Collected tales of both Algernon Blackwood and M.R. James hold up extremely well, as does Poe. My favorite novel length work is The Elementals.

Clive Barker - Books of Blood, Hellbound Heart, Cabal, Damnation Game, etc.

Between Two Fires is certainly one of them. While it's not for everyone, The Only Good Indians is definitely worth trying out, as are the other books by Stephen Graham Jones. Works by Stephen King, Jack Ketchum, and Dan Simmons should also be considered.

My must-read list (Not necessarily my favorites, though many are):

• Stephen King: Misery, 'Salem's Lot, Pet Sematary

• Older Gothic works such as Dracula, Frankenstein, Carmilla, etc. I have not read The Monk, but many would lump it in with this group.

• Shirley Jackson - Haunting of Hill House

• William Peter Blatty - The Exorcist

• Thomas Harris - The Silence of the Lambs

The Cipher by Kathe Koja, and Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

That’s a tall order.

Probably the best I can do is give you all the horror novels that have blown me away in the past twelve months:

Lost Man’s Lane by Scott Carson.

Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due.

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman.

After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones.

Mongrels also by SGJ.

Dark Companions by Ramsey Campbell.

Model Home by Rivers Solomon.

Small World by Tabitha King.

Cold Moon Over Babylon by Michael McDowell.

Have you read the rest of the series? Because the prequel that just came out -- and which definitely benefits from reading the whole series first -- is the first thing I've read since Annihilation that I enjoyed just as much as Annihilation

It all depends what you're into, and if you don't mind really long novels. Imo the story is so good that it didn't feel like a thousand page book.

I've heard people talk up Summer of Night, but I took just couldn't really get into it. I might go back and try to read it in the future. Dan Simmons doesn't always hit, but when he does you're really in for a ride. And I thought along with the first Hyperion book, the terror is his best.

I've read it three times and every time I figure out something I missed before. It's Weird, not horror. Weird is usually a little bit intentionally confusing.

Can’t say I’m afraid. The Terror is the only Dan Simmons book I have read thus far. Though, I am hoping to read some more of his work soon. That said, I thought The Terror was absolutely brilliant. One of those books that I am certain I will never forget.

Yes. I really enjoyed The Terror, up until the final 100 pages (it's like 700.)

I did not much like Summer of Night.

I was coming here to say The Elementals is my favorite novel period and I was pleasantly surprised to see McDowell as the top answer!

Summer of Night was more when Simmons was channeling King's spirit from IT and The Body (but not copying...more like homage). The Terror was reallly when he seemed very comfortable and confident in his own horror stylings. His earlier Carrion Comfort (which he previously wrote as a short story in his sory collection) is where I see him starting to head the direction of The Terror. (Arguably his earliest story Song of Kali and others are great short horror stories with teeth and he is known for his versatility in genre stylings from award-winning Hyperion sci-fi series; Historical horror of The Terror and Abominadble to Drood..and forays into hardboiled mystery with the Darwin character in Darwin's Blade etc.

tldr: Ok --a bit long-winded and rambling of me . Summer of Night is more light-hearted horror like EC Comics of the 50s. Just my take...though Ive followed him for years. If you like Summer of Night, I would recommend Boy's Life by Robert McCammon among others. (McCammon interestingly also is great at various genre stylings but I digress.)

Came here to say The Blackwater Saga. I'd love to read it again for the first time. I was so immersed in the Southern Gothic atmosphere and was sad to leave the generations of characters behind at the end.

I agree. I love all his works really. From The amulet to candles burning, it's all incredible. It's criminal that McDowell isn't widely known (as far as libraries go.) Cold moon and most of his works capture the south and family dynamics in a perfect way. He also handles conversation really well and makes the characters feel real, then spinkle in some dark humor and its a win. I constantly think of cold moon, that's one I finished and put right back on my tbr list.

This was my pick! 💕💕💕

This book was everything. It was a little intimidating to get into at first but sooooo worth it. Bonus points for reading it in the dead of winter lol. My favorite horror novel of all time.

Needful things - stephen king

Head like a hole - andrew van way

It rides a pale horse - andy marino

Heart shaped box - joe hill

Little Heaven by Nick Cutter

Ancestor by Scott Sigler 

Fragment and Pandemonium by Warren Fahy 

If you're just a horror head to the end, check out Maggie's Grave and The Forgotten Island by David Sodergren. Definitely some shlocky stuff, but a lot of fun and nasty in the best ways possible.

Between Two Fires by Buehlman

Adam Nevill's The Ritual had this effect on me. At least the first half of the book. The dread starts building from literally the first paragraph.

dude i love that book tooooooo!!! and maybe penpal by Dathan Auerbach, but different type of horrific

Piercing by Ryu Murakami was filled to the brim with dread for me. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion. It hits the gas at page 1 and doesn't let up until the last page where you're left standing in the wreckage just horrified looking at it all thinking, "how did it get like this?" even though you know. One of my absolute favorites

+1 for "The Road." All hope is lost from page one onward.

I didn't get the sinking dread feeling from "The Fisherman," but it's my favorite book I've read thus far in 2025.

It's a bit divisive around here, but "Incidents Around the House" goes immediately off the cliff. I'm in the camp that loved everything about it, and I couldn't pull myself away from it.

