For the best horror novels of 2023, we have included highly popular books such as What Kind of Mother: A Novel by Clay Chapman as well as fan favorites like Edenville: A Horror Novel by Sam Rebelein and 3:13 AM: A Horror Novel by Catherine G.Lurid.
Note: For Mystery Tribune’s coverage of best books across crime, mystery, horror and thriller sub-genres, please visit our Reading Lists.
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Edenville: A Horror Novel by Sam Rebelein
After publishing his debut novel, The Shattered Man, to disappointing sales and reviews, Campbell P. Marion is struggling to find inspiration for a follow-up. When Edenville College invites him to join as a writer-in-residence, he’s convinced that his bad luck has finally taken a turn. His girlfriend Quinn isn’t so sure—she grew up near Edenville and has good reasons for not wanting to move back. Cam disregards her skepticism and accepts the job, with Quinn reluctantly following along.
But there’s something wrong in Edenville. Despite the charming old ladies milling about Main Street and picturesque sunflowers dotting the sidewalks, poison lurks beneath the surface. As a series of strange and ominous events escalate among Edenville and its residents, Cam and Quinn find themselves entangled in a dark and disturbing history.
Told with equal parts horror and humor, Edenville explores the urban legends that fuel our nightmares and the ways in which ambition can overshadow our best instincts. Sam Rebelein is an exciting, sharp new voice, sure to terrify readers for years to come.
Mister Magic: A Novel by Kiersten White
Thirty years after a tragic accident shut down production of the classic children’s program Mister Magic, the five surviving cast members have done their best to move on. But just as generations of cultishly devoted fans still cling to the lessons they learned from the show, the cast, known as the Circle of Friends, have spent their lives searching for the happiness they felt while they were on it. The friendship. The feeling of belonging. And the protection of Mister Magic.
But with no surviving video of the show, no evidence of who directed or produced it, and no records of who—or what—the beloved host actually was, memories are all the former Circle of Friends has.
Then a twist of fate brings the castmates back together at the remote desert filming compound that feels like it’s been waiting for them all this time. Even though they haven’t seen each other for years, they understand one another better than anyone has since.
After all, they’re the only ones who hold the secret of that circle, the mystery of the magic man in his infinitely black cape, and, maybe, the answers to what really happened on that deadly last day. But as the Circle of Friends reclaim parts of their past, they begin to wonder: Are they here by choice, or have they been lured into a trap?
I Found Puppets Living In My Apartment Walls by Ben Farthing
Johnny awakes. A puppet looms over his bed. He recognizes the furry monster: Grandpa was its puppeteer on the children’s television show R-City Street. But Grandpa went missing a year ago. He disappeared from this very apartment building, which was converted from the old R-City Street studio.
Desperate to see Grandpa again, Johnny follows the puppet inside the building’s walls, ever deeper into a puppet-infested labyrinth…
I Found Puppets Living In My Apartment Walls is a horror tale from the “darkly inventive” purveyor of uncanny places and wondrous evils, Ben Farthing.
The September House by Carissa Orlando
A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.
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 inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.
Margaret is not most people.
Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.
Horror of the Blood Devils by Tim Curran
Despair Island, 1962. Prison break.
Five desperate men go over the wall at Stackhouse Correctional. Their object: reach the coast on the far end of the island before all hell breaks loose. Behind them, are teams of guards with vicious dogs. Before them, the treacherous depths of Snakebit Swamp, a desolate, primeval run of alligators and poisonous snakes.
But there’s something worse that calls it home–an ancient evil that feeds on human blood. If the guards and convicts want to survive the night, they’ll have to join together. They have entered the hunting grounds.
3:13 AM: A Horror Novel by Catherine G.Lurid (Author), Consuelo Parra (Illustrator), Catherine Dunn (Editor)
Have you ever wondered if there are individuals within the government who can predict the future? Where are they, how do they live, and how do they gain insight into what lies ahead… “3:13 AM” will unravel an alternative tale about one of these oracles.
El sets off with his colleague Marian to Asia. After a twelve-hour flight from London to Bangkok, their journey leads them through Patong to one of the picturesque islands in the Indian Ocean. Their destination is a point that cannot be found on the world map. Only when you zoom in from a satellite image will you see Koh An—a jungle-covered remnant of lava, the sandy beach of which is only fifty leisurely steps long.
It is here that secret agents have been assigned to meet with the mysterious Mr. Lee. By the will of fate, Raymond Lee knows a little more about the world than any of us. And this time his terrible prophecy will make the blood of even the most cold-blooded leaders of the counter-terrorism department run cold. What Mr. Lee saw in his vision is capable of turning life on Earth upside down. But the most terrifying realization is that his predictions have never been wrong.
What Kind of Mother: A Novel by Clay Chapman
After striking out on her own as a teen mom, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, Virginia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmers market.
It’s there that she connects with old high school flame Henry McCabe, now a reclusive local fisherman whose infant son, Skyler, went missing five years ago. Everyone in town is sure Skyler is dead, but when Madi reads Henry’s palm, she’s haunted by strange and disturbing visions that suggest otherwise. As she follows the thread of these visions, Madi discovers a terrifying nightmare waiting at the center of the labyrinth—and it’s coming for everyone she holds dear.
Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie
From the macabre mind of a Bram Stoker Award-nominated author, this heart-pounding novel of horror and psychological suspense takes a ghost hunting reality TV crew into a world they could never have imagined.
Fade to Black is the newest hit ghost hunting reality TV show. Led by husband and wife team Matt and Claire Kirklin, it delivers weekly hauntings investigated by a dedicated team of ghost hunting experts.
Episode Thirteen takes them to every ghost hunter’s holy grail: the Paranormal Research Foundation. This brooding, derelict mansion holds secrets and clues about bizarre experiments that took place there in the 1970s. It’s also famously haunted, and the team hopes their scientific techniques and high tech gear will prove it. But as the house begins to reveal itself to them, proof of an afterlife might not be everything Matt dreamed of. A story told in broken pieces, in tapes, journals, and correspondence, this is the story of Episode Thirteen—and how everything went terribly, horribly wrong.
The Militia House: A Novel by John Milas
It’s 2010, and the recently promoted Corporal Loyette and his unit are finishing up their deployment at a new base in Kajaki, Afghanistan. Their duties here are straightforward—loading and unloading cargo into and out of helicopters—and their days are a mix of boredom and dread. The Brits they’re replacing delight in telling them the history of the old barracks just off base, a Soviet-era militia house they claim is haunted, and Loyette and his men don’t need much convincing to make a clandestine trip outside the wire to explore it.
It’s a short, middle-of-the-day adventure, but the men experience a mounting agitation after their visit to the militia house. In the days that follow they try to forget about the strange, unsettling sights and sounds from the house, but things are increasingly . . . not right. Loyette becomes determined to ignore his and his marines’ growing unease, convinced that it’s just the strain of war playing tricks on them. But something about the militia house will not let them go.
Meticulously plotted and viscerally immediate in its telling, The Militia House is a gripping and brilliant exploration of the unceasing horrors of war that’s no more easily shaken than the militia house itself.
The Pram (Creature Feature collection) by Joe Hill
A husband’s obsessive desire for a child leads to an unexpected manifestation of his yearning in a nightmarish short story about fatherhood dreams by New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill.
Willy and Marianne’s farmhouse in Maine has acres of meadow and fresh air, and a lonesome bridle path in the forest along which Willy daydreams and ambles. When he’s loaned a decrepit old baby stroller to cart his groceries home, the rickety squeak of the wheels comforts him. So do the sweet coos of a baby Willy knows can’t be real. Can it? In this twisted thicket, wishes come true—with a price.
Joe Hill’s The Pram is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.
Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt
Three years ago, Alice spent one night in an abandoned house with her friends, Ila and Hannah. Since then, Alice’s life has spiraled. She lives a haunted existence, selling videos of herself for money, going to parties she hates, drinking herself to sleep.
Memories of that night torment Alice, but when Ila asks her to return to the House, to go past the KEEP OUT sign and over the sick earth where teenagers dare each other to venture, Alice knows she must go.
Together, Alice and Ila must face the horrors that happened there, must pull themselves apart from the inside out, put their differences aside, and try to rescue Hannah, whom the House has chosen to make its own.
Cutting, disruptive, and darkly funny, Tell Me I’m Worthless is a vital work of trans fiction that examines the devastating effects of trauma and how fascism makes us destroy ourselves and each other.
The Group by Khurram Elahi
From the bestselling author who delivered ‘A Change of Seasons,’ dive into a chilling novel that will leave you questioning the line between dreams and reality.
Jagat Singh, a seasoned IT consultant, thought he was prepared for anything, until he stumbled upon The Forex Group. In a shocking realization, he becomes a victim of cybercrime, scammed out of his hard-earned money. Determined to reclaim what was taken from him, Jag embarks on a relentless pursuit for justice.
As Jag grapples with the aftermath of his discovery, he must confront the consequences of his actions while trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy in his family life. However, the lines blur between his loved ones and the dark forces that seek to consume him, leading to a gripping battle within his own mind.
In this riveting tale of choices and consequences, Jag is forced to navigate treacherous waters where his family and fortune hang in the balance. Will he find the solution to his mental struggle, or will he succumb to the haunting power of his own actions?
Bonus
Don’t Fear the Reaper (The Indian Lake Trilogy Book 2) by Stephen Graham Jones
Four years after her tumultuous senior year, Jade Daniels is released from prison right before Christmas when her conviction is overturned. But life beyond bars takes a dangerous turn as soon as she returns to Proofrock. Convicted Serial Killer, Dark Mill South, seeking revenge for thirty-eight Dakota men hanged in 1862, escapes from his prison transfer due to a blizzard, just outside of Proofrock, Idaho.
Dark Mill South’s Reunion Tour began on December 12th, 2019, a Thursday. Thirty-six hours and twenty bodies later, on Friday the 13th, it would be over. Don’t Fear the Reaper is the page-turning sequel to My Heart Is a Chainsaw from New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones.
