Horror

New and recommended scary books

Updated October 6, 2025
Rochester Public Library RPL Staff
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Horror

New and recommended scary books

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Jackal : a novel
Adams, Erin E.
Paper Book
RECOMMENDED BY GILLIAN FLYNN ON THE TODAY SHOW * A young Black girl goes missing in the woods outside her white rust belt town. But she's not the first--and she may not be the last. . . . "I read this thriller that is Get Out meets The Vanishing Half<...
Cutting teeth
Baker, Chandler
Paper Book
Someone in Brooklyn's Little Caribbean neighborhood has an appetite for murder in Olivia Matthews' Hard Dough Homicide. Spice Isle Bakery owner Lyndsay Murray is always looking for new ways to grow her family's business. But she already regrets agreeing to host the...
Dead silence
Barnes, S. A.
Paper Book
A Best Book of 2022 by the New York Public Library * One of the Best SFF Books of 2022 (Gizmodo) * One of the Best SF Mysteries of 2022 (CrimeReads) * A GoodReads Choice Award finalist for Best Science Fiction! Titanic meets Event Horizon...
Nineteen claws and a black bird : stories
Bazterrica, Agustina María
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,...
House of cotton
Brashears, Monica
Paper Book
FINALIST for the 2024 NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award * NPR BEST BOOK OF 2023 * An enchanting Black Southern gothic debut, perfect for readers of Mexican Gothic... "Fresh, haunting...In her roller-coaster ride of a gothic debut novel, Monica Brashears upends expectations at...
The witch in the well
Bruce, Camilla
Paper Book
The Witch in the Well is a dark Norwegian thriller from Camilla Bruce, author of You Let Me In. When two former friends reunite after decades apart, their grudges, flawed ambitions, and shared obsession swirl into an all-too-real echo of a terrible town legend....
Lost man's lane : a novel
Carson, Scott
Paper Book
A mysterious private investigator embodies the darkness hidden within a small town in this spellbinding thriller that will "make you a Scott Carson fan for life" (Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author). Marshall Miller would've remembered her face even if he hadn...
The haunting of Alejandra : a novel
Castro, V.
Paper Book
A woman is haunted by the Mexican folk demon La Llorona in this "utterly terrifying and wholly immersive . . . story about generational trauma, colonization, systemic oppression, and the horror at the heart of motherhood" (Library Journal, starred review). "Castro is...
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....
What kind of mother : a novel
Chapman, Clay McLeod
Memorials : a novel /
Chizmar, Richard,
Paper Book
The New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller about a group of college students encountering supernatural terror while on a road trip through Appalachia--an unforgettable, chilling novel that is "scary and hard to put down. You might be advised not to read it at night" (Stephen King)....
Dead of winter
Coates, Darcy
Audiobook
Midnight rooms : a novel
Coles, Donyae
Paper Book
"An immersive horror fairy tale marrying Crimson Peak to Pan's Labyrinth upon strange foundations. You're never really safe here, with Midnight Rooms wondrously defying expectation and refusing obedience. Donyae Coles leads us into a house of sinister magic, full of corners for...
The spite house
Compton, Johnny
Paper Book
A Best Horror Book of the Year (Esquire)! * A Bram Stoker Award Nominee! * A 2024 Legacy Awards Nominee! * A Finalist for the Reading the West Book Awards! A terrifying Gothic thriller about grief and...
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 ...
The paleontologist : a novel
Dumas, Luke
Paper Book
USA TODAY BESTSELLER 2024 ITW Thriller Award Winner Esquire "Best Horror Books of 2023" Pick A haunted paleontologist returns to the museum where his sister was abducted years earlier and is faced with a terrifying and murderous spirit in this...
A sunny place for shady people : stories
Enriquez, Mariana
Paper Book
BRAM STOKER AWARD FINALIST * A diabolical collection of stories featuring achingly human characters whose lives intertwine with ghosts, goblins, and the macabre, by "Buenos Aires's sorceress of horror" (Samanta Schweblin, The New York Times) "Entertaining, political and...
