Skip to main content
W
Washington County Library (MN)
All Lists
Genre Guides
Horror and Thrillers
Unpublished
Share
New and recommended scary books
Updated February 8, 2024
RPL Staff
A list cannot be published until it has at least four items.
List was unpublished.
List was published.
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
The whispers
Audrain, Ashley
Paper Book
A propulsive page-turner about four suburban families whose lives are changed when the unthinkable happens--and what is lost when good people make unconscionable choices With The Push, Ashley Audrain gave us a transgressive, bestselling novel about motherhood. Now she...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Nineteen claws and a black bird : stories
Bazterrica, Agustina MarÃa
Paper Book
An NPR Best Book of 2023 A collection of nineteen dark, wildly imaginative short stories from the author of the award-winning TikTok sensation Tender Is the Flesh. From celebrated author Agustina Bazterrica, this collection of nineteen brutal,...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Birnam Wood
Catton, Eleanor
Paper Book
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, Financial Times, Slate, The Chicago Public Library, Kirkus, The TelegraphA...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Vampires of El Norte
Cañas, Isabel
Paper Book
As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters - her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead....
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Dead of winter
Coates, Darcy
Paper Book
From bestselling author Darcy Coates comes Dead of Winter, a remote cabin in the snowy wilderness thriller that will teach you to trust no one. There are eight strangers. One killer. Nowhere left to run. When Christa joins a tour group heading deep into the snowy expanse of...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The spite house
Compton, Johnny
Paper Book
Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he's desperate for money--it's not easy to find steady, safe work when you can't provide references, you can't stay in one place for long, and you're...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The ferryman : a novel
Cronin, Justin
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "Next to impossible to put down . . . exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying."--STEPHEN KING From the author of The Passage comes a riveting standalone novel about a group of survivors on a hidden island utopia--where...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The block party : a novel
Day, Jamie
Paper Book
Raves for the hottest thriller of 2023! "This is wicked fun." --Publishers Weekly "Absolutely amazing. Readers are going to flip!" --Lisa Gardner, New York Times bestselling author of ONE STEP TOO FAR "Like a firecracker on a hot summer...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The reformatory : a novel
Due, Tananarive
Paper Book
*Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner * New York Times Notable Book * Locus Award Finalist * Winner of the Bram Stoker Award and the Shirley Jackson Award * "You're in for a treat...one of those books you can't put down...Due hit it out of the park." --Stephen King ...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Shutter
Emerson, Ramona
Paper Book
Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases - she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward clues other investigators overlook. Rita's...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
What have we done
Finlay, Alex
Paper Book
In this "top-notch mystery thriller" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) from Alex Finlay, What Have We Done is a tale about the lives we leave behind and the secrets we carry with us forever. One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2023:* BookPage...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Devil makes three
Fountain, Ben
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE 2024 JOYCE CAROL OATES PRIZE * A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITOR'S CHOICE * WASHINGTON POST BEST FICTION OF 2023 * From the award-winning, bestselling author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk comes a brilliant and propulsive new...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Starling house
Harrow, Alix E.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK "This book has everything you could possibly want this fall...a cursed town, a haunted house, a vivid & eerie setting--plus, characters willing to risk everything." --Reese Witherspoon (Reese's Book Club October '23 Pick)...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The Villa
Hawkins, Rachel
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! "Hawkins weaves an engrossing tale about betrayal, sisterhood, and the power of telling your own story. Captivating!" --People "Hawkins is the reigning queen of suspense." --Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times<...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
My best friend's exorcism : a novel
Hendrix, Grady
Paper Book
Soon to be a major motion picture. From the New York Times best-selling author of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, this unholy hybrid of Beaches and The Exorcist blends teen angst and unspeakable horrors into a pulse-pounding...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The soulmate
Hepworth, Sally
Paper Book
"One of the best thrillers of the year"--The New York Times "The book is many things: a crime story, a psychological study, a blueprint for how and when to mete out information in a thriller. But most of all it is an inquiry into the mysteries of marriage and commitment,...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The angel of Indian Lake
Jones, Stephen Graham
Paper Book
A National Bestseller The final installment in the most lauded trilogy in the history of horror novels picks up four years after Don't Fear the Reaper as Jade returns to Proofrock, Idaho, to build a life after the years of sacrifice--only to find the Lake Witch is...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Nothing but blackened teeth
Khaw, Cassandra
Paper Book
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER * A Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy Award Finalist! * An Indie Next Pick! * An October LibraryReads Pick! * 2022 RUSA Reading List: Horror Winner! Cassandra Khaw's Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Holly : a novel
