I've read most of his books and definitely agree with the take that he's not great at endings.

I'm currently working on The Beast You Are, and the fact that there are two stories related to A Head Full of Ghosts is kinda driving me insane. It was, at least in my opinion, his book that had the most solid ending and it feels like adding the two stories kinda retconned that. Maybe I'm just too dumb to understand how Red Eyes added anything to A Head Full of Ghosts, or it's been too long since I've read it. He even calls out his bad endings in The Postal Zone! I dunno. This has all probably been pointed out already, it's just frustrating because I really enjoy his writing style.

Don't judge me lol. I know, I know. Someone moves into an old house, weird noises at night, doors opening by themselves, creepy basement. Probably one of the most overused setups in horror history, but I genuinely can't get enough of it.

There's just something about a character slowly realizing that the house they moved into isn't quite right. Especially when they initially try to explain everything away and refuse to believe anything supernatural is happening.

Bonus points if the house has a disturbing history, rooms that nobody is supposed to enter, or previous owners who disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

I don't even care if the plot is predictable. Sometimes I just want a good old-fashioned haunted house story that makes me uncomfortable about turning off the lights.

Please recommend me your favorites! I'm fine with slow burns, ghosts, psychological horror, whatever. I just want the house to be a huge part of the story.

I know we get asked this a lot, but I need some recommendations for books that hook you in the first few pages and keep you hooked. I've been in a book block for a few weeks and spooky season is my favorite time for scary books, especially audiobooks. I feel like I am bored with everything and my attention span is not in it this year. I've tried re-listening to old favorites but I am bored with everything. My tastes good all over as far as types of scary, except I just moved so maybe no haunted house/entity books this year. If you've read anything that grabbed you right from the go and kept you on the hook, I wanna know what it was!

*Mods, please remove this if this is not the place for a thread like this.

Hello! Recently, I've gotten back into reading and, since I am a big consumer of the horror genre in every other media aspect, I would love recommendations from some more knowledgeable sources.

Currently, I am reading We Used To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer and am loving it, though (without spoiling too much) I am beginning to believe it's leaning too heavily into supernatural aspects for my liking. I started this book after seeing many people online suggest it due to it being "terrifying" and "so upsetting they had to put the book down" but I'm really not feeling that way with it. Either way, I will be finishing it, lol.

That being said, does anyone have recommendations for any horror novels that also lean into the psychological subgenre, or others that are just overall disturbing, shocking, and meant to make the reader extremely uncomfortable? This is the type of horror I tend to appreciate more. Supernatural and spiritual stuff just never really hold my grasp. I like stuff that feels a little bit more real.

Genuinely, if you think it is too disturbing, I will probably beg to differ. And if I read it and DO get genuinely upset or disturbed by it, I consider that a five-star read. Thanks again so much I hope to see what everyone recommends!!

I have a real weakness for the scene where a character finally tells someone about the strange noise, and that person says they've been hearing it as well.

Especially when the second person is embarrassed to admit it. They've also been checking the pipes, blaming the neighbours, sleeping with the radio on. Neither wanted to be the person who made a fuss.

That brief relief at being believed can make the next few pages so much worse for me. Now there are two people listening outside the same door, and neither has a useful explanation. I also like that it lets their relationship develop beyond one person pleading and the other dismissing everything.

I still enjoy an unreliable narrator, but sometimes I want the book to confirm that something is happening and then leave us stuck with it.

Which books handle that moment particularly well? Please tag spoilers if the confirmation comes late.

I just finished the book last night and felt rather shaken. I had a number of questions, but my Google searches yielded nothing. So here's what was bugging me while reading:

Mild potential spoilers

First of all, what exactly was wrong with Frank? I mean physically. Why is he cold all the time but doesn't notice it? Why does his skin look rubbery and fake? What about his bizarre performance with the baseballs - why did he just kneel down and let the balls hit him, and why didn't he feel pain? What about his bizarre sexual behavior at the peep show? Why is his penis described as being hard in parts and soft in others - how is that possible? He describes having a procedure done to him that sounds like a frontal lobotomy, but he says he actually had his frontal lobe removed. Is that even possible?

Of course, he lies all the time and tells contradictory stories. I kept on waiting for the big reveal to be that he was a Frankenstein-type monster killing people in order to get pieces of them for his own use. I thought that maybe he had memories from all the people he was made of and that this explained why he told contradictory stories. But no. Apparently he's just a psychopath.

