BVBook Verdict

Fiction

Horror for Dark Nights

Dread done well, from quiet unease to full-blooded terror.

14 books · ranked

  1. 1

    Dracula

    Bram Stoker · 1897 · Horror

    Letters and diaries trace a creeping invasion by an ancient predator; the novel that fixed the vampire in our imagination.

  2. 2

    The Shining

    Stephen King · 1977 · Horror

    A family caretakes an empty winter hotel that wants the father for itself; King's masterclass in dread.

  3. 3

    It

    Stephen King · 1986 · Horror

    A group of friends face a shape-shifting evil in their home town, then again as adults; a doorstop of fear and friendship.

  4. 4

    The Haunting of Hill House

    Shirley Jackson · 1959 · Horror

    Four people spend a summer in a house that may be alive; the gold standard for the literary ghost story.

  5. 5

    Carrie

    Stephen King · 1974 · Horror

    A bullied teenager discovers a terrible power; the lean, ferocious debut that launched a career.

  6. 6

    Misery

    Stephen King · 1987 · Horror

    A novelist is held captive by his 'number-one fan'; a claustrophobic, white-knuckle thriller.

  7. 7

    Pet Sematary

    Stephen King · 1983 · Horror

    A burial ground that brings things back, and a grief that won't take no; King at his bleakest.

  8. 8

    We Have Always Lived in the Castle

    Shirley Jackson · 1962 · Horror

    Two sisters live shunned in a grand house after a family tragedy; eerie, sly and unforgettable.

  9. 9

    Interview with the Vampire

    Anne Rice · 1976 · Horror

    A vampire tells the centuries-long story of his making; lush, gothic and genre-defining.

  10. 10

    A Head Full of Ghosts

    Paul Tremblay · 2015 · Horror

    A family's possession ordeal becomes a reality show; clever modern horror that keeps you guessing.

  11. 11

    'Salem’s Lot

    Stephen King · 1975 · Horror

    Author Ben Mears returns to ‘Salem's Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more vic

  12. 12

    A thin ghost and others

    Montague Rhodes James · 1919 · Horror

    This volume of M.R. James's classic ghostly fiction contains: "Preface," "The Residence at Whitminster," "The Diary of Mr. Poynter," "The Episode of Cathedral History, "The Story of a Disappearance an

  13. 13

    Breaking Dawn

    Stephenie Meyer · 2000 · Horror

    To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and

  14. 14

    Christine

    Stephen King · 1983 · Horror

    A love triangle involving 17-year-old misfit Arnie Cunningham, his new girlfriend and a haunted 1958 Plymouth Fury. Dubbed Christine by her previous owner, Arnie's first car is jealous, possessive and

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