I’m a sucker for a werewolf story. Collins is a fairly new author, with only a couple of full length books to his name. Wolf’s Hyde isn’t one of the usual werewolf recs on this sub, so I thought I’d give it a go.

I liked it. The story kept me engaged. The MCs were interesting. Collins makes lycanthropy a curse which goes beyond the normal “turn into a hairy killing machine”. The hunt and chase from both sides of the coin were solidly written and exciting.

The protagonist is a Navajo sheriff and I pictured actor Zhan McClarnon in that role. Collins is a writer I will keep an eye out for in the future.
That said, he is still mastering his craft. An experienced reader can pick up the cues.

Anybody read this one?

I gave this one a shot a few months ago after seeing it recommended here, and while I typically don't talk or even think much about books I don't like beyond a day or two post-read, The Hollow Places has entered my mind when reading every book I've picked up since. If there's one positive from this book, it's that it's helped me develop a better understanding of what I think actually works and makes for good horror by showing me exactly what doesn't work for me.

For reference, The Hollow Places is supposed to be Kingfisher's version of The Willows, a story which I have not read but I hear is pretty well-regarded. But while the Willows may be great horror, The Hollow Places was an exercise in filling up a balloon halfway only to let all the air out at once so it flies willy-nilly around the room.

Several unnerving concepts and situations that had the potential for scares were introduced throughout, but Kingfisher manages to undercut any sense of horror before I could actually feel it. It had me questioning why she was even trying to write horror if she was so intent on nullifying anything terrifying.

The moment that has stuck with me most came early in the book. The main character crosses through a portal to another world populated by little islands with willow trees, and she sees something terrifying and indescribable within the negative space between willows' swaying leaves. It should be a typical moment of cosmic horror where the main character gets a peak at a something she can't understand, can't even describe, operating in a space beyond the reality she can conceive of.

The only description we really get of what she sees is negative space, which I think is actually a really cool way to introduce an unknown horror. It's seen, but also unseen, and while you notice that it's there and present, it's also not there because negative space is empty by definition.

But instead of sitting in that moment and letting the reader feel the developing sense of dread that comes from trying to conceive of something your mind isn't equipped for, Kingfisher veers off immediately and goes on a several-paragraph tangent about negative space and graphic design. She describes negative space and how the main character, a graphic designer, applied it in her job. You might think doing so would was intended to help build the horror and strengthen its connection to the main character, but it goes on for so long that by the time she returned to the present all of the tension was killed, and the aside about negative space was so mundane it removed the horror from the otherworldly presence.

I just don't know how her editor didn't read that and not say, "Hey, you really killed the momentum here. Maybe you should introduce the concept of negative space earlier in the story so when you get to the horror that plays off of the concept it's already been set up and you can really let this moment breathe?"

And it kept happening. Not in the same way, though. Kingfisher's favorite murder weapon for tension is quips and snark. If there's a serious moment, you can bet that the main character will make light of it with a quirky aside despite being terrified, that the sidekick character, who comes across as a paper-thin caricature of a sex-crazed gay man I would think only people that don't like gay men would write, will make a sex joke to cut the tension.

For a book that does try to present some terrifying imagery, the humor is so childish. Directly following a scene depicting a man that is chained to a wall in a flooded bunker and still somehow living despite being disemboweled while his guts float about the room, you'll get a sex joke where the punchline is basically just, "Sex, am I right?" Immature jokes on their own aren't a problem, but when you pepper them throughout a book that is dealing with mature subject the immaturity is only accentuated, and it comes across as less intentionally immature and more of an immature person's idea of what a mature joke is.

And look, I'm a millennial. Snark and quips can be great. I'm part of the generation that decided everything can only be better by adding in characters whose entire personality is best described as a constant barrage of it. But the humor in The Hollow Places comes across as this dated time capsule full of early 2010s jokes written by someone that worships at the altar of Joss Whedon. That style has been played out for years now.

I didn't like this book at all, but I do think it has value. At the very least, it reinforced what I do and don't like and made me think about why I felt that way. That didn't just help me be a little more introspective about the media I'm consuming, it helped me with my own writing. These are things I could easily write in my own stuff, and now that I'm aware of how they come across to me as a reader, I have a better understanding of these pitfalls as a writer.