King, Stephen
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Bestseller * A New York Times Notable Book * An NPR Best Book of the Year Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King's most compelling and resourceful characters, returns in this chilling "exploration of grief and delusion, just pure undistilled evil" (...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
She's not sorry
Kubica, Mary
Paper Book
The instant New York Times bestseller that BookTok is calling "absolutely A-M-A-Z-I-N-G" (@hollylovesbooks1519) and "impossible to put down" (@kurryreads), from the author of Local Woman Missing and Just the Nicest Couple Everyone has secrets, but not everyone has...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Everyone here is lying
Lapena, Shari
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Another thrilling domestic suspense novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door "The most addictive book I've read in ages--so slick and disquieting and clever. Just brilliant." -...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Lone women : a novel
LaValle, Victor
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Blue skies, empty land--and enough wide-open space to hide a horrifying secret. A woman with a past, a mysterious trunk, a town on the edge of nowhere, and an "absorbing, powerful" (BuzzFeed) new vision of the American West, from the award-winning author of...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The quarry girls : a thriller
Lourey, Jess
Paper Book
Killers hiding in plain sight. Small-town secrets. A girl who knows too much. From the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Unspeakable Things and Bloodline comes a nerve-twisting novel inspired by a shocking true crime. Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Going zero : a novel
McCarten, Anthony
Paper Book
TWO HOURS TO VANISH. ONE CHANCE TO ESCAPE. ZERO ALTERNATIVES. Ten Americans have been carefully selected to Beta test a ground-breaking piece of spyware. FUSION can track anyone on earth. But does it work? For one contestant, an unassuming Boston librarian named...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The housemaid
McFadden, Freida
Paper Book
Over 2 Million Copies Sold and Soon to Be a Major Motion Picture Starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried! Don't miss the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestseller and addictive psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist that's burning...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Our hideous progeny : a novel
McGill, C. E.
Paper Book
"A gripping Gothic tale of grief and ambition, passion and intrigue." -- Jess Kidd, author of The Night Ship "An immersive blend of historical and science fiction brims with surprises and dark delights. . . . An incisive exploration of women's rights within the field of science....
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Indian burial ground
Medina, Nick
Paper Book
A man lunges in front of a car. An elderly woman silently drowns herself. A corpse sits up in its coffin and speaks. On this reservation, not all is what it seems, in this new spine-chilling mythological horror from the author of Sisters of the Lost Nation. ...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The quiet tenant
Michallon, Cle?mence
Paper Book
NATIONAL BEST SELLER * A NEW YORK TIMES BEST CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR * GMA BUZZ PICK * "A bravura feat of storytelling...daring and completely satisfying." --James Patterson, #1 best-selling author A PULSE-POUNDING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER ABOUT A SERIAL KILLER NARRATED BY THOSE...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The militia house : a novel
Milas, John
Paper Book
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize Nominated for the 2023 Shirley Jackson Award "An extraordinary novel about the quiet and not so quiet horrors of war." --Roxane Gay Stephen King meets Tim O'Brien in John Milas's...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The only survivors : a novel
Miranda, Megan
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls and "master of suspense, Megan Miranda" (Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl), a thrilling mystery about a group of former classmates who reunite to mark the tenth...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Graveyard of lost children
Monroe, Katrina
Paper Book
"With nimble pacing, genuine scares, and a riveting central mystery, Graveyard of Lost Children is a bonafide page-tuner." --Rachel Harrison, author of Cackle and Such Sharp Teeth ONCE SHE HAS HER GRIP ON YOU, SHE'LL NEVER LET YOU GO. At four months old, Olivia Dahl was almost...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Silver nitrate
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * From the author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic comes a fabulous meld of Mexican horror movies and Nazi occultism: a dark thriller about the curse that haunts a legendary lost film--and awakens one woman's hidden powers. ...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Tell me I'm worthless
Rumfitt, Alison
Paper Book
Alison Rumfitt's Tell Me I'm Worthless is a dark, unflinching haunted house story that confronts both supernatural and real-world horrors through the lens of the modern-day trans experience. "Alison is like the twisted daughter of Clive Barker and Shirley Jackson...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The only one left : a novel
Sager, Riley
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Named a summer book to watch by The Washington Post, Boston Globe, USA Today, Oprah, Paste, Country Living, Good Housekeeping, and Nerd Daily "Propulsive ... a dizzying Gothic whodunit." --...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Loyalty
Scottoline, Lisa
Paper Book
#1 bestselling author Lisa Scottoline presents Loyalty, an emotional, action-packed epic of love and justice, set during the rise of the Mafia in Sicily. Loyalty can save a soul--or destroy one. Franco Fiorvanti is a handsome...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Sister, maiden, monster
Snyder, Lucy A.
