Spooky Season is finally upon us, and what better time of year to read a horror novel that will have you checking under the bed for monsters, questioning every sound you hear as you’re trying to fall asleep at night, and loading up on garlic and silver than the days before Halloween?
The following are 10 horror novels that hit shelves this year, ranging from demonic hauntings to cursed movie sets to eldritch creatures and more.
1. Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay
If you’re someone who is fascinated by the strange and unsettling history of “cursed” and “haunted” movies — think Poltergeist and The Conjuring — then Paul Tremblay’s latest novel, Horror Movie, is worth picking up to read this spooky season.
In 1993, a group of young filmmakers set out to make Horror Movie, a terrifying art-house film lost to time. Only three of the movie’s scenes were ever released to the general public, the rest left to speculation. Three decades later, Horror Movie’s only surviving cast member agrees to help remake the film when Hollywood comes calling. But the more time he spends on set, the more memories from the past are dredged up, both the good and the bad.
In true Paul Tremblay fashion, Horror Movie is a gripping slow burn of a horror novel and a love letter to the horror genre across all mediums.
2. This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer
Inspired by the infamous Dyatlov Pass, This Wretched Valley tells the story of four close friends — Dylan, Clay, Sylvia and Luke — and the events that lead to the discovery of three mutilated corpses seven months after their trip into the Kentucky wilderness. While the bodies are quickly identified as Clay, Sylvia, and Luke, all appear to be in various stages of decay; one is skeletal, one is missing all of its internal organs, and the third has been divested of its tongue and ears. Dylan’s whereabouts remain a mystery, with some claiming to have seen her wandering through the woods. Without Dylan to tell investigators what really happened, the question remains: were the rest of the hikers murdered, lost and starving, or was there something much more sinister and supernatural afoot?
3. Such Lovely Skin by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne
For years, people have been trying to convince the general public that video games are evil, and in Tatiana Schlote-Bonne’s debut horror novel, Such Lovely Skin, it just so happens that they are.
Burdened with guilt in the wake of her little sister’s death and the knowledge that she caused it, Viv, an avid gamer, decides that it’s high time to start streaming on Twitch again, and decides that she will donate the money that she makes to atone for her sins. When an NPC in a horror game asks for a secret, Viv tells it the truth, which allows a demonic doppelgänger that feeds on pain and guilt to infiltrate her life a la Samara in The Ring.
What transpires is a tense and touching tale of demonic haunting, family, and learning to face the truth.
4. The Queen by Nick Cutter
Probably best known for his harrowing tale of survival The Troop, Nick Cutter has returned to our bookshelves and our unquiet dreams with a grotesque new horror novel, The Queen.
On a gorgeous, sunny morning in June, Margaret Carpenter wakes up to discover a brand new iPhone on her doorstep with a text from her best friend, Charity, on it. The problem with this is that Charity has been missing and presumed dead for over a month. Charity’s message sends Margaret on a frantic, 24-hour goose chase to find out the truth about what happened to her friend as well as her connection to a clandestine gene manipulation experiment funded by a mysterious billionaire tech mogul.
5. Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton
Some believe that they have a guardian angel watching over them. Not Sarita, though. Sarita has Angelo, a devilish, pale figure enshrouded in shadows who has been her constant companion and kept an eye on her since she nearly drowned as a young girl. When Angelo kills Sarita’s husband Frank, seemingly unprovoked, she is forced to consider whether or not the angel watching over her is an angel at all, or if something else entirely came to her rescue all those years ago.
6. American Rapture by C.J. Leede
If you consider yourself to be a horror fan at all and haven’t heard of CJ Leede by now, you’re missing out on one of the finest writers the genre has to offer. Leede is a force to be reckoned with.
American Rapture begins with the onset of a mysterious plague that causes its victims to become uncontrollably sexual and violent. Enter Sophie, an extremely sheltered Catholic teen who finds herself at the heart of the outbreak and forced to travel the Midwest on her own in order to track down her twin brother before it’s too late.
Fair warning: American Rapture is not for the faint of heart. It features sexual assault, religious trauma, and truly heartbreaking animal death, amongst other horrors. But at its heart, American Rapture is a surprisingly uplifting tale about the end of the world and one young girl who learns that there is so much more to life than what she’s been taught.
7. Feast While You Can by Mikaella Clements & Onjuli Datta
Co-written by married couple Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta, Feast While You Can is a deeply unsettling exploration of family, small town superstitions, and human desire.
Set in a remote, backwater village in Italy called Cadenze, Feast While You Can tells the story of Angelina, a young woman who spends her days going to her brother’s metal concerts and hooking up with tourists who happen to stumble into her town. When her brother’s ex Jagvi arrives, an ancient entity lying dormant in the mines surrounding Cadenze is awoken, throwing Angelina’s life into turmoil. As the creature grows stronger and more insidious, it attaches itself to Angelina, feasting on her memories, and she soon finds that the only way to hold it at bay is to spend time with Jagvi.
8. Youthjuice by E.K. Sathue
If you’re a fan of American Psycho, Death Becomes Her, or just supporting women’s wrongs in general, then I cannot recommend reading Youthjuice by E.K. Sathue enough. It is an oozing, fetid, body horror-packed blast from the first page to the very last, and will make you think twice next time a viral beauty trend comes across your feed.
Set in New York City, Youthjuice tells the story of Sophia Bannion, a 29-year-old copywriter working at a luxury skincare company called Hebe. It’ll be clear to readers that something about Hebe isn’t quite right, from its ethereally beautiful and enigmatic leader Tree to the fact that interns keep mysteriously disappearing. When Tree asks Sophia to test out a new cream, it miraculously erases the scars from her horrendous nail-biting habit overnight. But when she stumbles across the product’s secret ingredient, Sophia is forced to reckon with how far she’d go to have perfect skin.
9. Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
Middle of the Night by Riley Sager is, first and foremost, a ghost story.
On a peaceful July evening 30 years ago, Ethan Marsh’s best friend Billy went missing while they were camping together in his back yard. Billy was never seen again, and the truth of what happened to him has haunted Ethan his entire life. When Ethan, plagued by violent nightmares that keep him up at night, returns to his family home, a serious of mysterious incidents leads him to believe that something, whether it’s the spirit of Billy or something much more monstrous, might be waiting for him just out of sight in the woods.
10. The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk (translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones)
The year is 1913. World War I is just over the horizon, and Mieczysław, a student suffering from Tuberculosis, has decided to seek treatment for his condition at Wilhelm Opitz’s Guesthouse for Gentleman, a health resort in what is now considered to be part of Poland. Every evening the inhabitants of the Guesthouse gather together to have philosophical debates with one another about the state of the world and partake in a hallucinogenic local liquor. But the more time Mieczysław spends with his new companions, the more he cannot shake the feeling that they are being watched by something sinister that is lurking just out of sight.
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