Unafraid of a little gore? These horror books are waiting around the next corner for you. Generally designed to provoke feelings of fear, terror, or dread in the reader, the best horror books are definitely not for the faint of heart. Characterized by dark imagery and unsettling spaces, good horror books explore themes of death and evil, whether lurking in the shadows or hidden in plain sight.
In the past, as is the case with many of the titles on this list, horror books often featured an element of the supernatural—think angry spirits or haunted houses. Some of the best horror books of this kind include Bram Stoker’s Dracula or Stephen King’s It.
Today, horror books often cross genres into fantasy, science fiction, or speculative fiction—such as Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic and Stephen Graham Jones’ The Only Good Indians. Across the board, though, these books are sure to give you a fright, from provoking the morbid to the surreal.
So what are you waiting for? Don’t look back now…
Through frightening imagery and suspenseful plots, horror books are designed to evoke a sense of dread and terror in the reader. Often, horror books feature an everyday character, in a not-so-everyday situation, whether supernatural or morbid.
There are so many excellent horror books to choose from! For classics, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Stephen King’s It, or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. For modern, try Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic, Stephen Graham Jones’ The Only Good Indians, or Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid.