With Halloween coming around, many people find themselves wanting to celebrate by reading horror novels. But most people don’t know where to start. Here are some things to consider:
Gore level
Amount of pages
Short stories, novellas, series, stand-alone books
Price (if buying, but libraries are always an option if that isn’t possible)
And most importantly, what genre? From gothic to creature features, the preferred genre decides what book a person chooses to read.
Important distinction between thriller and horror, and while they overlap in some parts with their grotesque theming, horror
Gothic novels
While most students have an idea about this genre through novels like “Frankenstein” and “Dracula”, this genre goes over more than simply dark corridors and sympathetic monsters. The Gothic genre is defined by a sense of the dark and mysterious, often accompanied by topics such as romanticism, mysterious secrets, and a general sense of unease. Here is a list of gothic novel recommendations.
Gothic Novels
Illustration from The Dark Blue by D. H. Friston, 1872
"Carmilla" by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Published in 1872, “Carmilla” is one of the founding texts of vampire novels. The novella follows our main character Laura in an Austrian castle after Carmilla shows up unexpectedly at our heroine’s home. After this, Laura and Carmilla start to bond and have a close relationship. This is a lesbian romance meant to shame women into being not being gay, using the tragic ending as a warning. It predates “Dracula” by 26 years but still has the same eerie vibes that follow the famous novel.
Do be warned that similar to any novel, it is written in Shakespearean English, but it is an engaging tale. It also is a great novel to show how the Victorians viewed vampires and to compare it to “Dracula” and other vampire novels. Warning: Includes death and homophobia.
"Mexican Gothic" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
A recent addition to Gothic literature, this book was published in 2020. The novel takes place in Mexico in the 1800s with the main character Noemí Taboada, a Mexican City socialite, who goes to a small town to investigate the rumors of her cousin’s insanity who lives in an English-styled manor. Noemí experiences many bizarre things happening in the house, not least of which the master of the house.
It starts slow but halfway through gets truly interesting.
This book includes more mature topics including drugging, eugenics, racism, and attempted rape, so it is recommended for seniors.
Penguin Publishing company
"The Silent Companions" by Laura Purcell
Lesser known than the previous ones, this story follows a newly widowed Elsie who is sent to her late husband’s estate to carry out her pregnancy. In the crumbling estate, known as The Bridge, she finds locked rooms and inside painted wooden figures - the ‘companions’ that look eerily like herself.
This book includes depictions of grief, death, child abuse, animal abuse, alcoholism, ablism, racism, miscarriage, and suicide. It is also recommended for a more mature audience.
Slasher novels
While movie slashers are more abundant than books, slasher novels can show the horror of being hunted and the “thrill of the hunt” depending on who the narrator is. For these recommendations, a slasher is a novel in which a group of characters is systematically killed, typically with knives or other hand-held weapons.
Slasher Novels
Cover photo: 101 cats
Cover Design: Rich Deas and Kathleen Breitenfield
"A Midsummer Night’s Scream" by R.L. Stine
The novel follows a set of actors recreating an infamous movie in which several of the real-life actors died, Claire and her friends are dying to get the part. The friends include her long-time crush Jake. When Claire finds out that he has a crush on her best friend Delia, she finds an odd little man named Benny Punkerman who says that he has a love potion, and she takes it. But after that, the actors in the remake start to die in eerily similar ways to the first movie.
Written by the famous R.L. Stine, the author of “Goosebumps,” it tells a short tale about love, Hollywood, and most importantly, lots of murder.
Interior design by Jaime Putorti
"My Heart is a Chainsaw" by Stephan Graham Jones (#1 of the Indian Lake Trilogy)
A unique take on slashers, it follows Jade Daniels, who is a big 80s slasher fan. Her town is infamous for a massacre at the nearby summer camp, called Camp Blood. But that was 50 years ago. Now, a hometown celebrity is found brutally murdered. Jade knows this is the start of slasher, and that she has to stop it yet will her obsession help her chances at living?
The book is a thrilling take on how to be the “final girl.” Other than the obvious, murder and gore, there are mentions of alcoholism, racism (she’s indigenous), SA, self-harm/suicide mention, and child abuse.
