Horror bestsellers

Mexican Gothic

“Mexican Gothic is a fairytale turned nightmare, perhaps with a nod to Jordan Peele’s Get Out. In 1950’s Mexico, glamorous debutante Noemí receives a mysterious letter from her newlywed cousin Catalina. In frantic prose, she pleads for Noemí to visit her at High Place, the family residence of her husband, an English expat whom she has grown to distrust. Upon her arrival, Noemí finds a dilapidated, mold-ridden mansion on the grounds of a former silver mine with a sickly past, upheld by a eugenicist patriarch whose suffocating surveillance would drive anyone away, if only they could leave. Woven together like a mycelial network, Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s latest features feminist heroism and commentary on colonialism, with language and culture as secret weapons. It’s absolutely delectable.”

Mary, Raven Book Store

Devolution

“I think my favorite part of this book was the interviews that would cut in between each chapter of the book to give more details on the "history" or "events" of the story. I felt like I was listening to NPR or reading from a non-fiction field guide. It's incredibly original, humorous, and terrifying. ”

Kaycee, Country Bookshelf

The Blacktongue Thief

“Whew! What a delight! Come on an epic adventure a la Dungeons & Dragons style. Our thief/rogue is in trouble (as always) and must get out of town. Ah! a quest awaits! Christopher Buehlman does his own reading in the audio version and it is absolutely fantastic and I will absolutely listen to it again.”

Liesl, Boulder Book Store

Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca in this debut supernatural suspense novel, set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, about a remote house, a sinister haunting, and the woman pulled into their clutches...

During the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father was executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo... Read more »

The Only Good Indians

“I loved this book. Jones has a unique narrative voice, allowing ‘the entity’ to step in and take over unexpectedly, amping up the horror. Also, each character has a distinct voice that brings them to life. Jones combines the culture and traditions of the Blackfeet and Crow people with the social truths of their contemporary life. It is refreshingly different from any other horror novel I’ve read. This book is gruesome and honestly scary. I couldn’t put it down.”

Kristine Jelstrom-Hamill, Buttonwood Books and Toys

This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death.

And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky... Read more »

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

One of New York Times Book Review's "summer reads guaranteed to make your heart thump and your skin crawl"; An Amazon Best of the Month Pick; Named a must-read summer book by The Washington Post, USA Today, Vulture, BuzzFeed, Forbes, Entertainment Weekly, CNN, New York Post, Good Housekeeping, E!, PopSugar,... Read more »

The Final Girl Support Group

“Lynnette has been going to the same support group for years — only this isn't a normal support group. It’s a secret group for final girls. This is a fast-paced and shocking thriller that I couldn't put down!”

Katie Cerqua, Gramercy Books

Hidden Pictures

“Hidden Pictures is reminiscent of the John Saul books I loved in the late 70s and 80s. As his usually did, this story includes a child and some unexplained happenings that may or may not have a rational explanation. Mallory is a 20-year-old just recently out of rehab and a halfway house for drug abuse. Her sponsor finds her a job as a nanny to an adorable 5-year-old named Teddy. Mallory is well aware that she is under intense scrutiny by Teddy’s parents, who are knowledgeable of her past history. So, when strange things begin to happen, she is at first very wary of telling them what she suspects. For those of you who shy away from mysteries with paranormal vibes be aware that there is nothing supernatural about what happens when Mallory inadvertently discovers some real truths and nothing supernatural about the totally unseen twist that the story takes.”

Nancy, Fiction Addiction

The Hollow Places

“This book was a trip! I did not know what I was getting myself into when I started this audiobook. Get ready for an adventure into the weird world of T. Kingfisher and her fantastically creepy telling of a woman's return home after divorce. Kara has been welcomed by her uncle to stay in an empty room in his Wonder Museum, a weird and wonderful place with taxidermy real and imagined animals, collections of strange ceramics, and bizarre folk art. Kara (Carrot) agrees to help her aging uncle maintain the museum and while he is out for surgery, a series of strange occurrences lead her to a bunker in between the walls. But Kara and her friend, the coffee shop barista next door, quickly discover that this bunker world is more terrifying than it seemed and they aren't fully sure how to deal with it. Kingfisher's narration is full of nervous energy; Kara and Simon's relationship is quirky with plenty of quips that keep the story light, even when they are in the depths of fear and despair. Hillary Huber's voice relays the nervousness and the humor perfectly, this book is best read at night, under a moonless-sky with the willow branches brushing against your window.”

