Tag: horror

Readalikes for King Sorrow

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If you are waiting for Joe Hill’s latest release, King Sorrow, check out this list of readalikes we at Davenport Public Library have put together for you. Below you’ll find a mix of newer and older titles similar to King Sorrow, which was published on October 21st, 2025. As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. All descriptions are provided by the publishers.

Curious what King Sorrow is about? Check out the description below!

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill, a chilling tale of modern-world dangers, dark academia, and the unexpected consequences of revenge as six friends dabble in the occult and are tragically, horrifyingly successful… calling forth an evil entity that demands regular human sacrifice.

Arthur Oakes is a reader, a dreamer, and a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters, exceptional library, and beautiful buildings. But his idyll—and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot—is shattered when a local drug dealer and her partner corner him into one of the worst crimes he can imagine: stealing rare books from the college library.

Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for comfort and help. Together they dream up a wild, fantastical scheme to free Arthur from the cruel trap in which he finds himself. Wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren suggests using the unnerving Crane journal (bound in the skin of its author) to summon a dragon to do their bidding. The others—brave, beautiful Alison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen—don’t hesitate to join Colin in an effort to smash reality and bring a creature of the impossible into our world.

But there’s nothing simple about dealing with dragons, and their pact to save Arthur becomes a terrifying bargain in which the six must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow every year—or become his next meal. – William Morrow

Look below for readalikes similar to King Sorrow.

Below the Grand Hotel by Cat Scully

The Great Gatsby meets Hellraiser.

Mabel Rose Dixon will do anything to become a Ziegfeld girl–including picking the pockets of the wealthy NYC elite to fund her way to stardom. When she picks the wrong pocket, Mabel loses her soul to a hotel run by demons and tumbles into the world of The Grand Hotel, a place where any artist can make it big.

Mabel’s greatest wish to be famous is granted. Every night, she performs as the starring act to a crowded theater and finds she is never without patrons. But Mabel quickly learns that losing her soul to get everything she ever wanted comes at a much steeper cost than what she bargained for. She must steal her soul back before the Grand’s annual May’s Eve Ball or become a demon herself forever.

With stylish art deco design and beautiful illustrations by the author, this stunning debut novel by renowned New England artist Cat Scully is a crown jewel for the dark gothic horror lover’s collection. Welcome to The Grand Hotel. We hope you enjoy your stay. – Clash Books

Book of Night by Holly Black

Charlie Hall has never found a lock she couldn’t pick, a book she couldn’t steal, or a bad decision she wouldn’t make.

She’s spent half her life working for gloamists, magicians who manipulate shadows to peer into locked rooms, strangle people in their beds, or worse. Gloamists guard their secrets greedily, creating an underground economy of grimoires. And to rob their fellow magicians, they need Charlie Hall.

Now, she’s trying to distance herself from past mistakes, but getting out isn’t easy. Bartending at a dive, she’s still entirely too close to the corrupt underbelly of the Berkshires. Not to mention that her sister Posey is desperate for magic, and that Charlie’s shadowless, and possibly soulless, boyfriend has been hiding things from her. When a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie descends into a maelstrom of murder and lies.

Determined to survive, she’s up against a cast of doppelgangers, mercurial billionaires, gloamists, and the people she loves best in the world—all trying to steal a secret that will give them vast and terrible power. – Tor Books

Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton

When all hell breaks loose, you need a devil on your side

Sarita has been watched over by a guardian angel her entire life. She calls him Angelo, and keeps him a secret. But secrets can’t stay buried forever…

When Angelo murders someone she loves, Sarita begins to see what’s really been lurking in the shadows surrounding her. And she will have to embrace the evil within if she hopes to make it out alive.

Johnny Compton, critically acclaimed author of The Spite House and master of dread, takes you on a terrifying race of one woman against the hordes of hell. – Tor Nightfire

Fiend  by Alma Katsu

Historical horror maven Alma Katsu turns her talents to the modern world for the first time, in this terrifying tale about an all-powerful family with an ancient evil under its thumb.

