authenticity and great character work, it’s a piece of historical horror that takes exactly the route it should.

Simon & Schuster Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

It’s hard to overstate Bradbury’s contribution to speculative fiction. His unique blend of horror and fantasy is a clear influence on later giants like Stephen King and Neil Gaiman. But his macabre whimsy was never more powerful than in Something Wicked This Way Comes, a tale of romanticized boyhood in the golden decades of post-war America. Best friends Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade (neatly born on either side of the same Halloween midnight) confront the loss of innocence in the form of Mr. Dark’s traveling carnival. The scene in which the aging Miss Foley is granted her wish to become young again stands out as the most horrifically poignant moment in a novel obsessed with the boundary between youth and adulthood.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, by Eric LaRocca

At only 120 pages, Eric LaRocca’s novella is the shortest book on this list, but it may also be the most distressing. It is an epistolary period-piece—taking place in the internet chat-rooms of the early 2000s—in which two broken souls come together in a pact of extreme body horror and emotional degeneration. If that sounds fun, well, it isn’t. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke pulls not a single punch, offering perhaps the single most upsetting scene to be found on this list (The Little Christ—if you know, you know!) and a question for the ages: “What have you done today to deserve your eyes?”

Dark Valley, by Joe Donnelly

Joe Donnelly’s books arrived at the tail-end of horror’s paperback boom, all gaudy covers and pulpy premises. Yet his final horror novel is an almost unknown classic: an adolescent trial set on the West coast of Scotland, where five young friends on a camping trip encounter a child killer. The Scottish setting gives a different tone and a grittier vernacular to the oft-romanticized coming-of-age tradition. Think Stand by Me refracted through Trainspotting. It’s a violent story, with the rare threat that simply being a child is not enough to save Donnelly’s characters from a brutal end.

Ace The Red Tree, by Caitlin R. Kiernan

Caitlin R. Kiernan floats freely across the map of speculative fiction, from hard sci-fi to lyrical fantasy. The Red Tree is their purest horror offering. When Sarah Crowe relocates to an isolated cabin in order to write and grieve, she falls under the influence of a strange manuscript and the history of a nearby oak tree. The found document and faux-lore locate Kiernan’s novel in the arcane tradition of M.R. James and H.P. Lovecraft. But a postmodern unreliability pervades, with doubts about Sarah’s sanity, as well as ‘editor’s notes’ complicating easy separation of truth and fiction. Narrative trickery aside, The Red Tree also contains the creepiest cellar in horror.

Penguin Classics The Monk, by Matthew Lewis

Horror’s roots extend far back into the 18th century Gothic tradition, beginning with The Castle of Otranto in 1764 and evolving in Anne Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho in 1794. It is Lewis’ novel, however, that first showcases the genre’s power to shock. Written when Lewis was still a teenager, The Monk relates the demonic corruption of the devout Ambrosio. Upon its release, the novel was considered a danger to society; even now, its details of rape, incest, murder, and black sorcery remain eyebrow-raising. If the scares are dulled by archaic language, some moments still hit hard, such as when the prioress’ body is mutilated by a mob “till it became no more than a mass of flesh, unsightly, shapeless, and disgusting.” Remember, this was written in 1796!

Open Road Media Experimental Film, by Gemma Files

Files worked as a film critic for years, and in Experimental Film, all that insider knowledge is put to uncanny use. She blends a verité blogging style with the story of cursed film footage from the early 20th century and a frightening Slavic demon named Lady Midday. As so often happens in Files’ fiction, things get very weird, but the industry detail coupled with biographical allusions grounds the high strangeness into something truly unnerving. This is a too-often overlooked postmodern gem, one of the best in a string of books about the spectral effects of film.

Vintage Lunar Park, by Bret Easton Ellis

American Psycho may be the most controversial novel of the late 20th century, but Lunar Park is the more affecting horror story. Ellis’ faux-memoir slides from authentic early experiences into a fictional middle-age as reluctant husband and father. Out in the suburbs, reality and fiction collapse, ushering horrors into Ellis’ home. These include a version of Ellis’ infamous killer, Patrick Bateman, and—in the centrepiece scene—a doll that undergoes a truly terrifying metamorphosis. Readers are never sure where truth or sincerity lie. The novel could be a big joke, or it could, as is suggested in the scenes between Ellis and his make-believe son, be a yearning for a life not lived. If American Psycho is the book that made Ellis the enfant terrible of contemporary fiction, Lunar Park is the book that exposes his heart.

Tordotcom The Ballad of Black Tom, by Victor LaValle

H.P. Lovecraft’s imagination endures in countless derivations of his Cthulhu Mythos, but his bigotry remains a cancer at the heart of it all. Most imitators borrow the lore, but ignore the ideology. In The Ballad of Black Tom, Victor LaValle takes a different approach, choosing to explore the events of Lovecraft’s notoriously racist “The Horror at Red Hook” from the Black point-of-view of Lavalle’s own protagonist, Tommy Tester. Though there are ‘Old Ones’ aplenty, LaValle’s retelling suggests that cosmic peril is of less consequence to the Black community than the threat of white power. After all, the book asks, “What was indifference compared to malice?”

Ecco Press Bird Box, by Josh Malerman

Some books have a conceit that makes other authors seethe for not thinking of it themselves. Birdbox , you would imagine, is such a book. There are monsters, and if you see them, you kill yourself. It’s a riff on the Lovecraftian notion that the human mind can only withstand a certain degree of otherness. Yet Malerman has none of Lovecraft’s pomposity. Instead, he examines everyday humanity under extreme, inexplicable pressure. Trapped in a house with strangers, our protagonist Malorie gradually hardens into a pitiless survivor. Her journey to possible refuge is a masterclass in sustained tension and sensory storytelling.

Pan MacMillan Apartment 16, by Adam Nevill

Each of Adam Nevill’s novels is imbued with an unclean disquiet, a grimly British social-realist horror stripped of all romance. It’s never more effective than this story of an exclusive London residence haunted by a fascist, occult-obsessed artist. Apryl Beckford quickly discovers the supernatural menace within Apartment 16, but the real nightmares belong to a secondary character, addled security guard Seth. His repeated failures to escape the building lead to a chokingly claustrophobic breakdown. People will tell you to read The Ritual, but Apartment 16 is the Nevill book that’ll have you looking at the corners of rooms to make sure the shadows are still where they should be.

Dell Lost Souls, by Poppy Z. Brite

There is no more ‘90s novel on this list than Lost Souls. I’m not sure a more ‘90s novel exists. Poppy Z. Brite’s lament for misspent youth is as pitch black as the kohl around the characters’ eyes, and saturated with the angsty existentialism that typified the decade. The teens of Missing Mile, North Carolina are damaged—by substances, by hard living, and abuse—and that’s before the vampires arrive. When they do, the novel explodes in a debauch of violence and sex. It’s a road trip, a love story, and a brutal horror odyssey in which a vampire taking his own son as his lover remains one of the less transgressive elements of the plot.

Ballantine Books Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice

Anne Rice died in late 2021, leaving behind a legacy that few modern horror authors can match. Her Vampire Chronicles spans over a dozen novels, with numerous offshoots. Everyone has their favorite, but Interview is where the intricate, baroque tapestry of her alternative vampiric history begins. The interview in question is with Louis, an 1800s plantation owner turned into a creature of the night by the vampire Lestat. Over the course of the novel, Louis relates the history of their immortal companionship, including the perverse family they form with child vampire Claudia. The later series develops in outlandish directions (Atlantis!), but Interview anchors itself in the romantic tragedy of eternal life.

Gallery Books The House Next Door, by Anne Rivers Siddons

Haunted houses don’t need to be old. That’s the revolutionary premise that makes Siddon’s novel so freshly disquieting. Through Colquitt Kennedy’s polite, hyper-observant narration, we watch as a sequence of families move into the newly-built property next door, only for tragedy to unravel their lives. There isn’t a history of murder to taint the land, nor a single disturbed grave—just a random malignancy that suggests modern walls are no guarantee of safety. It’s a souring of the American Dream that Stephen King called one of the best horror novels of the 20th Century.

Simon & Schuster The Wasp Factory, by Iain Banks

Frank Cauldhame wanders the beaches of his isolated island home, killing small animals. He has built an elaborate mechanism to ritualistically kill wasps. We are told he has killed three children before he entered his own teens. Oh, and he is the hero of this story. The Wasp Factory was Banks’ first novel, and it has the provocativeness of all great debuts. It was acclaimed for its mixture of horror and the blackest of comedy, just as it was pilloried for its depravity. Both sound like good reasons to read it. Be warned, though, this one contains some truly disgusting scenes.

Scribner Tender Is the Flesh, by Agustina Bazterrica

In Bazterrica’s brutal dystopia, a lack of animal meat has resulted in state-sanctioned cannibalism. Marcos works in a slaughterhouse, where human cattle (or ‘heads’) are bred for slaughter, and where he tussles with his inner morality within the industrial normalization of the universal taboo. The plot focuses on Marcos’ relationship with a head named Jasmine; what ensues is as disturbing as expected, though it’s the wider world-building that makes Tender is the Flesh a truly dispiriting read. Through both gorgeous metaphor and blunt statement, Bazterrica drives home the realization that we are all either meat or butcher in capitalism’s grinder.

@media(max-width: 73.75rem){.css-1ktbcds:before{margin-right:0.4375rem;color:#FF3A30;content:'_';display:inline-block;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1ktbcds:before{margin-right:0.5625rem;color:#FF3A30;content:'_';display:inline-block;}} Books Everyone Should Read

How to Read the 'Dune' Book Series in Order

The Best Horror Books of 2023

The Best Books of Fall 2023

How to Read the 'Wheel of Time' Books in Order

The 50 Best Mysteries of All Time

What to Read While Getting High

What To Read After ' Daisy Jones & The Six '

15 Books Chris Pine Thinks Everyone Should Read

The Best Wellness Books For Your Body and Spirit

The 20 Best Memoirs of 2022

The Best Books of 2022

Join Discovery, the new community for book lovers

Trust book recommendations from real people, not robots 🤓

Blog – Posted on Monday, Feb 04

100 best (and scariest) horror books of all time.

The definition of scary changes from person to person. For some, it might be ghosts and haunted houses. For others, serial killers. For still others, the most frightening things are the ones that go bump in the night, unseen.

Despite the width of this spectrum, what unites all lovers of horror is the thrill that horror novels inspire within us: that universal sensation of your heart thumping out of your chest, as cold sweat breaks on your forehead when you turn the page.

To create this list, we went to the darkest, most ghostly corners of the literary world. Without further ado, here are the 100 best horror novels of all time — it's safe to say that we hope they'll keep you up at night. Happy reading!

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the number of great horror books out there, you can also take our 30-second quiz below to narrow it down quickly and get a personalized horror book recommendation  😉

Which horror book should you read next?

Discover the perfect horror book for you. Takes 30 seconds!

1. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)

Is there a name more synonymous with horror? The story of Dr. Frankenstein and the anguished, tragic monster he unwittingly creates has become a cultural icon, both macabre and quintessential. When Mary Shelley set out to write Frankenstein over two centuries ago, she said that she wanted to create a book that would “speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror — one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart.” We can safely say that she succeeded.

2. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (1838)

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym is a mixture of Moby Dick-esque maritime detail (it later inspired Herman Melville) and H.P. Lovecraft-style cosmic horror . The titular Pym stows away on the Grampus, a whaling ship headed for southern waters. But after mutiny breaks out on the upper deck, Pym is left stranded by one of his friends, only to face a series of gruesome situations once he’s retrieved.

3. The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe (1839)

Could you really call a list of the best horror books complete without a nod (or two) to the genius of Edgar Allan Poe? Sibling dynamics are given new meaning in The Fall of the House of Usher , a work of gothic fiction that centers on a spooky household. Roderick is a sick man with acute sensitivity to everything, who lives in constant fear he is about to die. His sister, Madeline, suffers from catalepsy (a sickness involving seizures). An unnamed narrator visits them both and gets more than he bargained for.

4. Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell (1851-1861)

Just as the tin says! Gothic Tales is a collection of (surprise!) gothic tales — more specifically, fairy tales intertwined with short stories. Written by 19th-century author Elizabeth Gaskell, these stories deliver everything: disappearances, Salem witch hunts, mysterious children wandering lost in the moors, and local legends that may or may not return to haunt the townspeople. And with every story, Gaskell shows her uncanny talent of blending reality and the supernatural with spine-tingling dexterity.

Looking for something new to read?

Trust real people, not robots, to give you book recommendations.

Or sign up with an email address

5. Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1872)

Before Dracula , there was Carmilla . This tale of a female vampire who attracts a lonely young girl served as the foundation for the “lesbian vampirism” trope (and, no doubt, inspired Bram Stoker to some extent as well). So fans of the emerging cult classic Jennifer’s Body , you’ve found your literary horror match.

6. Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897)

Meet the most famous vampire of all time. Dracula was born out of Bram Stoker’s imagination over a century ago — yet he still lives on today in our collective consciousness. Dracula is his story, one in which he roams from Transylvania to England to spread the curse of the undead amongst innocents. More than a simple tale about vampirism, Dracula is an era-defining masterwork about sexuality, technology, superstition, and an ancient horror that’s too terrible for words.

7. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (1898)

The Turn of the Screw is the original children of the damned! When a governess is hired to take care of Miles and Flora, the niece and nephew of a wealthy Englishman, she has no idea what she’s in for. As she discovers the tragic fate of her predecessor, she starts seeing things that can only be explained in one of two ways: either she’s mad… or the specter of the late governess wants her job back!

8. The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H. P. Lovecraft (1928)

Perhaps the most influential of American horror writers, H.P. Lovecraft was responsible for creating an entire mythology of elder gods, sinister sea-dwellers , mysterious cults, and men of science who are driven to the edge of their sanity. The Call of Cthulhu remains one of the most accessible entry points into Lovecraft’s works — some of which, if we’re being honest, are a bit hard for the uninitiated to follow.

9. Collected Ghost Stories by M. R. James (1931)

M.R. James essentially originated the “antiquarian ghost story.” Indeed, his writing was revolutionary for its time, discarding old Gothic clichés and using more realistic settings — which as we know by now, only makes a scary story scarier. His Collected Ghost Stories includes a whopping 30 tales, most of which involve a mild-mannered academic stumbling upon an artifact that calls forth some malevolent, otherworldly presence. Yes, the ghosts are fascinating; but what’s really admirable here is James’ signature subtlety of style.

10. At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft (1936)

This post-Cthulhu novella by Lovecraft is so long and twisty that even Lovecraft himself couldn’t get it published at first. At the Mountains of Madness relates the horrifying details of an Antarctic expedition gone wrong, in which the remains of a prehistoric species seemingly came to life and slayed humans. As the narrative spirals further, both the characters and the reader come to realize that instead of a life-changing discovery, the explorers may have brought about a death-wracking monster.

11. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938)

“Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Perhaps the most famous first line of any novel in the 20th century, this intoxicating blend of romance and suspense was seemingly made for Alfred Hitchcock, who went on to direct Rebecca 's silver screen adaptation. After a whirlwind romance, a shy American marries a wealthy Englishman and returns to his estate in Cornwall. She soon realizes that she’s now living under the (literal or figurative) shadow of her husband’s first wife: the seemingly perfect and recently deceased Rebecca de Winter.

12. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

One man’s hero is another man’s villain. If there’s only one lesson we learn from Matheson’s survival classic, let it be that. Doctor Robert Neville is the last man left alive. In the daylight, he hits the streets, stocking up on supplies and vanquishing the vampiric creature that lurk in the shadows. But when night falls, he squirrels himself away in his fortress of a home and works desperately on a cure for an epidemic that has ended the human race.

13. The Bad Seed by William March (1954)

Now synonymous with any misbehaving child, the original “bad seed” was Rhoda Penmark, the sociopathic eight-year-old. Her mother Christine suspects her of hurting and possibly killing a classmate, an elderly neighbor, and even her own dog — and as Christine discovers the truth about her own mother’s dark past, she realizes that Rhoda has to be stopped at all costs, before The Bad Seed sprouts any further.

14. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (1959)

You know how some people say that the setting is almost like another character in the story? Well, in the case of this spooky classic, that’s the literal truth. When a parapsychologist invites a group of volunteers to stay at an old mansion with a bloody mystery, he hopes to uncover evidence of the supernatural. As the tension ratchets up, each of the guests is confronted by inexplicable phenomena. Listed by Stephen King as one of the best horror books of the 20th century, The Haunting of Hill House is a must-read for any fan of the genre.

15. Psycho by Robert Bloch (1959)

If you’re into horror, you’re no stranger to Psycho . But let’s recap one of the best horror plots of all time anyway: inspired by the real-life story of psychotic murderer Ed Gein, Norman Bates and his Mother own the Bates motel, with the unlit neon sign out front. When a woman checks into the motel one night, Norman can’t help but spy on her. Displeased, Mother plans to rectify her son’s behaviour by eliminating the woman, and anything that might purge Norman of his dark thoughts.

16. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (1962)

We learn three things in the first paragraph of Jackson’s final novel: Mary Katherine Blackwood lives with her sister Constance; she loves the death-cap mushroom; and everyone else in her family is dead. From the supreme master of shivers-down-your-spine horror comes a tale of Gothic surroundings and even more sinister, yet inscrutable, inner lives. You’ll be guessing the wicked truth about Mary and Constance right up to the very end.

17. The Case Against Satan by Ray Russell (1962)

Bearing strong superficial resemblance to a certain classic, Russell’s novel also features a pair of priests tasked with examining a young girl who may be possessed by the devil. Between The Case Against Satan , The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby, contemporary readers can sense a Catholic-tinged fear of the devil pervading through American horror of the 60s. If you like the other two, why not give this one a chance?

18. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (1962)

At the beginning of Something Wicked This Way Comes , twelve-year-olds Will and Jim can’t wait to visit “Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show.” But during their visit, they witness something odd: ol’ Cooger riding backwards on the carousel, which turns him into a boy of their own age. As Will and Jim tail the Benjamin Button-ized Cooger, searching for answers, they find that the mysteries of the carnival are even darker than they anticipated — and that that darkness may not be limited to the carnival alone.

19. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin (1967)

If, for some reason, you’re doubting whether Rosemary’s Baby is one of the best horror books of all time, let us remind that it was the bestselling horror novel of the 1960s, launching a boom in the commercial success of horror fiction in general. As with many stories in the genre, Rosemary’s Baby starts out pretty innocently, and then things take a turn for the worst: Rosemary and Guy have just moved into a beautiful Manhattan apartment, and life is good. That is, until their dream home starts to turn into a living nightmare, and they begin to feel that the devil lives only a few doors down.