I'll also add that from a zoomed out, purely plot perspective, it's not bad. What happens in the book makes sense, the plot flows in an understandable way, and it's structured well. If you read the book and write down a condensed recap, it's fine. My issues were with everything else you see when actually reading like the narrators voice, the constant deflated feeling it gave me and the characterizations.

I think the only book I've disliked more than this one recently has been Chuck Wendig's Book of Accidents. Everything I complained about here was ten times worse in that book. I was shocked when I learned he was 50 and had written dozens of books.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for suggestions of books that are similar to Michael Haneke's films.

I imagine there are a lot of books people might consider similar to his films that aren't strictly horror, but it's hard for me to imagine that there wouldn't be at least some element of horror present. I'm interested probably especially in books that are hard to place strictly in one genre, but also generally in whichever books this brings to mind.

Also I can see how some books might seem similar to just one of his films, and again I'm definitely generally interested, but more particularly interested in books that I guess have a broader Haneke vibe, if that makes sense.

As examples of a book I think could fit what I'm looking for, I would say Blood Meridian or The Road (Cormac McCarthy), but I don't mean to limit suggestions with these examples, hopefully to suggest a more expansive scope. I would also add I'm definitely interested in books in translation and in contexts outside of the US (also the opposite though lol).

If possible, I would love if yall could include author name with any suggestions and also what you think about the premise of the books makes them interesting to you/others.

Thank you very much!

Am I alone in this opinion? Please don’t attack me for my opinion because I know he is a beloved author in this community. I read NALM and I DNF because I wasn’t enjoying it, I felt the title was misleading. I enjoyed the writing but the stories were starting to feel a bit boring (for me). And then I just finished Wounds because people were saying that if I didn’t like NALM I’d perhaps have a different opinion of Wounds because it’s a favored collection of his. But after reading it, all I have to say is: he’s a fantastic writer, however, he’s just not my style. My favorite of his was the first one, Atlas of Hell, it was a strong start, then after that everything else I was thinking, “great writing, but…..okay?….” Anyone else feel this way about his work?

Hello everyone, I’ve recently got out of my reading slump with the Uketsu series and I enjoyed them I continued with the Hidden pictures by Jason Rekulak and currently reading incidents around the house. I’m about to finish it and looking forward to build a TBR, I would love it y’all can give me recommendations for books revolving around witches, old folklores, myths or even quaint old strange towns and their cults/folktales. Thankyou in advance!

Hi all! I am looking for your recommendation for good SCARY psychological horror books. I don't like gore or horror-comedy. I want a book that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. I read The Amityville Horror and The Exorcist and those both gave me the creeps.Thank you for your input, I really appreciate it!

1) big shout out to the marketing team behind “Other Mommy”. i’m convinced the whole “omg! a scary trailer before odysseus!” is a marketing ploy to start buzz for the movie. bc that trailer wasn’t that scary, imo haha. but it worked! bc here i am readying the book! never heard of it before the odysseus dropped, and spent my money on it bc not available in libraries (long waitlist)

2) the book is gooooooood! i’m in ch 14 - at the zoo with Lois. and i have just one question: am i going to root for or like Real Mommy at any point? bc she kinda seems like the worst (i don’t like cheaters). Dad is a little annoying too - a bit too chill and drunk for my liking, but he was redeemed in my eyes by looping in Lois.

please no spoilers, i know im asking a question but i just needed to vent about this annoying, treacherous woman before i finish this book tonight lmaoooo im hooked!

side note: Other mommy should just “switch places” or whatever with real mommy? leave bella out of it, real mommy is already corrupt so maybe it’ll be a smoother transition. seems like a better option hahahaha

Just finished When the Wolf Come Home and enjoyed it. Wanted to see if anyone has any suggestions on what read of his next. Thanks!!