Jessica, BookBar

Since the 1970s, FantasticLand has been the theme park where “Fun is Guaranteed!” But when a hurricane ravages the Florida coast and isolates the park, the employees find it anything but fun. Five weeks later, the authorities who rescue the survivors encounter a scene of horror. Photos soon emerge online of heads on spikes outside of rides and... Read more »

The Haunting of Hill House meets Get Out in this chilling YA psychological thriller and modern take on the classic haunted house story from New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson!

Marigold is running from ghosts. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting her, but a move with her newly blended family from their small California...

"Ezzo's dark tone and emotional connection terrify and comfort listeners in equal measure. Not for the faint of heart."-AudioFile on Dead Silence

Titanic meets The Shining in S.A. Barnes’ Dead Silence, a SF horror novel in which a woman and her crew board a decades-lost luxury cruiser and find the wreckage of a nightmare that hasn't yet ended.

A...

In the House in the Dark of the Woods

“Gothic and atmospheric, this book is a terrifying fever dream, an extended waking nightmare. It follows Goody, our unreliable narrator, as she gets lost in the woods and discovers what lies beyond the veil. Lurking behind Laird Hunt’s lush and evocative prose is a sense of dread that creeps up your spine as the story twists and writhes. It’s a haunted-woods tale full of wolves and witches—the brutal kind who eat children and steal your very soul. A perfect and easy-to-devour book to usher in Halloween or give you a fright any time of the year. Just be sure to read it with all the lights on.”

Kelly, Bookshop Santa Cruz

The acclaimed New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling novel of small-town evil that “is genuinely chilling and something brand-new and exciting” (Stephen King) and “unforgettable” (Harlan Coben).

In the summer of 1988, the mutilated bodies of several missing girls begin to turn up in a small Maryland town. The grisly evidence leads police to... Read more »

Master storyteller Stephen King presents the classic #1 New York Times bestseller—now a major motion picture!

Andy McGee and Vicky Tomlinson were once college students looking to make some extra cash, volunteering as test subjects for an experiment orchestrated by the clandestine government organization known as The Shop. But the outcome unlocked... Read more »

My Heart Is a Chainsaw

“Jade isn’t the final girl; she doesn’t fit the requirements for a typical slasher flick. When her town becomes the setting for a real-life slasher case, she fills the role of wise woman to the appropriate final girl.”

April Gosling, Boulder Book Store

  World War Z: The Complete Edition (Movie Tie-in Edition): An Oral History of the Zombie War is a new version of Max Brooks' episodic zombie novel. The abridged versions of the original stories are now joined with new, unabridged recordings of the episodes that were not included in the original (abridged) version of the audiobook. These...

STARRED Reviews in Library Journal and Booklist!
A Most-Anticipated Title in CrimeReads, BookRiot, Tor.com, Electric Lit, and more.
Featured in Autostraddle, Apartment Therapy, Goodreads, and more.

Gretchen Felker-Martin's Manhunt is an explosive post-apocalyptic novel that follows trans women and men on a grotesque journey of survival.

“A modern...

The Last House on Needless Street

“This one lives up to the hype. Although there are numerous points where the story is revealed to be something quite different from what it appeared, you won't remember it just because the plot twists left your head spinning, but rather because of the fascinating, exquisitely-voiced narrators (including, yes, the gay Christian housecat) and haunting atmosphere. The audiobook is excellent -- Ragland invents a convincing and unique voice for each character, and when the emotions of the story run raw, his voice carries that intensity. If you are looking for a straightforward horror story, you might be disappointed, but if you're looking for something strange, beautiful, and unexpected you'll enjoy your time in this house.”

Graham, Next Chapter Booksellers

West Virginia, 1966. For thirteen months the town of Point Pleasant is gripped by a real-life nightmare that culminates in a strategy that makes headlines around the world. Strange occurrences and sightings, including a bizarre winged apparition that becomes known as the Mothman, trouble this ordinary American community. Mysterious lights are... Read more »

Ben Mears has returned to Jerusalem's Lot in the hopes that living in an old mansion, long the subject of town lore, will help him cast out his own devils and provide inspiration for his new book. But when two young boys venture into the woods and only one comes out alive, Mears begins to realize that there may be something sinister at work and...

Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only eighteen. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and bestowing animation upon lifeless... Read more »

40th ANNIVERSARY EDITION • From the #1 New York Times bestselling author, "a magnificent, compulsively readable thriller . . . Rice begins where Bram Stoker and the Hollywood versions leave off and penetrates directly to the true fascination of the myth—the education of the vampire” (Chicago Tribune).

The time is now.