20. Hell House by Richard Matheson (1971)

In Hell House , the I am Legend scribe reaches terrifying new heights by expertly combining his flair for suspense with an intuitive eye for horror. The story opens on a dying millionaire who pays $100,000 each to a physicist and two mediums for them to retrieve “proof” of life after death. The group’s plan: travel to Maine and spend the week in the Belasco House, the most haunted house in the world. Whether any of them make it out alive — without going mad — is another question altogether.

If you don’t trust us, believe Stephen King, who once said: “ Hell House is the scariest haunted house novel ever written. It looms over the rest the way the mountains loom over the foothills.”

21. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty (1971)

No author creates sensation quite like William Peter Blatty and no story has satisfied a nation’s capacity for horror quite like The Exorcist . A literary landmark of the 21st-century , The Exorcist is the deeply troubling tale of one child’s demonic possession and two priests’ attempts to save her from a fate worse than death. Part family drama and all horror, it delivers on all fronts.

22. Carrie by Stephen King (1974)

Allegedly fished out of the trash by his wife, it’s hard to believe that this classic was only the first novel published by Stephen King. As one of the most put-upon teenage girls in literature, the title character struggles with school bullies, a puritanical mother, and unusual (to say the least) physical changes. Even before it went on to become a famous film, Carrie gave early fans a glimpse of King’s greatest gifts: his ability to write sympathetic, fully fleshed characters while also delivering on the big shocks. (Want more King? Check out this list of every Stephen King novel , ranked from most popular to least popular.)

23. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (1976)

Speaking of debuts that made a splash: with her first published novel, Anne Rice redefined Southern Gothic for a new generation. The titular interview takes place in modern day, as the vampire Louis recounts his story to a cub reporter. Once a plantation owner in pre-Civil War Louisiana, his life as a creature of the night is marked by his various encounters with Lestat, the vampire responsible for his undeath. Interview with the Vampire went on to be an incredible success, spawning a series of popular novels and a film adaptation starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

24. The Shining by Stephen King (1977)

What do you get when you take a frustrated writer, a creepy old hotel, and a blizzard that locks everyone inside? An absolute cornerstone of horror, that’s what! If you’ve never read The Shining , brace yourself for a marathon of mounting tension and terrifying twists, with a family fighting for their lives, even as they’re not exactly sure who or what they’re fighting.

25. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (1979)

Angela Carter is one of the preeminent magical realist writers of the twentieth century, female or male. The Bloody Chamber , a collection of darkly reimagined fairy tales and folktales, takes a distinctly feminist slant with its portrayal of female characters: many of the heroines in these stories save themselves, rather than waiting for a hero on a white horse. Of course, they have to go through some pretty scary stuff first. Horror lovers who also enjoy a bit of Holly Black or Marissa Meyer, this is unquestionably the collection for you.

26. Ghost Story by Peter Straub (1979)

A group of old men in a quiet town call themselves The Chowder Society. Every so often, they gather to share ghost stories with each other. It’s all just fun and game… until it isn’t. In the wake of a horrific accident, the men are forced to confront one of their stories — and the consequences of the worst thing that they’ve ever done in this brilliant homage to “Night of the Living Dead.”

27. Whispers by Dean Koontz (1980)

Whispers stars Thomas, a screenwriter living in Los Angeles. One day, she is attacked by Bruno Frye, the proprietor of a vineyard she recently visited. She forces him to leave at gunpoint and immediately calls the police — who then call Bruno’s home, where he answers, not more than seconds after the attack. Later on, she is once again attacked by Bruno but manages to get injure him as he escapes. When she called the cops again, she learns that her assailant was found dead hundreds of miles away. But if you think that will put an end to her assaults, then you’re in for a big surprise.

28. The Mask by Dean Koontz (1981)

Not to be confused with the Jim Carrey comedy, The Mask is a shudder-inducing novel from Koontz follows Carol and Paul, a hopeful couple who welcomes a young, amnesiac foster girl into their home. But though “Jane” (who can’t remember her real name) seems angelic at first, her increasingly strange behavior and the mystery of her true identity begins to worry her potential adoptive parents… who may have a closer connection to her than they realize.

29. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (1983)

Now a major motion picture starring Daniel Radcliffe ( as well as a long-running stage play in London), The Woman in Black is often described as “if Jane Austen wrote horror.” This take on a classic ghost story follows solicitor Arthur Kipps as he travels to the English moors to settle the affairs of Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. What he finds really finds is a mansion haunted by the elusive “Woman in Black”. Readers who love a slow build-up and the sensation of being watching will be thrilled.

30. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks (1984)

Frank Cauldhame is sick in the head, even by the standards of the horror genre. Though only sixteen, he lives in isolation and has developed a number of sociopathic tendencies, including torturing wasps in a machine he calls “the wasp factory.” As the reader gets to know more about Frank’s twisted past, they begin to understand why he’s like this — and another twist toward the end of The Wasp Factory makes Frank’s everyday activities seem practically banal.

I look at these pieces and I don't think the man who wrote them is alive in me anymore.... We are all our own graveyards I believe; we squat amongst the tombs of the people we were. If we're healthy, every day is a celebration, a Day of the Dead, in which we give thanks for the lives that we lived; and if we are neurotic we brood and mourn and wish that the past was still present. Reading these stories over, I feel a little of both. Some of the simple energies that made these words flow through my pen--that made the phrases felicitous and the ideas sing--have gone. I lost their maker a long time ago.

These enthusiastic tales are not ashamed of visceral horror, of blood splashing freely across the page: \'The Midnight Meat Train,\' a grisly subway tale that surprises you with one twist after another; \'The Yattering and Jack,\' about a hilarious demon who possesses a Christmas turkey; \'In the Hills, the Cities,\' an unusual example of an original horror premise; \'Dread,\' a harrowing non-supernatural tale about being forced to realize your worst nightmare; \'Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament,\' about a woman who kills men with her mind. Some of the tales are more successful than others, but all are distinguished by strikingly beautiful images of evil and destruction. No horror library is complete without them. --Fiona Webster

31. Books of Blood by Clive Barker (1984)

As Britain’s leading purveyor of shocking horror, Clive Barker has made a bit splash as both an author and a film director. While cinephiles may recognise his works Candyman and Hellraiser , he first appeared on the horror radar with his short story collection, Books of Blood . Compulsively blood-curdling, these contemporary stories see regular people sucked into grotesque, disturbing, and often comic scenarios. A brilliant gateway for Barker newbs.

Ghosts and The Locked Room are the next two brilliant installments in Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy .

32. City of Glass by Paul Auster (1985)

City of Glass is the first installment in Auster’s landmark New York Trilogy , and a genuinely psychedelic work of intertwining narratives. It begins with a private investigator and former fiction writer who’s driving himself crazy trying to solve a case, then unspools into countless more intertextual threads and questions — the possible answers to which will have readers questioning their own sanity and stability by the end of this book.

33. It by Stephen King (1986)

In the story that injected clowns straight into the nightmares of an entire generation, the title character is a demonic entity that disguises itself while pursuing its prey. And for the children of Derry, that mostly involves taking the form of Pennywise the Clown. Alternating between two time periods (childhood and adulthood), It is packed with fascinating tangents that expertly flesh out the sad, traumatized, and occasionally nostalgic natives of this quiet Maine town.

34. Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)

The horrors of Beloved , considered by many to be Morrison’s seminal work, are thoroughly intertwined with the ghastly history of America. Sethe is a former slave who had to slit her infant daughter’s throat to prevent her from enduring the same profound injustices and trauma as her. Eighteen years later, the child still haunts her — in some ways more than others. Between the intensely surreal atmosphere that pervades the entire book and Morrison’s deep-cutting prose, Beloved is a masterpiece beyond that of most contemporary horror novels.

35. The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing (1988)

In the 1960s, Harriet and David Lovatt are normal parents with four normal children in England — until Harriet gives birth to their fifth child. Ben is the devil incarnate: he is too strong for his own good, insatiable when it comes to sustenance, and abnormally violent. As he grows up, the family becomes increasingly paralyzed by fear and indecision. Underneath the thrills and agony of The Fifth Child lies a dangerous question about parenthood and the obligations of family.

36. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (1988)

The basis for the Oscar-winning film, The Silence of the Lambs is the follow-up to Red Dragon , which was the first novel to feature cannibalistic serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. In this sequel, FBI trainee Clarice Starling enlists the help of Dr. Lecter to find “Buffalo Bill” — another killer on the loose. In order to do so, the inner workings of a very dark mind are probed, and spine-chilling suspense ensues.

37. Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons (1989)

Carrion Comfort is based on a brilliantly unique premise: that throughout history, a select group of individuals with psychic powers (known as “The Ability”) have compelled humans to commit horrific violence. Acts such as the cruelty of Nazi guards, John Lennon’s assassination, and the Iranian Hostage Crisis can all be attributed to people with The Ability — and they may be planning something even worse. It’s up to one man, a Holocaust survivor, to extinguish this ancient evil before they do any more harm.

38. Ring by Kōji Suzuki (1991)

The premise is a modern-twist on a classic trope: there is a videotape that warns viewers they will die in one week unless they perform an unspecified act. And, yes, the videotape does keep its promises. This Japanese mystery horror novel was the basis for the 2002 film, The Ring , a film which kickstarted the trend of adapting Asian horror for English-speaking markets. Indeed, the nineties was when international readers really started to pay attention to the chilling work being produced by Japanese genre writers like Suzuki.

39. Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite (1993)

In Drawing Blood , Trevor McGee avoids his childhood home in North Carolina for a reason. Years ago, when he was only five years old, his father murdered his mother and his younger brother before hanging himself. Now he’s determined to return and confront his past, but there’s a small problem: the demons that drove his father to insanity might never have left the house.

40. Parasite Eve by Hideaki Sena (1995)

Described as a “medical fantasmagoria,” comparable to Frankenstein in its scientific acuity, this Japanese sci-fi horror follows Dr. Nagashima, who is overwhelmed with grief at the loss of his wife. To cope, he begins the process of reincarnating his wife using a small sample of her liver. What he isn’t prepared for is when her cells begin to mutate, and an ancient, unseen consciousness starts rising from its long sleep.

41. Uzumaki by Junji Ito (1998)

Uzumaki is a seinen horror manga series. Kurôzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is plagued by a supernatural curse in the form of uzumaki — spiral, otherwise known as the hypnotic secret shape of the world. As the hold of the curse over the town strengthens, its inhabitants begin to fall deeper and deeper into a whirlpool of madness.

42. From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell (1999)

The peerless Alan Moore put aside V for Vendetta and Watchmen to write this graphic novel, bringing to life the world of Jack the Ripper and his reign of terror in the 1880s. From the grisly theories surrounding the Ripper to the personalities that stood tall during the desperate investigation, Moore spares no gruesome detail as he examines the motivations and identity of the most famous serial killer of all times. With Eddie Campbell’s stark illustrations, this extraordinary graphic novel is a reminder that the most horrifying truths lurk inside the depths of the human soul — and that not all monsters live in Hell.

43. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (2000)

Though Danielewski’s experimental debut remains largely uncategorizable, it definitely contains strands of horror DNA. This mammoth 700-page novel follows "The Navidson Record" — a documentary about an apparently haunted house (if by "haunted" one actually means "alive"). The Navidson house seems to mutate, changing size and sprouting corridors in a dizzying labyrinths, all while emitting an ominous growl. But what makes House of Leaves truly frightening is Danielewski’s intertwining of plot and structure, the latter’s chaotic layout mirroring the former.

44. Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson (2001)

Skin Folk is a short story collection that includes science fiction, Caribbean folklore, passionate love stories, and downright chilling horror. While not all the stories would be described as horror, the darkest of the collection is “Greedy Choke Puppy,” which features a bitter woman who discards her skin at night, and replenishes herself by killing children for their life force.

45. Coraline by Neil Gaiman (2002)

There’s a mysterious door in Coraline’s new house. The neighbors all warn her that she shouldn’t open it under any circumstances… but Coraline never was a girl who listened to other people’s advice. From the mind of the bestselling author who brought you American Gods and Neverwhere comes a novel of wondrous and chilling imagination. Coraline is one of the staples in Gaiman’s remarkable oeuvre for a reason.

46. 30 Days of Night by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith (2002)

This dramatic comic book miniseries brings supernatural terror to life: for a town in Alaska, prolonged periods of darkness means that vampires can openly kill and feed upon humans at almost any time. Their victims are rendered helpless by both the incapacitating darkness and the vampires’ vicious attacks — attacks that Ben Templesmith depicts with such gory immediacy that his illustrations could almost be crime scene photographs.

47. Come Closer by Sara Gran (2003)

Come closer, indeed. This 2003 novel by Sara Gran revolves around a woman named Amanda, who has an ostensibly perfect life. But one day she realizes that some things are a little off. Like the quiet but recurrent tapping in her apartment. And the memo that she sent earlier to her boss that was somehow replaced by a series of insults. Then there are the dreams: those of a beautiful woman with pointed teeth, and a seashore the color of blood. As this mystery escalates in size and terror, Amanda is forced to confront nothing less than her own self.

48. The Good House by Tananarive Due (2003)

The Good House is named after a Sacajawea, Washington home that was much-beloved… until a young boy died behind its doors. Two year later, Angela hadn’t planned on returning to the house that bore silent witness to her son’s death, but then terrible things start happening to the community. Now Angela has the chance to lay to rest once and for all what exactly happened to Corey — and what it has to do with a curse that Angela’s grandmother may or may not have placed on the community decades ago.

But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind. A new girl has moved in next door---a girl who has never seen a Rubik's Cube before, but who can solve it at once. There is something wrong with her, though, something odd. And she only comes out at night.

49. Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist (2004)

Oskar is a young boy living with his divorced mother in a suburb of Stockholm. Mercilessly bullied by kids at school and increasingly insular, he makes a much-needed connection when Eli, a child of a similar age, moves in next door. Little does he know that his new bestie isn’t as young as he thinks… and that he has a peculiar set of appetites. Titled after the lyrics of a Morrissey song, this sweet but frightening novel has been adapted twice into film and once as a stage show.

50. Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler (2005)

To read one of Octavia E. Butler’s book is to become a fan for life. In Fledgling , Butler demonstrates her mastery of horror once again. On the surface, Shori seems to be a young girl who suffers from severe amnesia. Yet a discovery leads her to the horrifying revelation that she is in fact a 53-year old vampire who has been genetically modified by someone who wants her dead. Now she must decide whether to pursue more answers, even though it might lead her to her own doom.

51. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (2005)

Kostova’s debut novel is a complex interlacing of spooky fiction and chilling historical fact. It follows a professor and his daughter who become entrenched in the folklore of Vlad the Impaler, a major inspiration for Dracula. They soon realize that their connection to Vlad goes far beyond the scholarly. This connection becomes especially critical when their father disappears, and his daughter (our narrator) must use her knowledge to track him down.

52. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)

Cormac McCarthy is no slouch when it comes to publishing gripping tales, and The Road is one of his most haunting books. Spurning an equally well-received film adaptation, the story follows a father and son as they make their way through barren, post-apocalyptic America. They’re headed for the coast, not sure of what they will find there, but in the hope that they will find, well, something . All they know is that the road is dangerous, and all they’ve got to protect themselves is a single pistol and each other.

53. The Snowman by Jo Nesbo

This tantalizing thriller from Norwegian crime writer Nesbø is about a series of brutal murders all connected by snowmen, and the jaded former FBI agent who tries to understand why. As Detective Harry Hole delves further and further into the investigation, he starts to believe that the murderer may be someone he knows… but who can say for certain when so much of the evidence has melted away?

54. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (2007)

Heart-Shaped Box centers on Judas Coyne, a retired rockstar who now spends his days collecting “items of the macabre” — snuff films, confessions, anything deathly and disturbing. Naturally he jumps at the chance to acquire the suit of a dead man (with his ghost still allegedly attached). But when it arrives in a heart-shaped box, Coyne realizes that this addition to his collection is less of a novelty than liability. If he can’t control it, he’ll suffer the dire consequences of its wrath.

55. Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory (2008)

Del Pierce has been possessed by a demon with a penchant for deadly mischief. Desperate to rid himself of the demon, Del turns to three sources: a likewise possessed former sci-fi writer, a nun who tends to inspire unchaste feelings rather than an inclination to pray, and a secret society devoted to the art of exorcism. Can he find the cure to the plague of demonic possessions hitting society? And if so — at what cost? Pandemonium gives us the spine-chilling answer.

56. Last Days by Brian Evenson (2008)

Meet Kline, a former detective with an amputated hand. However rather than giving him a handicap in the gumshoe business, it makes him the perfect candidate to investigate a dismemberment-based cult — the ghastly nature of which even Kline can’t foresee. Evenson’s brilliantly economic writing depicts this story in such a way that each sharp, shocking revelation of Last Days does indeed feel like a knife to one of your extremities.

57. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (2009)

You might not expect the author of The Time Traveler’s Wife to deliver on the creepiness front, but Audrey Niffenegger will outdo your wildest expectations in Her Fearful Symmetry . Julia and Valentina Poole are 20 year-old twins and best friends when they’re told that their aunt has died of cancer. She bequeaths her London apartment to them, on one condition: that Julia and Valentina live in the flat for a year — alone — before selling it. Easy, right? And yet Julia and Valentina are visited by a host of unnerving characters while there… including their aunt, who may not be entirely gone after all.

58. White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi (2009)

There’s just something about a seemingly sentient house. If you agree, you’ll surely enjoy White Is for Witching . Four generations of Silver women have lived in the big house in isolated Dover, England. The house has witnessed a lot of history — much of which has been tragic or outright horrific — and seems to cope by working mischief. Check it out for a modern take on Gothic horror.

59. Mr Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett (2010)

The widespread and severe poverty created by the Great Depression has carried thousands of people to the American railroad system, desperately looking for work. But one more has been driven by more than just poverty — he’s on revenge-fueled journey, and will not rest until he makes one Mr. Shivers pay for the brutal murder of his daughter. Mr. Shivers tells his horrifying tale of vengeance.

60. Dark Matter by Michelle Paver (2010)

One of the eeriest ghost stories in recent memory, Dark Matter tracks a five-man expedition to a remote part of the Arctic, where there is no sunlight whatsoever for months during the “polar winter.” All the men are optimistic going into the expedition; it’s only when they get there that they realize something is terribly, terribly wrong. And not only will they have to get to the bottom of it if they want to survive, they also have to do it in complete and utter darkness.