I don’t really watch horror movies, not because I’m scared but more because never gave them a chance (which I’m genuinely inclined to try). However, I adore everything that resolves around horror, crime, thrillers, insanity, the paranormal. However, horror books don’t seem to disturb or frighten me that much. Which is such a bummer because I prefer to read about people going insane than people falling in love. Is it the books that I’m reading too light? The closest library near doesn’t have that much of horror and mostly treats thrillers as horror. The point I want to get to is: if horror movies rely on jump scares and visual gore, what strategies do books have to make the readers feel uneasy?

Like vampires, werewolves or ghosts? Or maybe urban legends? Psychological horror? Stephen King? Or maybe you like something more niche?

Possible spoilers

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Near the end of the book Violet mentions a town called Barnes( I think I had the audio book) that scares her. Does this town feature in a different novel?

I like pretty much anything.

Hello Reddit
I am wanting to get into the horror genre of reading. I love thrillers, sci-fi, and fantasy books. I’m hoping recommendations that will get me started on the shallow end of horror.

I just finished reading The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson a couple of days ago. I thought it was well written and entertaining for the most part, but really not up to the standard of “modern horror writing.” Obviously Shirley Jackson was a pioneer in horror and she does very well! However I did not find the book very scary in the traditional sense.

Honestly, I found it quite sad as we followed Eleanor’s spiral. The spooky moments were spooky for sure, but all in all I mostly just felt bad for Eleanor.

She spends half of the book trying to fit in with literally anyone around while also being painfully awkward and generally confusing to be around. Yes she’s being borderline possessed by the house, but also she was already displaced in her life prior to going to Hill House. So on top of feeling out of place within the boundaries of her family and sister’s house, she ends up in a place where she doubly doesn’t belong because she’s just awkward.

I think her inserting herself into Theodora’s life was odd and Theo’s response was justified in that regard, but otherwise I found most of the party to be rather demeaning to Eleanor. Luke was dismissive and the Dr wasn’t really all that interested in either woman unless something was happening with the house.

I don’t know, I think the true horror was the complete disregard of Eleanor as a person, especially as she became further and further influenced by the house. I think the haunting was a side story

And that’s my personal humble opinion

Originally posted to /r/spacehorror I figure y'all might appreciate this and have some recommendations to add as well!

• The Deep - Nick Cutter
• The Troop - Nick Cutter
• Salvation Day - Kali Wallace
• Blindsight - Peter Watts
• Starfish - Peter Watts
• The Gone World - Tom Sweterlitsch
• Sphere - Michael Crichton
• Paradise 1 - David Wellington ^{*(this one I've already read and enjoyed enough to pick up books 2 & 3!)*}
• The Last Astronaut - David Wellington
• The Last Plague - Rich Hawkins
• Ship of Fools (Unto Leviathan) - Richard Russo
• The Scourge Between The Stars - Ness Brown
• Death Troopers - Joe Schreiber
• Exiles - Mason Cole
• Hematophages - Stephen Kozeniewski
• Providence - Max Berry
• The Reality Dysfunction - Peter F Hamilton
• Dry Salvages - Caitlin R Kiernan
• Six Wakes - Mur Lafferty
• Your Mind Is a Terrible Thing - Hailey Piper
• The Season of Passage - Christopher Pike
• Contagion - Erin Bowman
• The Drift - C.J. Tudor
• The Dark - Forrest Carr
• The Void - Brett J. Talley
• Forgotten - M.R. Forbes
• Derelict - Robert Hovorka
• Nether Station - Kevin J. Anderson
• Hull Zero Three - Greg Bear
• Astrophobia - David Viergutz
• The Iron Garden Sutra - A.D. Sui
• Shakedown - Scott Sigler
• Of Monsters and Mainframes - Barbara Truelove
• Metro 7 - Matthew J Hellscream
• The Immortality Thief - Taran Hunt
• Space Horrors - E.S. Magill
• Thrum - Meg Smitherman
• NecroTek - Jonathan Maberry

I saw a lot of talk about Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes but also a lot of talk about how it was very disappointing so I'm not sure I'll be checking that one out. Also interested in hunting down a copy of the Event Horizon novelization but that is apparently quite rare!

I would love to hear about anything I might have missed that you've enjoyed!

