Books
Vampires, Grave Robbers, and Crows: 10 Horror Books We Can’t Wait to Read in July
We’re in the thick of summer reading season, and that means loads of fresh genre books to take to the beach or cozy up with by the pool. July’s top horror books bring everything from a new spin on Dracula to young adult cosmic horror to books by genre mainstays like Chuck Tingle and Christopher Golden, to name just a few.
So, whether you’re into grave robbers, creepy neighbors, vampires, or good old-fashioned Gothic chills, here are the books we’re most excited about in July of 2026.
The Brides by Charlotte Cross – July 7
The Dracula legend has grown to such titanic proportions over the last century and more that we’re still finding new ways to twist it into fresh stories. The Brides sets out to do exactly that with a feminist retelling of the story that attempts to lay out the origins of Dracula’s famous trio of brides. It begins with a journey to Budapest, an invitation from a Transylvanian noble, and a castle in the woods. It ends…well, read it and find out.
The Red Sacrament by Sara Hinkley – July 7
Do you ever wish the theater of vampires from Interview with the Vampire was a novel unto itself? That’s the world Sara Hinkley will dive into with The Red Sacrament, a vampire novel set in 19th-century Paris about a mysterious midnight theater troupe that never seems to age. Set amid a time of bickering and potential revolution in the vampire world, it follows a theater company full of blood drinkers as they navigate strange new tribulations, including the arrival of a witch who could upend everything about their immortal existence. I’m an absolute sucker for books like this one, and I can’t wait to dive in.
Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle – July 7
Chuck Tingle’s rise to become one of the most important horror writers of the decade continues with his latest novel, a wild ride pitched as a blend of Drive and Beetlejuice. It follows Poppy, a single Mom and fashion influencer who makes ends meet by dealing in black market body parts. It’s a tough gig, but Poppy’s ticket out might have arrived when the opportunity arises to transport the corpse of a newly dead rock star. It seems like an easy way to a big payday…at least until the rock star wakes up. I’m in the thick of this book right now; I’m having a blast, and I’m betting you will too.
Brave New Weird Vol. 4 – July 14
Tenebrous Press is one of the finest indie genre publishers out there right now, and Brave New Weird is a big reason why. Curated by Tenebrous editor Alex Woodroe, this book aims to collect the best in “New Weird Horror” published throughout the last year, bringing together nearly two dozen writers on the cutting edge of genre short fiction right now. If you want to read key works from the genre writers of the future, or you just like your horror really, really strange, this is the place to go.
Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die by Mallory Arnold – July 14
The latest from the author of How to Survive a Horror Story begins with a really juicy hook: Three women all discover they’re dating the same man, and they decide to get revenge. To make that happen, they decide to team up and lure him to an isolated mountain cabin, where they’ll put their whole plan in motion and get some relatively nonviolent payback. But when he turns up dead, the women are plunged into a nightmare. They can’t trust anyone, even each other, and they might not be alone. I’m so ready to see how this one plays out.
Home Sick by Rhiannon Grist – July 14
A very promising debut novel, Home Sick follows Tamsin, a woman hoping to start over with a new house and a new life in Scotland, after her old life starts to crumble. She’s optimistic, but then she meets her neighbor, a perplexing woman with whom Tamsin shares a wall. When strange things start to happen in the house, backed up by local stories about the place, Tamsin starts to wonder if her neighbor is behind it all, setting off a dark psychological spiral. I’ve heard great things about this one, and I’m thrilled that it’s almost here.
Scary Movie Night by Miranda Smith – July 14
A woman named Tippi (I’m already on board) is turning 35 and breaking free from a crappy relationship, and her friends decide to celebrate by renting out a mansion and basically throwing her a horror movie-themed costume party. It’s a great idea, and it feels like it’s gonna be a great night, at least until Tippi’s friends start disappearing and her ex starts sending threatening texts. A slasher whodunit steeped in movie references, Scary Movie Night feels like a perfect summer horror read, particularly for those of us who can imagine attending a party exactly like this one.
Carry Me to My Grave by Christopher Golden – July 21
Christopher Golden is one of modern horror’s heavy hitters, and Carry Me to My Grave is his latest page-turner. The book follows Malcolm, who sits by his dying mother’s bedside and makes her a very specific promise: In the coming two days, he will transport her body home to Maine, or there will be dire consequences. Does Malcolm understand those consequences? Not really, but the strange figures watching from outside, and the feeling that he’s being pursued, suggest he’d better hurry. I was lucky enough to get a very early look at this one, and I can tell you it’s Golden at his best, a freight train of a book you won’t want to put down.
Unnamed Bones by Lora Senf – July 21
Through books like The Clackity, Lora Senf made her name as one of the finest horror authors for young readers, and now she’s taking on the young adult world with a dose of cosmic horror. After the death of her father, teenage Harrow and her friends head to a seemingly impossible island to search for answers, only to find themselves in a world with rules they don’t understand. To make things more complicated, Harrow has coped with her own cursed life by making her feelings into personalities that live very full lives in her head, and now they’re all coming out to play. Throw in a mysterious creature, and you’ve got a book poised to be jam-packed with creepy fun from one of the best writers in the genre right now.
A Penance for Crows by Shannon Morgan – July 28
Billed as a Gothic novel with a synopsis that hints at folk and occult horror, A Penance for Crows is set on an island off the coast of Ireland that’s like a trip back in time. Modern technology doesn’t touch it; the church is the highest authority, and residents still hold to old folk beliefs, including a sense of ill omens brought by the island’s many crows. It’s here that we meet Grizela, a local painter plunged into a supernatural mystery when a local priest turns up murdered, and a quartet of young girls starts holding strange meetings after dark. This one feels like it’s got everything I love about the genre bundled up in one satisfyingly haunting package, so I’m eager to crack it open.
