Addison Rizer is a writer and reader of anything that can be described as weird, sad, or scary. She has an MA in Professional Writing and a BA in English. She writes for Book Riot and Publishers Weekly and is always looking for more ways to gush about the books she loves. Find her published work or contact her on her website or at addisonrizer at gmaildotcom.
People's #1 Must-Read Book of Fall, The Unveiling is an astonishing ghost story about the masks we wear and the truths we hide even from ourselves. Striker, a Black film scout on a mission to find a location for a big-budget movie about Ernest Shackleton, finds herself on a luxury cruise in Antartica surrounded by wealthy, mostly white tourists. When a kayaking excursion goes horribly wrong, Striker must survive a hostile environment, inner demons, and deadly secrets. Exploring abandonment, guilt, and the limits of human connection, Barry affirms there are no such things as haunted places, only haunted people.
There’s nothing I love more than a literary horror novel. Combine the spine-chilling thrills of a deliciously terrifying narrative with a writing style that sings with subtle beauty or cutting metaphor, and I’m sold. Literary horror novels highlight so well the way horror can be just as touching, emotional, and beautiful a genre as any other.
If you’re curious about which books fall into the literary horror category, look no further. On this list, you’ll find novels about the depths of a mother’s grief, a psychological snow-covered road trip, and a classic haunted house story, just to name a few. For those and more, check out these eight literary horror novels.
Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova
After the death of her son Santiago, Magos secretly keeps a piece of his lung, unable to fully let him go in her grief. She places the piece of him in a jar, and before long, it starts to grow. And grow. And grow. Until it becomes something alive, a creature that looks exactly like the son she lost. She names him Monstrilio and raises him as her own, but as the half-boy half-creature grows, his monstrous side wars with his human side, and the family’s fragile balance threatens to tip under the pressure.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
As part of a psychological study, Doctor John Montague invites three individuals whom he determines are in tune with the beyond to stay at Hill House, an estate with a reputation for being haunted. Eleanor, Theodora, and Luke all agree to spend their summer at Hill House under the watch of Montague. There, their nights are plagued with strange noises, laughter, and threatening messages written on the walls. The experiment quickly veers off course, putting them all in danger.
This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno
Neither Thiago nor Vera thinks much of it when their Itza, a smart speaker, starts acting up, playing music in the middle of the night, and shining strange lights throughout their place at all hours. It’s funny, almost. Something to talk about with friends over the dinner table. But then, Vera falls down the stairs of the subway in a strange accident, and she soon passes away from her injuries. Thiago is left reeling, and the speaker’s strange activity takes on a new sinister meaning. Thiago flees to a remote cabin in the Colorado woods, but this strange thing haunting him follows, as does his grief.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
When Noemi receives a letter stating that her newlywed cousin, Catalina, needs help, she doesn’t hesitate to make the journey to High Place, the decaying estate where her cousin and new husband live. When she arrives, Noemi must navigate tense family dynamics, haunting nightmares each night, and a house that seems so very alive. Before long, Noemi starts poking into the house’s past, where she finds horrible secrets lying in wait.
Zone One by Colson Whitehead
In the aftermath of a worldwide pandemic, half the population is left in a zombified state. Those who were not infected by the disease fight to reclaim Manhattan from their safe space called Zone One, including Mark Spitz, a sweeper whose job is to clean the infected out of the city. As Mark works to make space for humanity to live again, he comes face-to-face with a world with different rules and a different role for society.
I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
For the first time, Jake has a girlfriend to take home to meet his parents. He’s ecstatic, and the couple sets off on a road trip to the rural farm where he grew up. But his girlfriend is thinking of ending things, and Jake can sense it. Through philosophical discussions, an impending snowstorm, and odd parental dynamics, tensions rise as the couple heads back home, detours halting their progress.
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
Stuck in a rural hospital in Argentina, Amanda is dying. In her room is a young boy named David who has so many questions for Amanda. Urgent questions. Strange questions. He wants to know about the worms. He wants to know about her memories. As the pair speaks, Amanda reveals more about her past, and their lives turn out to be more closely linked than either of them realized.
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
After Leah’s deep-sea mission is nearly six months late returning to land, her wife Miri is relieved just to have her spouse back. Just to have her alive. But the Leah that comes back isn’t quite the same as she was before she left. She spends hours in the bathroom under running water and craves more and more salt. With alternating perspectives, Miri and Leah recount their history, their present, and what lengths they will go to stay together.
I hope you pick up one of these truly beautiful horror reads! If you’re in the mood for more literary horror, check out these modern horror classics or these horror novels about grief!
English (US) · 