April's Horror Picks

I like my horror books with a dash or sci-fi or literary fiction. More Stephen King than slasher. My ideal horror mashup would be as if Cuthulu and Wednesday Adams wrote a book together.

Updated June 8, 2023
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Leave the world behind a novel
Alam, Rumaan
A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! Finalist for the 2020 National Book Award (Fiction) One of Barack Obama's Summer Favorites A Best Book of the Year From: The Washington Post * Time * NPR * Elle * Esquire * Kirkus * Library Journal * The Chicago...
Something wicked this way comes
Bradbury, Ray, 1920-2012
One of Ray Bradbury's best-known and most popular novels, Something Wicked This Way Comes, now featuring a new introduction and material about its longstanding influence on culture and genre. For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic...
Black hole
Burns, Charles, 1955-
"The best graphic novel of the year" (Time) tells the story of a strange plague devastating the lives of teenagers in mid-1970s suburban Seattle, revealing the horrifying nature of high school alienation--the savagery, the cruelty, the relentless anxiety, and the ennui.
When no one is watching a thriller
Cole, Alyssa
An instant NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLER! "I was knocked over by the momentum of an intense psychological thriller that doesn't let go until the final page. This is a terrific read." - Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author *A Marie Claire Book...
House of leaves
Danielewski, Mark Z.
THE MIND-BENDING CULT CLASSIC ABOUT A HOUSE THAT'S LARGER ON THE INSIDE THAN ON THE OUTSIDE * A masterpiece of horror and an astonishingly immersive, maze-like reading experience that redefines the boundaries of a novel. ''Simultaneously reads like a thriller and like a...
The lathe of heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K., 1929-2018
The Locus Award-winning science fiction novel by legendary author Ursula K. Le Guin, set in a world where one man's dreams rewrite the future. During a time racked by war and environmental catastrophe, George Orr discovers his dreams alter reality. George is compelled to receive...
Slenderman : online obsession, mental illness, and the violent crime of two midwestern girls
Hale, Kathleen
The first full account of the Slenderman stabbing, a true crime narrative of mental illness, the American judicial system, the trials of adolescence, and the power of the internet On May 31, 2014, in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha, Wisconsin,...
Strangers on a train
Highsmith, Patricia, 1921-1995
The world of Patricia Highsmith has always been filled with ordinary people, all of whom are capable of very ordinary crimes. This theme was present from the beginning, when her debut, Strangers on a Train, galvanized the reading public. Here we encounter Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno,...
POE: Stories and Poems
Hinds, Gareth
Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" : the authorized graphic adaptation
Hyman, Miles
Winner of the 2017 Solliès Comics Festival's Best Adult Graphic Novel The classic short story--now in full color Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" continues to thrill and unsettle readers nearly seven decades after it was first published. By turns...
Attack on Titan. 1
Isayama, Hajime
The megahit Attack on Titan anime is back! In this post-apocalyptic sci-fi story, humanity has been devastated by the bizarre, giant humanoids known as the Titans. Little is known about where they came from or why they are bent on consuming mankind. Seemingly unintelligent...
Uzumaki : spiral into horror
Ito?, Junji
A masterpiece of horror manga, now available in a deluxe hardcover edition! Kurouzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but a...
We have always lived in the castle
Jackson, Shirley
Shirley Jackson's beloved gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family's dark secret Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly...
Carrie [a novel of a girl with a frightening power]
King, Stephen, 1947-
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Stephen King's legendary debut, the bestselling smash hit that put him on the map as one of America's favorite writers * In a world where bullies rule, one girl holds a secret power. Unpopular and tormented, Carrie White's...
What moves the dead
Kingfisher, T.
An Instant USA Today & Indie Bestseller A Barnes & Noble Book of the Year Finalist A Goodreads Best Horror Choice Award Nominee A gripping and atmospheric reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" from Hugo, Locus, &...
The Stepford wives
Levin, Ira.
All the beautiful people live in the idyllic village of Stepford, Connecticut, an affluent suburban Eden populated with successful, satisfied hubbys and their beautiful, dutiful wives. For Joanna Eberhart, a recent arrival with her husband and two children, it all seems too perfect to be true --...
Picnic at hanging rock : a novel
Lindsay, Joan Weigall, Lady.
The classic novel about the disappearance of three boarding school girls that inspired the acclaimed film   It was a cloudless summer day in the year 1900. Everyone at Appleyard College for Young Ladies agreed it was just right for a picnic at Hanging Rock. After lunch, a...
Complete fiction of H. P. Lovecraft.
Lovecraft, H. P. (Howard Phillips), 1890-1937
The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft collects the great horror author's novel, four novellas, and fifty-three short stories. Written between the years 1917 and 1935, this collection features Lovecraft's trademark fantastical creatures and...
The road
McCarthy, Cormac, 1933-
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son's fight to survive, this "tale of survival and the miracle of goodness only adds to McCarthy's stature as a living master. It's gripping, frightening and, ultimately,...
Lovecraft country a novel
Ruff, Matt
Now an HBO® Series from J.J. Abrams (Executive Producer of Westworld), Misha Green (Creator of Underground) and Jordan Peele (Director of Get Out) The critically acclaimed cult novelist makes visceral the terrors of life in Jim Crow America and its lingering effects in this...

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