Imagine if the Sackler family had a demon at their beck and call.

The Berisha family runs one of the largest import-export companies in the world, and they’ve always been lucky. Their rivals suffer strokes. Inconvenient buildings catch on fire. Earthquakes swallow up manufacturing plants, destroying harmful evidence. Things always seem to work out for the Berishas. They’re blessed.

At least that is what Zef, the patriarch, has always told his three children. And each of them knows their place in the family—Dardan, as the only male heir, must prepare to take over as keeper of the Berisha secrets, Maris’s most powerful contribution, much to her dismay, will be to marry strategically, and Nora’s job, as the youngest, is to just stay out of the way. But when things stop going as planned, and the family blessing starts looking more like a curse, the Berishas begin to splinter, each hatching their own secret scheme. They didn’t get to be one of the richest families in the world without spilling a little blood, but this time, it might be their own. – G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake

Good girls deserve a treat.

Every member of The House, the most exclusive sorority on campus, and all its alumni, are beautiful, high-achieving, and universally respected.

After a freshman year she would rather forget, sophomore Nina Kaur knows being one of the chosen few accepted into The House is the first step in her path to the brightest possible future. Once she’s taken into their fold, the House will surely ease her fears of failure and protect her from those who see a young woman on her own as easy prey.

Meanwhile, adjunct professor Dr. Sloane Hartley is struggling to return to work after accepting a demotion to support her partner’s new position at the cutthroat University. After 18 months at home with her newborn daughter, Sloane’s clothes don’t fit right, her girl-dad husband isn’t as present as he thinks he is, and even the few hours a day she’s apart from her child fill her psyche with paralyzing ennui. When invited to be The House’s academic liaison, Sloane enviously drinks in the way the alumnae seem to have it all, achieving a level of collective perfection that Sloane so desperately craves.

As Nina and Sloane each get drawn deeper into the arcane rituals of the sisterhood, they learn that living well comes with bloody costs. And when they are finally invited to the table, they will have to decide just how much they can stomach in the name of solidarity and power. – Tor Books

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There’s Mommy, Daddo, and Grandma Ruth. But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every day: “Can I go inside your heart?”

When horrifying incidents around the house signal that Other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bela the question over and over, Bela understands that unless she says yes, her family will soon pay.

Other Mommy is getting restless, stronger, bolder. Only the bonds of family can keep Bela safe, but other incidents show cracks in her parents’ marriage. The safety Bela relies on is about to unravel.

But Other Mommy needs an answer.

Incidents Around the House is a chilling, wholly unique tale of true horror about a family as haunted as their home. – Del Rey

The Midnight Club by Margot Harrison

A twisty, nostalgic, emotionally thrilling novel about a group of estranged college friends who experiment with a secret substance that allows them to re-live their memories—and the fallout when they uncover startling truths about a dark event from their past

“How could you leave the past undisturbed when it was hiding parts of you from yourself?”

It’s been twenty-five years since The Midnight Club last convened. A tight-knit group of college friends bonded by late nights at the campus literary magazine, they’re also bonded by something darker: the death of their brilliant friend Jennet junior year. But now, decades later, a mysterious invitation has pulled them back to the pine-shrouded Vermont town where it all began.

As the estranged friends gather for a weeklong campus reunion, they soon learn that their host has an ulterior motive: she wants them to uncover the truth about the night Jennet died, and she’s provided them with an extraordinary method—a secret substance that helps them not only remember but relive the past.

But each one of the friends has something to hide. And the more they question each other, the deeper they dive into their own memories, the more they understand that nothing they thought they knew about their college years, and that fateful night, is true.

The Midnight Club explores that innate desire to revisit our first loves, our biggest mistakes, and the gulf between who we are and who we hoped we’d be. – Graydon House

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom

Set in Colonial New England, Slewfoot is a tale of magic and mystery, of triumph and terror as only dark fantasist Brom can tell it.

