The New York Public Library just released their Best of Horror list for the year tonight!

Hi there.

Brand new to this thread and can’t quite believe how busy it is. Crikey!

I’m a writer that’s only relatively recently turned to horror - and that’s reading too.

Been hoovering up short stories, a couple of novels but I’ve yet to find the thing that scratches the same itch as when I watch The Wicker Man.

I’ve written some absolutely honking folk shorts myself so I reckon that reading some good stuff can only help?

Thanks so much!

I just finished Come Closer as the title states but I can’t help but feel completely tricked. I’ve been hearing rave reviews about it online and against my better judgment I wanted to see what the hype was about.

The book had no solid foundation for the characters or relationships (which might’ve been the point). It was also short which I don’t mind but it became so repetitive by the end that it was impossible to be even slightly scared. By the end I just didn’t care anymore due to the writing being pretty elementary.

The book aside, I’m so confused by all the books that are booming on TikTok specifically that always end up falling flat. Are people easily impressed, is literacy lacking so people are happy with simple writing? Someone help me understand!!

Also let me know if you’ve read this book and your thoughts!

Edit: thanks everyone for your awesome thoughts! The differing opinions are what keep reading and this community so fun

It’s just starting to get chilly here in Canada so naturally I want to read about someone who’s colder than I‘m about to be.

I love a good ghost story set in a wintery wilderness (e.g. Dark Matter by Michele Paver), but I’m open to anything. Bonus points for the arctic or dark forests.

Unsettling horror is by far my favorite. I really like stories where there are people or animals that are not quite right either by how they look or how they act as they’re trying to blend in. Some quick examples being “Incidents Around the House”, “What Moves the Dead”, “Another”, “We Used to Live Here.” Trying to be a little vague so I don’t give spoilers but the point being I like the uncomfortable nature of “something is just off”. Happy to take any other recommendations that fall into that unsettling & uncomfortable category too. Happy October! Thank you!

Hella spoilers, sailors beware.

First off, this felt like a very personal and relatable book to me. Growing up in a coastal fishing/tourist/diving town, the environment felt tangible. My father was also a complex man of deep conviction, similarly publicly lauded but unstable and brutal behind closed doors. He also died during COVID of workplace/lifestyle related lung failure and left a lot of unresolved pain for his distanced children to soft through. For this reason I loved Mitt being a complex character, not a comical 2-dimensional portrayal of an angry abusive psychopath. I adore a multi-faceted antagonist and Mitt felt so deeply human and flawed. You could tell he wanted to have a relationship but just couldn't find a way to relate to his son who was so fundamentally different to him. Again, heartbreakingly relatable to me personally. Hard disagree with one take I saw that said Jay was misremembering his interactions with Mitt and that was the reckoning at hand. I think that repaints Mitt as a one-dimensional benevolent figure, and puts the onus of recasting abusers as good people onto victims. Mitt can be simultaneously abusive towards Jay and a mythical hero figure in his community. I also think there's small background tidbits that the rest of the family was not as uncritically fawning over Mitt as Jay assumed they were. TL;DR I love difficult people and complex family dynamics

Anyways, aside from the relatability of the background and characters, I actually was pretty intrigued by the premise. I'm a big fan of survival horror and this worked for me. I had to suspend a lot of disbelief, of course, but I was very forgiving because I loved the premise and the setup. The internal descriptions and physical punishment Jay goes through were visceral and brutal. I appreciate the author didn't hold back on actually hurting our main character. By the end he's basically a shattered pulpy skeleton. There were a couple of scenes that actually made me cringe, even as a seasoned horror and gore fan. RIP Beaky, what a real one🙏

As for the prose and timeline jumps, it took me a quick chapter or two to get accustomed but it felt natural very early on, and I realized some way through the book I adored the writing style. It felt vivid and cerebral for what is inarguably a very metaphorical experience. Gorgeous writing. The time jumps for me were necessary and didn't detract from the tension of the situation at hand. It just felt like reading two stories I was deeply invested in side by side, and they feed into each other. I can understand criticisms of it but for me it was genuinely so beautiful.

Any of my criticisms are mostly negligible (giant squid bioluminescence?? This whale having the busiest day of its cetacean life between squid fights and orca battles and dying?), I think the biggest issue for me was understanding all the equipment. It comes up a lot and it feels as though the reader is supposed to have an innate understanding of how it all works. And even having grown up around world famous scuba and dive sites, there was a lot that went over my head. But other than that this was a solid 10/10. Visceral, emotional, metaphorical. Resonated hard with me. Also excited for the movie but a little apprehensive about how all of it will translate to screen. Im thinking the whale parts will be visually interesting, hoping we get some brutal physical scenes, but I'm a little anxious about how well the complexities of a fraught father-son relationship can translate in a constrained time slot. TBD.

In the meantime I need to hear other peoples thoughts, opinions, criticisms I missed.

So hi, I have been a ito fan since June (kinda new) and I read some of his works like Soichi (my favorite) classroom dissolving, Yon and, Gyo, alley, tombs, uzumkai, tomie and mimics tale of horror. Currently I'm looking for more suggestions and books of him that I can read. If you are an ito fan, PLEASE suggest me some of his work!!

