Books
10 Scary Good Horror Novels to Add to Your Reading List
Horror comes in many forms, meaning there’s a wealth of spine-tingling tales of terror beyond streaming and VOD. Sometimes a great horror novel can deliver the chills in ways other mediums of the genre cannot.
Whether you’re combating cabin fever or simply looking for a new author to add to your reading pile, these ten scary good horror novels deliver.
“A Head Full of Ghosts” – Paul Tremblay
With the recent news of an adaptation starring Margaret Qualley with direction by Scott Cooper (Antlers), there’s no better time than now to get acquainted with the terrifying source material. Tremblay, a modern master of ambiguous terror, weaves a compelling and brisk read about a suburban family torn apart thanks to the emergence of acute schizophrenia in their teen daughter. Or is it something demonic? A Head Full of Ghosts is a mind-bending tale that offers jaw-dropping shocks, and it’s penned by an author well versed in horror cinema.
“The Fisherman” – John Langan
If you’re in the mood for a dark folktale that weaves together intersecting timelines, otherworldly creatures, and cosmic dread, this is a must. Abe and Dan are two friends bonded by extreme loss, and a roadside stop on the way to their fishing trip causes them to alter course for Dutchman’s Creek, a place of legend and magic. The potential to have their losses wiped clean proves too strong, but the steep price they pay after may not be worth it. Cosmic horror on an epic and massively creative scale.
“Meddling Kids” – Edgar Cantero
In 1977, the teen detectives of the Blyton Summer Detective Case and their Weimaraner cracked open a significant case that leaves a costumed culprit behind bars for a very long time. Cut to thirteen years later, and the gang has long split up. None of them faring well in adulthood. Police want one of the members across multiple states, another battles alcoholism, and another has spent many years in Arkham Asylum. Nightmares and the suicide of the fourth member bring the gang back together to retrace the steps of their last case; there was something much worse than a masked man behind it all. Something otherworldly and Lovecraftian, and it wants free. Cantero remixes the Scooby-Doo setup with Lovecraftian terror, merging light-hearted horror with Dagon-like beasts. He avoids the pitfalls of oversaturating the prose in pop-culture references in favor of earnestness and action-horror.
“The Hunger” – Alma Katsu
Everyone is familiar with the ill-fated Donner Party that resorted to cannibalism on the Oregon Trail after a series of mishaps. Katsu takes the well-documented tragedy and gives the historical tale a supernatural horror spin. After introducing a slew of characters in the Donner Party wagon train, the bubbling factions among the group, and a series of early signs of the future derailment, children start to go missing and mutilated bodies of livestock and humans pop up along the way. The group ignores all warning signs of danger, but what is the threat? Is Tamsin Donner truly an evil witch? Are the Native Americans responsible? Or is the land cursed by evil?
“Flight or Fright: 17 Turbulent Tales” – edited by Stephen King and Bev Vincent
If you’re in the mood for bite-sized horror, authors Stephen King and Bev Vincent curated seventeen tales inspired by the fear of flying. It’s an anthology of every possible thing that could go wrong in the air, both supernatural and realistic. Flight of Fright offers an eclectic mix of classic stories from the likes of Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl and Dan Simmons, as well as brand new tales from Stephen King, Joe Hill, and more.
“The Remaking” – Clay McLeod Chapman
Ella Louise and her daughter, Jessica, were horrifically burned at the stake by the townsfolk of Pilot Creek. Their story and the cursed land where it took place became the stuff of urban legend to be passed along at the campfire. Urban legends have an exciting way of growing and evolving, and The Remaking follows how this particular tale transforms every twenty years. From the basis of a ‘70s horror movie to a modern retelling in the ‘90s and beyond, lives are irrevocably shattered. Ella Louise and Jessica intend to live on through story. Unusual narrative structure aside, Chapman marks himself as a definite horror movie fan with character names like Janet Strode and a detailed world steeped in horror movie sets and conventions.
“Full Throttle” – Joe Hill
A collection of thirteen shorts by an author quickly on his way to becoming just as prolific as his dad, Stephen King, this hefty tome from Joe Hill has something for everyone. If you’re all caught up on “Creepshow” on Shudder, then read Hill’s original “By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain,” which served as the basis for Tom Savini’s segment. If you’ve seen Netflix’s In the Tall Grass, then definitely be sure to read the story Hill co-wrote with King, included here.
“The Sun Down Motel” – Simone St. James
After her parents’ divorce, Viv Delaney winds up at the Sun Down Motel as the night clerk. She’s hoping to save up enough money to move to New York, but instead, she finds herself drawn into a mystery thanks to the ghosts that haunt the place. Thirty-five years later, Viv’s niece arrives looking for her missing aunt’s whereabouts. Like her aunt, she winds up working as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel, drawn into the same ghosts and mysteries. She may not realize the danger she’s in until far too late. A suspense-driven mystery, the supernatural elements are spooky and prominent, but this is more horror adjacent. Think something in the vein of Stir of Echoes.
