Best horror books to read

Reading lists

The best horror books to read this spooky season

We Used to Live Here

House of Leaves meets Parasite in this gripping and eerily haunting debut psychological horror, soon to be a Netflix film starring Blake Lively. Perfect for fans of Stephen King and Leave the World Behind. 
 
&#11088; Winner of Reddit NoSleep Scariest Story of the Year Award &#11088; 
&#11088; A Goodreads 'Best Horror Novel of the Last 5 Years' &#11088; 
&#11088; A Goodreads 'Favourite Horror Novel of 2024' Finalist &#11088; 
&#11088; One of Goodreads' 'Top Six Most-Read Debuts of 2024' &#11088; 
 
'Inventive and genuinely scary' Alma Katsu, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of The Hunger 
 
‘Full of unease and stomach-churning dread...Read it with every single light on’ Erin A. Craig, New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows 
 
'[Will] haunt you even after you have finished it. This is what I call a great book' Agustina Bazterrica, bestselling author of Tender is the Flesh 
 
 
You let them back in. You shouldn't have... 
 
Young couple Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they got on an old house deep in the mountains. 
 
One day, a man knocks on the door. He says he lived there years before and asks if he can show his family around. 
 
But, as soon as they enter, strange things start to happen. Eve is desperate for them to leave and never come back. But they can’t – or won’t – take the hint that they are no longer welcome. 
 
Then, Charlie vanishes, and Eve begins to lose her grip on reality. 
 
She’s convinced there’s something terribly wrong with the house and its past inhabitants . . . or is it all in her head? 
 
 
Readers are terrified by We Used to Live Here: 
 
'A spine-tingling rollercoaster… had me equal parts terrified and intrigued!' &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; 
 
 
'This was WILD. A terrifying, horrific and deeply unsettling yet addictive story.' &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; 
 
 
'I didn't see that plot twist coming. At all.' &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; 
 
 
'This is my kind of creepy!' &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; 
 
 
'I will think about this book every time someone knocks on my door!' &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; 
 
 
'Wow this book. My mind is blown. This is one scary read. ' &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; 
 
 
'I couldn’t put this book down, I was captivated from start to finish.' &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; 
 
 
We Used to Live Here won Reddit NoSleep Scariest Short Story of the Year 2021

One of the creepiest stories I've ever read! This twisted tale will haunt my nightmares for a long time to come!

Freida McFadden, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid

Inventive and genuinely scary, We Used to Live Here is the most impressive horror debut I've read in a long time. Marcus Kliewer is a talent to watch.

There is a feeling that a small number of books conjure. It can be distilled to: Oh god, something ain’t right here. Their hallmark is a creeping, unaccountable, jangly dread that seeps into their pages until you almost wish you could stop reading—but of course, it’s too late. You’re in its grip. We Used to Live Here is one of those rare books.

Nick Cutter, bestselling author of The Troop

Full of unease and stomach-churning dread, We Used to Live Here creeps up to you like a sly shadow. I wanted to look away. I absolutely could not. Marcus Kliewer is destined to become a titan of the macabre and unsettling. Read this with every single light on.

Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows

This book is like quicksand: the further you delve into its pages, the more immobilized you become by the spiral of terror that takes over you when you know nothing seems what it is... Is a family really a family? Can a house be something else? We Used to Live Here is going to haunt you even after you have finished it. This is what I call a great book.

Agustina Bazterrica, internationally bestselling author of Tender Is the Flesh

Chilling and filled with a permeating sense of dread from the very first chapter... This is the kind of story that leaves your head spinning for days.

We Used to Live Here is a gem of contemporary horror that explores the places we call home with deft and terrifying command that will leave you shaken long after turning the final page.

Matt and Harrison Query, authors of Reddit hit Old Country

Kliewer&rsquo;s debut is an atmospheric nightmare in all the best ways. The pace is pulse-pounding, but the horror aspects are deliciously dragged out. This is recommended for fans of intricately plotted psychological novels, such as those by Stephen King, Ruth Ware and Sarah Pinborough.

A devilish debut. What begins as mildly uncomfortable grows full-tilt terrifying. Stringing the whole thing together is Kliewer&rsquo;s gift for atmosphere and wicked sense of humor. This is a winner.

Mysterious guests overstay their welcome in this fresh take on the haunted house trope. Fans of the surging horror genre will think twice about opening the door when somebody knocks. Original and extremely scary&hellip; A frighteningly good debut.

The story is absolutely gripping and reminds readers of the dread from Get Out.

Marcus Kliewer is a writer and stop-motion animator. His debut novel We Used to Live Here began life as a serialized short story on Reddit, where it won the Scariest Story of 2021 Award on the NoSleep forum (eighteen million members). Film rights were snapped up by Netflix, and it was acquired for publication even before it had been extended into a full-length novel. His second novel, The Caretaker, is coming in Spring 2026. Marcus Kliewer lives in Vancouver, Canada.

You let them back in. 
You shouldn't have... 
 
Young couple Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they got on an old house deep in the mountains. One day, a man knocks on the door. He says he lived there years before and asks if he can show his family around. 
 
As soon as they enter, strange things start to happen, and Eve is desperate for them to leave and never come back. But they can’t – or won’t – take the hint that they are no longer welcome. 
 
Then, Charlie vanishes, and Eve begins to lose her grip on reality. She’s convinced there’s something terribly wrong with the house and its past inhabitants . . . or is it all in her head? 
 
The Turn of the Key meets Parasite in this gripping, eerily haunting debut and Reddit hit – soon to be a Netflix original movie starring Blake Lively – that will keep you up into the early hours. Perfect for fans of Stephen King and Leave the World Behind.

