Recommended New Horror, From Light Scares to Nightmare Fuel

Want to get some quick thrills and satisfying chills? You are in the right place. Here is a list of 10 new horror books that you need to read right away. They range from mild scares to books that will give you nightmares.

Now, I think you should read scary books all year, not just around Halloween. After all that, this is a great time of year for readers looking for new scary stories. 2024 is another great year for horror literature, like many of the last few. As you might expect, the scariest season is bringing in a lot of big hits.

This fall, horror collections and anthologies are very popular. They are full of fun and scary stories for you to enjoy. Brian Evenson and Mariana Enriquez both put out new books in September 2024. Dark Matter INK’s new weird anthology, The Off-Season, is the last must-read new horror book for October.

Without a doubt, long-form readers will also be happy with this year’s choices. The fall has a lot of great books for all kinds of readers. There is a branching-path horror novel written in the second person, new books by Hailey Piper and Rivers Solomon, and even a spooky and scary memoir from a Navajo Ranger.

Now what do you wait for? Put together a bowl of your favorite Halloween candy and your most comfortable reading chair. Then, get ready to read one of the best new horror books by fall 2024.

Must-Read New Horror Books

Good Night, Sleep Tight by Brian Evenson (Coffee House Press)

Brian Evenson, dubbed “your favorite horror writer’s favorite horror author” by Book Riot’s Liberty Hardy, has established himself as a genius and giant in the weird fiction genre. As with every other Evenson collection—A Collapse of Horses, anyone?— Good Night, Sleep Tight is a must-read new horror novel.

A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez (Hogarth Press)

Melting faces. Dissolved girls. Birds that once were women. Mariana Enriquez’s signature liminality shines through in this new collection full of vivid images and memorable characters. A Sunny Place for Shady People has received a lot of praise from the most prestigious literary reviewers. This is the book to read this fall.

TRVE CVLT by Michael Bettendorf (Tenebrous Press)

If you enjoyed the Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid, you’ll want to get a copy of TRVE CVLT. This game book features you as the drummer for the black metal band Abyss. You were recently invited back into the fold and now have the opportunity to perform on stage with your old bandmates. But is the lead singer truly willing to let bygones be bygones, or is there something sinister behind his olive branch?

Coup de Grâce by Sofia Ajram (Titan)

In this experimental horror novel, a young man planning suicide is interrupted when he exits the subway train into a massive, meandering station with seemingly no end. Coup de Grâce is a must-read for fans of House of Leaves and anyone looking for the next big voice in horror.

The Paranormal Ranger: A Navajo Investigator’s Search for the Unexplained by Stanley Milford, Jr. (William Morrow)

The Paranormal Ranger by Stanley Milford, Jr. tells the ghost stories of Navajoland. Milford writes about his time as a Navajo Ranger, which meant he had to look into things like Bigfoot, skinwalkers, creatures that could drain the blood of whole flocks of sheep, and more. Fans of Unsolved Mysteries and Evil will love this autobiography.

Model Home by Rivers Solomon (MCD)

This new novel from the author of The Deep follows the three Maxwell siblings — Ezri, Eve, and Emanuelle — as they journey back, in the wake of their parents’ untimely deaths, to the majority-white Dallas suburb where they grew up. The siblings remember how strange and sinister their lives were back then. Truth be told, they don’t want to go back. But their parents may have succumbed to the same dark forces the siblings encountered in childhood, and that they cannot abide.

Catherine the Ghost by Kathe Koja (Clash)

Cast as a “modern gothic punk remix of…Wuthering Heights” in publisher copy, Catherine the Ghost follows the spirit of Cathy Earnshaw as she tries to connect with her daughter, the recently widowed Catherine Linton, from beyond the grave.

All the Hearts You Eat by Hailey Piper (Titan)

Ivory, a trans woman, sets out to solve the mystery when she finds the body of a town council member’s transgender daughter on the shore. But it’s not long before the dead girl starts showing up everywhere Ivory goes. Was Cabrina’s death murder or just a terrible accident? Cape Morning is a quiet town, so bad things must happen there, right?

Where the Dead Brides Gather by Nuzo Onoh (Titan)

Bata finds herself in Ibaja-La, the land of the ghost-brides, after saving her cousin who is getting married from a ghost-bride who is the angry spirit of her fiancé’s ex-girlfriend. There, she gains special powers that will help her fight other dangerous spirits. But Bata’s powers are hard to control back in the world of the living. She will have to learn how to control them if she wants to save the people she cares about.

The Off-Season: An Anthology of Coastal New Weird, edited by Marissa van Uden (Dark Matter INK)

The Off-Season is a must-read new horror book for fans of Jeff VanderMeer and Laird Barron. It has 25 strange stories that take place in the area between land and sea. This is the best daytime horror ever, and you need to get your copy right away.