Connecticut, 1666: An ancient spirit awakens in a dark wood. The wildfolk call him Father, slayer, protector. The colonists call him Slewfoot, demon, devil. To Abitha, a recently widowed outcast, alone and vulnerable in her pious village, he is the only one she can turn to for help.

Together, they ignite a battle between pagan and Puritan – one that threatens to destroy the entire village, leaving nothing but ashes and bloodshed in their wake.

This terrifying tale of bewitchery features more than two dozen of Brom’s haunting full-color paintings and brilliant endpapers, fully immersing readers in this wild and unforgiving world. – Tor Nightfire

Loving, Ohio written by Matthew Erman and illustrated by Sam Beck

- Stephanie Leave a comment

“We all lived here. In some way. And wherever you live it leaves imprints on you.” – Matthew Erman, Loving, Ohio

In Loving, Ohio, four teens are dealing with the tragic suicide of one of their friends amidst the mystery of an overbearing cult in this supernatural horror graphic novel voted one of New York Public Library’s Best New Comics of 2024. As someone who devours any and all fiction and nonfiction about cults, Loving, Ohio was the top of my list. The cult in this book gave me strong Church of Scientology vibes, but with enough quirkiness that I was freaked out at points.

Sloane, Elliott, Cameron, and Ana are four teenagers trying to make it through high school while people go missing or are murdered in the town where they live, Loving, Ohio. Loving was built around The Chorus, a new age cult with members in high ranking positions of power and influence within both the cult and the community. Everyone in the community is enamored by The Chorus with it leaching into any and every business and family around. Sloane and her friends are not thrilled with The Chorus and have plans to hopefully make it out of Loving alive. When one of their close friends dies by suicide, the four decide enough is enough. When more murders happen, the four find themselves hunting down the murderer while dealing with normal teen things like finding out their place in the world. All of this loss is dealt with while The Chorus looms over them.

This book was incredibly well written. The art was gorgeous, the story was freaky and unsettling, and the horror was horrifying. While Loving, Ohio clearly has supernatural elements throughout, the characters are still dealing with the mundanity of life, albeit with immense levels of grief and nightmare mixed in. Highly recommend.

New Witchy Books

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Over the last couple years, I have noticed an increase in witchy romances. That in turn led me to new witchy books across genres. Below you will find a list of witchy books published in 2025 that span a wide variety of genres: horror, romance, cozy, historical, and more! Let us know in the comments if you have a favorite witchy read.

As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions are provided by the publishers.

The Anatomy of Magic by J.C. Cervantes

A young woman learns to embrace all the messy imperfections of life and love with some help from her magical family

Lilian Estrada seemingly has it all: an ob-gyn star on the rise, a master at balancing work with whirlwind romances and part of a family of fiercely loyal and exceptional women, all bound together by an extraordinary secret. The Estrada women each possess a unique power, and Lily shines with the rare gift to manipulate memories. Yet not even her mystical abilities can shield her from a harrowing event at the hospital, one that sends her powers—and her confidence—spiraling out of control.

Seeking solace, Lily retreats to her family’s ancestral home in Mexico, only to find herself face-to-face with a ghost from her past—Sam, the first love she never forgot. Nearly a decade since she last saw him, Sam is hardly the boy she once knew, and as old flames spark to life, Lily must navigate the mysteries of their shared history and the depths of her own heart if she hopes to control her unpredictable magic. – Park Row

This title is available in large print.

An Ancient Witch’s Guide to Modern Dating by Cecilia Edward

An ancient witch explores the thrills—and perils—of online dating with hilarity and heart in a charming rom-com perfect for fans of cozy fantasy and witchy romance.

Meet Thorn Scarhart, a thirty-nine-year-old witch who’s having trouble finding love in the 17th century. Despite the local matchmaker’s efforts and Thorn’s arsenal of powerful love potions, she has yet to fall in love. After the disappearance of her sister and the loss of her mother, Thorn was too caught up in…well, life, to focus on dating. Now, she fears she may have missed her chance.