61. Feed by Mira Grant (2010)

The Rising: the moment when the world froze in horror and watched as the dead came back to life, driven by genetically engineered viruses. The infected move with only one motivation in mind: to feed. Now it’s twenty years later and two journalists are determined to uncover the truth behind the origins of the catastrophe. More than a zombie horror novel, this blockbuster work transcends the form to ask serious questions of politics, power, and the right to information.

62. The Passage by Justin Cronin (2010)

In The Passage , a governmental experiment to develop an immunity-boosting drug based on a South American bat goes horribly wrong. Suddenly the world is dealing with a highly contagious virus that turns people into vampire-like beings — beings that are always on the hunt for fresh blood. At the center of it all is Amy, a young girl abandoned in a terrifying world, and the key to saving humanity.

63. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (2011)

One of National Public Radio’s Top 5 YA Novels of 2011, this highly unusual and vividly imagined horror story centers around Cas Lowood, an exorcist’s son who carries on his father’s legacy by expertly killing ghosts. But when Cas sets off to vanquish a violent spirit known by the locals as “Anna Dressed in Blood,” he has no idea what he’s getting himself into — especially when Anna starts communicating with him, spilling the secrets of her past.

64. Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman (2011)

In Those Across the River , failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife move to the sleepy Georgian town of Whitbrow. There, Frank intends to write about the history of his family’s old estate and the horrors that took place there. But as Frank knows, history is not easily forgotten — and under the small-town charm and southern hospitality lurks an unspoken presence that has been waiting for a debt of blood to be paid.

65. The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan (2011)

This sexy thriller centers on Jacob Marlowe, a werewolf with class: he reads Kant, drinks Scotch, and enjoys all means of modern sophistication. However (like so many intellectuals), he’s also undergoing an existential crisis: Jacob has to kill and eat a person every time there’s a full moon, and he doesn’t want to do it anymore. Fully prepared to commit suicide, he’s stopped in his tracks when he learns one of his friends has been murdered, and embarks on a path of fatal vengeance — which, ironically, just might give him a reason to live again.

66. Zone One by Colson Whitehead (2011)

The pandemic that wreaked havoc on Earth is finally starting to subside, and the first goal for civilization is to start rebuilding Manhattan, aka Zone One . In order to do so, they need to start by getting rid of those who have been infected but not yet died, aka zombies. But what seems like a fairly straightforward first step in reclaiming the Big Apple is about to take an (even more) chilling turn.

67. The Croning by Laird Barron (2012)

Fans of H.P Lovecraft and Richard Matheson, this one’s for you. In The Croning , Laird Barron has crafted a weird horror story for the ages: one in which affable geologist Donald Miller discovers dark things existing in the shadows of our vision… and savage secrets about his family that will make him re-examine everything that he thought he knew. Creepy and atmospheric, this novel from the rising star of cosmic horror will make you understand that we are all Children of the Old Leech.

68. The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle (2012)

New Hyde Hospital has a psychiatric ward that keeps its patients up in the evenings: they claim that a hungry monster prowls the hallways at night. According to them, it has the body of an old man and the head of a bison. And Pepper, the newest resident who was falsely accused of mental illness, is about to meet it for himself. Victor Lavalle knocks it out of the park again in this riveting read in which the most horrifying thing might not even be the horrifying Devil in Silver — but your own mind.

69. The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan (2012)

Caitlin R. Kiernan is one of the finest horror writers out there when it comes to blending the gothic and the fantastic. She elevates her game even more with this ghost story about India Morgan Phelps, a schizophrenic girl who one day picks up Eve Canning on the street — and who, in turn, might be a werewolf, mermaid, or siren. Kiernan is one of the rare authors who can up the suspense quotient to insane levels while writing about mental illness with the sensitivity that it deserves.

70. Fiend by Peter Stenson (2013)

A zombie apocalypse novel with a twist, Fiend presents a universe where the people turned into zombies are the ones who aren’t crystal meth junkies. For some reason, meth has granted Chase and his friends against the plague. More than anything else, it almost seems like a second chance… but as the excuse to continue using meth presents itself, Chase starts to question what separates him from the zombies.

71. Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi (2013)

Countless monsters inspired by Frankenstein have cropped up in the 200 years since Mary Shelley first published her seminal novel, but none have come closer to recreating the surrealist terror than Frankenstein in Baghdad . Black humor and true fright clash in Ahmen Saadaw’s chilling retelling about a man named Hadi who aimlessly stitches together the body parts that he finds on the streets of Baghdad. It’s then that a wave of brutal murders begins to overwhelm the city… and Hadi realizes at the same time that his corpse has gone missing.

72. Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (2013)

The town of Black Spring, New York is haunted — not just by any old ghost, but by a centuries-old entity called the Black Rock Witch. She roams Black Spring with her eyes and mouth sewn shut, vestiges of when she was first put to death for her crimes. And even as the townspeople (who are cursed to remain in Black Spring forever) put practical measures in place to avoid her — such as a mobile app to keep track of her movements — her wrath cannot be quashed. This supremely scary mashup of both old-school witch hunting and the consequences of new-age technology is perfect for fans of Black Mirror and Robert Eggers’ The Witch alike.

73. Night Film by Marisha Pessl (2013)

Night Film stars Stanislaus Cordova, a reclusive cult-horror film director who hasn’t been seen in public for over thirty years. His daughter, 24-year old Ashley Cordova, has just been found dead in an abandoned warehouse — and while her death has been ruled a suicide, investigative journalist Scott McGrath isn’t buying it. Especially when another strange death connected to the Cordovas occurs shortly after. Scott is now on a mission to uncover and expose the family’s deadly secrets.

74. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill (2013)

The Kings of Maine are thoroughly represented on this list — and with good reason. Having established his own reputation with Heart-Shaped Box and Horns , Joe Hill’s third novel contains countless nods to his father’s works while also leaning on his own brand of chilling prose. The book opens with Vic McQueen, a girl with an ability to magically create bridges to things she’s looking for — a talent that brings her into contact with a serial killer with a penchant for abducting children.

75. The Six-Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher (2013)

A paranormal take on western fiction, The Six-Gun Tarot takes place in 1869 Nevada, in a tiny desert cattle town called Golgotha. The residents of Golgotha are no stranger to the supernatural — the mayor is guarding a hoard of mythical creatures, a banker’s wife is part of a secret order of assassins, and the town deputy is half human, half coyote. But what’s really strange about this town is the abandoned silver mine, out of which an ancient evil seems to be spilling. Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Deadwood , the Golgotha series is for you.

76. Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin (2014)

Described as a “nightmare come to life,” Fever Dream will grip you in the throes of a dread that lasts for days. A young mother lays dying in the hospital and a boy sits next to her bedside — only he isn’t her son. Indeed, this story about broken souls and family unraveling might just shake you to the core. Note that Fever Dream was originally written in Spanish by Argentinian author Samanta Schweblin, but this English translation is no less unsettling, disturbing, and electric.

77. The Frangipani Hotel by Violet Kupersmith (2014)

Based on traditional Vietnamese ghost stories, The Frangipani Hotel is a fantastical collection of short stories that functions on another level as a meditation on the lasting legacy of the Vietnam War. From beautiful women who’re oddly attached to bathtubs to truck drivers who pick up mysterious hitchhikers, the short stories never stray far away from the supernatural that lurks in the shadows nearby.

78. Bird Box by Josh Malerman (2014)

Recent memes notwithstanding , the original source of the Netflix film Bird Box was none other than this innovative work by Josh Malerman. In the book version, something has arrived on the scene, and no one knows what it is, how it got there, or why it’s targeting civilians: all they know is that its appearance drives people mad with violence, leading them to attack others and commit suicide. Mother of two, Malorie must decide whether to keep her young children enshrouded in darkness for all their days, or risk all of them dying at the hands of “The Problem” in order to find a better shelter.

79. Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes (2014)

No matter how many Greek myths you’ve read, there’s no way to prepare for the broken monsters that Beukes puts on display in this book. The creature that catalyzes the action of this book is a malformed half-deer, half-human hybrid that Detective Gabriella Versado finds dead in an abandoned warehouse — and if you can believe it, things only get more upsetting from there. Versado is set on tracking down the perpetrator of this grotesque science experiment, but that doesn’t mean she’s happy with what she finds.

80. Maplecroft: The Borden Dispatches by Cherie Priest (2014)

Few American figures have taken on such mythical status as Lizzie Borden, the woman tried and acquitted for murdering her parents with an ax. This fantastical, Lovecraftian take on the urban legend sees Borden (post-acquittal) and her sister take up residence in a seaside manor, only to find an evil spirit bubbling up from the ocean deep.

81. The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley (2014)

Nate is a “storyteller” in a society wherein women have become extinct. As his clan craves more and more details about these women of yore — all of whom died of a mysterious fungal disease — Nate realizes that stories will never be enough. But the men’s wishes for physical manifestations of women turn into a horrific reality when curvaceous mushroom-like creatures, known as The Beauty , join the tribe and quickly upend the fragile life they’ve built.

82. Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix (2014)

Ever wondered what it’d be like to get trapped in a haunted IKEA? The characters of Horrorstör know. When furniture store “ORSK” starts experiencing strange acts of vandalism, its employees decide to stay overnight to investigate. Little do they know that, rather than getting to the bottom of the mystery, they’ll be unleashing a reign of terror upon both themselves and their beloved customers…

83. The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman (2014)

In this twisting tale told by self-described unreliable narrator Joey Peacock, the vampires of 1970s NYC have a perfectly organized (if violent) system of getting the sustenance they need. That is, until a group of vampire children appear on the scene — kids who require way more blood than the other vampires to survive, and whose presence will threaten not only the vampiric hierarchy, but also the lives of Joey and his companions. If you thought vampires weren’t afraid of anything, think again…

84. Three Moments of an Explosion by China Miéville (2015)

The world is a strange place, and humans, perhaps, are strangest of all; this strangeness is the very core of Miéville’s collection. One story begins with the city of London waking up to find icebergs floating in the sky. In another, an anatomy student find intricate designs carved into the bones of a cadaver he is examining. Stranger things follow.

85. Shutter by Courtney Alameda (2015)

In Shutter , Micheline Helsing is one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing family, and is an expert at destroying monsters. One day, a routine ghost hunt goes awry and Michelina finds herself plagued by a curse that spreads “ghost chains” through her body — turning her into one of the very monsters she’s spent her life hunting. Deemed a renegade agent by her own monster-hunting father, she must now find a way to rid herself of the curse before it’s too late.

86. Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma (2015)

Violet is a ballet dancer on the cusp of stardom; Oriana was Violet’s friend and once stepped in between Violet and her tormentors in a self-sacrificing act; and Amber has been living in the Aurora Hills juvenile center for so long that she scarcely remembers what it’s like to be free. This suspenseful story is told from two of these perspectives — one living and one dead. But all three women are tied together together through a dark and terrible secret.

87. A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay (2015)

Is 14 year-old Marjorie Barrett schizophrenic or is she possessed by a demon? This is the question at the heart of the Barretts, an otherwise normal suburban family. When a reality television production company catches wind of Marjorie’s strange condition, they sense a business opportunity — one that Marjorie’s cash-strapped father cannot easily turn down. With each page evoking blood-curling dread, the unraveling of this book’s events become a gripping tale of psychological horror. Winner of the 2015 Bram Stoker Award, A Head Full of Ghosts might just leave you with a head full of fear.

88. Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw (2016)

Cassandra Khaw’s “banging” debut novel takes the traditional detective P.I. story and gives it an appealing Lovecraftian makeover. In this fascinating blend of noir and cosmic horror, private investigator John Persons gets an unexpected client one day — a ten year-old boy who asks Persons to murder his stepfather. As Persons delves deeper into the case, he realizes that his subject might not actually be human. But that’s fine, because Persons isn’t all that he appears to be, either. As the saying goes, it sometimes takes a monster to kill a monster.

89. Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff (2016)

Lovecraft Country breaks down the complexities of American racism in the mid-twentieth century, and how Lovecraft himself was complicit in that racism. Our hero, Atticus Turner, is a young black man who must seek out his missing father, facing countless horrors along the way — both to do with the color of his skin and mysterious, mythological threats that seem to have escaped the pulp fiction he reads. The closely related nature of these two elements becomes more and more clear over the course of Ruff’s book, and the shocking twist at the end will ensure that you never see Lovecraft (or America) in the same way again.

90. Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones (2016)

The unnamed young narrator of Mongrels faces an unusual quandary: while he’s aware that he carries the werewolf gene, he has no idea whether or not it will come to fruition. As a mongrel, he lives life in limbo, uncertain of his destiny, constantly being shuttled around. This werewolf bildungsroman of sorts is pretty much the only one of its kind, and Jones' sharp, moving prose will have you sympathizing with monsters (or almost-monsters) in a way you never thought you could.

91. Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez (2016)

Fans of the macabre should be sure to add this collection to their list of best horror books of all time. In Argentina, violence and corruption are the laws of the land for people who vividly remember recent military dictatorships and masses of disappeared citizens. Within these fiercely disturbing stories, three young friends distract themselves with drugs in the middle of a government-enforced blackout, and encounter dark supernatural forces themselves.

92. The Changeling by Victor LaValle (2017)

Fairy tale meets horror in Victor Lavalle’s critically acclaimed The Changeling . Apollo Kagwa’s life is full of disappearances — first, his father goes missing when he is four. Then his wife vanishes, right after she commits a terrible act of violence. Now Apollo must journey through a dark underworld to bring back a family that he might not have really known in the first place. Be warned: this is a novel where nightmares lurk in every nook and eeriness is perpetual, right up until the terrifying crescendo of a climax.

93. Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero (2017)

Named after the recurring catchphrase of all Scooby-Doo villains, this comic horror novel finds the members of a worryingly young detective team reunited in their twenties to reinvestigate an unsolved mystery. Pitched by the author as “Enid Blyton meets H.P. Lovecraft”, Cantero’s novel has also been compared to Stranger Things and Stephen King’s It , as his young protagonists face off against a danger that’s somewhat more menacing than an old prospector in a rubber mask.

94. Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado (2017)

Called a “love letter to an obstinate genre that won’t be gentrified,” Carmen Maria Machado’s debut short story collection was heralded when it was published. And it’s easy to see why: Machado deftly stretches the borders of horror, as evidenced in “The Husband Stitch” (a retelling of “The Green Ribbon” in which the wife refuses her husband’s pleas to remove a green ribbon around her neck) and “The Resident” (in which a writer’s time in the mountains goes horribly wrong). It’s a book that seriously examines the pre-set narratives that women are forced to live and breathe in society. And it’s a must-read for anyone who’s tired of heteronormativity in horror.

95. Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys (2017)

In this homage to his cosmic horror, Lovecraft’s Deep Ones are brought to life, and the government isn’t a fan. In 1928, Deep One Aphra and her family are captured and banished to the desert… until the government becomes certain that Russians is attempting to win the Cold War with dark magic. With the promise she will help the people that stole her community’s way of life, Aphra returns home to contend with her lost past, and a potentially dark looming future.

96. The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell (2017)

The Silent Companions combines spine-chilling thrills with compelling characterization. When her husband dies just weeks after their wedding, Elsie feels more alone than ever. This is made worse by the fact that her new servants are resentful and the local villagers are openly hostile towards Elsie; she starts to believe her only companionship will come from her husband’s awkward cousin. Until she opens a locked door and finds a painted wooden figure that not only bears uncanny resemblance to Elsie, but also seems to be watching her...

97. The Grip of It by Jac Jemc (2017)

You probably know of couples like James and Julie: young and optimistic, they’re looking to leave behind their home in the city to get a fresh start in the country. But something is amiss with their new house. The air becomes suffocating. Children’s voices are heard, but the children themselves are never seen. The forest seems closer than it was before. And the stains on the walls are somehow appearing mapped as bruises on Julie’s body… to say too much is to ruin the impact of this novel, but rest assured that you will get a full night’s worth of terror when you pick it up.

98. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland (2018)

When the dead start walking on the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville, the fate of the nation suddenly doesn’t seem quite so important anymore. As the country is thrown into disarray and scrambles to erect combat schools to learn how to put down the dead, Jane McKeene studies to become an Attendant to protect rich white people… but her true motives are much more revolutionary. Jane is indeed the star of this stunning alternate history novel: a black zombie hunter who defies society’s expectations, fighting against a conspiracy that threatens to overwhelm all of America.

99. The Hunger by Alma Katsu (2018)

The Hunger will have you on the very edge of your seat with its story of a group of travelers who are slowly unraveling. Not only do they face obstacle after obstacle of basic bad luck — low food rations, freezing weather, and a general predilection to take every wrong turn — but there also seems to be something darker, even more menacing, lurking in the mountains. And is it their imaginations, or does it all seem to be linked to beautiful, mysterious Tamsen Donner? You may have heard of the Donner Party before, but not like this: Katsu’s historical horror novel will cast both the people and the situation in a whole new, terrifying light.

100. Obscura by Joe Hart (2018)

This incisive work from Joe Hart demonstrates that new horror can be just as thrilling as classic. Obscura speculates about a near-future in which dementia afflicts people of all ages, rendering scientists and doctors powerless to even try and stop it. Dr. Gillian Ryan, who’s still of sound mind, determines that she will travel to a space station to gather unique data points that could help her cure the disease… not knowing that in embarking on this mission, she’s only putting herself in more danger, and not necessarily from the ravages of the disease.

Continue reading

More posts from across the blog.

50 Fantasy Subgenres and Their Must-Reads

Fantasy is one of the most popular genres in speculative fiction — so it's no surprise that its niches range far and wide. And while you may already have a sense of what kind of fantas...

20 Addictive Urban Fantasy Books

Urban fantasy is no doubt one of the most fascinating genres in modern literature. For those who may not know what it is, you can head to this post for a great guide on

Flash Fiction Stories: 25 Examples of Lighting-Fast Stories

Flash fiction is one of the most fascinating creative mediums in this day and age: incredibly difficult, but also incredibly rewarding. After all, flash fiction requires writers to effectively cram...

Heard about Reedsy Discovery?

Or sign up with an

Or sign up with your social account

• Submit your book
• Reviewer directory

We made a writing app for you

Yes, you! Write. Format. Export for ebook and print. 100% free, always.

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

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

• 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. 

• Main content

Best horror books - these are scariest books of all time

These are the best horror books to gorge on, the scariest books ever printed.

Horror comes in all kinds of forms, but when it's written down on the page in front of you it can be even more scary than what you see on the screen because your imagination is free to run wild. As you'll see from our scariest books of all time guide below, the horror genre is broad.

This isn't just about ghosts and ghouls but can take on many forms of abject terror, from the supernatural to the psychological to real-life fear, these best horror books are certain to keep you awake at night.

