Horror fans are always looking for something new to watch, read, or listen to. There are “best of” lists aplenty, with each list focusing on a certain sub-genre or category. With this list, I am going to include ten books that I greatly admire, for several reasons, and which I think haven't got their due. I think even ardent fans of the genre will find a number of surprises included here.
1- CUTTHROAT by Michael Slade: Cutthroat by Michael Slade, is a superbly entertaining thriller. Violent, atmospheric, bizarre, and highly original, this novel about a special team of Canadian investigators hunting a seemingly invincible assassin, crosses genres with surprising ease, and ends with one of the strangest climaxes I've ever come across.
2- STOKER'S WILDE by Steven Hopstaken and Melissa Prusi: One of the most fun horror/dark fantasy novels in years, Stoker's Wilde is one wild ride, and a pleasure for fans of Gothic Horror and Victorian fiction.
The story takes Bram Stoker, freshly appointed as manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London, joins him with the foppish, contrarian, and pre-infamy Oscar Wilde, and pits them against an evil, supernatural enemy that is out for world domination. There are monsters, gore, plenty of action, and more than a modicum of humor, with appearances by a number of historical figures from the era, and nods to numerous horror classics, including the works of Stoker, Wilde, and even the Joss Whedon TV show Angel (1999-2004)!
3- JACKALS By Charles L. Grant: Master of "Quiet Horror" Charles L. Grant delivers one of his darkest and most fast-paced novels with Jackals. On the surface, Jackals is a horror tale about Jim, a middle-aged man who dedicates his life to hunting down "jackals", a vicious breed of flesh-eating killers who may or may not be human. But Grant has more on his mind than simply telling a story about monsters; there's more going on here, as this is, hands down, one of Grant's darkest and most downbeat books.
4- RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD By John A. Russo: Published in 1979 to little fanfare, screenwriter/novelist John A. Russo's sequel to George A. Romero's Night of The Living Dead (1968) is a must-read for fans of the seminal film and the zombie subgenre. Russo, the screenwriter of the original Romero classic, opens the book, which is set years after the event of the original film, with a shocking scene of mass brutality, as a preacher and his flock systematically mutilate the victims of a bus crash so that they won't turn into zombies. From there, the story gets darker and darker, as Russo introduces us to a number of believable, if not very memorable, characters, and takes them through one nerve-wracking and harrowing situation to the next.
5- FEAR STREET (SUPER CHILLER): THE NEW YEAR'S PARTY. By R. L. Stine: Fans of Fear Street, YA, or just plain fun horror books, shouldn't miss this entry in the Fear Street - Super Chiller series. Part supernatural thriller, part murder mystery, this tale about a group of teens thwarted by a mysterious killer after a supposedly harmless prank goes horribly wrong, is, hands down, one of the best Fear Street books R. L. Stine has ever written, with twists and turns aplenty, and a thrilling double twist.
6- From The Corner of His Eye by Dean Koontz: Dean Koontz can be a hell of a frustrating author sometimes. Some of his books are superb, filled with imagination and storytelling prowess, driven by inventive central concepts and an irresistible atmosphere of menace. On the other hand, some of his books, especially ones published later in his career (from the mid-90's, onwards), are so repetitive, preachy, and thinly plotted, that one wonders how they could have been written by the same man. From The Corner of His Eye is one of the good ones. In fact, it's one of the very good ones. It combines Koontz's masterful ability to keep the reader intrigued, turning the pages effortlessly, with a plethora of imagination and likeable characters and a plot that defies categorization.
7- THE LIGHT AT THE END by John Skipp and Craig Spector: A cult classic splatterpunk vampire novel, The Light At The End is an original, energetic, occasionally terrifying book, with a sense of foreboding lacking in many novels of its kind. Its urban setting, combined with Skipp and Spector's kinetic prose and masterful grasp of atmosphere and visual description, make this a memorable horror novel, and one which has aged very well (it was originally published in 1986). Despite uneven characterization and an underwhelming first third, the sheer visual power of The Light At The End makes it deserving of its cult status and a highly recommended read for anyone in the mood for a cinematic, scary vampire novel.
8- OCTOBER By Al Sarrantonio: a compelling and ambitious horror novel, with finely-drawn characters and a surprisingly humane bent to the writing. It is marred only by an episodic, slightly disjointed feel, and a subdued if somewhat touching ending. As is typical of most of author Al Sarrantonio’s work, the novel is drenched in Halloween atmospherics.
9- 30 Days of Night (Film Novelization) by Tim Lebbon: Novelizations are usually hit or miss, ranging from the entertaining to the trashy. But that's not the case here. Tim Lebbon takes a flawed script and turns it into a suspenseful, dark piece of horror fiction in which the characters come to life (unlike the ones in the film) and the atmosphere is so thick you can almost touch it. This is a very good horror novel in its own right, and is a rare beast, in that it is actually better than the film. A must read for horror fans and fans of the 30 Days of Night franchise.
10- Bring On The Night by Jay and Don Davis: a superbly entertaining vampire novel from the 80's, with plenty of atmosphere, well-drawn characters, and one hell of a villain in Kane, a ruthless vampire stalking the streets of Chicago. Worth re-discovering.
* Honorable mention: Bad Dreams by A. Kale: A coming-of-age horror novel set in the summer of 1990, about a 13 year old named Tom, who believes something is after him, something that kills him in his sleep, night after night. Now his only way out of this nightmare is a forgotten straight to VHS horror movie called "Night Hound", which is somehow linked to his bad dreams.
Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.
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Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer
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