13 best horror books that will send a chill up your spine

Our list begins with Laura Purcell’s haunting work The Silent Companions. This gorgeously written novel tells the story of The Bridge, a crumbling estate in the countryside that is plagued by wooden figures that resemble the inhabitants. The eerie, and at times, downright horrifying, story is told through three timelines: the newly widowed Elsie in 1865; dairies written at The Bridge during the 17th century, and, eventually, back to Elsie, who is now rendered mute, accused of multiple murders and interred in a psychiatric ward sometime later.

All the elements of gothic horror are here – a secluded mansion in the countryside, eternal rain and creepy goings-on – but the book also hints at witchcraft and demonic happenings. While the ending is perhaps a little predictable, Purcell’s gift for creating a stifling atmosphere that slowly builds into something very sinister by the final page makes this a must-read.

Bone China (£8.27, Amazon) is also a good option, if you find yourself wanting more of Purcell’s work.

You might think the haunted-house novel has been done to death (sorry), but Helen Oyeyemi’s White is for Witching is a wonderfully tragic take on the genre. The book begins with a question: where is Miranda? Young Miri – who is suffering from an eating disorder that causes her to literally consume parts of the family home – is missing, and it appears the house, a mysterious dwelling near the cliffs of Dover, might have something to do with it.

We witness Miranda’s spiral in graphic detail, from multiple viewpoints, including her twin and the house itself, while the story is made even more chilling by impossible passageways, hints of witchcraft and a house hell-bent on consuming its victim. Oyeyemi is skilled at blending horror and tragedy, and is definitely one to read.

Japanese mangaka Junji Ito, considered to be a master of the macabre and the grotesque, has been scaring people with his creations since 1987. Our reviewer previously recommended Uzumaki (£28, Waterstones), a twisted tale of a town haunted not by ghosts or demons but by spirals. However, for this round-up, we’ve decided to include Shiver, a collection of Ito’s most beloved, and chilling, stories chosen by the artist himself. Our reviewer’s favourite ones were “Marionette Mansion”, about a knife-wielding puppet with a penchant for holding grudges, and “Grease”, a story that will have you reaching for the nearest facial cleanser (and probably swearing off oil forever). This beautifully illustrated manga collection is grotesque, unsettling and, depending on which story you read, truly horrifying.

If the gorgeous cover isn’t enough to give you the creeps, the many twisted tales in this book certainly will. Shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize, this collection of horror stories explores a nightmarish version of modern-day Buenos Aires, through the women who reside there. While fetishes for beating hearts, and madness induced by the ghosts of dead children might not be reality for most, the topics explored by Enriquez here are dark and very much real. It should be noted that, as this book deals with so many real-life horrors – more so than any other book on this list – readers should be careful if they want to avoid certain triggers. If you’re after stories that don’t shy away from the brutalities of urban living – and have the added bonus of being laced with feminism – this is the book for you.

A classic of the gothic horror genre, Oscar Wilde’s novel was considered so debauched it sent moralistic Victorians into a frenzy and was even used as “evidence” in his 1895 public indecency trial. The Picture of Dorian Gray explores the terrifying effect greed and vanity can have if allowed to consume a person. The novel tells the story of its titular character who becomes obsessed with his own portrait and sells his soul in exchange for eternal youth and beauty. One corrupt double life later, in which he indulges in every impulse (immoral or not), only his portrait shows the true evil that lies under Dorian’s flawless exterior. The horror here is very much psychological, but that’s not to say Wilde hasn’t created an eerie study of morality and decadence.

If you’re looking for a way to introduce little ones to the horror genre without traumatising them, Coraline, Neil Gaiman’s novel about parallel worlds and missing children, is a great choice (an excellent one for adults, too).

The titular character is a young girl who discovers there is another world behind a small door in her house where Other Mother and Other Father live. They have buttons where their eyes should be and want Coraline to be their daughter in their fantastical world. It soon becomes clear she is in grave danger and must use all her wits to escape. If you’ve seen Henry Selick’s 2009 adaptation, you’ll know this is a wonderfully sinister tale involving creepy houses with dark secrets and sinister monsters who steal and eat souls.