Hello,

Basically I'm looking for books that go like this:

• protagonist encounters monster
• scary stuff happens while we slowly learn about the monster
• protagonist gets rid of the monster/gets killed/escapes
• basically scooby doo with a real monster

OR

• protagonist has to follow rules
• scary stuff happens when they fail
• we learn the mystery behind the rules
• protagonist gets rid of the monster/gets killed/escapes

AND

I want the mechanism behind the rules or the nature of the monster to be explained by the end of the book.

I do know about the r/ruleshorror sub and have read most of the top stories there.

Please don't recommend stories where the monster is actually a mental illness or an allegory for a dead pet or trauma.

I read Dark Pictures but didn't like the story. I also read King Sorrow and while the idea of a riddle dragon was nice I didn't like that story either.

First off, for anyone who has read this book and actually enjoyed it, I apologize lol. But this is the story of why I learned to avoid this book like the plague, and why even as I approach 40 years old, my Mother still has this as an ace up her sleeve to guilt me into doing literally anything 😂.

Also, I used the "review" tag even though I myself have never read it. In reality, it's more like a second-hand review - through the eyes of my long-suffering mother, hahaha. Allow me to explain...

The year is 1991. Little 6 year old me is standing in front of my Mom's bookshelf looking for her next book to read when I see this neat looking black and green cover. My 6 year old brain thinks "Ooh, this looks cool! And if the cover looks this cool, the book MUST be good!" And thus begins my Mother's torturous experience with "Koko" by Peter Straub.

The book had been out for 3 years at that point, mind you, but my Mom was always backed up on her reading list, being a mother of four kids, all with ADHD. Honestly, most people wouldn't understand how she ever had time to read ANYTHING... but her secret was that she got all of her kids into horror very, VERY young. My favorite children's books growing up? Well, primarily I loved Mercer Mayer's rather extensive collection of monster books, like "There Are Monsters Everywhere," the "Critters Of The Night" series, and the "There's Something There..." series, however I also loved other Monster-y books like "Fantanimals," "Seven Little Monsters," "Where The Wild Things Are"... really any book where the monsters were friends or protagonists rather than the default "bad guys" LOL. Mom made sure we knew horror was a "game" and the only real scary monsters were bad people. Then as I got a little older, I moved on to the "Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark" series, and with Stephen Gammell's accompanying charcoal illustrations, there was no going back; I was hooked... an official horror addict before I was even a teen.

As a result, when we asked for bed time stories, most of the time, she was able to just read whatever book by Stephen King or Dean Koontz or Clive Barker or whatever that she happened to be reading at the time outloud to us until we fell asleep. (Well... unless we were specifically in the mood for a certain story - like the Berenstain Bears "B" Book which my brothers and I had this bizarre obsession with to the point that, and I mist again point out that I am approaching 40 now, I can still do this without looking it up:)

BigBrownBearBlueBullBeautifulBaboonBlowingBubblesBikingBackwardBUMPBlackBug'sBananaBoxes&BillyBunny'sBreadBaskets&BrotherBob'sBaseballBus&BusterBeagle'sBanjoBagpipeBugleBand, AND THAT'S WHAT... Broke Baby Bird's Balloon.

But I digress LOL. And that was only on the rare occasion anyway... usually it was her own horror books, thus our storytime needs/wants were taken care of AND she got to get some of her own reading in. So I legit had "read" (albeit vicariously/second hand) several Stephen King books, as he was always her favorite, before the age of 8 LOL.

But as I got older, I would insist on taking a more active role and picking out her next horror book for her to read. And oddly enough, I still quite vividly remember that day waaay back in 1991.

So back to little 6 year old me looking at the section of her book shelf of books she either bought or received as gifts but hadn't gotten to reading yet. And again, that cover of "Koko" caught my eye, so I picked it up and brought it to her, having absolutely no clue what it was about, but nonetheless, I felt proud having done my job. The thing is... less than a chapter in my Mom could already tell it was no good. She kept reading for a bit, but it only got worse. So she eventually told me this, and asked if she could put it down and have me pick something else.