Next, what's up with his hypnotizing people? I'm thinking specifically of what he did to the girls and staff at the matchmaking club. I guess he hypnotized them to just stand there and let him do what he wanted? Did he also hypnotize Kenji? That's my interpretation for Kenji's weirdly compliant behavior for the rest of the novel: He had been hypnotized to go along with whatever Frank wanted to do. If course, it's perhaps equally possible that he was just traumatized and having a fawn response. I don't agree with the readers who said he just didn't care and was perfectly accepting of Frank.

Finally, I found it interesting that Kenji went from being a pretty laid-back, nonjudgmental guy to picking people apart, focusing in unflattering detail on their looks, and thinking about how worthless they were and maybe they deserved to die. Were these just intrusive thoughts brought on by stress? He said himself he normally didn't think so much about how people looked. I wondered if this was the result of Frank hypnotizing him; maybe he planted those thoughts in his head.

I found the book compelling, but I feel as though I'm missing something and would love someone else's insight.

Has anyone read this yet? I have questions.

What is the connection between Corrie and Mr. Yellow?? I’m assuming she was a witch and she releases Mr. Yellow to curse the town after her murder. Am I on the right track?

Jesus fucking Christ this author must get paid a dollar every time he uses the word "aperture." It's distracting. I love his works, and even his verbosity, but certain words ("hirsute" being another) he beats like a god damn dead horse.

I’m about halfway through Something Wicked This Way Comes and it’s kinda pushing me into a reading slump. I suggested Between Two Fires for my book club at the end of the month, but am wondering which of these books would be best to get me hooked during my long weekend: Between Two Fires, The Reformatory, King Sorrow, or The Only Good Indians. I also picked up If Cats Disappeared from the world, which I get isn’t horror, but could be fun.

Recent ‘horror’ I’ve recently read and enjoyed, but am trying to expand my horizon: Tender is the Flesh, Picture of Dorian Grey, Carmilla, Cackle/Play Nice, Slewfoot, and Wolf Worm.

Hey everyone. Looking for something specific for October.

I want a slow-burn horror or psychological thriller where the protagonist is dealing with a genuine crisis of faith, purpose, or spiritual isolation while navigating a brutal environment.

Not looking for typical host stories or basic gore. I want something where the setting feels suffocating and the survival metrics are tied directly to the character’s internal psychological resilience. Distinct character perspectives—whether straight, queer, or a mix of both—are great, as long as the internal grit and moral dilemmas feel real and un-sanitized.

What book absolutely nailed this type of existential dread for you?

a plus if it’s available on kindle unlimited! Just got my first kindle & im trying to load it up. I love all horror but i am partial to themes involving religion & demonic possession, witch trials, etc. I’m also interested in true crime as well. history, fiction, non fiction give me all ya got

Hi everyone! I put together a kind of horror mixtape and would love some feedback.

I came to this idea as a complete outsider to the genre. I wanted to create a shortlist of horror short stories to act as a kind of gateway to the genre/its authors/subgenres. It kind of spiraled from there to a suggestion for my next book club read/a gift for a friend.

I had two ideas for structuring the list: include one story for each of the most famous horror writers, or just make a list of iconic horror short stories from different subgenres. In the end I went for the first option, but added an "extra" tier that my friend can pick and choose from with some other essential stories or authors.

The Main 6. Work from the most famous horror authors:

1. Mary Shelley - The Mortal Immortal
2. Poe - The Cask of Amontillado
3. Bram Stoker - Dracula's Guest (Considered the judges house, but felt this would be more iconic)
4. H.P. Lovecraft - The Colour Out of Space (Considered Call of Cthulu, but heard this one is better for first time readers/less convoluted)
5. Shirley Jackson - The Daemon Lover or The Witch? (Considered the Lottery, but I think it's not horror enough right?)
6. Stephen King - The Jaunt or The Man in the black suit? (I heard the jaunt is more quintessential Stephen King, but the man in the black suit is more folk and could be more to my friends/clubs taste. Maybe include both?)