We all may like to think we’ve grown out of stories that caused us to beg our parents to keep the landing light on. But, in truth, we haven’t. Many of us still enjoy feeling scared silly, which is why it's no surprise that literature is awash with scary books. We don’t mean solely stories devoted to the evisceration of helpless maidens or the gouging of innards for the sadistic pleasure of unhinged sociopaths – although they do make things go bump in the night.

In our list of the best horror books below, you'll find there are spine-tingling psychological thrillers, novels that depict some bleak future dystopia, ghost stories, horrifying science-fiction and much more. If we've missed the book that kept you up for a month, add your own suggestions at the bottom and upvote your personal favourite.

UPDATE: Your votes are in and Pet Sematary by Stephen King has been voted the scariest book of all time. It's a chilling read about a family where tragedy strikes and they go to extreme lengths to become a family once more.

The scariest books of all time

1 . Pet Sematary by Stephen King

Published in 1983

If you relish catching a dose of the heebie-jeebies while reading, then this is the book for you. Stephen King himself has declared this his most frightening work, and who are we to argue? Death, insanity and bizarre burial rituals are just a few of the gory themes that pervade this majestic work of horror writing. Those of a fragile bent are advised to steer well clear.

2 . The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

Published in 1971

If you thought William Friedkin’s adaptation of The Exorcist was petrifying, just wait until you read the source material. Inspired by real events, Blatty’s story of demonic possession and exorcism cuts right to the quick. When 12-year-old girl Regan MacNeil starts to behave irrationally her mother soon realises that she has been possessed by evil spirits and turns to the church for help. The manner in which the priests Father Merrin and Karras fight to rid Regan of the demon is unforgettable.

3 . The Silence Of The Lambs by Thomas Harris

Published in 1988

You thought Jonathan Demme’s Oscar-winning adaptation was scary? Prepare for the real deal. Sociopath Dr Hannibal Lecter is even more terrifying on page – his torturous, playful and gripping mind games with FBI trainee Clarice Starling are a master class in suspense and drama. The serial killer Buffalo Bill is no less menacing and it takes a sturdy disposition to emerge from the book unscathed. You have been warned.

4 . Dracula by Bram Stoker

Published in 1897

The finest example of Victorian gothic horror. The characters that Stoker brings to life are vivid, memorable, unsettling… not least Count Dracula and his nemesis Abraham Van Helsing. Although Stoker wasn’t the first to pen vampire literature, his rich and powerful novel about bloodsuckers came to define modern perceptions of the folkloric undead.

5 . Hell House by Richard Matheson

Blurbs on books that suggest things like ‘those of a nervous disposition should not read this’, are more often than not marketing hokum designed to intrigue and inspire the potential reader to part with their hard-earned cash. In this case, it’s true.

A marvellous and thoroughly intelligent suspense thriller, Hell House concerns just that – a house that corrupts and destroys all that enter it. Four people try to rid the house of its evil potency with violent consequences. No less an authority than Stephen King declared Hell House to be the scariest haunted house novel ever written.

6 . The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Published in 1959

There's been renewed interest in this novel thanks to a Netflix adaptation last year. But Shirley Jackson's classic gothic horror novel is a fantastic read in its own right. It's a twisting and turning ghost story that plays on psychological terror just as much as horror. It's one of those books you'll think about for days (or even years!) after your first read. What's more, famous modern writers including Neil Gaiman and Stephen King credit Jackson with inspiration for their horror and fantasy writing.

7 . Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Published in 1818

Prompted by long colourful conversations with her future husband Percy Shelley and the scourge of straight English society, Lord Byron, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (or, The Modern Prometheus) is regarded as one of the first genuine science fiction novels.

It’s archetypal gothic horror and although the story of an ambitious doctor ‘creating’ a monster is well worn, it still speaks to – and spooks - readers nearly 200 years on.

8 . Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Published in 1938

Even now, generations removed from the publication of Daphne du Maurier’s gothic classic, the name Rebecca conjures up untold chilling imagery.

The scariest aspects of Rebecca are those things that are left unsaid – from the lack of a name for the narrator to the mystery behind the titular character’s gloomy death. And the questions posed in the novel and the lies that prop up a supposedly perfect marriage keep on haunting the reader to the bitter end. As for the housekeeper, the evil Mrs Danvers… well, let’s not go there.

9 . Lord Of The Flies by William Golding

Published in 1954

The manner in which society can quickly descend into madness is a frightening concept. The manner in which this can seemingly happen at any strata – in this case a bunch of well-heeled boys on a desert island – is even more shocking. William Golding’s allegorical novel questions the very essence of human nature – are we good or evil? – and does so in the form of a boy’s own adventure novel. Have we really come that far from our savage ancestors? A shocking – and petrifying – piece of fiction.

10 . American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Published in 1991

An easy choice? Perhaps, but any list that discards Ellis’s colourful and controversial tale is, to use the parlance of the day, an epic fail. Patrick Bateman’s descent into madness, his graphic retelling of the gory murders he seems to revel in and his glorification of vapid consumerist culture all go hand-in-hand. As well as being hideously disturbing, Ellis’ book is very, very funny, packed with 80s music references and hilarious streams of consciousness.

11 . Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Published in 1985

No Country For Old Men, The Road or The Crossing would be equally at home on this list, but Blood Meridian just edges them as the McCarthy novel that sets the most nerves on edge. An historical revisionist Western, Blood Meridian follows the fortunes of The Kid as he runs with the Glanton Gang, a ferocious cadre of scalp hunters. Distressing enough, you might say, but in his depiction of Judge Holden, McCarthy has conjured up evil incarnate. Beyond scary.

12 . The Hunger by Alma Katsu

Based on the true (and very grisly) story of The Donner Party, The Hunger is a deeply unsettling exploration of human nature – and the horrifying consequences when people are pushed to their breaking point.

13 . Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Published in 2002

Temptation, Oscar Wilde famously opined, was the only thing he couldn’t resist. So it is with many people. Unfortunately, temptation can lead to all sorts of bother, as the titular character of Neil Gaiman’s splendid horror fantasy discovers. When Coraline stumbles upon a seemingly perfect ‘Other World’ in her new flat she’s tempted to stay there. But perfection is just a mirage and upon discovering that her parents have been kidnapped and that she has to free the souls of three dead children, she embarks upon a chilling quest – to celebrate normalcy.

14 . The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Dystopian novels are by their very nature distressing as they view the human condition and its future as both cynical and doomed. Atwood’s acclaimed novel is no different. Telling the alarming vision of a near-future America run by a totalitarian Christian government called the Sons of Jacob in which women and other undesirables are afforded second-class status, Atwood’s tale (adapted into one of 2017’s best TV shows) is unnerving because it has a certain plausibility about it – an emotion that will always strike fear into the human mind.

15 . A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick

Published in 1977

Bob Arctor lives in a house of inveterate drug users steeped in the burnout of the 1960s counterculture. Arctor is also an undercover cop reporting on the activities of these seditious individuals.

Unfortunately, as he becomes addicted to Substance D, his personality seems to alter irrevocably – who is he? What is he doing? Why is he doing it? A powerful treatise that examines the causes of addiction and our reaction to it, A Scanner Darkly is a moving and highly charged piece of writing.

16 . The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

Published in 2022

On The Hacienda's Amazon page it's described as American Gothic meets Rebecca. But this supernatural novel filled with horror and suspense could be one of the scariest books in the list by a long way. On the surface, it's a classic gothic horror. It's set after the Mexican War of Independence when a young woman called Beatriz marries the handsome and mysterious Don Rodolfo Solórzano. But when he returns to work in the city, she is left at his house, Hacienda San Isidro, on her own, which is when she starts hearing voices and seeing visions. Don't read this one at night if you want to get even a wink of sleep.

17 . The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

We've got another recent horror novel here, this time with a creepy lakeside setting and a potential killer on the loose – so if crime horror is your cup of tea, The House Across The Lake is well worth a read. It follows the story of Casey Fletcher, a widowed actress who moves to the countryside and becomes enthralled by the lives of her neighbours. When one of them disappears, she becomes swept up in the mystery, which turns out to be much darker than she could ever have expected.

18 . Requiem For a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr.

Published in 1978

Hubert Selby Jr. doesn’t do jauntiness, or whimsy, or anything that you might find adapted in a Richard Curtis film. Instead, he grabs the reader by the eyes and chucks a load of unsettling and realistic miserablism into their brain.

Requiem For A Dream could well be his masterpiece when it comes to scaring readers out of any comfortable view of the world they may possess. A gripping book that details four individuals' sorry descent into drug addiction as they seek their own slice of the American Dream. The American Dream, of course, being an unobtainable myth for most.

19 . Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

One of the best horror books of 2022, Lapvona is set in a medieval village dealing with natural disasters and power struggles. It follows the story of Little Marek , the son of the village shepherd whose mother died when she was giving birth. For that reason, Marek becomes close to Ina, the blind village midwife , who possess occult gifts. This is a dark and gripping tale with supernatural elements, as well as plenty of gore – you've been warned.

20 . The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon

Several of the picks in our best horror books list are from 2022, a fantastic year for horror. The Children on the Hill centres on themes of monsters, fear and mental illness. Told in a dual timeline format, one thread is set in the 1970s and follows the story of a doctor who adopts a child that can hunt monsters. The other is set in 2019 when a podcast host travels to the same area to investigate a kidnapping. Expect eerie and atmospheric horror from New York Times best-selling author Jennifer McMahon .

21 . The Resting Place by Camilla Sten

This eerie, gory and suspenseful horror novel is guaranteed to get your heart racing. It follows the story of Eleanor, a woman with prosopagnosia, which means that she's unable to recognise faces. Eleanor has actually seen her grandmother's killer but she terrifyingly wouldn't be able to identify them. She experiences acute stress and worry about who the killer is and that they might be close to her or about to arrive back at any moment.

22 . Blindness by José Saramago

Published in 1995

An unnamed city descends into anarchy when near universal blindness affects its inhabitants. Those in authority move those affected into a holding area and deprivation follows. Saramago’s disturbing book centres on the fortunes of a few of those trying to survive this terrible curse, but its real power lies in the way those in positions of power fail time and again to ease the burden of suffering.

A prophetic novel that eerily foretold the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, its devastating effects on New Orleans and the US government’s risible response.

23 . The Trial by Franz Kafka

Published in 1925

Having no power or control over your fate and wellbeing is perhaps the disturbing thing you can experience. Such is the hand doled out to K, the protagonist of Kafka’s mesmeric novel.

Dominated by a shadowy and heartless bureaucracy, K is soon resigned to his inevitable end. Almost 100 years old, but having lost none of its clout, The Trial is an absurdist classic that strikes at the heart of that which humans fear most – powerlessness.

24 . The 120 Days Of Sodom by Marquis de Sade

Published in 1905

Although published in the early years of the 20th Century, the Marquis de Sade’s unforgettable work was actually written in 1785. Dealing with the immoral desires of four wealthy young men, de Sade takes the reader far beyond any cheeky and salacious avenue and into the territory of the insane, the unholy and wanton evil bloodlust. The anti-50 Shades of Grey, we implore you not to buy this book for your better half lest they think you a tad unhinged.

25 . IQ84 by Haruki Murakami

Published in 2009

Acclaimed Japanese author Haruki Murakami has made a virtue out of the disturbing, the strange and the otherworldly. His most ambitious work, the three-volume 1Q84, is an addictive tale in which the space between reality and fantasy becomes ever more blurred. Outlandish cults, expert killers and terrifying leprechauns abound in this bizarre and slightly sinister slice of Murakami abnormality. Don’t have nightmares, folks!

26 . The Witches by Roald Dahl

In Dahl’s evergreen tale, witches are on a mission to rid the world of children by turning them into mice. Only a small boy and his cunning grandmother can save them from extremely sticky ends. A daring, distressing book that doesn’t pull any emotional punches – not least its powerful ending.

27 . Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Published in 1969

Much like The Stranger, Slaughterhouse-Five explores the random nature of life and questions the idea of free will. Billy Pilgrim is an ex-POW who survived the destruction of Dresden in World War II thanks to being locked up in a cellar. Back home he becomes an optometrist but he’s also a time-traveller, visiting events in his life at haphazard moments. He knows when and how he will die and doesn’t appear to have a problem with this. His daughter thinks he’s mad, but he’s merely fatalistic. Vonnegut’s coruscating anti-war novel is hilarious, engaging and incredibly shocking.

28 . Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Published in 1952

A book so dispiriting and so redolent of evil that it can only have been written from one place – the truth. Ralph Ellison’s diatribe concerning the black experience in the first half of the 20th Century sets the scene for many of the changes that were about to be bought about by the Civil Rights movement. However, the themes of social invisibility still ring true for many today, and that is even more saddening.

29 . Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

Written by playwright and filmmaker Zoje Stage, this is one hell of a tense novel. There's psychological suspense and horror in a tale about the bonds between a mother and her daughter.

30 . Pollen by Jeff Noon

A modern science fiction classic, Pollen tells the story of a distorted near-future Manchester where people are dropping dead from a bizarre pollen.

Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the book paints a lively picture of a drug-induced dream world and touches upon crime fiction and alternative counterculture. But the manner in which so many people happily sneeze to their deaths is one that plays havoc with readers. A bold, enjoyable, but ultimately disturbing tome.

31 . Beloved by Toni Morrison

This harrowing novel is set around the mid 1800s in the US where slavery is nearing its end. Sethe is haunted by all that went on and believes that her dead daughter, whose grave has the word Beloved on it, has come back to haunt her. There are myriad horrors in this book but the prose is so beautifully crafted that you will want to keep on reading.

32 . We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Published in 1924

Another dystopian classic. We was written against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution and what the author Zamyatin saw as the betrayal of the ideals of that era of tumult.

It concerns a future police state where all citizens are known by a number. Every aspect of life is controlled in this experimental prison. It emerges, however, that there is life outside of this One State and social protest becomes a very real – and hopeful – cause. A principal influence on George Orwell and his chilling vision of a future in totalitarian meltdown, 1984.

33 . The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Published in 2005

Rape, sexual abuse, serial murder, incest, corruption… if aliens were to be transported to Earth and given The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo as a first book they would form a thoroughly bleak view of the human condition.

Stieg Larsson’s psychological crime thriller caused a global sensation upon its posthumous publication, but that doesn’t lessen its creepy impact. Not a light read in any sense of the word.

34 . The Stranger by Albert Camus

Published in 1942

Free will is one of the most fiercely debated philosophical queries known to man. The extent to which we have choice over our actions will trouble the finest minds for eternity. Killing a man in cold blood for no discernible reason could suggest a skewed vision of free will, or, in the case of Camus’s masterpiece a symptom of existentialism and blind indifference to societal conventions. The Stranger is not scary like a Stephen King novel, but the themes it explores will haunt the mind long after the final page is closed.

35 . Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee

Published in 1999

Giving up on life is, in the eyes of many, an unpardonable sin. But that’s what David Lurie, a man who sits in a privileged position as an academic in post-apartheid South Africa, seems to do in this haunting, Booker-Prize winning, novel. After being forced to resign his post after an affair with a student he loses everything he once cared about. His shame is that he seems no longer to care. He then lives with his daughter on her farm, but he is attacked and she sexually assaulted. As a bleak reading of human nature this is right up there.

36 . Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

Published in 1934

Originally banned in America for its depraved depiction of sexuality, Henry Miller’s most famous work was finally published in 1961.

Even then a judge in Pennsylvania had this to say about it: “(It is) not a book. It is a cesspool, an open sewer, a pit of putrefaction, a slimy gathering of all that is rotten in the debris of human depravity.” The reason the novel still manages to shock and scare is in its detailed portrayal of how low humans are prepared to go to satisfy their primal urges.

37 . The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

Published in 2019

The long-awaited sequel to Atwood's classic 1985 novel The Handmaid's Tale is here. It skips ahead 15 years and tells the story of what happens after the events of the first novel through the eyes of three different women living in Gilead. As you'd expect, the Republic of Gilead still maintains its power, but there's signs things could be changing.

38 . Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

Published in 2012

The reason Ben Fountain’s heroic anti-war novel so haunts the mind is not the explicit depiction of some bloody battle, but the inhuman mistreatment of soldiers by the society that sent them to fight – and die – for some abstract idea of freedom.

Fountain manages to achieve the rare feat of prompting even the most anti-militaristic reader to root for the soldiers at the expense of the uncaring individuals that glibly seek to extol them. What is war good for? Absolutely nothing.

39 . Cock and Bull by Will Self

Published in 1992

In Cock Will Self conjures up a lurid vision of a woman who grows a penis; in Bull, a man develops a vagina behind his knee. These two novellas cemented Self’s reputation as a florid, albeit intimidating, genius. The lady uses her penis to rape and mutilate her alcoholic husband, while in Bull, the fey gentleman with the knee vagina is raped by his doctor. If that doesn’t have you pulling the sheets over your head at night then nothing will.

40 . Naked Lunch by William Burroughs

Banned in the US upon publication, Naked Lunch is a series of vignettes exploring the narcotically charged adventures of William Lee (Burroughs’ alter-ego). Trying to describe anything as linear as a plot is a thankless task and only adds to the dizzying sense that the novel exudes. Reality has long since disappeared in Lee’s world and the disorienting events – orgies, murder, autoerotic asphyxiation among them – just heighten the unnerving tone of the book. Governments should actually make this required reading if they want to scare kids out of trying drugs.

• These are the best modern horror movies

SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?

15 Things You Probably Don't Know About Catcher In The Rye

Banned books list: books so controversial they were banned

Spotify users just got a massive audio upgrade

Related reviews and shortlists.

A cinema legend is up for directing Avengers: Secret War

The best Amazon Prime Video series to binge-watch right now

The 46 best NOW TV shows to watch: great Sky series to stream

The 61 best Disney Plus shows to watch: great shows to stream

The 32 best movies On NOW: TV that's worth streaming

The 72 best Netflix shows: from Lupin to House of Usher

The 50 Best Horror Books to Read

From Stephen King classics to true crime tales, thrills and chills abound in this list of some of the most frightful reads of all time.

Every item on this page was chosen by a Town & Country editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

The horror genre is not for everyone. Assuredly, plenty of people don't understand why some actually seek out the feeling of being afraid. And that's perfectly fair, but this list is not for those people. This is for the people who can't get enough of the creepy crawlies and heebie jeebies—the ones who want to know more about things that go bump in the night.

No matter what flavor of fright you seek—from mysteries to books with a twist, and from demons to the real life stories behind some of America's most wretched killers—there's a scare for every type of horror fan. If we may lean on the beloved Goosebumps tagline, "Reader beware, you're in for a scare." In no particular order, from classics to new releases, here are 50 of the best horror books of all time.