But I was 6, remember. And a 6 year old does not take perceived criticism well, and sure enough, I did indeed perceive it as criticism. I mean, she CAN'T hate it! I'M the one who picked it out! Nevermind the fact that I didn't write the darn thing, or even know what it was about, I just picked it because I liked the cover, LOL, but if she stops reading it, it must mean she doesn't love me! Six year old logic for ya.

So she forced herself to continue, and every so often, she would desperately ask me if she could stop reading it because it was so bad. And actual tears would well up in my stupid 6 year old eyes whenever she asked, so she would again force herself to continue. Kids sure are dramatic haha. But that poor woman somehow powered through, though I can still remember her comments and how she must have suffered for it LOL. As I got older and less sensitive to stupid stuff, she would start to bring up "that time you put me through hell by making me read the worst book ever written." Jokingly, of course, but nonetheless, I still felt - and feel - pretty guilty making her go through that haha. But at least I learned something from the experience...

I learned never to read Peter Straub's "Koko" for any reason. 😂

holy shit. i’ve read scary books. been super spooked by some of them. but incidents around the house had me unable to sleep at night. i might just be a scaredy cat but the way other mommy was described was so painfully vivid and creepy, the imagery was super easy to visualize, and it was just genuinely a deeply unsettling horrific experience (in a good way)

if you want to be kept awake at night and scared shitless, read this book 😭

Such a fantastic premise for a book. Short vignettes, describing the aftermath of something that has just occurred.

A masterclass in mood and scene-setting. Letting the reader draw their own conclusions on what may have happened.

Definitely recommended.

Edit : the correct title is Wyrd And Other Derelictions.

I think jump scares might be the wrong term but I want to find a book that will make me really anxious and afraid to turn the page lol. I enjoy the kind of fright like when I’m playing silent hill 2 and I’m walking down a hallway and I’m freaking out because I know somethings about to come around the corner. Just dread and unease. If anyone has any recs lmk

No, that's not a typo. I'm asking for books that commonly receive hate that you think isn't deserved.

I've seen threads asking things like "what's a book you hate that everyone else seems to love?" and I've seen a lot of the same responses there across threads. I'm interested in hearing similar books being defended by people who love them.

For me, it's How To Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. The first third of this book was admittedly a little bit of a drag. By the end of it, it became one of my favorite books I've read in the past 20 years. I couldn't put it down. Obviously, it's received a lot of critical praise, but also a lot of scorn by people thinking it (along with Hendrix works in general) shouldn't.

I'd also add, more subjectively than me trying to feign a sense of objectivity, the works of Aron Beauregard. I think he has some clear faults as a writer. I think he also has a crazy sense for character building and creativity that other authors lack, and if you can get past the less sophisticated prose, there's a lot to enjoy.

Of course, everyone's entitled to their own opinions. I'd just like to hear people out on why they love certain books instead of hearing repeated criticisms of popular books.

I recently discovered extreme horror and splatterpunk, and am hooked. I’ve read Full Brutal, Exquisite Corpse, and The Summer I Died.

Exquisite Corpse IMMEDIATELY made it to the list of my favourite things I’ve ever read. (To be fair, I listened on Audible and the narrator was fantastic, which could play a part for sure.

That said, I adore the writing. I was astonished by the juxtaposition of the horrendous things happening and the lush, decadent, and gorgeous way they were being described. I am, however, a lover of horror in all types of media, and am not the slightest bit squeamish - quite the contrary. I can definitely see how the grotesque subject matter would be off-putting to some.

One part of my experience while reading it seems to stand out as unique among the other posts I’ve read here: Luke’s chapters were by far my favourite. His anger, nay - rage, towards everyone and everything was not enough to make me hate him. I expected to based on events hinted at in Tran’s chapter(s) but found that I was empathizing with him deeply - to the point that I found his chapters utterly heartbreaking and cried several times.

I read TSID after attempting a few other books that couldn’t hold my interest, and I’m honestly feeling as though Exquisite Corpse has ruined me for all other books. If anyone can recommend something that is similarly beautiful and heart-wrenching while also being heinous and shocking, I’d appreciate it!

Cabin at the End of the World is the perfect example of this, same with Horror Movie and a little less so with A Head Full of Ghosts. I keep getting his books because I hate myself and have a strange disappointment fetish.