Cover Design: Teddi Black
Interior Design: Megan McCullough
"Camp Slaughter" by Sergio Garcia (book #1 of the Slaughter series)
Told through multiple perspectives, a group of college students decide to rent a cabin deep in the forests of Pennsylvania. Local legend says that in the woods there is “Camp Slaughter” where people are found missing or dead. The students assume it is a silly rumor, but when a cannibalistic killer comes for them, who will survive?
One of the more gorier books on this list, it is not for the faint of heart. The book has great character development and all characters are well developed, with all perspectives well thought out. It starts fairly slow but then is non-stop death and gore.
This book includes murder, cannibalism, child abuse, and animal abuse.
Zombie novels
Eating brains, decaying flesh, and poor characters surviving the apocalypse are all parts of the zombie horror genre. These will all be more unique ways of looking at zombies from movies such as “The Walking Dead”.
Zombie Novels
Image: Shutterstock
Design: Lorrriane Donneker
"Zombies and Calculus" by Colin Adams
Written by a mathematician who specializes in knot theory, Adams wrote this book to be an introduction to calculus students.
The book follows Craig Williams, a math professor, as he and his students fight off the zombie apocalypse while using the power of calculus to solve problems so they don’t die. The unorthodox novel has example problems and teaches the reader how to solve problems in calculus using descriptions from the professor and diagrams.
TW: This book includes death and cannibalism.
Copy Zombification and design: Doogie Horner
Cover Art Courtesy: Bridgeman Art Library International Ltd.
"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" by Seth Grahame-Smith
Written by the man who wrote the award-winning novel “Abraham Lincoln: The Vampire Hunter,” Grahame-Smith writes a parody novel about Jane Auston’s “Pride and Prejudice” released in 1813.
The book still follows the romance of Mr. Darcy and Miss Bennet but with the inclusion of zombies ravaging the perfect Edwardian village of Meryton. It follows the storyline with all the major plot points but with death. It is written in the same prose as the original “Pride and Prejudice.” With black-and-white images showing the carnage, this is a great novel if you want to add a bit of humor and death to your favorite Edwardian romance.
TW: This novel includes cannibalism, brutality, murders, and gore.
Cover Image: Stutterstock
Cover Design” Duncun
"The Girl with All the Gifts" by M.R. Carry
A more serious novel, "The Girl with All the Gifts," follows Melanie, a very special “zombie” in a medical facility. Melanie loves her classes, her fellow classmates, and her teacher, Miss Justineau. But the humans are not keeping her there for normal purposes, and one day, it all goes wrong.
This novel is deeply philosophical, asking the question of what it means to be human and whether is it a good thing or not.
TW: This book includes child endangerment, violence, and drug & alcohol abuse.
Cover Art: Samuel Araya
Cover Design: Christine Foltzer
"And Then I Woke Up" by Malcolm Devlin
During a surge of an unusual plague, Spence is one of the “cured” ones living at the Ironside Rehabilitation Facility, but he doesn’t feel like one of the lucky ones. With the sickness disrupting his memory and sense of reality, it all comes to a head when a fellow inmate asks Spence to help her find her crewmates.
How do you know that you’re helping when you don’t know what is real and what isn’t?
This is a terrifying novel consisting of untrustworthy narrators, with the reader and the narrator must navigate through the sea of truth and lies in this novel.
Cosmic Horror
Known by many names: eldrich horror, Lovecraftian horror, etc, this was pioneered by H.P. Lovecraft, an American author of the early twentieth century. Known for the story story, “The Call of Cthulhu” and his book “The Necronomicon”. The genre is concerned with the concepts of the unknown and the eternal. The point is that no human can comprehend certain things or certain creatures.
Cosmic Horror
Cover Design: Leah Carlson-Stanistic
"It Devours!" by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Crannor
Based off of the podcast “Welcome to Nightvale” by the same authors, the plot follows the romance of a scientist and a devote of the Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God. As the scientist learns more about the truth of the Smiling God, what should she do?