“The Boatman’s Daughter” – Andy Davidson
An atmospheric southern gothic tale, this story follows Miranda, a drug smuggler in the bayou. Her job means she runs afoul of the most unsavory types, but Miranda is resourceful and was raised by a witch. She’s going to need to rely on everything she learned when she falls in too deep with a deranged preacher and his flock. Brooding, elaborate prose, and eerie in setting, Davidson wants to ensure readers vividly see, hear, and feel the haunting swamplands. Gorgeous as it is violent, The Boatman’s Daughter is perfect for those looking for a lush, eerie fairytale.
“The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires” – Grady Hendrix
The latest by gifted storyteller Grady Hendrix, set for release on April 7, touts itself as Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula. Set in the ‘90s, of course. For Patricia, the only thing she looks forward to in her life is her book club, a group of mothers united by their passion for true crime novels. A handsome new stranger in the neighborhood brings the book club a new source of gossip and speculation. However, Patricia sets him as the prime suspect in her personal investigation when children go missing. If the title is any indication, he’s not human.
I am a sucker for tales of small communities beset by shadowy occult influence, particularly those that blend real esotericism with fictional worlds and people. There’s a trick to it, though, and it’s not just about the atmospheric power of the occult imagery and lore. The community, the people on whom the darkness is preying, has to feel lived-in, real, strange, and singular even before the magic and the terror set in.
Shannon Morgan‘s latest novel, A Penance for Crows, gets that right from the opening pages. Set on a secluded Irish island and told from the perspective of an outsider who’s learned to coexist with a theocratic community, it’s immediately immersive, which helps make it one of those books fans of folk and occult horror absolutely shouldn’t miss.
Grizela is a painter, living in relative seclusion in a cottage on the island of Beanna Dubh. She moved here from Scotland long ago, sells her paintings under pseudonyms, and in general kind of likes that the rest of the islanders see her as an oddball at best and a bad influence at worst. She spends her days painting, reading, and mentoring local girls Nessa, Una, Enya, and Maeve, hoping that they’ll one day find freedom beyond the island.
Beanna Dubh, you see, is tightly controlled by the Catholic Church, particularly the aging Father Murphy, who runs the local parish and keeps a tight grip on the reins of the community.
So when one of Father Murphy’s underlings turns up dead on Beanna Dubh’s shores, it sends ripples of terror through the community. Grizela, as the person who finds the body, is the subject of particular suspicion, and the local superstitions about the flocks of crows who live on the island and supposedly warn of impending doom flare up all over again. A mystery is afoot, one marked by ancient sigils and strange happenings, and if Grizela doesn’t solve it, it just might consume her.
What jumped out at me first about this book is how good Morgan is at balancing initial jolts of exposition with atmospheric worldbuilding and, of course, sound character work. Grizela is inherently fascinating, an outsider who nevertheless has spent enough time on the island to know it in and out. She’s up on all the gossip, knows where the chief tension lies, and sees paths to deeper connections through fellow misfits and expats. Or at least…she thinks she does.
Morgan does not waste a moment in diving straight into the plot, knocking Grizela back on her heels and leaving her scrambling for answers as the town moves closer and closer to something like a full-blown Satanic panic. This leaves her looking for footholds, whether they lay in the past or the present, and sets up very clear avenues of antagonism for characters like Father Murphy. It’s all beautifully arranged, and the ways of the island people – from their own peculiar way of greeting each other to the significance of local landmarks – stand out with a vividness that recalls folk horror classics like The Wicker Man.
This careful arrangement of story elements emerges so Morgan can spend the back half of the book not just upsetting the balance of life on Beanna Dubh, but blurring it, giving it depth and shade like a painter might blend colors. Grizela’s present starts to echo her past, sending her into corners of her mind she’d rather not go.
The line between what seems like accidental deaths and superstitions of diabolical influence practically disappears, as it no longer seems to matter whether the Devil is afoot or it just feels like he is. The church, the town’s protective and guiding influence, takes on more shades of malevolence, and even though they feel predictable, they fit right in to the larger tapestry.
The result is a book that delivers folk horror in the classic sense, calling to mind the novels of Dennis Wheatley and Thomas Tryon as well as films like Blood on Satan’s Claw and Witchfinder General, with an added sense of timelessness that really sings. If I have any major complaint, it’s that the pieces of evidence building to a solution start to get a little too convenient at times, losing some of the book’s well-earned ambiguity on its course toward explaining everything that’s happened.
That’s more personal preference than a question of good craft, however. If you love folk horror, occult horror, or just atmospheric, Gothic chills mixed with old, dark magic, you will love A Penance for Crows.
A Penance for Crows is out now wherever books are sold.
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