When it comes to quintessential fantasy horror books, this is high up on the list. When Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show arrives in town, malevolent individuals appear and strange happenings occur. After being drawn in by promises of adventure, the two young protagonists, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, must fight Mr Dark and his carnival of mirrored mazes and time-twisting carousels to escape. This wonderfully creepy novel will have you hoping for the circus to come to town.

This wonderfully creepy novella, written by Cassandra Khaw, sees five people stuck in a haunted house in Japan because someone has decided they simply must get married in a building that may or may not have thousands of girls buried in the walls. One ill-advised séance later and all hell breaks loose – you’ll have to read it to find out what happens next. The book draws heavily on various elements of Japanese folklore and historical practices, combining them to create this claustrophobic and nightmarish take on haunted houses. Our only critique is that the book assumes the reader has knowledge of Japanese words and phrases and doesn’t really explain certain aspects. Otherwise, this a haunting (we’ll stop) read that won’t take you hours to get through.

Who doesn’t love a good ghost story? Individuals who refuse to move on from this world is a classic trope of horror fiction, but that doesn’t mean such tales are boring. This collection of 100 stories will definitely get you in the spirit for tales of disembodied souls. The collection, chosen by award-winning author Louise Welsh, includes everything from ancient tales to Victorian greats to more-modern creations. This is quite a hefty book (coming in at more than 800 pages), so, this is more of a read-under-the-covers-in-the-dark sort of thing. The range of authors in this collection is also noteworthy: everyone from Charles Dickens to Hilary Mantel feature, while surprising names such as JG Ballard and Kazuo Ishiguro offer up their best takes on ghostly spectres.

Shirley Jackson has long been considered a significant voice in the genre, ever since the release of her short story The Lottery in 1948. However, her final novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle is arguably her masterpiece. Sisters Merricat and Constance live as recluses in the Blackwood family home, the latter having been acquitted of murdering the rest of the family with arsenic. Both live as outcasts in society, with Constance suffering from agoraphobia, which left her unable to leave the house for six years. Jackson made a lasting career from her ghost stories, but the only spectre to be found in her final novel is that of isolation. Whether it’s the house’s smothering emptiness or their estrangement from wider society, the feeling of loneliness is all-encompassing and deeply unsettling.

All too often, women are written out of history, and it’s no surprise the horror genre is just as susceptible. We’ve chosen to include Queens of the Abyss, an anthology that collects previously unpublished stories from the “weird fiction” genre, a somewhat vague term that refers to stories that blend elements of horror, fantasy and sometimes even sci-fi. HP Lovecraft, with his cosmic horror creations, is considered the father of weird, but many women were penning tales of the uncanny, too.

This collection has stories from Frances Hodgson Burnett (yes, of The Secret Garden fame) and a whole host of authors from the late 19th and early 20th century, so, you’ll be guaranteed to find something that floats your boat. The book itself is part of the immense “Tales of the Weird” collection published by the British Library. The series, which is on 48 books and counting, collects tales on everything from killer plants (£9.99, British Library) to technology behaving badly (£9.99, Amazon). The beautifully designed covers alone should be enough to make you pick up a copy and get reading.

Sometimes, you just want a straightforward horror story to get lost in, not a tome full of vague descriptions or ridiculous plots that indulge in the worst of horror’s excesses. This is where Stephen King, one of horror’s modern masters, comes in. His 1977 novel The Shining is legendary – and for good reason. Chaos and axe-wielding ensues when the Torrance family move to The Overlook Hotel, a building swimming with evil spirits, and recovering alcoholic Jack, the hotel’s new caretaker, is slowly driven to insanity by supernatural forces. King’s wonderfully sinister tale is a good introduction for those wanting to get started in the horror genre and even seasoned readers will find something in this bizarre and unsettling world. 

Who doesn’t love a story with a good curse? Whether it’s a “plague on both your houses” à la Shakespeare or an ancient malediction rearing its ugly head, curses are the bread and butter of horror. This thrilling anthology of short stories, edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane, explores them in all (gory) shapes and sizes. Both authors have done a great job curating stories from an eclectic mix of modern writers, including Neil Gaiman, Christina Henry, and Charlie Jane Anders. Our reviewer found “Skin” by James Brogden, in which a man pays the ultimate price for judging someone with a skin condition, particularly disturbing (in the best horror book way).