| The Final Girl Support Group by Grady HendrixHow it begins: Decades after surviving a massacre, paranoid "final girl" Lynette Tarkington's sole respite from her traumatized existence is the group therapy sessions she attends with a handful of other final girls.
But then... when one of their number is murdered, Lynette suspects that someone is targeting final girls for a killer finale worthy of a horror film.
Try this next: For more novels that pay loving homage to (and subvert) slasher film tropes, check out Riley Sager's Final Girls and Stephen Graham Jones' forthcoming My Heart Is a Chainsaw. |
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| The Library of the Dead by T.L. HuchuStarring: 14-year-old Scottish Zimbabwean ghostalker Ropafadzo "Ropa" Moyo, who delivers messages from Edinburgh's dead to their living loved ones.
What it's about: When ghost Nicola asks Ropa to help her find her son, Ropa is plunged into a conspiracy that will test the limits of her magic.
Series alert: The Library of the Dead is the creepy and atmospheric first entry in the Edinburgh Nights paranormal fantasy series. |
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| Build Your House Around My Body by Violet KupersmithWhat it is: a genre-defying blend of horror, historical fiction, folklore, and mystery centered around the disappearance of 22-year-old Vietnamese American Winnie, a listless English teacher living in 2011 Saigon.
Read it for: the surprising, supernatural-tinged connections between Winnie and a handful of other people living in different eras of Vietnam's turbulent history.
Is it for you? This thought-provoking and unsettling fever dream examines the haunting impact of colonialism in contemporary Vietnam. |
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| The Book of Accidents by Chuck WendigWhat it's about: After his teenage son Oliver is bullied at school, former cop Nate Graves reluctantly uproots his family to his childhood home in rural Pennsylvania, the site of many unhappy memories.
What happens next: Plagued by visions of his abusive father, Nate is forced to confront the family secrets he's long kept buried. Meanwhile, Oliver's made a new friend with dark motivations.
Book buzz: This sinister latest from Bram Stoker nominee Chuck Wendig (Wanderers) "will be catnip to horror fans" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| Full Throttle by Joe HillWhat it is: the second short story collection by New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill, featuring new and previously published horror and dark fantasy tales.
Don't miss: "Throttle" and "In the Tall Grass," both co-written by Hill's father, horror mainstay Stephen King.
Reviewers say: "This collection cements Hill's reputation as a versatile master of scares both subtle and shocking" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria MachadoWhat it is: a gripping, sometimes horrifying mix of tragic, creepy, and thought-provoking stories centered on women's lives and bodies and the violence inflicted upon both.
Who it's for: fans of the genre-bending stories of Karen Russell and Kelly Link will enjoy Carmen Maria Machado's Shirley Jackson Award-winning and National Book Award finalist debut.
Don't miss: "The Husband Stitch," a haunting riff on the classic story "The Green Ribbon." |
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| The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror by Daniel M. LaveryWhat it is: a witty collection of folk and fairy tale retellings tinged with surreal, satirical horror.
Don't miss: "The Rabbit," which re-imagines the plush bunny of The Velveteen Rabbit as a sinister schemer whose desire to become real manifests itself through possession rather than love.
Try this next: Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber, another violent and darkly humorous adaptation of classic fairy tales. |
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| Growing Things and Other Stories by Paul TremblayWhat it is: a disturbing collection of 19 short stories written by three-time Bram Stoker Award winner Paul Tremblay.
Read it for: Tremblay's penchant for turning the ordinary into the uncanny; the surprising connections to some of his other works (and the connections between some of the stories in this one).
Don't miss: the choose-your-own-adventure tale "A Haunted House Is A Wheel Upon Which Some Are Broken." |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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