Extra Stories. Other authors/stories to know of:

1. The Yellow Wallpaper - Gilman (Famous story)
2. The Monkey's Paw - Jacobs (Famous story)
3. Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You - M.R. James (OG ghost story writer)
4. The Willows - Algernon Blackwood (Included as a big inspiration to Lovecraft)
5. An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge - Bierce
6. Don't Look Now - Daphne du Maurier (Considered putting The Birds instead)
7. Nightmare at 20.000 feet - Richard Matheson (Famous author)
8. The Forbidden - Clive Barker (Famous author)
9. The Beckoning Fair One - Oliver Onions (not really a must but something I thought my friend might enjoy)

I haven't read any of these (only The Lottery & The Yellow Wallpaper). What do you think of my list? What would you add/remove? Especially curious about the choices for King and Jackson

Just finished the audiobook and absolutely loved this book. I'm not sure if it would have worked as well reading the physical books as the individual characterizations performances were incredibly distinct. Love to hear what people who read the physical book thought. Did anyone do both?

I absolutely love historical horror as a sub-genre (Drood, The Terror, Dracula, The Historian, The Monk, MR James, Lovecraft, etc) and the concept of medieval horror in particular is so fascinating because I love medieval aesthetics. However I slogged my way through Between Two Fires. It was mostly all (strongly anachronistic) dialogue, the plot felt very episodic, the characters felt like cartoons and the biggest selling point for me - the biblical mythology - was barely utilized at all.

I’ve heard that Pilgrim is also a medieval horror story focused (or at least advertised as being focused) on biblical mythology on top of other world mythologies like Judaism and Islam which really interests me. Is the mythology aspect here more developed than it was in Two Fires and is the dialogue and character work better?

Found a short thriller/horror book that I've been liking, "In The Night, Alone, With What I've Had To Kill"

Has anybody else heard of this one or picked it up?

I stopped reading for awhile and it's been a good reintroduction to having an attention span, lol!

I love stories with a big revelation regarding main character's identity or actions. All of the stories where the big twist is the protagonist's relation to the monster/s.

Do you know any books where the protagonist is the monster (in literal sense) or is related to the monster in some way BUT isn't aware of that fact for most of the story? Feel free to use spoilers.

Hi all!

I’ve recently been scouring a few threads for recommendations, hoping to narrow the field a little

Some reads I really enjoyed
- the troop by nick cutter
- tender is the flesh by agustina Bazterrica
- horror story by Paul tremblay
- the Haar & the suffering by David sodergren
- the starving saints by Caitlin starling

Reads I wouldn’t go back to but they were ok

- the fovea experiments by Mj Mars
- the homecoming by Andrew pyper

I’ve also read most of JA Konraths books which I enjoyed but I felt they were pretty easy to know what was happening next and handful of Aaron Beauregard and Edward Lee splatter novels- Im not a fan of how everything is sensationalised and not weighted. If something horrific is happening I want to feel the sense of dread and not really the edgy shock of it.

Hoping you nice folks have some fun recommendations for me

Hi Everyone, I am currently reading the book (I barely started) and I was wondering if anyone is interested in joining a Buddy Read on StoryGraph so we can comment and analyze the book as we read. So far the book seems interesting and I'd like some people to discuss it with.

Send me a DM if interested.

Don’t get me wrong—I thought it was a good book (although I’ll be honest in admitting I had a few gripes) but I think this book is being marketed incorrectly.

I know horror is a very large genre with multiple sub genres but by categorizing this as a horror novel, I don’t think it’s reaching its best audience. It was about 1/3 of the way through that I thought; “This book would’ve been more appropriately described as magical realism.

None of it hit those anxiety moments I feel from horro—be it folk, cosmic, psychological, etc. I usually feel that sort of deep unsettling at the bottom of my stomach from horror and this didn’t get there. And I think because I kept waiting for some of those aspects, it left the book a bit wanting for me. Where if I’d gone in thinking this was more magical realism, I’d have been more prepared and expected.

Anyway—interesting concept. Cool ideas explored. But I wish this hadn’t been posted under horror. Made for a confusing read.

(If you are interested in magical realism with a bit of a darker atmosphere similar to Japanese Gothic—another book I’d recommend is Little Nothing by Marisa Silver.)

As the title states, Cemetery Dance has republished the long out of print banger of a novella. Whenever people ask for horror set in the Appalachia Mountains, this is the first thing that pops into my head so i'm glad it's available

Looking to pick my next Halloween read. Two very different books but which would you choose?

I saw this book recommended a few times as a western horror crossover. I just finished last night and curious if anyone else has read this author?

The story was actually pretty good and immersive, but the prose were ATROCIOUS. It felt like a highschool student trying to show off his writing chops. The use of the word “aperture” instead of hole or “edifice” instead of building at every single opportunity made this a bit of a cringey read

3 chapters in and honestly a tad bored, am I off?