Books'n'Bytes

Genre

The best Horror books

Dread, body, atmosphere, unease. The genre that takes seriously what other genres treat as ornament.

16 reviews in this genre.

Editor's picks

Highest-rated horror on the shelf

It

It

by Stephen King

It by Stephen King 1986 review. Seven friends return to Derry, Maine, to face the shape-shifting evil they fought as children. One of the great American novels about childhood and the past.

The Stand

The Stand

by Stephen King

The Stand by Stephen King 1978 (and 1990 Complete & Uncut) review. A weaponized plague kills 99 percent of humanity. The survivors are pulled toward Boulder or toward Las Vegas, and the novel that follows is one of the great American epics of its decade.

The Trees

The Trees

by Percival Everett

The Trees by Percival Everett 2021 review. Brutal murders in Money, Mississippi, all link to the 1955 Emmett Till lynching. Booker Prize shortlist 2022.

Mexican Gothic

Mexican Gothic

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 2020 review. Noemi Taboada is summoned to the remote Mexican mountain town of El Triunfo to rescue her cousin from her new husband's family. The canonical contemporary Latin American gothic horror novel and the 2020 Bram Stoker winner.

The Only Good Indians

The Only Good Indians

by Stephen Graham Jones

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones 2020 review. Four Blackfeet men who committed a hunting transgression are tracked across the present-day American West by something that wants the moral debt paid. Bram Stoker Award 2020.

Fairy Tale

Fairy Tale

by Stephen King

Fairy Tale by Stephen King 2022 review. Charlie Reade inherits a Maine estate and discovers a portal to a fairy-tale world that has gone seriously wrong. Late-career King at his most generously narrative.

Heart-Shaped Box

Heart-Shaped Box

by Joe Hill

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill 2007 review. An aging metal star buys a ghost on the internet. The ghost belongs to a former groupie's stepfather, and he is not happy. The debut novel that established Joe Hill as the heir to his father's horror legacy.

Quest for Cthulhu

Quest for Cthulhu

by August Derleth

Quest for Cthulhu by August Derleth review. A career-spanning omnibus of his Lovecraft Mythos continuation stories. The expansion-tradition's most controversial founder at full strength.

The Lurker At The Threshold

The Lurker At The Threshold

by August Derleth

The Lurker at the Threshold by August Derleth 1945 review. The first Derleth posthumous 'collaboration' with H. P. Lovecraft, building a Mythos novel from unfinished Lovecraft fragments.

Many Bloody Returns

Many Bloody Returns

by Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris and Toni Kelner's vampire-birthday anthology. A clever theme, a strong roster, and one of the better paranormal anthologies of the 2000s.

Wolfsbane and Mistletoe

Wolfsbane and Mistletoe

by Charlaine Harris

Wolfsbane and Mistletoe by Charlaine Harris and Toni Kelner review. A Christmas-themed paranormal anthology. Werewolves, holidays, strong roster.

The Children of Cthulhu

The Children of Cthulhu

by Benjamin Adams

An anthology of Lovecraftian horror co-edited by Benjamin Adams and John Pelan. Mixed bag with several real standouts.

The Face Of Time

The Face Of Time

by Camille Bacon-Smith

The Face of Time by Camille Bacon-Smith review. A contemporary fantasy novel by the Enterprising Women academic. Demons, Philadelphia, urban fantasy with serious knowledge of fan-fiction tradition.

The Scorpion King

The Scorpion King

by Max Allan Collins

The Scorpion King by Max Allan Collins 2002 review. The official prequel novelization of the Mummy Returns spinoff, expanding Mathayus the warrior’s desert origin story.

The Watchers Out Of Time

The Watchers Out Of Time

by August Derleth

The Watchers Out of Time by August Derleth review. A 1974 collection of additional Derleth-Lovecraft 'posthumous collaborations' that round out the Mythos extension project.

Blue November Storms [Novella]

Blue November Storms [Novella]

by Brian Freeman

Blue November Storms by Brian Freeman review. A psychological thriller novella. Short, atmospheric, useful sampler for the Minnesota crime writer.

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