It is not required to have ever listened to the podcast and you go straight to the book. It is a highly enjoyed book based off of the imaginary city of Nightvale, in which mountains don’t exist, Old Woman Josie lives with “angels” all named Erica, and librarians are evil creatures that eat whoever enters the public library.
It contains discussions of bugs, religion, and sinkholes.
"Annihilation" by Jeff Vandermeer (book #1, Southern Beach Trilogy)
Area X is a mysterious place cut off from civilization for decades. There have been many attempts to explore it, but most have ended in disaster. The first ended with idyllic landscape pictures, the second ended in mass suicide, the third in a massacre as the researchers killed each other with their firearms, and the rest of the 11 expeditions ended with returners being shells of themselves.
With the 12th expedition, our narrator, the unnamed Biologist, tells of her experience with her other three female coworkers: the anthropologist, the surveyor, and the psychologist.
An isolating story of an apocalyptic world, be prepared to be confused until the last moment as you too go insane along with the biologist. This story includes death, mentions of suicide, domestic abuse, alcohol abuse, and gore.
Cover image: “Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast” by Albert Bierstadt
Cover Design: Scott R. Jones
"The Fisherman" by John Logan
In Upstate New York, in the town of Woodstock, there exists the Dutchman Creek which gets its water from the Ashokan Reservoir, a rumor of great fishing, and something more. Two widowers Abe and Dan who find comfort in fishing together hear of the Creek and the Reservoir and originally take it as a tall tale. But then they grow entranced with the tale and as they hear more about the legend, soon they hear about the mysterious figure, Der Fisher otherwise known as the Fisherman. They hope that finding out about this will bring back the things lost in the pain of the past, but they will have to bargain more than they thought.
The book contains depictions of grief and what a person will do when grieving and what they’ll do to stop the pain.
Short stories
For those who don’t want to spend forever being scared, short stories are a great way to explore genres or authors if reading an anthology. All of these titles will be very varied in genre, length, etc.
Short Stories
Cover Design and illustration: Perry De La Vega
"Don’t Whistle at Night" edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst
This is an anthology, a bunch of stories about a common topic or theme written by various authors. In this case, all the writers are indigenous - from the Creek to the Kobuk River Valley natives.
From stories about giving birth to snakes to murder, this has something for anyone interested in indigenous horror or just some terrific stories.
Algonguin books (2022 cover)
"Cursed Bunny" by Bora Chung
A very varying collection of stories, from talking poop heads to harvesting fox blood, they are all odd stories but they share a “strange fetish.” The twenty stories show Chung’s talent.
The novel was translated into English by Anton Hur from Korean.
Cover Art: Scala/Art Resource, NY
Cover Design: Casey Hampton
"Books of Blood" Vol 1-3 by Clive Barker
With a 2009 film based on the series, it isn’t as underground as some of these other spooky suggestions. However, this has stories ranging from a man stuck on a train with a killer, a screenplay murder, and killer giants.
Graphic Novels/manga
While all of the above have been proper novels, these contain all kinds of horror genres. The imagery of the works is masterful but terrifying. All of these are series.
Graphic Novels
"Uzumaki" by Junji Ito
Written by a classic author in the world of manga, this is a great introduction to his work.
"Uzumaki" follows the recounting of Kirie Goshima, describing the events that happened in the small seaside town of Kurozu-cho, as she claims that a curse of “spirals.” Uzumaki, which means spirals in Japanese, haunts the town. The book contains 20 chapters about the haunting imagery of what happens to the inhabitants of the town as the spirals take over.
This novel is heavy on body horror as well as topics of murder and bullying.
Illustrator: Werther Dell’Edera
"Something is Killing the Children" by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edera
When children start to go missing in a Wisconsin town, the ones left behind start to point to monsters taking them. Of course, the adults ignore them, until a woman named Erica Slaughter comes into town, and kills monsters.
"Eat the Rich" by Sarah Gailey
When Joey goes to spend the summer with her boyfriend’s family, she expects that it will be like any trip. They seem perfect, rich, happy, and healthy. But when she sees one of the workers retirement, she knows she has to escape.