Paper Book
"Absolutely recommended for readers of the cosmic and gloriously horrific." ―Seanan McGuire, New York TImes bestselling author Sister, Maiden, Monster is a visceral story set in the aftermath of our planet's disastrous transformation and told through the...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Last to leave the room : a novel
Starling, Caitlin
Paper Book
Last to Leave the Room is a new novel of genre-busting speculative horror from Caitlin Starling, the acclaimed author of The Death of Jane Lawrence.The city of San Siroco is sinking. The basement of Dr. Tamsin Rivers, the arrogant, selfish head of the research team assigned to find the source of the...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The Marigold
Sullivan, Andrew F.
Paper Book
The Marigold, a gleaming Toronto condo tower, sits a half-empty promise: a stack of scuffed rental suites and undelivered amenities that crumbles around its residents as a mysterious sludge spreads slowly through it. Public health inspector Cathy Jin investigates this toxic mold as it infests the...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The kind worth saving : a novel
Swanson, Peter
Paper Book
"The inventive Mr. Swanson never lets the willing reader down. With The Kind Worth Saving, he surpasses his own high standard." -- Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal In this spectacularly devious novel by New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson, a private...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The beast you are : stories
Tremblay, Paul
Paper Book
A haunting collection of short fiction from the bestselling author of The Pallbearers Club, A Head Full of Ghosts, and The Cabin at the End of the World. Paul Tremblay has won widespread acclaim for illuminating the dark horrors of the mind in novels and stories that push...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Delicate condition
Valentine, Danielle
Paper Book
THE INSPIRATION FOR FX'S AMERICAN HORROR STORY: DELICATE STARRING EMMA ROBERTS AND KIM KARDASHIAN A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BUZZ PICK As seen in People, Vanity Fair, Variety, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, Shondaland, and more! Anna Alcott is desperate to have a family. But as...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Looking glass sound
Ward, Catriona
Paper Book
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER * Best Book of 2023 (Vulture) * A Best Horror Book of All Time (Cosmopolitan) * A Best Horror Book of 2023 (Esquire) * A 2023 World Fantasy Award finalist Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street, delivers...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Black river orchard : a novel
Wendig, Chuck
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A small town is transformed when seven strange trees begin bearing magical apples in this masterpiece of horror from the author of Wanderers and The Book of Accidents. "This masterful outing should continue to earn Wendig comparisons to...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Mister Magic : a novel
White, Kiersten
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Who is Mister Magic? Former child stars reunite to uncover the tragedy that ended their show--and discover the secret of its enigmatic host--in this "skin-crawling story of pop culture fandom and '90s nostalgia" (Melissa Albert, author of The Hazel Woods) from...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
All the dangerous things
Willingham, Stacy
Paper Book
Following up her instant New York Times bestseller, A Flicker in the Dark, Stacy Willingham delivers a totally gripping thriller about a desperate mother with a troubled past in All the Dangerous Things. One year ago, Isabelle Drake's life changed forever:...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Midnight is the darkest hour : a novel
Winstead, Ashley
Paper Book
From the critically acclaimed author of In My Dreams I Hold A Knife and The Last Housewife comes Midnight is the Darkest Hour, a gothic Southern thriller about a killer haunting a small Louisiana town, where two outcasts--the preacher's daughter and the boy from the wrong side of the tracks--hold...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or
log in here.