The house of last resort : a novel
Golden, Christopher
Paper Book
The next high concept horror novel from New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden. Across Italy there are many half-empty towns, nearly abandoned by those who migrate to the coast or to cities. The beautiful, crumbling hilltop town of Becchina is among them,...
A haunting on the hill
Hand, Elizabeth
Paper Book
From award-winning author Elizabeth Hand comes the first-ever novel authorized to return to the world of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House--an "eerily beautiful, strangely seductive, and genuinely upsetting" (Alix E. Harrow) new ...
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)...
How to sell a haunted house
Hendrix, Grady
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Wildly entertaining."-The New York Times "Ingenious."-The Washington Post New York Times bestselling author Grady Hendrix takes on the haunted house in a thrilling new novel that...
House of Bone and Rain
Iglesias, Gabino
Ebook
In this "stunningly visceral" (New York Times Book Review) novel, a group of young men seek vengeance after one of their mothers is murdered in a Puerto Rican slum; STAND BY ME with a haunted, obsidian-dark heart.    A Barnes & Noble Best Horror Book ...
Bad Cree : a novel
Johns, Jessica
Paper Book
In this gripping, horror-laced debut, a young Cree woman's dreams lead her on a perilous journey of self-discovery that ultimately forces her to confront the toll of a legacy of violence on her family, her community and the land they call home. "A mystery and a horror story about...
I was a teenage slasher
Jones, Stephen Graham
Paper Book
*USA TODAY Bestseller * Alex Award Winner * From New York Times bestselling horror writer Stephen Graham Jones comes a "viciously clever" (The New York Times Book Review) classic slasher story with a twist--perfect for fans of Adam Cesare and Grady...
Dead eleven : a novel
Juliano, Jimmy
Paper Book
"An ominously slow burn...Keep the lights on for this one."--A PEOPLE MUST-READ FOR SUMMER "Very creepy...you've been warned."--R.L. STINE "Gripping."--ANA REYES On a creepy island where everyone has a strange obsession with the year 1994, a...
The fervor : a novel
Katsu, Alma
Paper Book
In an internment camp in Idaho in 1944, American-born Meiko Briggs and her daughter Aiko dream of their home in Seattle and the safe return of Meiko's husband who is away with the Air Force. A sickness starts to spread amongst those in the camp and though it starts as a minor cold it triggers...
Night's edge
Kerin, Liz
Paper Book
"Complex and fully realized, Kerin's vampire apocalypse has a palpable beating heart."--Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six Night's Edge by Liz Kerin takes a bite out of vampire lore in this blood-soaked novel about the darkest...
The Djinn waits a hundred years
Khan, Shubnum
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITOR'S CHOICE "Rich and swoony...an ambitious delight, with rich characters and some exceptionally lovely writing...This is the start of a major career." -- The New York Times Book Review AN INDIE NEXT PICK A LIBRARY...
The salt grows heavy
Khaw, Cassandra
Paper Book
"Khaw's poetic prose and stylish approach to gore make it a blood-soaked, unforgettable gem." --The New York Times From Cassandra Khaw, USA Today bestselling author of Nothing But Blackened Teeth, comes The Salt Grows Heavy, a razor-sharp and...
This wretched valley
Kiefer, Jenny
Paper Book
2024 Bram Stoker Award _xFE0F_ Nominee for Superior Achievement in a First Novel "A hallucinatory nightmare of a novel that blends adventure, horror and historical fiction, and isn't shy about violence or strangeness."-New York Times "If you love...
The eyes are the best part
Kim, Monika
Ebook
You like it darker : stories
King, Stephen
Paper Book
NAMED A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW TOP 10 HORROR BOOK OF 2024 WINNER OF THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD FOR HORROR "" background-color:="">FINALIST FOR THE 2025 LOCUS AWARDS "Stephen King knows You Like It Darker<...
A house with good bones
Kingfisher, T.
Paper Book
A Barnes & Noble Best Horror Book of 2023 A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family. "Mom seems off."<...
We used to live here
Kliewer, Marcus
Audiobook
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...