The Haunting of Hill House

If you're one of the many who binged Netflix's series based on this Shirley Jackson novel, you already know how compelling the storyline and characters are. If you haven't seen it, just know that the 1959 tome is widely regarded as one of the best haunted house stories ever written.

Obviously, this list could not exist without several mentions of Mr. Horror himself, Stephen King. The first of a few King books you'll find on this list, It is one of his most well-known books, and killer clown Pennywise is arguably the most famous monster to spring from King's mind.

The October Country

Not sure if you can handle a deep dive into a spooky read? Ray Bradbury's The October Country is a collection of short stories, and is said to be some of this best and most frightening work.

Ghost Story

Does anyone truly get away with murder? That's the question treasured writer Peter Straub explores in this bestselling tale of four men whose pasts are coming back to bite.

The Exorcist

Before audiences couldn't look away from Regan on the movie screen, readers couldn't put down the book. Although demonic possession storylines are a dime a dozen nowadays, Blatty's 1971 classic is required reading for anyone who fancies themselves a fan of the genre.

House of Leaves

It begins as so many scary movies do: a family moves into a house that ends up being no ordinary house. But in this highly regarded tale, the first thing the family notices is that the house is larger on the inside than it appears on the outside. How could that be? And what else is this house capable of? House of Leaves developed a cult following, and after reading it, you'll understand why.

The Stranger Beside Me

As they say, the scariest monsters are those that live among us, and Ted Bundy might be the best example of that. This telling of his story, which has been haunting the bedside tables of true crime readers since its 1980 release, is unique in that author Ann Rule knew Bundy personally as one of co-workers.

The Shining

You might not know this, but the film version of The Shining , directed by Stanley Kubrick, actually strays quite far from King's source material. Although the movie is undeniably a classic of its own accord, the original story is one of King's most legendary for a reason.

The Elementals

When you think of horror, what do you picture? Some place dark and creepy, right? Probably not a sun-drenched beach town in the summer, which is just one of the things setting The Elementals in a league of its own. McDowell, who wrote the screenplays for Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas (convinced yet?) has been handsomely praised for penning this novel, considered by many to be one of the genre's best.

Forget Twilight . Forget The Vampire Diaries . The predecessor to those, and the entire vampire craze, is Bram Stoker's Dracula , first published in 1897. Even if Edward Cullen wasn't your cup of tea, Stoker's story might just surprise you with its creepiness.

Rosemary's Baby

Considering you're reading this list, it's probably safe to assume you're familiar with the story of Rosemary's Baby , which experts credit as one of the tomes that spurred the horror genre's heyday. The Roman Polanski film starring Mia Farrow launched this deal-with-the-devil tale into mega fame, but we'd recommend checking out the origin text by Ira Levin.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

The name alone is enough to send a chill down your spine, don't you think? Like camps, carnivals are also a popular scene for horrific tales, like this one from iconic writer Ray Bradbury. In the suspenseful Something Wicked This Way Comes , one small town is woefully unaware of the sinister forces behind Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show, which comes to town just before Halloween.

Those who are fascinated by dark and macabre histories will devour this nonfiction book, in which Colin Dickey takes readers on a tour of some of America's most shadowy and storied locales.

The Shining Girls

A house with truly transportive powers, a serial killer on a mission, and a girl who wasn't expected to make it out alive are the three ingredients comprising this compelling page-turner from Lauren Beukes.

There's no bond like the bond between brothers—or in this case, identical twin brothers. As is expected, Holland and Niles Perry become increasingly different from one another as they grow up. But as mischievous Holland's pranks become more and more devilish, Niles is left to wonder if he knows his twin brother at all.

I'll Be Gone in the Dark

You might remember when Joseph DeAngelo was arrested in 2018 for a slew of assaults, rapes, and murders committed throughout California throughout the '70s and '80s. But for decades, this violent perpetrator remained unidentified, known only as the Golden State Killer. Writer Michelle McNamara committed herself to uncovering who was behind this reign of terror, and this book tracks her findings. McNamara tragically died before DeAngelo was identified and apprehended, but her efforts are widely regarded as being crucial to the case.

What starts as a whimsical romance novel about a beautiful young woman swept off her feet by a charming, handsome widow promptly takes a dark turn when she returns to his estate and finds that there might be more to him than meets the eye.

John Dies At The End

For a humorous book that still gives readers a heavy dose of horror, pick up John Dies At The End , which follows two young men who are tasked with saving their hometown from evil forces and the grips of a mysterious drug. It spawned a movie in 2012 (with Paul Giamatti!), but the original text is truly an experience of its own.

The Devil in the White City

This non-fiction work of true crime writing might first appear as a story about the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, but readers will soon discover that it's actually the terrifying tale of prolific serial killer Dr. H. H. Holmes and his deadly murder mansion.

Part hardcore haunted house, part escape room from hell, the Quigley House promises a sizable cash prize to any brave souls who can make it out unscathed. But the staged antics come screeching to a halt when an actual murder occurs, killing one of the contestants.

Meg is the Associate Fashion Commerce Editor at ELLE.com where she researches trends, tests products, and looks for answers to all your burning questions. She also co-writes a monthly column, Same Same But Different . Meg has previously written for Cosmopolitan and Town & Country . Her passions include travel, buffalo sauce, and sustainability. She will never stop hoping for a One Direction reunion tour.

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma , a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram .

@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-1jdielu:before{margin:0.625rem 0.625rem 0;width:3.5rem;-webkit-filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);height:1.5rem;content:'';display:inline-block;-webkit-transform:scale(-1, 1);-moz-transform:scale(-1, 1);-ms-transform:scale(-1, 1);transform:scale(-1, 1);background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-1jdielu:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/townandcountrymag/static/images/diamond-header-design-element.80fb60e.svg);}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1jdielu:before{margin:0 0.625rem 0.25rem;}} Best Books of 2024 @media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-128xfoy:before{margin:0.625rem 0.625rem 0;width:3.5rem;-webkit-filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);height:1.5rem;content:'';display:inline-block;background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-128xfoy:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/townandcountrymag/static/images/diamond-header-design-element.80fb60e.svg);}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-128xfoy:before{margin:0 0.625rem 0.25rem;}}

The Best Books to Read This April

Kate Middleton's Brother Is Writing a Memoir

Al Pacino Is Writing a Memoir

The 45 Must-Read Books of Spring 2024

How 'Shōgun' Adapted James Clavell's Novel

Inside Oliver Furth's Redesign of a Bel Air Home

Katharine McGee's New Historical Romance Series

The Best Books by Truman Capote

A Spy Thriller That Was 10 Years in the Making

Audrey Hepburn's Son Opens Up His Mom in Paris

21 Sports Romance Books for Taylor & Travis Fans

25 of the best horror books and ghost stories

Feel the chills with our pick of the scariest horror books and ghost stories stories to read right now..

Gothic, psychological, supernatural, slasher: there's more than one way to be scared. From the suspense of Stephen King to the body horror of Clive Barker, if you're looking for a new horror novel, you're in the right place with our pick of the best horror books.

Out There Screaming

By jordan peele.

Jordan Peele, the visionary writer and director, curates this groundbreaking anthology of brand-new stories of Black horror, exploring not only the terrors of the supernatural but the chilling reality of injustice that haunts our world. A cop begins seeing huge, blinking eyes in place of the headlights of cars that tell him who to pull over. Two freedom riders take a bus that leaves them stranded on a lonely road in Alabama where several unsettling  somethings  await them. A young girl dives into the watery depths in search of the demon that killed her parents.  These are just a few of the worlds of  Out There Screaming.

by Hiron Ennes

In an isolated, icebound community, a doctor kills himself. The replacement, sent by the Interprovincial Medical Institute, discovers a parasite living in the corpse. But how did it survive, when the doctor was already possessed? And who exactly are the Interprovincial Medical Institute? If Poe wrote about parasites, he'd be on his way to Leech . This is an atmospheric gothic horror from a terrifying new voice. 

American Psycho

By bret easton ellis.

On the surface, Patrick Bateman is living the dream: a job as a stockbroker, dinner dates every night at the latest restaurant in town, a string of admirers. But behind the pristine façade lurks a psychopath. It's hard to know which element of Patrick's increasingly sadistic murderous rampage around New York is the most horrifying. The explicit violence. The unsettling feeling of not being entirely sure what's real and what's imagined. The void at the heart of our nightmarish protagonist. Or the implication that the same void sits at the heart of us, too. 

by Sally Hinchcliffe

In the first brisk days of autumn, a woman arrives in Scotland having left her job at an all-girls school in London in mysterious circumstances. Moving into a cottage on the remote estate of Hare House, she begins to explore her new home. But among the tiny roads, wild moorland, and scattered houses, something more sinister lurks: local tales of witchcraft, clay figures and young men sent mad. Striking up a friendship with her landlord and his younger sister, she begins to suspect that all might not be quite as it seems at Hare House . . . 

The Upstairs Room

By kate murray-browne.

Eleanor and Richard have stretched themselves to the limit to buy the perfect home. But the cracks are already starting to show. Eleanor is unnerved by the eerie atmosphere in the house and she is convinced it is making her ill. Their two young daughters are restless and unsettled. Richard, on the other hand, is more preoccupied with Zoe, their alluring young lodger, who is also struggling to feel at home. As Eleanor's symptoms intensify, she becomes determined to unravel the mystery of the family who lived in the house before them. Who were the Ashworths, and why is the name Emily written hundreds of times on the walls of the upstairs room?

White is for Witching

By helen oyeyemi.

High on the cliffs near Dover, the Silver family is reeling from the loss of Lily, mother of twins Eliot and Miranda, and beloved wife of Luc. Miranda misses her with particular intensity. Their mazy, capricious house belonged to her mother’s ancestors, and to Miranda, newly attuned to spirits, newly hungry for chalk, it seems they have never left. Forcing apples to grow in winter, revealing and concealing secret floors, the house is fiercely possessive of young Miranda. Haunting in every sense,  White is for Witching  by Helen Oyeyemi is a spine-tingling tribute to the power of magic, myth and memory.

The House on Cold Hill

By peter james.

Evil isn't born. It's built. The House on Cold Hill is a chilling and suspenseful ghost story from the multi-million copy bestselling author, Peter James. Moving from the heart of the city to the Sussex countryside is a big undertaking for born townies, Ollie Harcourt, his wife, Caro, and their twelve-year-old daughter, Jade. But when they view Cold Hill House – a huge, dilapidated, Georgian mansion – they are filled with excitement. But, within days of moving in, it becomes apparent that the Harcourt family aren't the only residents in the house . . .

The Ice Lands

By steinar bragi.

Set against the backdrop of Iceland's volcanic hinterlands, The Ice Lands follows four thirty-somethings as they embark on an ambitious camping trip. As their jeep hurtles through the wilderness, an impenetrable fog descends, causing them to suddenly crash into a rural farmhouse. Seeking refuge from the storm, the friends discover that the isolated dwelling is inhabited by a mysterious elderly couple who barricade themselves inside every night. As the merciless weather blocks every attempt at escape, they soon begin to wonder whether they will ever return home. 

by Peter Benchley

The book that got millions of people out of the water. Although perhaps best known now as the Steven Spielberg film, the just-as-terrifying original novel has sold over twenty million copies. Set amongst the holidaymakers of a small Atlantic resort, the terror begins with a body, or what's left of it, washing up on the beach. And whilst the famous shark provides the gore, it's the behaviour of those in authority which offers the shocks. 

The Magic Cottage

By james herbert.

Step inside The Magic Cottage , a chilling classic from the Master of Horror James Herbert. A cottage was found in the heart of the forest. It was charming, maybe a little run-down, but so peaceful – a magical haven for creativity and love. But the cottage had an alternative side – the bad magic. What happened there was horrendous beyond belief . . . Sinister sects, hideous creatures, 'healings' – be entertained and horrified in equal measure by this unpredictable classic chiller.

The Scarlet Gospels

By clive barker.

Clive Barker may be most famous for his strange, visceral body horror films ( Hellraiser, Candyman) but as true Barker aficionados know, these were actually adaptations of his books. The Scarlet Gospels is a return to the world and characters of Hellraiser. The Cenobite Hell Priest known as Pinhead is making his way around Earth killing the last remaining magicians and gorging on their knowledge with the intention of taking over Hell. Then Private Investigator Harry D' Amour inadvertently opens a portal between Hell and Earth. . .

by Adam Nevill

It was the dead thing they found hanging from a tree that changed the trip beyond recognition. Four friends attempting to re-find common ground on a hiking trip take a shortcut they may live to regret. If they're lucky. Lost in the Scandinavian wilderness, they take shelter in an isolated house full of macabre remains and pagan rituals. There's something of the Blair Witch to this menacing, suspenseful novel, which uses the power of suggestion and a creeping sense of claustrophobia to terrifying effect.

The Wicker Man

By robin hardy.

A novelization of the haunting Anthony Shaffer script, which drew from David Pinner's  Ritual , it is the tale of Highlands policeman, Police Sergeant Neil Howie, on the trail of a missing girl being lured to the remote Scottish island of Summerisle. As May Day approaches, strange, magical, shamanistic and erotic events erupt around him. He is convinced that the girl has been abducted for human sacrifice. Yet he is soon to find that he may be the revellers' quarry . . .

by Robin Cook

For those ready to revisit the horror of a deadly virus, this is an eerie, explosive read from the writer who invented the medical thriller. When a seemingly healthy woman dies after a respiratory attack on the New York subway, forensic pathologist Jack Stapleton uncovers some surprising findings about the cause of death. When further cases start to occur around the city, and then the world, Jack realises a new virus may be circulating, and enters a race against time to discover the link that connects all the victims.

Lovecraft Country

By matt ruff.

Now an HBO Series from J.J. Abrams, Misha Green and Jordan Peele (director of  Get Out ), Lovecraft Country combines the mundane terrors of white America with malevolent spirits and a secret ritualistic cabal to entertaining and thought-provoking effect. In 1950s Chicago, Army veteran Atticus Turner sets out to find his missing father, alongside his Uncle George and childhood friend Letitia. They're aiming for New England, and the home of Samuel Braithwaite, heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus's ancestors, and what they find there is even more sinister than they imagined.

by Stephen King

If you find clowns unsettling, then IT may well be why. Its terrifying central force – horror harlequin, Pennywise – has become so embedded in our collective psyches you don't need to have actually read the book to be frightened of him. This novel, in two parts, tells of the fear and devastation he brings to the young residents of a Maine town. The real horror, though, lies in the adult population's strange almost-acquiescence to the harm being done to their children.

The Silence of the Lambs

By thomas harris.

Perhaps better known for the Oscar-winning movie of the same name, Silence of the Lambs is the classic psychological horror book by Thomas Harris. Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee, is assigned to interview Dr Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant but insane serial killer, to gain insights into another murderer, Buffalo Bill. She forms an unlikely alliance with Lecter to catch Buffalo Bill and save his latest victim. The book explores themes of psychology, power, and gender dynamics as Clarice races against time to solve the case while confronting her own fears and vulnerabilities.

The Exorcist

By william peter blatty.

The Exorcist follows the possession of a young girl named Regan by a malevolent demon. When Regan's behavior becomes increasingly disturbing and inexplicable, her mother seeks medical and psychiatric help, to no avail. Desperate, she turns to Father Damien Karras, a troubled priest struggling with his own crisis of faith. As Karras investigates, he enlists the help of experienced exorcist Father Merrin. The novel delves into the battle between good and evil, testing the characters' beliefs and courage. Blatty's exploration of faith, doubt, and the supernatural creates a chilling narrative that remains a classic in the horror genre.

The Wasp Factory

By iain banks.

The Wasp Factory follows Frank, a young man living on a remote Scottish island with a troubled past. The story unfolds as Frank reveals his unsettling rituals and bizarre worldview, including his obsession with creating the titular "wasp factory." As he navigates his isolated existence, the novel unveils shocking family secrets, including the tragic events that shaped his identity. The narrative explores themes of identity, violence, and the consequences of trauma. Frank's unsettling journey forces readers to question the nature of sanity and the boundaries of normalcy, resulting in a disquieting and unforgettable read.

Let the Right One In

By john ajvide lindqvist.

A unique blend of horror and coming-of-age storytelling, Let the Right One In is set in a bleak Swedish suburb as Oskar, a lonely and bullied boy, befriends Eli, a mysterious young girl – and vampire. As their bond deepens, Eli's gruesome needs and the dark events in the community intertwine. Lindqvist explores the emotional complexities of both Oskar and Eli, highlighting their vulnerabilities and struggles. The novel challenges traditional vampire lore by infusing it with genuine human emotions and a haunting atmosphere, resulting in a gripping exploration of the blurred lines between innocence and monstrosity.

by Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker's creation may not be the first literary vampire, but he's certainly the most famous. Whilst Dracula and his nemesis, Van Helsing, are regularly reinterpreted, updated and adapted, the original novel is very much of its time. Told via letters, diary entries and newspaper articles, it explores and reflects the fears that dominated Victorian society – the corruption of morality, unrestrained sexuality, irrationality and the foreign. But don't let this fool you into thinking it won't frighten the twenty-first century reader just as much. 

Tales of Mystery and Imagination

By edgar allan poe.

This collection of Poe's work contains some of the most exciting and haunting stories ever written. They range from the poetic to the mysterious to the darkly comic, yet all possess the genius for the grotesque that defines Poe's writing. They are peopled with neurotics and social outcasts, obsessed with nameless terrors or preoccupied with seemingly unsolvable mysteries. The Tell-Tale Heart and The Fall of the House of Usher are key works in the horror canon, and collectively these tales represent the best of Edgar Allan Poe's prose work before his premature death in 1849.

Frankenstein

By mary shelley.

One of BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World.  Frankenstein  is the most famous novel by Mary Shelley. Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but wayward scientist, builds a human from dead flesh. Horrified at what he has done, he abandons his creation. The hideous creature learns language and becomes civilized but society rejects him. Spurned, he seeks vengeance on his creator. So begins a cycle of destruction, with Frankenstein and his 'monster' pursuing each other to the extremes of nature until all vestiges of their humanity are lost. 

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and other stories

By robert louis stevenson.

Why has the mild mannered Dr Jekyll suddenly begun to associate with the ugly and violent Mr Hyde? And why are they never seen together? When Jekyll’s old friend Utterson tries to solve these mysteries he uncovers a horrific story of suffering and brutality that eventually leads to the terrible revelation of Mr Hyde’s true identity. Accompanied here by three other memorable stories of horror, murder and the supernatural,  The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde  is a masterpiece of Victorian Gothic literature.

The Turn of the Screw and Owen Wingrave

By henry james.