But, when one of her potion brews backfires spectacularly, Thorn is hurled 350 years into the future, landing in a bustling city where her once-isolated cottage is now a historical museum. While this unexpected leap through time may seem daunting, modern life does have its perks: indoor plumbing, electric kettles, and the world of online dating. At thirty-nine, the odds may not be perfect, but at least they’re not impossible.

With the help of the museum’s new curator—and her charming veterinarian brother—Thorn dives headfirst into the 21st-century dating scene. And as she searches for romance, she might also find herself along the way. – S&S / Saga Press

The Antidote by Karen Russell

The Antidote opens on Black Sunday, as a historic dust storm ravages the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska. But Uz is already collapsing—not just under the weight of the Great Depression and the dust bowl drought but beneath its own violent histories. The Antidote follows a “Prairie Witch,” whose body serves as a bank vault for peoples’ memories and secrets; a Polish wheat farmer who learns how quickly a hoarded blessing can become a curse; his orphan niece, a basketball star and witch’s apprentice in furious flight from her grief; a voluble scarecrow; and a New Deal photographer whose time-traveling camera threatens to reveal both the town’s secrets and its fate.

Russell’s novel is above all a reckoning with a nation’s forgetting—enacting the settler amnesia and willful omissions passed down from generation to generation, and unearthing not only horrors but shimmering possibilities. The Antidote echoes with urgent warnings for our own climate emergency, challenging readers with a vision of what might have been—and what still could be. – Knopf

This title is also available in large print.

The Bane Witch by Ava Morgyn

Piers Corbin has always had an affinity for poisonous things—plants and men. From the pokeweed berries she consumed at age five that led to the accidental death of a stranger, to the husband whose dark proclivities have become… concerning, poison has been at the heart of her story.

But when she fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her volatile marriage and goes to stay with her estranged great aunt in the mountains, she realizes her predilection is more than a hunger—it’s a birthright. Piers comes from a long line of poison eaters—Bane Witches—women who ingest deadly plants and use their magic to rid the world of evil men.

Piers sets out to earn her place in her family’s gritty but distinguished legacy, all while working at her Aunt Myrtle’s cafe and perpetuating a flirtation with the local, well-meaning sheriff to allay his suspicions on the body count she’s been leaving in her wake. But soon she catches the attention of someone else, a serial killer operating in the area. And that only means one thing—it’s time to feed. – St. Martin’s Griffin

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales.

In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, she begins to sense that the malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch.

Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened the lives of her great-grandmother and Beatrice Tremblay is now threatening her own in 1990s Massachusetts. An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved. – Del Rey

This title is also available in large print.

A Circle of Uncommon Witches by Paige Crutcher

A witch generationally cursed to never find true love sets out to break the spell cast on her family, and must team up with the last person who wants to help her – the witch who set the curse in the first place.

Doreen MacKinnon is doomed to die of a broken heart – if she can’t break the centuries old curse placed on her family.

Three hundred years ago, Ambrose MacDonald, a powerful male witch, fell in love with a MacKinnon. And when the MacKinnon witches forbade him from seeing his love, by secretly hiding her away, he retaliated by cursing the family and its future generations to never find love. But it wasn’t without a cost. Now, Ambrose is imprisoned by those same witches, trapped in a tempest and doomed to outlive everyone he has ever loved.

But Doreen isn’t like the other MacKinnon witches. As the 13th generation of the MacKinnon line, Doreen is one of the most powerful witches in centuries… and one of the loneliest. So when she discovers where Ambrose has been trapped, she releases him to help her break the curse, once and for all. Ambrose agrees to help, but with his own motive: vengeance. He plans to use her as bait to enact his revenge on her family.