I found The Devil All The Time by Donald Ray Pollock pretty dread filled. The whole time, it felt like watching a train about to derail and not being able to look away. Not crazy scary, but pretty intense in it's own way.

Never has a book grabbed my attention like that. I'm a pretty slow reader but I never put this book down. I started it in the morning, stopped only to grab some chips, and finished the book at about 11pm. This one's about as brutal as they get.

This has been on my tbr for forever because I’m too scared to read it 😭

I'm listening to the "Tender is the Flesh" audiobook and a couple of times I thought I was about to puke.

Pet Sematary is deeply unsettling in a way that stays with you for a while. Really hard to get out of your head 

The Colour Out of Space - say what you like about Mr. Lovecraft but he had a turn of phrase about seeing the unseeable, knowing the unknowable. The way the Colour infiltrates the people, farm, and countryside... and the ending has stuck with me for years. Scary? Nah, but if you don't find it unsettling in the best cosmic way you aren't paying attention.

Mine is The Jaunt, a short story by Stephen King. It's been decades since I read it and it's still one of the most unsettling pieces of fiction I've ever read. Interview With a Vampire might be the only thing that comes close for me. I couldn't finish that book.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell, always

Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus in the early 19th century. That's a pretty important book.

Edgar Allan Poe came a bit later and wrote some good creepy stuff like The Cask of Amontillado, The Masque of the Red Death, the Fall of the House of Usher, Ligeia, the Tell-Tale Heart, the Pit and the Pendulum, the Raven, and some others.

H.P. Lovecraft wrote The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Call of Cthulhu, At the Mountains of Madness, The Colour out of Space, The Dunwich Horror, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and so on.

Dracula and Frankenstein both seem like clear picks.

Out on a limb here, but depending on your age, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz and the Stephen Gammell illustrations!

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Ira Levin

- Rosemary's Baby

Dan Simmons

- Song of Kali

Rosemary Timperley (many are short stories - she's amazing!)

- Harry

- Christmas Meeting

- From Another World

John Langan

- The Fisherman

*haunted* is pretty forgettable aside from the "omg have you read *guts*?! people literally passed out!" that gets posted from time to time. tremblay and hendrix write popcorn novels; while not inherently bad, they are by no means "best horror" material. and *hellbound heart* is a novella and definitely not a classic that stands next to greats like shelley, stoker, and poe, or even classic king for that matter.

This list was generated by Chat Gpt.

My Heart is a Chainsaw doesn’t deserve a spot on any superlative list. Excruciatingly up its own ass with horror references without actually executing anything horrifying. Imagine if “Scream” was just Randy talking about the rules for an hour and a half.

I really think this book gets shouts from people who make lists cause it has a really killer title.

TLDR

Best Classic Horror Novels:

1. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
2. Dracula by Bram Stoker
3. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
4. At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
5. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
6. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
7. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
8. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
9. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
10. The Rats by James Herbert
11. Pet Sematary by Stephen King
12. IT by Stephen King
13. The Shining by Stephen King
14. ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
15. Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
16. The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
17. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
18. Ghost Story by Peter Straub
19. The Taking by Dean Koontz

Best Contemporary Horror Novels:

1. Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
2. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
3. Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
4. The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher
5. Whisper by Chang Yu-ko
6. How to Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
7. Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez
8. A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
9. Come Closer by Sara Gran
10. The Terror by Dan Simmons
11. Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt
12. My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
13. The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig
14. The Hole by by Pyun Hye-young
15. The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
16. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
17. Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

This might warrant the top spot in my Top 36 Best Top 36 Best Horror Lists List.

I couldn't even finish it. Wendig did not do enough research on demonology, and it could have been so damn good. He also took too many notes straight out of Stranger Things. 

Incidents Around the House

as a book it’s 3/5 for me but god it scared the shit outta me like nothing else. literally had nightmares

Though the overall book isn't very good, the prologue of stolen tongues is the only book so far that has given me chills down my spine like a ghost in a horror movie might.

Make sure you read the book not the creepy pasta version, and yes, unfortunately the quality does go steadily downhill after the prologue.

That poor parrot :(

I just finished this book and it is a slow burn but in my opinion it's worth it if you like atmospheric, melancholic horror. I loved it. The three renovating the house are my least favorite characters but I think the story itself is worth it.

I think that’s part of its charm. It’s almost like satire horror that doesn’t really get into the horror until later in the book

The Exorcist. The parts where the devil is talking to the priest through the daughter actually made me turn the lights on. Something about it just creeped me out so bad. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but the psychological aspect is where the horror is.

I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurdardottir - I literally slept with my lights on for a while.

The September House, but I read it at 1 in the morning

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle is a good example of Cosmic Horror if you ever wanted to try that but were put off by Lovecraft's well documented racist views. Plus its a Novella so it goes by at a good pace.

If you've read The Shining by King I'd suggest trying Doctor Sleep which is a solid sequel. Danny Torrance has some issues to work out.

Revival - Stephen King. A lot of people would push IT or The Stand by King, but this one, imo, is just written extremely well with some intensely scary scenes.

Big fan of The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones and My Darling, Dreadful Thing by Johanna Van Veen

Just finished Ring Shout and MAN I loved it. It’s a short lil read but it’s stuck with me for a few weeks

This is an absolute masterpiece.

Yeah, haunts me.