A young governess is employed to look after two orphaned siblings in a grand country house. Isolated and inexperienced, she is at first charmed by the children – but gradually suspects that they may not be as innocent as they seem. She soon begins to see sinister figures at the window, but do they exist solely in her imagination, or are they ghosts intent on a terrible and devastating task?  The Turn of the Screw  by Henry James is one of the most famous and eerily equivocal ghost stories ever written.

In this episode of Book Break, Emma recommends the best horror books for Stephen King fans.

You may also like

The 50 best thriller books of all time, the 50 best crime fiction books of all time, the 30 best true crime books of all time.

30 of the Scariest Horror Books Ever Written

These creepy tales aren't for the faint of heart.

We've been independently researching and testing products for over 120 years. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more about our review process.

Spooky, creepy and sometimes downright disturbing, horror books aren't for the faint of heart. The best ones stick with you long after you've turned the last page, often because they play right into our deepest fears as humans. While many of us might think of thriller and horror books as one and the same, they're siblings, not twins.

Basically, a horror novel is supposed to be scary (and maybe a little gross). A thriller won't necessarily make you jump, but it should be exciting and suspenseful. Now that we've cleared that up, check out our list of the scariest horror books ever written. (Don't worry, we've got a whole list of feel-good books to help you recover when you're done — unless you're in the mood for more horror, in which case you'll want to check out our favorite horror movies on Netflix .)

Mary Shelley Frankenstein

Most people probably know the basics of the monster created from animated dead tissue. But did you know Shelley wrote it when she was just 18 as part of a ghost story contest between her, Lord Byron and her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley? If you've never read the novel that's widely celebrated as the first horror and possibly the first science fiction novel, there's no time like today. 

RELATED:  20 Scary Books for Kids Who Like Sneaking Flashlights Under Their Blankets

Alma Katsu The Hunger

Stephen King advised against reading this one after dark, so that tells you about all you need to know. It tells the story of the Donner party but with a gruesome supernatural twist. Have a snack before reading, since you may lose your appetite after. 

Thomas Tryon The Other

A bucolic New England town, a dead parent after an unfortunate accident, a pair of twin boys who couldn't be more different. This horror story has all of the hallmarks of a classic and brings a creepy new twist to the words "boys will be boys." 

Mark Z. Danielewski House of Leaves

When a young family moves into their home and discovers it's bigger on the inside than the outside, they're in for more than an architectural anomaly. This book has become a cult favorite for a reason — one you'll just have to read to find out. 

Octavia Butler Fledgling: A Novel

If you aren't already a Butler fan, this one will clinch it. At first, Shori seems like a child with amnesia, but closer examination reveals she's really a genetically modified 53-year-old vampire. She has to figure out how she ended up in her current position, even if it leads to her ultimate demise. 

Jay Anson The Amityville Horror

The Lutz family only lasted 28 days in the Long Island house where Ronald DeFeo had murdered his parents, brothers and sisters a year earlier. Find out why in this book that's even more terrifying than the movie it inspired. 

H.P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories

Lovecraft is so popular, his name has become an adjective in the horror realm. Find out why in this reissued collection of his weird, wonderful and mysterious mythology that trades in both strange creatures and science. 

Helen Oyeyemi White is for Witching

Four generations have lived in the isolated Silver house, and all are strongly connected across time and generations. But after one of them dies suddenly, the tragedies that seem to befall the house's inhabitants start to seem less than incidental. This story about race, family and nationality will scare you while making you think. 

Agustina Bazterrica Tender Is the Flesh

In this skin-crawling book, animal meat has become toxic to humans so they have to turn to another protein source – each other. Marcos works at a plant processing "special meat," and tries to keep his mind on the work and not what it means, until he's gifted a live "specimen." As he starts to treat her more like a person than a meal, he's got to stare his reality in the face.  

Shirley Jackson The Haunting of Hill House

Possibly the best haunted house story ever told, this is the story of four people out to discover Hill House's secrets: occult scholar Dr. Montague, his assistant Theodora, the edgy Eleanor and Hill House heir Luke. Whether or not you've watched the Netflix series, this one will keep you up at night. 

Joe Hill NOS4A2: A Novel

A girl named Vic stumbles upon a bridge that can take her anywhere.  Then she meets Charlie Manx, a man who lures children to the horrific Christmasland in his old car. She's the first child to ever escape his clutches, and Charlie never stops seeking revenge. Years later, he finds it in a new victim: Vic's own son. 

Stephen King The Shining

You can't go wrong with Stephen King, a master of both horror and thriller, but there's something about this one about isolated hotel caretaker Jack Torrence's descent into madness (and his creepily gifted son Danny) that just rises above the rest.  

Nick Cutter The Troop

Fans of campfire stories, bring this one on your next camping trip. Scout leader Tim Riggs takes a group of close-knit boys into the Canadian wilderness for a three-night excursion where they encounter a deranged man who's carrying more than unsettling stories. What ensues is a disturbing story of survival that will make you squirm in your sleeping bag. 

Colson Whitehead Zone One

The premise of this book might hit a little close to home these days, and maybe that makes it even scarier. It takes place in a post-zombie apocalypse hellscape in which a man named Mark Spitz is part of a sweeper team that has to eradicate the straggler zombies. All goes horribly wrong in a novel that's both stomach-churning and literary.

Anne Rice Interview With the Vampire

In the book that made Rice a household name among horror fans, we get a peek behind the curtain at what makes a vampire tick. It's unexpectedly sexual, alluring and of course, creepy.

Daphne Du Maurier Rebecca

Anyone who's ever lived in the shadow of an ex will recognize parts of themselves in this terrifying tale of a new bride who arrives at a remote Cornish mansion haunted by the echoes of her predecessor. 

Stephen Graham Jones The Only Good Indians

Four Native American men disturb a spirit on a hunting trip as young men, and the consequences follow them and their families for years. It's violent, distressing and a sharp look at cultural tradition and revenge.

Toni Morrison Beloved

This novel is often praised for its beautiful storytelling, but it's just as horrific as it is well written. Sethe was born an enslaved person, but even 18 years after she starts her new life as a free woman in Ohio, she can't let go of the depravity that took place at Sweet Home, the place she escaped. Then there's the ghost of her nameless baby daughter, buried in a grave marked simply, "Beloved." 

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

In this delightful read that reads like Dracula set in the '90s American South, a group of true crime-obsessed book club ladies have to do battle with a menace in their small town. It's perfect for fans of horror and real-life crime alike.

RELATED:    25 Best True Crime Books of All Time to Unleash Your Inner Sherlock

Bram Stoker Dracula

Most of us know the basics of the Dracula story, but if you haven't actually read it, do yourself a favor. The atmospheric chill that runs through this classic tale will set your teeth on edge as you fall into the absorbing story. 

@media(max-width: 64rem){.css-o9j0dn:before{margin-bottom:0.5rem;margin-right:0.625rem;color:#ffffff;width:1.25rem;bottom:-0.2rem;height:1.25rem;content:'_';display:inline-block;position:relative;line-height:1;background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-o9j0dn:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/goodhousekeeping/static/images/Clover.5c7a1a0.svg);}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.loaded .css-o9j0dn:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/goodhousekeeping/static/images/Clover.5c7a1a0.svg);}} Entertainment

This '9-1-1' Star Pitched the 'Bachelor' Crossover

Watch a Clip from Erin Krakow's New Hallmark Movie

Who Won the 'Rock the Block' Exterior Challenge?

See Kelly Clarkson's "What Was I Made For?" Cover

Reddit Theorizes How 'The Good Doctor' May End

'Wheel of Fortune' Pulls Host Swap Prank

Hoda and Kathie Lee Had a Surprise 'Today' Reunion

'The Voice' Reveals Season 25's Mega Mentor

Jim Parsons Teases ‘Young Sheldon’ Series Finale

Valerie Bertinelli's Surprise Relationship Update

A Full Guide to Hallmark's 'The Way Home' Season 3

• The Best Horror Books of All Time
• Novels to Change Your Whole Life
• Books with Movie Adaptations
• The Greatest Novels Ever Written
• Books Everyone Should Read
• The Best Science Fiction Novels
• The Best Works by Stephen King
• The Greatest Fantasy Book Series
• The Most Overrated Books Ever
• Books No One Ever Finishes
• Books Everyone Lies About Reading
• The Best Novelists of All Time
• The Greatest Books You Were Forced to Read

The Scariest Horror Books of All Time

Avid readers seeking hair-raising experiences often find themselves drawn to the best horror books, filled with spine-chilling tales and terrifying worlds. With numerous authors mastering the art of fear, delving into the best horror books of all time offers spine-chilling adventures that captivate the imagination and leave an indelible mark on readers' minds. From supernatural hauntings to psychological nightmares, these literary masterpieces capture the essence of horror in its most primal form. 

The best horror books of all time are intricately woven narratives, combining haunting tales with excellent writing that evokes feelings of terror in readers. By delving into these frightening tales, readers are immersed in the best horror books of all time, each offering unique experiences that push the boundaries of the genre. Hauntingly memorable and undeniably chilling, these novels provide a thrilling exploration into the darkest corners of human nature and the unknown. 

For instance, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty stands as an excellent horror novel, presenting a harrowing tale of demonic possession that has left generations of readers shaken to their core. Stephen King's It weaves the terrifying story of a malevolent entity preying on the small town of Derry, Maine, showcasing the author's ability to create enduring nightmares from seemingly ordinary settings. Another prime example is King's Salem's Lot , an engrossing tale of vampires and the unraveling of a once-thriving community, cementing its reputation as one of the scariest books of all time. These chilling stories represent just a fraction of the horrors awaiting readers who dare to explore this spine-tingling collection. 

The scariest horror books offer a rich tapestry of haunting stories, diverse styles, and enduring themes. Each tale contributes to the ever-evolving landscape of horror literature, pushing the boundaries and challenging perceptions of fear in uniquely gripping ways. By examining these acclaimed works, one gains a deeper understanding and appreciation for the novels that have solidified their place as the best horror books of all time. 

• Entertainment
• Horror Books
• Graveyard Shift
• Watchworthy

Ranking the best novels and non-fiction books of every genre.

Advertisement

Supported by

4 New Horror Books Spiked With Dread and Profound Unease

Our columnist reviews this month’s haunting new releases.

• Share full article

By Gabino Iglesias

Gabino Iglesias is a writer, editor, literary critic and professor. He is the Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson award-winning author of “The Devil Takes You Home.”

Simone St. James is known for brilliantly mixing thriller elements with supernatural mayhem, and MURDER ROAD (Berkley, 342 pp., $29) , her most recent novel, offers readers plenty of both.

During the summer of 1995, April and Eddie are on their way to a resort for their honeymoon when a wrong turn sends them down a dark road in the middle of the night. The newlyweds pick up a hitchhiker, and then realize the young woman is bleeding. April and Eddie take the woman to a hospital, but she dies.

The couple soon learn the hitchhiker is just one of many who’ve met their demise on Atticus Line. The road, according to locals, is haunted by a ghost known as the Lost Girl, “a stupid legend,” who has allegedly been killing people for decades. Under pressure because of the unsolved murders, the police unsuccessfully try to pin the killing on the couple, and after they are cleared of any wrongdoing, April and Eddie stick around and try to get to the bottom of things. But the newlyweds have their own dark past, and as it catches up to them, so does the darkness that haunts Atticus Line.

Fast, chilling, entertaining, unexpectedly touching, and with two broken, memorable characters at its core, this might be St. James’s best novel yet.

Argentina’s new wave of horror fiction is quickly finding an international audience, and in the process, has introduced the world to literary giants like Mariana Enríquez and Samanta Schweblin. Now, Marina Yuszczuk joins that list of Argentine horror stars with THIRST (Dutton, 241 pp., $28) .

The book, which is translated by Heather Cleary, is a unique vampire novel full of eroticism and feminist rage. The story takes place in two different periods. First we follow a female vampire escaping persecution, making her way across Europe over the centuries and finally landing in Buenos Aires, where she experiences the city’s early days as well as the yellow fever pandemics of the late 1800s. Eventually, she’s forced to go into hiding in a cemetery. The second part of the book follows a divorced mother who’s dealing with her own mother’s declining health and who receives a strange old photo from an ailing woman that links her to the vampire.

This gripping tale is full of queer representation and lush, lyrical passages, all while exploring death with an air of nihilism. “We’re all standing at death’s door,” Yuszczuk writes. “Someone has to be next in line.” Vampires are making a comeback, and Yuszczuk is spearheading their revival with this bloody novel.

In addition to scaring readers, the tales in THROUGH THE NIGHT LIKE A SNAKE: Latin American Horror Stories (Two Lines Press/Calico, 228 pp., paperback, $16.95) are meant to elicit a profound sense of unease, and they pull it off with flying colors.

The anthology collects 10 stories from some of Latin America’s best purveyors of what the editor Sarah Coolidge calls “narrativa de lo inusual” — narrative of the unusual. In Mariana Enriquez’s “That Summer in the Dark,” translated by Megan McDowell, two young friends become obsessed with serial killers and then must confront the reality of a murderer in their own building. Maximiliano Barrientos’s “The Third Transformation,” translated by Tim Gutteridge, is a superb body horror nightmare full of mystery and also breathing meat flowers with teeth. Julián Isaza’s “Visitor,” translated by Joel Streicker, is the funniest story in the collection, and perhaps the one with the greatest twist. It follows an elderly woman who rescues an alien and develops a symbiotic relationship with it that leads to murder.

These stories — relentlessly unsettling as they are — serve as a fantastic introduction to a growing movement that’s bound to enrich, and help diversify, speculative fiction for years to come.

STITCHES (Viz Media, 112 pp., $18) combines the art of Junji Ito, perhaps the world’s most renowned mangaka, with the brief, punchy short stories of Hirokatsu Kihara, translated by Jocelyne Allen, to craft a delectable collection of illustrated scary stories.

Nine very short tales (more horrific morsels than full stories) make up this book, and they all share some cohesive elements: They open with a blunt opening line like “This happened when M was in elementary school,” followed by a supernatural event and then a surprising twist.

Ito and Kihara fully embrace horror in these tiny tales. In “Face,” a woman sprouts a small face on the back of her neck that must be removed by a priest. “Library” is about the ghost of a young girl who haunts a school library. “The Play” tells of a special staging of “Pinocchio” in which an otherworldly presence insists on participating. “Folk Dance” and “The Kimono” are opposite sides of the same coin: In the former, a photographer fails to capture an image of a dancing specter; in the latter, a friendly, playful ghost shows up in a family picture.

Ito, whose classics like “Uzumaki” and “Tomie” are horror staples, is a master at creating creepy details and expressive faces that help carry Kihara’s succinct terrors. Together, the two masters create their own brand of dark magic.

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

Stephen King, who has dominated horror fiction for decades , published his first novel, “Carrie,” in 1974. Margaret Atwood explains the book’s enduring appeal .

The actress Rebel Wilson, known for roles in the “Pitch Perfect” movies, gets vulnerable about her weight loss, sexuality and money  in her new memoir.

“City in Ruins” is the third novel in Don Winslow’s Danny Ryan trilogy and, he says, his last book. He’s retiring in part to invest more time into political activism .

​​Jonathan Haidt, the social psychologist and author of “The Anxious Generation,” is “wildly optimistic” about Gen Z. Here’s why .

Do you want to be a better reader?   Here’s some helpful advice to show you how to get the most out of your literary endeavor .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

20 scariest horror stories you can read for free online

Featuring authors like H.P. Lovecraft and Daphne du Maurier, this list of terrifying tales are only considered cheap thrills because they won’t cost you a penny.

Horror novels are wonderful if you have time to spare. But if you need a quick fix of fright, short stories can have just as much (if not more) impact in their devastating brevity. Thankfully, you don't need to fork over any money to access some of the best — look no further than the World Wide Web, where you can read these chilling tales by familiar greats ( Stephen King , Neil Gaiman , and Shirley Jackson, for example) — and some unknown talents.

We've assembled a list of our favorite horror short stories, all of which you can find for free on the internet in the links provided.

"Premium Harmony" by Stephen King

Set in King's fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine (also the setting for The Dead Zone , Cujo, and many others ) , this story follows a couple whose bickering—he nags her for her weight, she chides him about his smoking—is cut short by the wife's sudden heart attack. Read it in The New Yorker .

"Shiva, Open Your Eye" by Laird Barron

What Barron's admitted homage to H.P. Lovecraft lacks in plot, it makes up for in unsettling and unforgettable atmosphere. Read it at Nightmare Magazine .

"Abraham's Boys" by Joe Hill

Originally published in his collection 20th Century Ghosts , Hill's tale follows two boys who find a terrifying photograph in their aggressive father's study. Read it at Fifty-Two Stories .

"The Doll" by Daphne du Maurier

This story from du Maurier, first published in 1937, was lost for over 70 years—but now, readers everywhere can delve into the saga of a man's obsession with a violinist named Rebecca. Read it at The Guardian .

"Carmilla" by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Le Fanu's 1871–72 gothic novella about a female vampire who preys on a young woman was written even before Bram Stoker's Dracula. Read it at Project Gutenberg .

"Puppet Boy" by z0mbies

This tale about a teen boy and girl who end up captured by a masked man who practices human puppetry found a wide readership on Wattpad , where you can read it today.

"The Ash of Memory, the Dust of Desire" by Poppy Z. Brite

After infidelity, a woman and her partner seek out an unsavory operation. Read it at Nightmare Magazine .

"Sunbleached" by Nathan Ballingrud

Ballingrud's story, originally written for a YA audience, follows a vampire (who's been nearly burnt to death by the sun) hiding in the crawlspace of a decaying house. Then, a young boy finds him. Read it at Nightmare Magazine .

"The Sloan Men" by David Nickle

For a sense of how chilling Nickle's tale is, you need only read the goosebump-inducing opening line: "Mrs. Sloan had only three fingers on her left hand, but when she drummed them against the countertop, the tiny polished bones at the end of the fourth and fifth stumps clattered like fingernails." Read the full story here .

"A Study in Emerald" by Neil Gaiman

A blend of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.P. Lovecraft, Gaiman's story follows a detective and his friend trying to solve the murder of a German noble—a game that readers can play as well. Read it at NeilGaiman.com .

"The Thing on the Doorstep" by H.P. Lovecraft

"It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend," our narrator Daniel Upton says, "and yet I hope to show by this statement that I am not his murderer." So begins Lovecraft's classic tale of a woman who may or may not have someone else's soul within her. Read it here .

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

You'll never look at small towns (or rocks) the same way again after reading Jackson's haunting, memorable classic. Read it in The New Yorker .

"The Tractate Middoth" by M.R. James

A wealthy clergyman makes two different wills, and as one of his supposed heirs searches for the hidden second one, which might be concealed in an old Hebrew book, he's shocked by the results of his search. Read it here .