We are in a small room with... Read more »

Winner of the 2014 Audie Award for Fiction and Finalist for Solo Narration—Male

Now a major motion picture starring Ewan McGregor!

From master storyteller Stephen King, his unforgettable and terrifying sequel to The Shining—an instant #1 New York Times bestseller that is “[a] vivid frightscape” (The New York Times).

Years ago, the haunting of the... Read more »

In upstate New York, in the woods around Woodstock, Dutchman's Creek flows out of the Ashokan Reservoir. Steep-banked, fast-moving, it offers the promise of fine fishing, and of something more, a possibility too fantastic to be true. When Abe and Dan, two widowers who have found solace in each other's company and a shared passion for fishing,... Read more »

When a group of friends receives unexpected invitations to a dinner party, they see it as a chance to finally meet the bizarre and reclusive new neighbor whose home is enshrouded in layers of security. As the drinks are poured and dinner is served, the group begins to realize things are not what they seem. What starts out as an innocent night of... Read more »

"What an excellent day for an exorcism..."

Originally published in 1971, The Exorcist remains one of the most controversial novels ever written. A literary phenomenon soon after its release, it spent fifty-seven weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, seventeen consecutively at number one. Inspired by the shockingly true story of a child’s...

A high-stakes hide-and-seek competition turns deadly in this dark supernatural thriller from New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White.
 
“The suspenseful plot combines elements of Thomas Tryon’s classic Harvest Home, Netflix’s Squid Game, and the social commentary of Jordan Peele’s film oeuvre and mixes these with a revelatory pacing... Read more »

The Silence of the Lambs meets Sadie in this riveting psychological thriller about two teenagers teaming up with the FBI to track down juvenile serial killers.

In 1982, two teenagers -- serial killer survivor Emma Lewis and US Marshal candidate Travis Bell -- are recruited by the FBI to interview convicted juvenile killers and provide insight and... Read more »

In the “fast-paced, frightening” (The New York Times Book Review) sequel to Bird Box, the inspiration for the record-breaking Netflix film starring Sandra Bullock, bestselling author Josh Malerman brings unseen horrors to life.

NOMINATED FOR THE BRAM STOKER AWARD • “Malorie is even more of a psychological thriller than Bird Box, and all the... Read more »

The contestants of a reality television dating show compete for love—and their lives—in this pulse-pounding and viciously funny fiction debut from the GLAAD Award–winning author of Real Queer America. When the final four women in competition for an aloof, if somewhat sleazy, bachelor’s heart arrive on a mysterious island in the Pacific... Read more »

Madeleine Roux's New York Times bestselling Asylum is a thrilling and creepy novel that Publishers Weekly called "a strong YA debut that reveals the enduring impact of buried trauma on a place."

For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, the New Hampshire College Prep program is the chance of a lifetime. Except that when Dan arrives, he finds that the...

Deadline is the electrifying and critically acclaimed sequel to Feed, the “Astonishing” novel that launched the Newsflesh series — a saga of zombies, geeks, politics, social media, and the virus that runs through them all — from New York Times bestseller Mira Grant.
 
"Deft cultural touches, intriguing science, and amped-up action will delight... Read more »

See the difference, read #1 bestselling author Anne Rice in Large Print

* About Large Print
All Random House Large Print editions are published in a 16-point typeface


In the latest installment of The Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice summons up dazzling worlds to bring us the story of Armand - eternally young, with the face of a Botticelli angel.... Read more »

Christopher Moore is a New York Times best-selling author whose offbeat novels combine comedy and the supernatural. A striking red-head, 20-something Jody is attacked and transformed into a vampire while walking home one night in downtown San Francisco. Befriending 19-year-old Tommy, Jody tries to understand her new undead life, but trouble... Read more »

The complete collection of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories, poems, novels, and essays, read by Audie-award winning actors Peter Noble and Jonathan Keeble.

Edgar Allan Poe was a writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre, and is widely regarded as...

MYSTERY. Tom Pasmore, ten years old, survives a near-fatal accident. During his long recovery, he becomes obsessed with an unsolved murder and finds he has clues to solving it that he shouldn’t. Lamont von Heilitz has spent his life dealing with mysteries, until he wanted to know nothing more of the terror of life and the horror of death. When a... Read more »

The FBI safe house is haunted?

They didn't know it was the last day of normal. Liam—husband, father—the rock who anchored them in a comfortable life in sunny Miami had been gunned down by a hit man. The wounds of losing him are raw when Lydia and her two children are snatched for their own protection. The FBI scoop the family into the Witness... Read more »

The greatest threats are the ones unseen....