Together, they enter a series of trials, which take them to a castle in Scotland, off a cliff, and into a world beyond their wildest dreams. As they work together, sparks start to fly, but soon Doreen must choose how far she is willing to go to break the curse, and what she’s willing to sacrifice. – St. Martin’s Griffin

Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell

It’s 1989, and Joe Agabian and his best friend Ronnie set out to spend their first summer working in the hedonistic gay paradise of Fire Island Pines. Joe is desperate to let loose and finally move beyond the heartbreak of having lost his boyfriend to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The two friends are quickly taken in by a pair of quirky, older house cleaners. But something seems off, and Joe starts to suspect the two older men of being up to something otherworldly. In truth, Howie and Lenny are members of a secret disco witch coven tasked with protecting the island—and young men like Joe—from the relentless tragedies ravaging their community. The only problem is, having lost too many of their fellow witches to the epidemic, the coven’s protective powers have been seriously damaged.

Unaware of all the mystical shenanigans going on, Joe starts to fall for the super-cute bisexual ferryman who just happens to have webbed feet and an unusual ability to hold his breath underwater. But Joe’s longing to find love is tripped up by his own troublesome past as well as the lure of a mysterious hunk he keeps seeing around the island—a man Howie and Lenny warn may be a harbinger of impending doom.

The Disco Witches need to find help—fast—if they’re to save Joe and the island from the Great Darkness. But how? Fans of spicy queer romances with a dash of fantasy will fall in love with this stunning novel of community, love, sex, magic, and hope in desperate times. – Alcove Press

A Simple Twist of Fate by April Asher

At the bright-eyed age of eighteen, witch Harlow “Harry” Pierce attended her first Fates Festival Finding Ceremony certain the Blue Willow Wisp would lead her to her Fated match, her cougar shifter boyfriend, Jaxon Atwood. But Fate had other plans, guiding her best friend to him instead. With a broken heart, all her belongings, and a vow to never return, Harry did the only thing a heartsick witch could do. Run.

Thirteen years later, she returns to her magical hometown—with her half-human, half-shifter goddaughter in tow—hoping that not only would the town work its magic on the troubled teenager, but that the local Alpha of the Rocky Mountain Pack could help Grace identify—and control—her fiery abilities.

Jaxon Atwood was a shifter of few words and even less patience… until his mother retired as Alpha of the Rocky Mountain Pack and left the running of things to him. It’s a headache he didn’t need, and one that brought the witch who’d ripped his heart from his chest knocking on his door.

Ever since the disappearance of the town’s Fate Witch over a decade ago, Fates Haven’s magic has been slowly going haywire. There hasn’t been a Fated Match made in thirteen years, putting the town in serious jeopardy of losing its title of Highest Fated Mates Percentage in the World. But now, something is stirring in Fates Haven, Colorado, and it smells like the past, tastes like change, and looks like A SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE. – St. Martin’s Griffin

Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce

Newly-minted child psychologist Mina has little experience. In a field where the first people called are experts, she’s been unable to get her feet wet. Instead, she aimlessly spends her days stuck in the stifling heat wave sweeping across Britain, and anxiously contemplating her upcoming marriage to careful, precise researcher Oscar. The only reprieve from her small, close world is attending the local bereavement group to mourn her brother’s death from years ago. That is, until she meets journalist Sam Hunter at the grief group one day. And he has a proposition for her.

Alice Webber is a thirteen-year-old girl who claims she’s being haunted by a witch. Living with her family in their crowded home in the remote village of Banathel, Alice’s symptoms are increasingly disturbing, and money is tight. Taking this job will give Mina some experience; Sam will get the scoop of a lifetime; and Alice will get better, Mina is sure of it.

But instead of improving, Alice’s behavior becomes increasingly inexplicable and intense. The town of Banathel has a deep history of superstition and witchcraft. They believe there is evil in the world. They believe there are ways of…dealing with it. And they don’t expect outsiders to understand.

As Mina races to uncover the truth behind Alice’s condition, the dark cracks of Banathel begin to show. Mina is desperate to understand how deep their sinister traditions go–and how her own past may be the biggest threat of all. – Minotaur Books

Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things by Breanna Randall

In the small town of Gold Springs, Calliope Petridi and her two sisters carefully guard the secret of their magic and the price they must pay to practice it: memories. Luckily, all Calliope wants to do is forget: the mother who left without a trace, the sisters from whom she feels increasingly distant, and most of all, the way the love of her life shattered her heart two years ago.