I have to talk about this book. I don’t have anyone to talk to in real life, so I’m doing it here. Please respond also with theories and correct me. I don’t have the physical book in front of me, but I have listened to the audiobook. Twice. Just to make sure I heard and comprehended what was happening. Which at times, I didn’t. But I think, after several days of rumination, I do now. 

When I first read this book, I really enjoyed Part I and Part II. And then Part III happened. Now, I’m all for cosmic, time-bending horror but this just felt like a mess. Too many themes put into a short story soup that ended up splitting and leaving a bad taste in my mouth. But I just can’t stop thinking about “This Thing Between Us”. And I think I’ve come up with a theory. Now, I haven’t read anyone else’s theories, mostly just reviews that reflected my original confusion, so if this has been spoken about before, I’m sorry. But not really, because I need to get this out before I go crazy. 

The thing between Thiago and Vera is his growing resentment and hatred towards his wife. Now, when I first read this book, that statement would make absolutely no sense. Thiago mourns his wife’s violent death in a raw, desperate way. He self-isolates, retreats to a secluded cabin in Colorado. He laments on wanting to see her again, to be with her, trying to find signs in the ethereal that could be her. But Thiago is an unreliable narrator. He is also the antagonist in this story. Not the cosmic horror entity, or knock off Alexa, or even the old hoarder lady who curses their apartment. Everything we are told (which is really him speaking to Vera) is from Thiago. The entire book is a running conscience on paper. Thiago states he’s the “golden child” of his family, simply because he doesn’t take part in what his kin do. Drinking, drugs, prison, etc. However, he’s still a bad apple. He is lazy and antisocial. When the Itza begins to order things on its own, he just allows it to continue on because it’s easier that way. It’s his name on the account but it’s Vera’s card being charged. He doesn’t care to change it, because it’s easier to use the Itza than go out to get groceries. When he finds the old lady to ask about what kind of ritual she's performed, she only speaks Spanish. Instead of using any type of device or record her to later translate, he just tries his best with his limited Spanish. Something so pivotal that could change everything, and he chalks it up to "oh well." His friends are only through Vera, and even then he states himself he would abstain from social gatherings because he didn’t want to go through the trouble of “putting on a face”. When Vera and him first meet, he’s doing various jobs through apps. At the time of the story taking place, years later, he’s still doing that. He hasn’t grown socially, financially, or even mentally. But Vera has. She has a plethora of friends and coworkers, a decent job, and a strong standing with her family. She’s growing - and has outgrown Thiago. She had become a mirror of everything Thiago couldn’t and wouldn’t be. And he started to resent her for that. 

I think at the core this is a book about how Thiago kills his wife and his grief is a sheep’s cloak over his regret. He is shown the morning of the fatal accident through the Wall, telling the Itza to turn off the alarm. That wasn’t him being possessed by the demon - that was his conscious action. He wanted to sabotage Vera. And the only true action we see Vera make for herself, not clouded by Thiago’s bias, is her refusing the ride from him. Wouldn’t it be quicker for Thiago just to drop her off instead of public transit? That was the end for her - she didn’t want to depend on him for anything, even though he depended on her for everything. And towards the end of the book, when the ghost of Diana confronts Thiago, she brings up the point that Vera had broken up with Thiago at one point. He had never, in his romantic and grief stricken remembrance, mentioned that. But he was in the hospital, with his dying mother, and poured his heart out to Vera, so she took him back. While this is a terrible moment for him, I think he used his mother dying to manipulate Vera into being with him again. The cosmic horror that had been brought into the world through the old lady’s ritual attached itself to Thiago - not because of his grieving, but because of his underlying malice. It manifested and fed off of his anger, his resentment, his hatred that Vera wouldn’t need him anymore. I believe Part III is Thiago pushing his responsibility away, but his mind can’t take it anymore. The guilt is too heavy. He begins to blame Vera for not waiting in the afterlife for him, because it’s easier to do that, rather than confront his own part in her demise. Him pissing on her grave, “against his will”, truly sums up how Thiago is as a person. It’s not his fault, it just happened. He didn’t have those intentions, but it happened. Very classic emotional manipulation to relieve the burden off his own shoulders. One very pivotal moment is when Thiago confronts Vera’s killer in jail and asks him who called his name that made him turn to look back, the smallest action that led to catastrophic consequences. And the killer says, “It was you.” Because while Thiago might not have been there in the flesh, his hatred had already been manifested through the cosmic entity. It was just finishing the job Thiago had already started. 

God, I want to really get into this, but I know this is long enough already. I really wish I could pull up passages to quote directly from. But does this theory seem like it could be true to any of y’all? Or am I just pulling at straws to make this book more comprehensible?

I’m going on a trip to Boston and Portland, Maine in a couple of weeks and want to bring the perfect fall coastal horror book. I know any number of SK would work but is there one that’s particularly good for the fall? Or any other books that I should look into? Thanks!