"A Short Guide to the City" by Peter Straub

Straub's "A Short Guide to the City" recounts the tale of the "viaduct killer," so named for the place he leaves his victims' bodies. Read it in Nightmare Magazine .

"The Empty House" by Algernon Blackwood

If you're looking for a haunted house tale, you can do no better than this Blackwood classic. Read it here .

"Patient Zero" by Tananarive Due

This post-apocalyptic "outbreak" story is told through diary entries of a young boy who's confined to a hospital...but doesn't quite understand why. Read it in Lightspeed Magazine .

"The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood

Another of Blackwood's most influential stories, "The Willows" follows two boys on a canoe trip as the nature around them—which Blackwood personifies—grows increasingly menacing. Read it at Project Gutenberg .

"The Pale Man" by Julius Long

As Long's story reminds us, little is creepier than a mysterious hotel guest (especially an unnaturally pale one). Read it here .

"The Residence at Whitminster" by M.R. James

Comprising two timelines, this ghost story tells of the death of two boys who grow fascinated with the occult—and then the results of their death and practice in the same house 100 years later. Read it here .

"Philomel Cottage" by Agatha Christie

A woman has disturbing recurring nightmares about her new husband being murdered—and the murderer is a kind man to whom she was once engaged. Read it here .

Related Articles

10 Incredible Horror Books That Still Need Movies

• Many horror book adaptations have been successful, proving that the genre has untapped potential for the audiovisual medium.
• Different horror sub-genres, such as zombies and occult horror, have already been successfully adapted into movies.
• Several chilling horror novels, including House of Leaves and The Only Good Indians, deserve to be explored in a movie storytelling format.

The success of several horror book adaptations proves that many other novels of the genre deserve to be traversed into the audiovisual medium of storytelling. From Alex Garland's Annihilation to Stephen King's The Shining , many epic horror movies are adaptations of equally epic books. In recent years, filmmakers like Mike Flanagan have also joined the roster of directors who manage to bring new life to horror literature by effectively adapting it into live-action movies and TV shows.

Almost every horror movie sub-genre now consists of a book adaptation. For instance, while the zombie genre includes movies like I Am Legend , occult horror adaptations like The Exorcist and The Omen have been around for quite some time. Considering the success of so many horror novel adaptations, it is hard not to wonder how many other books with unrealized potential could translate well into movies. Therefore, here is a rundown of ten chilling horror novels that deserve to be explored in a movie storytelling format.

RELATED: 10 Incredible Sci-Fi Books That Still Need Movies

I Found A Circus Tent In The Woods Behind My House, By Ben Farthing

Although relatively obscure, I Found A Circus Tent In The Woods Behind My House follows a simple storyline where a father and a son get swallowed into a creepy world of endless circus tents. Using this strange setting as a narrative device, the Ben Farthing book highlights the lengths a father would be willing to go to protect his child. The book also leverages the universal phobia of clowns, tapping into a reader’s primal fears with its bone-chilling exploration of the fragile boundaries between the supernatural and reality.

House of Leaves, By Mark Z. Danielewski

Given how Mark Z. Danielewski's debut novel, House of Leaves , is often touted as one the best horror novels of all time, it is strange how it still has not received a movie adaptation. Perhaps the book's uncanny structure and constantly shifting setting make it so challenging to translate to the big screen. The book also has other unique traits where some words are color-coded while others are crammed into tiny corners, reflecting the nature of the central maze-like haunted house in its story. Owing to these details, a movie may not be able to accurately adapt the book but could still adopt its own unique style to bring new life to Danielewski's story.

The Fisherman, John Langan

Cosmic horror rarely translates well to the big screen. However, time and again, movies like Annihilation and The Endless have proven that if executed well, films can make sense of the unknown without completely alienating audiences. The Fisherman , too, offers one of those Lovecraftian narratives that may not traverse easily to the audiovisual medium. However, if handled with the right approach, the book's depiction of a malevolent fishing spot that threatens the sanity of two characters could become another plausible cinematic portrayal of the proverbial fear of the unknown.

How To Sell A Haunted House, By Grady Hendrix

Grady Hendrix's How To Sell A Haunted House follows siblings Louise and Mark, who reunite to sell their late parents' home. Little do they realize that there is more to their childhood house than meets the eye, and selling it would not be as easy as they had anticipated. As How To Sell A Haunted House walks through all the campy terrors that await Louise and Mark in their childhood home, it also explores themes of nostalgia and the impact of the past on a family.

The Only Good Indians, By Stephen Graham Jones

Touted as a treat for Jordan Peele fans, The Only Good Indians merges culture, identity, and tradition with horror. The book walks through a tale of four Native American friends who blatantly break their tribe's law and moral values by going on a ruthless elk killing spree. Their act of defiance gives birth to a curse that gradually comes into existence over the span of a decade. Like a Jordan Peele movie , The Only Good Indians takes its time to find its find and waits until its final arcs to connect the dots and make sense of its overarching mysteries. However, this approach pays off incredibly well as it allows the book to bring a lot more than cheap, one-dimensional terrors to the table.

The Last House On Needless Street, By Catriona Ward

From its title, The Last House on Needless Street comes off as another run-of-the-hill haunted house novel that may not rise above the tropes of the genre. However, the book is far from being a typical addition to the horror genre. Unfolding from several perspectives, The Last House On Needless Street highlights the complex nature of psychological wounds and how trauma can often skew one's sense of memory and perception. With an unreliable narrator at its fore, The Last House On Needless Street is a character-driven horror story that could become a successful film if crafted with meticulous storytelling and attention to detail.

Penpal, By Dathan Auerbach

Auerbach initially started publishing Penpal in a short-story format on Reddit's famous Nosleep subreddit. As these interconnected stories caught on, the author compiled them into a book, creating a full-fledged novel. Auerbach's initial stories were so influential that many readers adapted them into illustrations, short films, and audio formats. The early success of the stories and the book alone reveals how Penpal has the potential to become a great full-feature film. The core concept behind its story, exploring a man's pursuit of unfolding the truth behind his horrific childhood, may not be unique. However, Auerbach has his way with words that allow his story to gradually creep under a reader's skin.

The Wasp Factory, By Iain Banks

First published in 1894, Iain Banks' The Wasp Factory unfolds on a Scottish Island where a 16-year-old teen, Frank, lives with his father. Disturbed by his circumstances, Frank spends his days performing bizarre and violent rituals, which are somehow connected to harrowing mysteries of his past. Although controversial in some ways, The Wasp Factory explores psychological and transgressive fiction like no other, allowing readers to briefly see the world from the skewed perspective of its protagonist. Given its psychological depth, adapting The Wasp Factory to the audiovisual medium may not be an easy feat, but if executed carefully, it could be an epic horror drama.

Bluejay, By Megan Stockton

Unfolding like an episode of Black Mirror , Bluejay focuses on three characters, Noah, Jack, and Phil, who collect horror items for fun. However, their pursuit of chasing terror and thrill takes a grim turn when, on one of their weekly boys' nights, they acquire tickets to an exclusive club that promises an immersive torture simulation experience. Naive about the world they will step into, Noah, Jack, and Phil visit the club only to discover that nothing there is a simulation. By gradually unraveling the tapestry around the dark underworld where Noah, Jack, and Phil end up walking, Bluejay shows the potential to become the next Hostel .

Experimental Film, By Gemma Files

In Experimental Film , author Gemma Files seamlessly merges the word of audiovisual cinema with literature by walking through the story of former Canadian film history teacher Lois Cairns, who becomes obsessed with the silent films of Mrs. A. Macalla Whitcomb. The deeper she delves into the mysterious works of the early 20th-century filmmaker, the more she unknowingly opens the gates to the hauntings that led to Whitcomb's disappearance. Often blurring the lines between reality and fiction, Experimental Film 's immersive and inventive take on the horror genre would perfectly traverse to the big screen.

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• March Madness
• AP Top 25 Poll
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

Book Review: Short story anthology ‘The Black Girl Survives in This One’ challenges the horror canon

This cover image released by Flatiron shows “The Black Girl Survives in This One” horror stories edited by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell. (Flatiron via AP)

• Copy Link copied

Ahh, the Final Girl — a point of pride, a point of contention. Too often, the white, virginal, Western ideal. But not this time.

“The Black Girl Survives in This One,” a short story anthology edited by Saraciea J. Fennell and Desiree S. Evans, is changing the literary horror canon. As self-proclaimed fans of “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” and “Goosebumps,” the editors have upped the ante with a new collection spotlighting Black women and girls, defying the old tropes that would box Black people in as support characters or victims.

The 15 stories are introduced with an excellent forward by Tananarive Due laying out the groundwork with a brief history of Black women in horror films and literature, and of her own experiences. She argues with an infallible persuasiveness that survival is the thread that connects Black women and the genre that has largely shunned them for so long.

These are the kind of stories that stick with you long after you’ve read them.

“Queeniums for Greenium!” by Brittney Morris features a cult-ish smoothie MLM with a deadly level of blind faith that had my heart pounding and my eyes watering with laughter at intervals. And “The Skittering Thing” by Monica Brashears captures the sheer panic of being hunted in the dark, with some quirky twists.

Many of the stories are set in the most terrifying real-life place there is: high school. As such, there are teen crushes and romance aplenty, as well as timely slang that’s probably already outdated.

Honestly, this was one of the best parts: seeing 15 different authors’ takes on a late-teens Black girl. How does she wear her hair, who are her friends, is she religious, where does she live, does she like boys or girls or no one at all? Is she a bratty teen or a goody-two-shoes or a bookworm or just doing her best to get through it? Each protagonist is totally unique and the overall cast of both characters and writers diverse.

And even though we know the Black girl survives, the end is still a shock, because the real question is how.

The anthology has something for everyone, from a classic zombie horror in “Cemetery Dance Party” by Saraciea J. Fennell to a spooky twist on Afrofuturism in “Welcome Back to The Cosmos” by Kortney Nash. Two of the stories have major “Get Out” vibes that fans of Jordan Peele will appreciate (“Black Girl Nature Group” by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite and “Foxhunt” by Charlotte Nicole Davies). If your flavor is throwbacks and cryptids, Justina Ireland’s “Black Pride” has you covered. Or if you like slow-burn psychological thrillers and smart protagonists, “TMI” by Zakiya Delila Harris.

Overall, it’s a bit long and the anthology could stand to drop a couple of the weaker stories. But it’s well worth adding to any scary book collection, and horror fans are sure to find some new favorites.

AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews

On the 50th anniversary of ‘Carrie’, Stephen King talks about how his first horror novel came to be

“Tabby literally picked it out of the wastebasket and brushed off the cigarette ash. She read it in bed and said, ‘This is good, you should go on.’”

I t’s hard to fathom now, but there was a time when the name Stephen King didn’t mean anything. He was unknown, just some shaggy-haired fellow from Maine with a macabre imagination and a manual typewriter churning out stories with fanciful titles like “I Was a Teenage Grave Robber.”

But 50 years ago, on April 5, that all changed with the publication of “Carrie,” a twisted Cinderella story about a shy, spotty-faced teen who’s tormented by her fanatical mother and cruel classmates until — well, let’s just say she makes them stop. “Carrie” was King’s first published novel — he was only 26 at the time — and it became an enormous bestseller, the first of many in a remarkable career spanning 60-plus books with sales of more than 350 million copies. (King’s latest collection of stories, “You Like It Darker,” comes out May 21.)

Advertisement

So how did “Carrie” happen? It almost didn’t. To mark the 50th anniversary of Carrie White’s harrowing arrival on our collective nightstands, syllabuses, library shelves, and movie screens, we asked King and others, including prominent horror writers, readers, and longtime friends of the author, why, after all these years, “Carrie” still captivates — and terrifies — us.

Interviews that follow have been edited and condensed.

I tried to get an hour a night if I possibly could. And it was important to me because, you know, at that time, we were, you know, scraping bottom. We had two kids. We were young, and I had a Texaco credit card, and my wife cut it up, and she said, “We can't afford the interest on these things.” So, that went by the boards. She said, “Pay cash for everything.”

Stephen King: Before college, I used to buy a lot of 35-cent paperbacks at Roberts [Pharmacy] in Lisbon Falls — lots of Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, Fritz Leiber. I also read every EC horror comic I could get my hands on. There were piles of them, covers ripped off, at a junk store across from [McCarthy’s] Red & White Market.

Jim Smith, University of Maine roommate : I’d seen this big, hulking guy with long black hair — black as a clarinet — and a black beard. He’d come into the student newspaper, fire up a Pall Mall, and when that one was done, he’d smoke another one. He was a chimney.

Jim Bishop, retired UMaine English instructor : I gave Steve a C+ on the first freshman composition paper I assigned. He decided that he’d better up his game after that, I guess.

Philip “Flip” Thompson, UMaine friend : Steve had a typewriter in his room and he’d rat-a-tat-tat on it all the time. He was writing short stories that he’d sell to skin magazines.

Smith : I never, at any point, knew Stephen King when he wasn’t reading a book. He always had a book. He read a lot of what I’d call muscular fiction, stuff drenched in testosterone, and a lot of classic noir.

Bishop: I’m not sure how hard-working Steve was in a number of his classes, but he was very hard-working on his own stuff.

King and his brother were raised by their mother in the Central Maine town of Durham. As a teenager, he hitchhiked on weekends to Lewiston’s Ritz Theatre to see movies like “Lady in a Cage,” “The Haunting,” and “The Wild Angels.” King graduated from UMaine in 1970 and a year later married writer Tabitha Spruce, whom he’d started dating in college. He worked for a while at New Franklin Laundry in Bangor, making $1.60 an hour washing dirty tablecloths and bloody hospital linens. He was writing throughout, selling stories for as much as $200 to magazines like “Dude,” “Cavalier,” and “Swank.” In 1971, King got a job teaching English at Hampden Academy. Tabitha worked second shift at Dunkin’ Donuts.

King : We were scraping bottom. We were young and had two kids. I had a Texaco credit card and my wife cut it up. She said, “We can’t afford the interest on those things. Pay cash for everything.” It wasn’t really the greatest situation in the world.

Tabitha King , from the forward to a 1991 edition of “Carrie” : We lived in a trailer in Hermon. Steve wrote in a closet-sized room that was supposed to be the laundry room. We didn’t own a washer or a dryer. The room was just big enough for a desk, a chair, a trashcan, and a writer.

Bishop : Steve was not to the manor born. They were living hand to mouth.

Tabitha : We had horrendous battles over the five bucks he spent each week for a carton of cigarettes and his overdue fines at the library.

Douglas Winter , author of the biography “Stephen King: The Art of Darkness” : I remember Tabby telling me she couldn’t stay in the hospital after giving birth to their son Joe because they didn’t have the money.

King : The best-case scenario was very simple: I wanted to support myself as a writer. I wanted to stop teaching. It was like having jumper cables attached to your brain — it drains you. I didn’t like all the [expletive] that went with it. There was a dress code. You didn’t have to wear a tie, but you did have to wear a jacket. And you had to kowtow to the department head and be collegial. It wasn’t my bag.

Smith, King’s college roommate : Steve used to give me a few things to read. There was nothing I could add. I wasn’t looking at it critically, I was just eating it up. When I had a chance to read anything, especially something of length, it was like having dinner rather than breakfast.

Hammering away on an Olivetti typewriter that belonged to Tabitha, King wrote for at least an hour every night. He had read a Life magazine story about telekinesis and thought he might be able to create a story about a teenage girl who made things happen with her mind. He imagined an opening scene in which the girl gets her period in the shower after gym and is mocked and pelted with tampons by her classmates. But he wasn’t sure he could do it.

King : It was intimidating to write from the female perspective. I knew how they talked and how they walked. I didn’t know how they thought . I don’t think any man really does. A young man trying to write female characters was a little different then.

Neil McRobert, host of the “ Talking Scared ” podcast : He’s wondering to himself, “Can I write this story about a young girl?” and “Do I have time to stop writing these stories that are paying the bills to write a novel I may not be able to sell?”

Christopher Golden , horror novelist, coauthor of “The Stephen King Universe: The Guide to the Worlds of the King of Horror”: He gave up — either because he didn’t think it was good enough or because he thought he was biting off more than he could chew.

King : I threw it away. It was too hard, for one thing. And it was going to be too long to be a short story. It was already 3,000 words — I wrote single space then, margin to margin, because paper was expensive.

McRobert : There are two great origin stories in horror literature. There’s “Frankenstein,” which Mary Shelley wrote while trapped indoors during the year without a summer , and there’s “Carrie.”

It was about poltergeist activity, and the article made it clear that there was a troubled teenage girl with a family. And, when she was absent, nothing happened. But when she was there, objects fell off tables and shattered.

King : Tabby literally picked it out of the wastebasket and brushed off the cigarette ash. She read it in bed and said, “This is good, you should go on.” I said, “I don’t know that much about girls.” She said, “I’ll help you.” And then — she could be very sharp — she said, “Use your [expletive] imagination!”

Golden : There are still trolls who say, ‘Oh, Tabitha must have written that.’ The verisimilitude is so great that people think because you’re a dude, you couldn’t possibly have written it.

Smith : He wrote it like he might have been a woman in a former life.

King : It was exciting to put the dress on. I did the best I could.

Golden : King has written about parallel universes, and if there is such a thing, then there’s a universe in which Tabitha doesn’t pull “Carrie” out of the trash. What happens then?

Tananarive Due , horror novelist and academic : The story about “Carrie” being in a trashcan is almost as scary as the book. How close we came to never having it!

King, who was then 25, had already written three novels — all rejected by publishers. (Years later, “Rage,” “The Long Walk,” and “The Running Man” would be published.) Nonetheless, he finished “Carrie” and sent it to Bill Thompson, an encouraging editor at Doubleday.

Smith : Steve was feeling like, “When the hell is it going to happen?”

Winter, biographer: King was pretty much convinced that Doubleday was going to reject it. He was somewhat in crisis mode, feeling a lot of pressure. It’s very much like the early days of NASA — you learn by failing, you learn by rejection.

Grady Hendrix , horror novelist, author of “Paperbacks from Hell” : By 1974, you had editors who realized there was a market for horror. King was the right guy at the right time.

King : I got a message during my free period at Hampden Academy: “Stephen King, please come to the office. Your wife is on the phone.” I thought one of the kids had a horrible accident or they’re going to publish the book.

Telegram from Bill Thompson: “‘Carrie’ officially a Doubleday book. Is $2,500 advance OK? Call for glorious details. The future lies ahead. Love, Bill.”

King : Doubleday was a book factory then. They published tons of books. The big deal was Peter Benchley’s “Jaws,” which was published the same year. “Carrie” was not a big deal.