There’s a lot of reading left to do in 2026, between the glut of summer releases and the approach of fall, when horror titles get a special push from publishers, but this has already been an incredible year for horror literature.
Some of the biggest names in the genre have turned in outstanding work, rising stars have made their mark, and we’re only halfway through the year.
To celebrate the midway point of 2026, with plenty of horror books still to come, we’re taking a look back at the best horror books we’ve read this year so far, listed alphabetically by author.
If you missed any of these books earlier in the year, consider this your reminder to catch up.
Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker
A student running from a crime he may or may not have committed escapes to his father’s country home in Japan, only to find himself haunted by strange apparitions, while in the past, a young samurai tries to find salvation for her family and finds a door to the future instead. Kylie Lee Baker’s Japanese Gothic begins with this dialogue between past and present, and then blossoms into so much more, a cross-time ghost story about old wounds and what it really takes to finally heal them. I got so happily lost in this one that I would have read at least 200 more pages.
Persona by Aoife Josie Clements
In this tale of shut-ins, sex workers, artists, and the horrors they both summon and recoil from, Aoife Josie Clements weaves something that feels less like a story to be experienced and more like a psychic wound to be endured, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. Evocative in its prose and nightmarish in its imagery, Persona is a story of the masks we wear, and the understanding that not all of our masks are particularly pretty or even easy to breathe through. It’s a dense, literary, unnervingly vicious book, and while it’s already attracted an audience, it deserves a much bigger one.
Dead First by Johnny Compton
Johnny Compton’s latest novel opens with a throwing down of the gauntlet, a sequence that made me instantly think “How on Earth is he going to top this?” It’s a story that begins with a billionaire hiring a private investigator to determine why, despite trying in many brutal ways, he cannot die. That premise, and the scene which sets it all off, is so alluring and delightfully gruesome that you almost can’t believe it’s the way a book begins, and then Compton just keeps going, delivering a supernatural mystery that I could not put down.
Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey
A woman grieving for the life she wanted visits a mysterious island renowned for the healing salt its residents harvest and sell, seeking renewal and relief. What she finds instead is a strange cult with a twisted history with surprising resonance in her own life, and a people who are more than willing to grant the relief she wants, for a price. Laced with beautiful prose and moments of profound realization alongside folk and even cosmic horror, this is vintage Sarah Gailey.
Partially Devoured by Daniel Kraus
If you love horror film history and analysis, Partially Devoured is an essential. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Daniel Kraus, the book is a deep dive into his favorite movie of all time, George A. Romero‘s Night of the Living Dead, complete with exhaustive research into the making of the film and passages of deeply moving memoir woven in. If you’ve ever wanted to know what the eerie music that opens the film is called while also bursting into tears at how horror movies can save your life, this is a must-read.
Wretch by Eric LaRocca
Our reigning King of Extreme Horror, Eric LaRocca weaves books of uncommon beauty out of the most nightmarish parts of humanity, and Wretch is no exception. The story of a grieving man who longs for relief and searches for it amid a strange support group that might be a cult, Wretch is a brutal journey into the darkest part of us all, and explores what salvation we might find when we get to the rotten core of the world and peel back its layers. LaRocca’s on a tear of great work right now that few other genre writers can match.
Headlights by CJ Leede
A mystery, a serial killer horror show, a tribute to Stephen King‘s The Shining. All of these things describe CJ Leede’s Headlights, and yet they don’t begin to cover the full breadth of horror awaiting you in this novel. The story of a former FBI agent drawn back into the cold case that haunts him most, it’s a shocker brimming over with vivid moments that’ll live behind your eyes. CJ Leede has now published three novels, and they’re all bangers, so it’s time to get on board if you haven’t already.
It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo
Cynthia Pelayo has been one of our finest genre writers for years now, but It Came From Neverland is my favorite thing she’s written, and it’s not even close. A dark take on Peter Pan from the perspective of an adult Wendy Darling living in World War I-era London, Pelayo’s book works as both a satisfying horror narrative and a rich exploration of what it really means to never grow up. The horror never loses its potency, but it’s the search for the meaning behind the Peter Pan phenomenon in our own lives, and what we can do about it, that sticks with me most.
Filth Eaters by Ito Romo
Ito Romo’s Filth Eaters is a slim volume, one you can read in just a couple of hours if you’ve got the inclination, but it has the feel of a generation-spanning epic. The story of a breed of vampires born in Central America, the European vampires who encounter them, and the offspring they eventually produced, it spans centuries and packs loads of juicy lore into its pages while never losing its grip on character and narrative drive. I would read hundreds more pages of this world, but I’ll settle for this uncommonly grand-scale novella for now.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay
A former pro gamer gets a job at a tech company to pilot a brain-dead human body across the country, and so Paul Tremblay’s sci-fi-horror juggernaut begins. Indebted to Philip K. Dick, the primal snarl of Harlan Ellison, and the quirky comedy of The Big Lebowski, and yet wholly original, this is a towering and ambitious novel by one of horror’s most respected voices. What starts as a high-concept tech thriller soon becomes a startling meditation on the value of stories, who gets to tell them, and what happens when we cede too much control to machines we don’t understand. It’s a stunner.
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