For what seems like the first time, Elena and her friends are happy. Elena and Stefan have built a home for themselves in Dalcrest, and all of Elena’s friends are as in love as she and Stefan are. Even Damon is enjoying visiting his favorite old haunts in Europe, and is more surprised than anyone that...

New York Times bestselling series

The Return: Midnight is the seventh book in L.J. Smith’s New York Times bestselling Vampire Diaries series.

Elena Gilbert is back from the Dark Dimension, having successfully freed her vampire boyfriend Stefan Salvatore from imprisonment. Saving Stefan had an unlikely consequence: his vampire brother Damon...

Home Before Dark

“Maggie Holt was the central character of the bestselling memoir her father wrote about their 14 days living in the supposedly haunted Baneberry Hall. Maggie has always hated the book and the notoriety that came from it. She was only 5 when they lived there and she remembers nothing about the time. But since the book was essentially about her she is constantly bombarded with questions and made fun of by non-believers. All that she really knows is that her father swore the house was haunted and that everything he wrote was true and that on his deathbed he begged Maggie never to return to the house. Since Maggie doesn’t believe in ghosts, and since her mother has refused to ever discuss what happened there. Maggie decides she must return to the house to find out for herself what caused them to run from the house twenty years ago with only the clothes on their backs, never to return. If, like Maggie, you don’t believe in ghosts and think there is a rational explanation for everything you will love trying to figure out what that explanation is. As you hear Maggie’s father read his book and at the same time follow what is now happening to Maggie and what is going on at Baneberry Hall you may begin to believe that the only explanation is that Baneberry Hall is truly haunted. The brilliant plotting was instrumental in making this one of the creepiest and most believable ghost stories I have ever read and the ending was beyond amazing. If listening to this doesn’t put you in another place and time to escape what is going on in the real world then nothing ever will.”

Nancy, Fiction Addiction

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires

“I don’t know about everyone else, but I, for one, am really excited that vampires are making a comeback. I think they’re such a fun trope in pretty much every genre, and this was no exception. True to the Grady Hendrix style, this book was the perfect campy, slightly off-kilter, and moderately gory suburban horror story I didn’t know I needed.”

Kendall, Brilliant Books Audio

Into the Drowning Deep

“In Into the Drowning Deep, Mira Grant has conjured up scary mermaids living in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. An expedition sets out to learn if mermaids truly exist and to uncover the fate of a previous expedition. The new crew is being recorded for a documentary, with the hope it will prove mermaids are real and clear the network of wrongdoing. Both Tory, whose sister was killed on the first expedition, and Jillian, who has been teaching about mermaids for years, are going out on the state-of-the-art ship; however, that ship has one major flaw. You will not look at The Little Mermaid the same way again!”

Jason Kennedy, Boswell Book Company

A young woman living in a rigid, puritanical society discovers dark powers within herself in this stunning, feminist fantasy debut.
 
In the lands of Bethel, where the Prophet's word is law, Immanuelle Moore's very existence is blasphemy. Her mother’s union with an outsider of a different race cast her once-proud family into disgrace, so... Read more »

Set in Colonial New England, Slewfoot is a tale of magic and mystery, of triumph and terror as only dark fantasist Brom can tell it.

Connecticut, 1666.

An ancient spirit awakens in a dark wood. The wildfolk call him Father, slayer, protector.

The colonists call him Slewfoot, demon, devil.

To Abitha, a recently widowed outcast, alone and...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Before Doctor Sleep, there was The Shining, a classic of modern American horror from the undisputed master, Stephen King.

Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting... Read more »

The Book of Accidents

“Despite the classically creepy content of a true horror tale, I found myself devouring these pages before going to sleep at night and seeking them out again first thing in the morning, nightmares be damned.”

Sara Knight, Maria's Bookshop

“The Troop scared the hell out of me, and I couldn’t put it down. This is old-school horror at its best.” —Stephen King

This “grim microcosm of terror and desperation haunting” (Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author) follows a scout troop on a terrifying fight for survival when they come across a mysterious—and deadly—stranger in... Read more »

It Devours!

“Even if you've never heard of Night Vale, I truly believe you'll enjoy It Devours. It's a book about science and religion. It's a book about belonging and how sometimes to truly understand what is happening, you may need an outsider's perspective. It's also a book about a friendly desert town that finds its way into some of the strangest predicaments, and the people who live there. In other words, it's superbly written science fiction that deserves to be read more than once.”

Allison Skaggs, Lowry's Books