Maeve fly
Leede, CJ
Paper Book
A USA Today bestseller! Winner of the Golden Poppy Octavia E. Butler Award * Winner of the Splatterpunk Award for Best Novel * A Bram Stoker Award Nominee * One of Esquire's Best Horror Books of the Year * An Indie Next Pick!...
The book of love : a novel
Link, Kelly
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE * FINALIST FOR THE NEBULA AWARD * LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE In the acclaimed first novel from short story virtuoso and Pulitzer Prize finalist Kelly Link, three teenagers become...
Incidents around the house : a novel
Malerman, Josh
Paper Book
"Simply put--and I do not say this lightly--Incidents Around the House is the most purely effective horror novel I have ever read."--Neil McRobert, Esquire A chilling horror novel about a haunting, told from the perspective of a young girl whose troubled...
The woods all black
Mandelo, Lee
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...
Graveyard of lost children
Monroe, Katrina
Ebook
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. ...
The September house
Orlando, Carissa
Paper Book
When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street - for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price - they couldn't believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former...
Tell me I'm worthless /
Rumfitt, Alison
Audiobook
Middle of the night : a novel
Sager, Riley
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In the latest jaw-dropping thriller from New York Times bestselling author Riley Sager, a man must contend with the long-ago disappearance of his childhood best friend--and the dark secrets lurking just beyond the safe confines...
Monstrilio: a novel
Sm?ano Cr?dova, Gerardo
Audiobook
A "genuinely scary" horror debut written in "prose so beautiful you won't want to rush" about a boy who transforms into a monster, a monster who tries to be a man, and the people who love him in every form he takes (Ana Reyes) Grieving...
Sister, maiden, monster
Snyder, Lucy A.
Audiobook
Murder road
St. James, Simone
Paper Book
A young couple find themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road in this terrifying new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Cold Cases. July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn....
Last to leave the room : a novel
Starling, Caitlin
Ebook
Do what Godmother says
Stratton, L. S.
Paper Book
An ELLE "Best Mystery and Thriller Book of 2024" A modern-day writer and a Harlem Renaissance artist are connected by a painting with a deadly secret in this gripping dual-timeline gothic thriller.    ...
The cliffs
Sullivan, J. Courtney
Paper Book
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK * A novel of family, secrets, ghosts, and homecoming set on the seaside cliffs of Maine, by the New York Times best-selling author of Friends and Strangers "A stunning achievement, and J. Courtney Sullivan's best book yet. Sullivan weaves a...
Diavola
Thorne, Jennifer
Audiobook
Bury your gays
Tingle, Chuck
The instant USA Today bestseller by Chuck Tingle about what it takes to succeed in a world that wants you dead. Named one of the Best Horror Books of 2024 (Esquire, Parade, and Library Journal) * Winner of the Locus Award for Best Horror...
The empusium : a health resort horror story
Tokarczuk, Olga
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER! A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR "A folk horror story with a deceptively light and knowing tone ... elegant and genuinely unsettling." -The New York Times Book Review The Nobel Prize winner's latest...
Horror movie : a novel
Tremblay, Paul
Paper Book
Instant New York Times Bestseller! PLEASE NOTE: the limited edition with red stained edges is sold out, but we invite you to purchase an unstained one -- same haunting story, same chilling twists! A chilling twist on the "cursed film" genre from the bestselling author of The...
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...
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...
Where the dead wait
Wilkes, Ally
Paper Book
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, 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...
Find this list online: https://librarian.syndetics.com/syndeticsunbound/lp/723.1086/list/1868

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