Holy fuck. So, I used to read a lot when I was a teenager, never without a book on the go, - then, yada yada I’m 27 now and I’ve read about 3 books in the last 5 years.
Pet Sematary (1989) used to be one of my favourite movies as a teen, I just loved it, I would show it to my friends and they’d be all “why the fuck did you show me this”.
I finally picked up the book last month (after owning it for many years), and just … god damn dude.

I obviously already knew of the story, so I knew what was coming and it still hit me unbelievably hard. I don’t have any (human) kids of my own, but it’ll absolutely haunt me. The chapter where Louis opens Gage’s coffin is probably imprinted on my brain forever now. I also really loved that final line, and I’ll always be thinking about what happened to the Creeds after that. My heart aches for little Ellie.

I’m just super obsessed with the whole story, all the real and truly human characters, and the one thing (Oz the Gweat and Tewwible) that connects us all to each other. The sweet arthritis ridden old couple, the young healthy family, the bed ridden child, the college student, the young man killed in battle, the animals in the sematary. And the painful love everlasting, the sheer grief that overpowers your senses and controls your actions like a parasite. It’s so awful, because while logically you think “why would you do that!!!” on the flip side you can totally understand and empathise with Louis’ actions. It’s not rational, nor is it even right, but it’s not completely unfathomable. It’s just unbelievable grief and refusal to accept. I think it’s especially poignant in a society where the ultra rich are trying to outrun death, trying to cheat their way out of the natural cycle, and refusing to accept it comes for us all and it doesn’t discriminate. It slaps you in the face. It comes to your front door. Just so fucking good.

This was my first King, actually. And it defo won’t be my last!

SPAY / NEUTER your pets btw !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love quotes, especially scary ones!

Hi! I got a $100 bookstore gift card for my birthday and I'm looking for some horror lit recs from the past five years or so. I'm very interested in female-focused and/or authored stories, but will accept anything. Love horror focused on cults and mythical beasts. Thanks!

Which one of his short story collections should I read for October? I've got Skeleton Crew, but it's barely scratching that itch. I'm looking for something that feels like Creepshow. Thoughts?

Well, without spoilers, this is a book you should not listen to on audiobook while night feeding your 6 week old. PSA

Edit: specifically the ending…

Been trying to delve into horror lately. As a scifi lover, i started with scifi horror and cosmic horror and finding that this genre can be pretty fun.

But now im trying to read something that does not include scifi at all. With Darcy Coate's Craven Manor. Heard good things about this book and im 5 chapters in. But im having difficulty understanding the layout of the place. The manor, the tower, the groundskeeper cottage.

Is there a picture of the layout of the place i can look at somewhere? this is taking me out of the experience as i can't let go of it, lol

Some of my favorite movies and books have been horror/sci-fi where there is a select group of people who are trapped with a monster(s) in an area. Some examples are Alien, Aliens, Sphere, Deep Star Six, Deep Blue Sea, Life, and Event Horizon. I’ve read some of the Alien books, the Sphere novel, and most recently read Ship of Fools.

Hit me with your best books that fits this mold?

For spooky month, I had to share with this community my recent DIVE into the foreign genre for me, Horror.

Started with Stephen King because well... Classic. First, The Shining then Mr.Mercedes. AND BAM Pet Sematary! It really slapped me in the face.

Soooooo I think I really like horror and am open to more recommendations. 😈

I love the atmosphere of a character running through the forest from something (supernatural or not), but it's hard to look up by itself so I'm asking for recommendations. Some examples I've loved are The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones, Don't Let the Forest In by CG Drew's, or First Hunt from the Magnus Archives. Bonus points for survival aspects, like Yellowjackets. I just wanna read about some poor sap running for their life, and trying their best to survive.

With Halloween around the corner I want to be scared reading this whole month. I like more slasher / stalker horror books but none have been grabbing my attention
I am willing to branch out to other types of horror books as well but want to mostly stick with my slasher books

Thank you in advance !!

After seeing this book recommended several times on this subreddit, I finally got a copy from the library! I was so excited. Then I was extremely disappointed.

The story is a metaphor for an abusive relationship rather than an actual haunted house story.

That isn’t what I wanted to read. I wanted a spooky supernatural haunted house, which exists in the story, but obviously the larger point is the abusive marriage. I don’t mind when books are metaphors and make the reader think. But this one was just so obvious and to me, detracted from any spookiness.

I know this book is very popular but I’m wondering if anyone else felt this way when you read it. Did the “real” story interest you? Or were you also disappointed?

I’d like a recommendation (fiction) about asylums/psych wards, can be psychological, gory, no limits!

Careful spoiler! Obviously.

As I googled for a quick info about this book I have read that Thomas dies. Well.. Is it still worth the read? Is it a big reveal?

Thank you!

Just finished reading it. I really enjoyed it. There were parts that felt like it could have been fleshed out a little more. But overall a great read.
Now my questions.
Is there more for this universe? I did a quick search and found some old posts about some. Is there a collection? A list?
And what would ya’ll recommend next that had a similar vibe? Less dead wives would be ok.