Marcus Kliewer

Incredibly gripping, and has tension and atmosphere in spades.

Disturbing and propulsive, THE CARETAKER is a gem of visually inspired Gothic storytelling. Marcus Kliewer takes a familiar horror premise and makes it his own, drawing you into a lucid nightmare of a novel. Keep the light on!

nationally bestselling author of Departure 37

The homes Marcus Kliewer haunts aren't merely filled with phantoms, but cerebral spirits and broken-hearted ghosts. THE CARETAKER is quite possibly the ultimate “don't go in there” novel, offering up an apocalyptic final girl for the ages. This is a breakneck book, filled with razor-wire tension, where the reader runs the risk of losing their mind with every flip of the page.

Absolutely terrifying. Marcus Kliewer's THE CARETAKER gripped me from the first page and didn't let go. I couldn't put it down.

Fast-moving dark ride of a book . . . [a] savage gut punch of an ending. Twisting 
and turning but wasting no momentum, this book is for those who like their thriller stories 
bowstring taut and their endings pitch black.

Totally up my street, hugely enjoyed. Vivid and compulsive in all its ratcheting dread. Cracking characterisation too.

As a huge fan of Marcus' previous novel, We Used To Live Here, I was excited to read The Caretaker, and it did not disappoint.

Weird and wonderful psychological horror.

Ideal for any horror enthusiast seeking a story that will linger in their mind long after they’ve turned the final page.

Praise for Marcus Kliewer's WE USED TO LIVE HERE:

FREIDA McFADDEN, No.1 New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid

ALMA KATSU, bestselling author of The Hunger

There is a feeling that a small number of books conjure. It can be distilled to: Oh god, something ain’t right here. Their hallmark is a creeping, unaccountable, jangly dread that seeps into their pages until you almost wish you could stop reading—but of course, it’s too late. You’re in its grip. We Used to Live Here is one of those rare books.

NICK CUTTER, bestselling author of The Troop

Full of unease and stomach-churning dread, We Used to Live Here creeps up to you like a sly shadow. I wanted to look away. I absolutely could not. Marcus Kliewer is destined to become a titan of the macabre and unsettling. Read this with every single light on.

ERIN A. CRAIG, No. 1 bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows

Kliewer’s debut novel, We Used To Live Here, was a 2024 bestseller that marked Kliewer as a buzzy new voice in literary horror.

This book is like quicksand: the further you delve into its pages, the more immobilized you become by the spiral of terror that takes over you when you know nothing seems what it is . . . Is a family really a family? Can a house be something else? We Used to Live Here is going to haunt you even after you have finished it. This is what I call a great book.

AGUSTINA BAZTERRICA, bestselling author of Tender Is the Flesh

What begins as a Tremblay-ian exercise in ratcheting tension soon peels away to reveal a mind-bendingly fractal horror story that would make even Danielewski sweat. We Used to Iive Here is an expertly paced and structured nightmare, full of surprises; a thrillingly, chillingly participatory anxiety attack of a book.

NAT CASSIDY, bestselling author of Mary and Nestlings

We Used to Live Here is a gem of contemporary horror that explores the places we call home with deft and terrifying command that will leave you shaken long after turning the final page.

MATT and HARRISON QUERY, authors of Reddit hit Old Country

STOP PRESS! 
HOLLYWOOD TAKES ON THE CARETAKER! 
To be adapted by Universal Studios... 
Horror maestro David Bruckner set to direct... 
Sydney Sweeney attached to star and produce... 
 
Follow the Rites... 
 
Nothing less than the survival of humanity is at stake. 
 
From Marcus Kliewer, a new ‘titan of the macabre and unsettling’ (Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author), comes a supernatural horror about a young woman who accepts a caretaking job from Craigslist, only to discover the position has consequences far greater—and more dangerous—than she ever could have imagined. 
 
EXCITING OPPORTUNITY: 
Caretaker urgently needed. Three days of work. Competitive pay. Serious applicants ONLY. 
 
Macy Mullins can’t say why the job posting grabbed her attention—it had the pull of a fisherman’s lure, barbed hook and all—vaguely ominous. But after an endless string of failed job interviews, she's not exactly in the position to be picky. She has rent to pay, groceries to buy, and a younger sister to provide for. 
 
Besides, it’s only three days’ work… 
 
Three days, cooped up in a stranger’s house, surrounded by Oregon Coast wilderness. 
 
What starts as a peculiar side gig soon becomes a waking nightmare. An incomprehensible evil may dwell on this property—and Macy Mullins might just be the only thing standing between it, and the rest of humanity. 
 
Follow the Rites... 
 
Follow the Rites... 
 
Follow the Rites... 
 
..--- / ..... / ---..

Marcus Kliewer

Praise for The Caretaker

Incredibly gripping, and has tension and atmosphere in spades.

A no-brakes plummet into madness.

Disturbing and propulsive, THE CARETAKER is a gem of visually inspired Gothic storytelling. Marcus Kliewer takes a familiar horror premise and makes it his own, drawing you into a lucid nightmare of a novel. Keep th ...

Incredibly gripping, and has tension and atmosphere in spades.

A no-brakes plummet into madness.

Disturbing and propulsive, THE CARETAKER is a gem of visually inspired Gothic storytelling. Marcus Kliewer takes a familiar horror premise and makes it his own, drawing you into a lucid nightmare of a novel. Keep th ...

Incredibly gripping, and has tension and atmosphere in spades.

A no-brakes plummet into madness.

Disturbing and propulsive, THE CARETAKER is a gem of visually inspired Gothic storytelling. Marcus Kliewer takes a familiar horror premise and makes it his own, drawing you into a lucid nightmare of a novel. Keep th ...

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