Winter : $2,500 shows they didn’t have a great deal of faith in the book.

Bishop, UMaine instructor : I got a call from Steve. He’d found out “Carrie” had been accepted for publication and he invited some of us to a party. I think there was a keg of beer.

Before “Carrie,” there were only a few highly regarded horror novels: “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Other,” and “The Exorcist.” But King’s book about a group of high school students was more relatable. Everyone knew an awkward, unpopular kid like Carrie White and how they’re sometimes mistreated by callous classmates. King certainly did. Carrie White is a composite of two girls he’d gone to school with.

King : One wore the same clothes every day — every day . Then, at Christmas, she got new clothes — a pretty skirt and sweater — and the meanness didn’t go away, it redoubled. It got worse. You could just see her fade and shrivel. It was terrible. I never took part, but I was never somebody who stood up heroically for her and said, “You must stop that!”

Golden : The distance in days between when King was in classrooms with the people who were the inspiration for these characters and the time he started writing “Carrie” isn’t many.

Tabitha : Steve and I were then much closer to high school. We hadn’t scraped it off our feet.

Watch Boston Globe Today How Stephen King’s ‘Carrie’ changed horror fiction

Nancy Allen, actress, plays Carrie’s nemesis, Chris Hargensen, in the 1976 movie adaptation : I went to an all-girls Catholic school and there was a Carrie character. She got up one day to go to the lunchroom and there was a big red stain on the back of her skirt. We all thought, “Oh my God!” Kids in school can be so mean.

Hendrix : King’s also a gross writer. He really goes there in “Carrie.” It was unique at the time for someone to write a realist novel about teenagers and talk about acne and boogers and periods.

McRobert, podcast host : There’s a startling lack of discourse around the fact that this book from the early ‘70s makes menstruation a focal point. Even now in horror — and I read all the horror — you never see menstrual blood.

This girl always wore the same clothes to school every day. Every day she wore the same clothes. And then one year at Christmas, she got different clothes, and the meanness redoubled. It didn’t go away. It redoubled. And you could see her just sort of fade and shrivel. That was a terrible thing to see. I never took part, but I was never somebody who stood up heroically for these people and said, “Oh, you must stop.”

King : A young man writing these women characters. I think it’s one of the reasons it got published. A lot of women read it. It’s like that thing Samuel Johnson said: “A woman preaching is like a dog walking on its hind legs. It is not done well; you’re surprised to find it done at all.”

Sadie Hartmann , a.k.a. “Mother Horror,” author of “101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered” : I was 15 — gawky and nerdy — when I read “Carrie,” and I was taken aback that a man was able to get inside the head of a teenage girl — her experience of being this misfit, of not knowing what to do with her body. Carrie is so very isolated and King was able to capture that.

Michelle Souliere, owner of Green Hand Bookshop in Portland, Maine : The female experience is a horror — a constant body horror — and it’s all right there in “Carrie.”

King : I don’t think you know what you’re writing about until you’re actually doing it. You say to yourself, “What’s this about?” I thought, to a degree, “Carrie” was about the empowerment of a girl who was standing up for herself. I was interested in the idea that Carrie would pull the house down. I just didn’t know what the house was when I started writing the book.

Due, novelist : A lot of women feel seen by “Carrie.” But for me, it wasn’t so much about gender. I felt like an outsider because of my race. I was never personally bullied like what Carrie experienced, but there was an undercurrent of feeling unsafe and unwelcome. ... The prom night sequence, while tragic and terrifying, is the most satisfying part of the novel for me because Carrie is in her full power, and that one brief, shining moment encapsulates what revenge horror is supposed to feel like.

San Francisco Chronicle, July 7, 1974 : “A truly perceptive study of thoughtless human cruelty and resultant suffering.”

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May 5, 1974 : “Don’t read it late at night if you’re alone in the house. The last 50 pages are enough to make John Wayne sleep with a night light.”

Hartford Courant, May 19, 1974 : “The so-called youth culture has gone too far when someone who can write well writes such a maudlin and macabre book. ... Anyone who likes horror and sheer dirt will get his fill.”

Despite generally good reviews, the hardcover edition of “Carrie” sold a modest 13,000 copies. (By comparison, “Jaws” sold 9 million copies in the first year, buoyed by Steven Spielberg’s movie, which came out six months after the book.) Still, Signet Books saw potential in “Carrie.” “Are you sitting down?” said Doubleday editor Thompson in a call to King. Signet had paid $400,000 for the paperback rights — the equivalent of $2.7 million today — of which King would receive half. He could feel his legs begin to shake.

King : Tabby was at her parents’ when I got the news. I couldn’t think what to do, so I walked downtown — it was a Sunday and everything was closed except for the drugstore. I bought her a hair dryer.

Smith : It was liberating in the sense that Steve wasn’t going to have to teach students who didn’t give a damn anymore, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to have to work in a commercial laundry. It was the actualization of the picture he had of himself in his head the whole time I knew him.

If you’re even halfway smart, you say to yourself, "Why am I wasting my time doing this? Why am I spending my time? What's it about?” And I thought, to a degree, it was about the empowerment of a girl who was standing up for herself.

King : Now I could just write stories. When the movie dropped, the paperback became a bestseller, and I was off.

Richard Chizmar , friend and novelist, coauthor with King of the novella “Gwendy’s Button Box” : The first time I met Steve was at a 25th anniversary party for “Carrie” at Tavern on the Green in New York. Kathy Bates was there, and Salman Rushdie, Peter Straub, and Jack Ketchum. I still have the postcard invitation. On the bottom, it says: “blue jeans are fine.” People ask me, “What’s he like?” I tell them Steve is blue jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt. He hasn’t gone Hollywood.

Smith : Steve is still a homey.

Director Brian De Palma’s “Carrie” came out two years after the book, with Sissy Spacek as the tormented title character and Piper Laurie as her monstrous mother, the shrill Margaret White. (Spacek and Laurie both earned Oscar nominations.) The movie, hailed by critic Roger Ebert as “absolutely spellbinding,” hews closely to the book, including the ominous opening scene in the girls’ shower.

King : I thought it was fantastic. The music was just right and I loved the soft-focus look of the shower room, with all the steam coming up. The movie also has that wonderful jumpscare at the end.

Allen, actress : Shooting that shower scene was much more difficult than I would have imagined. It was a frenzy, like something else took over. I remember shooting it in one take. I don’t think we shot it again. We were all traumatized. Everybody was really unsettled.

Smith : Steve got in touch and asked if I wanted to join him at the premiere, which was in Portland. I remember the movie vividly. All that blood. It was a very pleasurable experience.

Paul Tremblay , whose horror novel “The Cabin at the End of the World” is the basis of director M. Night Shyamalan’s movie “Knock at the Cabin” : The movie “Carrie” is in the same emotional frequency as the book. De Palma totally nails not only the teenage angst of the book, but also the sorrow, the tragedy, of what happens to Carrie.

Nat Cassidy , author of “Mary: An Awakening of Terror,” a peri-menopausal homage to “Carrie” : Carrie White became a matron saint for me. As a kid, I’d talk to her: “I’ll be your friend, please don’t hurt me.” I think, without discounting King’s genius as a writer, the fact that De Palma makes an incredible movie at such a key moment — in publishing history, in cinematic history, in King’s writing career — helped create Stephen King as the cultural force we think of him as today.

Golden, novelist : Once King comes onto the stage with “Carrie,” horror really solidifies as an American genre. It becomes about characters who couldn’t exist anywhere in the world except this country. “Carrie” is the “American Graffiti” of horror novels.

Hendrix : The movie did a great service to the book. “The Simpsons” has “Carrie” jokes from time to time. We should all be so lucky.

The movie’s box-office success supercharged sales of the book, which in turn led religious groups and anxious parents around the country to try to ban “Carrie” from schools and libraries.

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom : For a long time, “Carrie” was among the most challenged books in our database. But as young adult literature has evolved and horror has been accepted as a genre, we’ve seen fewer challenges. The first recorded challenge was in 1975 at Clark High School in Las Vegas. Somebody considered “Carrie” to be low-value literature. They called it “trash” and it was removed from the school library.

Due : The version I read was the paperback with the movie tie-in, so Sissy Spacek was on the cover in a blood-drenched prom gown — who can resist that cover? — and my mother was OK with it. Is that one of the reasons I became a horror writer? Of course.

King : I tell kids, “If you can’t get it in your library, rush out to the bookstore and find out what it is that your elders don’t want you to read.”

In the five decades since “Carrie” was published, King has written dozens of books and become one of the biggest-selling authors of all time. His name is known around the world and “Carrie” is considered a modern classic — it’s influenced generations of writers and been a topic of dissertations and literary conferences. But King, it turns out, is ambivalent about the book that ignited his career. He’s grateful for its success, of course, but believes he’s a better writer at 76 than he was at 26.

King : I would say it changed my life, yes, but I’ve never really liked “Carrie” all that much. I realize it’s done a lot for me — because of “Carrie,” I was able to write full time. What I wanted was to spend my time writing stories, and I’ve done that.

Mark Shanahan can be reached at [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter.

Design and Illustrations by Ryan Huddle/Globe staff; Audio players A Flourish data visualization .

Mark Shanahan can be reached at [email protected] . Follow him @MarkAShanahan .

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!

You Might Also Like

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Horror novel sales boomed during year of real-world anxieties

The genre has departed from classic themes, with new books dealing with war, politics and powerlessness – and sales have risen 54% year-on-year

Horror fiction is having a moment, according to data showing 2023 was a record-breaking year for book sales in the genre.

Between 2022 and 2023, sales of horror and ghost stories rose by 54% in value to £7.7m – the biggest year for the genre since accurate records began, reported the Bookseller. In the first three months of 2024, sales were 34% higher in value than in the same period last year, according to book sales data company Nielsen BookScan.

Horror writers and publishers suggest that the boom is partly due to the political nature of the genre. “Horror is a genre that tends to ebb and flow with what’s going on in the world at large, holding up a dark funfair mirror to real world horrors,” said Jen Williams, whose novel The Hungry Dark is published next week. “Given we’re in a period of unsettling upheaval – wars, the pandemic, climate change – it’s interesting that horror is moving back into the spotlight and even reaching a larger audience.”

Horror is “intrinsically political”, said Joanna Lee, an editor at Atlantic Books. She added that in books such as Yeji Y Ham’s The Invisible Hotel, where horror is used to “confront what it is to live in the long shadow of an inescapable war”, the “wild, uneasy” elements of the genre “shine truth on a reality that’s difficult to otherwise convey.”

Suzie Dooré, editor-at-large at the Borough Press, said that while pundits often say that readers seek happier subjects in dark times, “this trend doesn’t bear that out – perhaps there’s an element of ‘Well, it could be worse, I could be under attack from vengeful spirits’?”

after newsletter promotion

There is a distinctively feminist element to many new horror books, a trend that is patent on TikTok and Instagram, said Sarah Stewart-Smith, campaigns director at Verve Books, which has published horror novels such as Anne Heltzel’s Just Like Mother . The genre has undergone a “metamorphosis”, departing from the “classic horror style” of writers such as Stephen King.

Stories about consent, motherhood and transgression are “exploding in popularity” said Stewart-Smith. Readers are captivated by stories about “the expression of female rage and what happens when something so long suppressed finally ruptures,” something which the horror genre facilitates “perfectly”.

Jane Flett, whose novel Freakslaw is published in June, agrees that the rise in horror is a reaction against the “many traumatic things we’ve experienced globally” in recent years. “There’s a perverse comfort in snuggling up against the darkness when everything is so fraught. But more specifically, for me queer horror offers a space where I get to play with both power and powerlessness. It’s incredibly cathartic to lean into those feelings willingly, in a world that’s often keen to take our agency away from us.”

• Horror books

Most viewed

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

• LISTEN & FOLLOW
• Apple Podcasts
• Google Podcasts
• Amazon Music

Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.

Black girls have the spotlight in horror anthology 'The Black Girl Survives This One'

Brianna Scott

Patrick Jarenwattananon

Juana Summers

NPR's Juana Summers speaks with Desiree Evans and Saraciea Fennell about their anthology of horror stories from Black writers with the racial and gender representation they've longed for in the genre.

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

In a horror story, there's this idea of the final girl - the character who, with both pluck and luck, outwits the supernatural monstrosity and emerges as our victorious protagonist at the end. The thing is, for the many Black people who love horror...

SARACIEA FENNELL: Generally, the final girl is usually white - usually white, usually battered but, like, is coming out on top feeling very triumphant. I think everyone probably remembers, you know, Sidney as, like, the famous final girl from "Scream."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SCREAM")

JAMIE KENNEDY: (As Randy) This is the moment when the supposedly dead killer comes back to life for one last scare.

NEVE CAMPBELL: (As Sidney) Not in my movie.

DESIREE EVANS: But so often seeing Black women outside of the kind of roles as a - as kind of a stock character who dies or kind of a sassy best friend who's very supportive to the white female final girl lead - we were very rare.

SUMMERS: Desiree Evans and Saraciea Fennell both grew up reading horror stories like the "Goosebumps" books and would watch horror movies with their older siblings. And they would note every time there was a Black character, whether or not it was a forgettable part or a substantial one, like Sanaa Lathan's character in "Alien Vs. Predator."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ALIEN VS. PREDATOR")

SANAA LATHAN: (As Alexa Woods) Unexpected things are going to happen. When they do, no one tries to be a hero. Understood? Understood?

TOMMY FLANAGAN: (As Mark Verheiden) Yes, ma'am.

LATHAN: (As Alexa Woods) Good.

SUMMERS: Now Desiree Evans and Saraciea Fennell have teamed up to curate and edit a new book. It's an anthology, a collection of 15 horror stories from Black writers, including themselves, with the representation they've always longed for. It has a self-explanatory title - "The Black Girl Survives In This One." And as Evans explains, it's geared to a young adult audience.

EVANS: Horror has always been a big genre in middle grade and young adult fiction. Kids like to be scared. Kids like to kind of face their fears of the world vicariously through books or through movies, as Saraciea and I did growing up when we were watching the "Friday The 13ths" and "A Nightmare On Elm Streets" and, you know, these movies that scared us. And when there were final girls in all these movies that we were rooting for, but again, they were always white girls.

And so now this opportunity to introduce teens of color, girls of color to a world where they can root for the girls who look like them, who might come from shared experiences as them, and to see them survive and come out and be able to vicariously experience that - that teen age is a place so many of us fell in love with reading, and so many of us came into this world wanting to see ourselves on the page.

SUMMERS: One thing I noticed while reading is that a number of these stories do address race explicitly - things like stereotypes and racism and microaggressions. For either of you, can you think of a story where you think that works particularly well?

FENNELL: I'm going to say Justina's definitely. "Black Pride" by Justina Ireland is about a group of friends who get together, and, you know, one of them is about to go off to college. They go to hang out at sort of like a little cabin/house, and some spooky things start to happen. I don't want to give too much away, but by the end of the story, the main character sort of has to make a choice. Is she going to join and team up with this particular group that is sort of fighting some racism in interesting ways, or is she going to decide to not join? What about you, Desiree? Do you have any that come to mind?

EVANS: Yeah. One of the ones that I really love, and I think we ended the collection with it, is "Foxhunt" by Charlotte Nicole Davis. We have a girl who's new to a school, kind of getting used to some of the kind of local traditions. And one of them is a game that is going to be played that people have been talking about as she begins the school year. But then we find out that while this game is not - it was requiring a bit more survival than she thought going in. But it kind of tackles this kind of sense of hypervigilance a lot of Black girls and Black women feel on the daily.

SUMMERS: It feels to me like even just a couple of years ago, we might not have been sitting here - three Black women discussing an anthology horror series that centers us. I'm curious - and Saraciea, I want to start with you here - what do you think has happened lately that allows an anthology like this to get made?

FENNELL: Wow. I'm going to tap into my publishing background and remind folks of all of the things that happened on social media and really within the world, right? Within 2020, people were out on the streets protesting. There was a lot of stuff happening in the real world. And then that kind of also made people within the arts kind of look inward and see like, oh, where is the representation for Black and brown people? And so things like the #PublishingPaidMe, movements like we need diverse books, there was just, like, a pressure point on publishing, like, we see you. And we see that you're not telling our stories, and you really need to. You need to pay attention.

And then I think, also, we got all of these wonderful horror movies from the mind of Jordan Peele, right? And then the fabulous Tananarive Due was teaching all these horror classes that also kind of went viral when she posted about her syllabus and of course, Jordan Peele, like, popping into her class.

So I think it's, you know, the perfect time for this anthology to be coming out. Like you said, there's so much diversity here. There's so much different type of horror that could be tapped into. There is room on the shelf for more of these stories to be told. Because I think a lot of people will think, oh, there's already that one Black horror story. I don't think we have room for anything else. And it's like, no, here's a collection that proves that there is diversity within that. And so we really do need to continue to tell these stories.

SUMMERS: There is this really pervasive stereotype that horror is simply a white man's genre. It's for the Stephen Kings and the Alfred Hitchcocks of the world and not for Black folks. And this book, among others, proves that that is very much not the case. It has 16 Black authors. Why do the two of you think that horror resonates so much with so many Black people?

EVANS: I think it's kind of - it's complicated and not. You know, Tananarive Due, who does the introduction to our anthology, is known for saying Black history is Black horror, right? You know, we've always been there. And we've always loved horror, even if horror hasn't loved us. Even if we were kind of, you know, used as a symbol of the other or the monstrous that had to be killed - right? - early on in a lot of '40s and '50s horror, or later on, we were the first to die, or the magical Negro. These kind of side trope characters that are only there to uplift the story of the white female heroine or the white protagonist.

We were always there, but we were there in ways that were not conducive to allowing us to tell the story, us to be the heroine, us to be the protagonist. My older siblings and I would get together on the weekend and watch horror movies because it was a safe place to experience our fears. You know, horror becomes this place that we can live vicariously through, that we can see people survive in ways that allow us to feel like we can survive what's happening to us in the real world.

FENNELL: I completely agree with everything that Desiree said. The real world is crappy to Black people. Like, to live in this world is to navigate racism, sexism, like, all of the -isms all at once. And I feel like being a Black writer and telling these stories and spinning something where I'm like, oh, OK, this Black girl is going to go through all these things, but then at the end she survives. We continue to survive no matter what is thrown at us.

SUMMERS: That's Saraciea Fennell and Desiree Evans. Thanks to both of you.

EVANS: Thank you so much.

FENNELL: Thank you.

SUMMERS: Their new collection is called "The Black Girl Survives In This One." It's out today.

(SOUNDBITE OF DISASTERPEACE'S "JEALOUSY INTO LIGHT")

Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.