But when a mysterious evil awakens, the fragile thread that holds the sisters together breaks. As their magic slowly begins to fade, Calliope accidentally binds herself to the handsome leader of a rival coven infamous for their ruthless pursuit of power. Battling the sizzling chemistry with a man she can’t trust, Calliope must confront memories of her past, family secrets, and ancient magic in order to protect the town and all she loves. But will she have anything left of herself? – Dell

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

They were never girls, they were witches . . . .

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, to give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, frightened, and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who plans to marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by the adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid . . . and it’s usually paid in blood. – Berkley

This title is also available in large print and Playaway audiobook.

Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis

In a Gaslamp-lit world where hags and ogres lurk in thick pine forests, three magical queens form an uneasy alliance to protect their lands from invasion…and love turns their world upside down.

Queen Saskia is the wicked sorceress everyone fears. After successfully wrestling the throne from her evil uncle, she only wants one thing: to keep her people safe from the empire next door. For that, she needs to spend more time in her laboratory experimenting with her spells. She definitely doesn’t have time to bring order to her chaotic library of magic.

When a mysterious dark wizard arrives at her castle, Saskia hires him as her new librarian on the spot. “Fabian” is sweet and a little nerdy, and his requests seem a little strange – what in the name of Divine Elva is a fountain pen? – but he’s getting the job done. And if he writes her flirtatious poetry and his innocent touch makes her skin singe, well…

Little does Saskia know that the “wizard” she’s falling for is actually an Imperial archduke in disguise, with no magical training whatsoever. On the run, with perilous secrets on his trail and a fast growing yearning for the wicked sorceress, he’s in danger from her enemies and her newfound allies, too. When his identity is finally revealed, will their love save or doom each other? – Bramble

Horror Manga

- Paige Leave a comment

‘Tis the season…SPOOKY season that is! With the weather becoming crisper and Halloween on the horizon, it always gets me in the mood to read some horror (despite my aversion to all things scary the rest of the year). My favorite way to consumer horror by far is through manga. The intense, suspenseful plot lines with the incredibly detailed artwork just makes it so much more impactful for me.  Here are some horror manga that I either recommend or have my eye on to read this season that might pique your interest as well! All descriptions are provided by the publisher. 

Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection – Junji Ito

The master of horror manga brings the world’s greatest horror novel—Frankenstein—back to life. Junji Ito meets Mary Shelley! The master of horror manga bends all his skill into bringing the anguished and solitary monster—and the fouler beast who created him—to life with the brilliantly detailed chiaroscuro he is known for. Also included are six tales of Oshikiri—a high school student who lives in a decaying mansion connected to a haunted parallel world. Uncanny doppelgangers, unfortunately murdered friends, and a whole lot more are in store for him. Bonus: The Ito family dog! Thrill to the adventures of Non-non Ito, an adorable Maltese! – Viz Media

Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku – Yuji Kaku

Gabimaru the Hollow is one of the most vicious assassins ever to come out of the ninja village of Iwagakure. He’s ruthlessly efficient, but a betrayal results in him being handed a death sentence. He has only one hope–in order to earn his freedom, he must travel to a long-hidden island and recover an elixir that will make the shogun immortal. Failure is not an option. On this island, heaven and hell are just a hair’s breadth away. – Viz Media

 

 

Stitches – Hirokatsu Kihara, art by Junji Ito

Horror manga giant Junji Ito teams up with spooky story writer Hirokatsu Kihara for the ultimate collection of fright-filled ghost tales!

A tumor shaped like a man’s face slowly moves across a woman’s body. The sea shoots glowing balls into the sky, much to the distress of beachgoers. And a girl dressed up for a holiday has no eyes, no nose, nothing—her face is a total blank.

Hirokatsu Kihara pens true stories of unsolved mysteries, stitched together with page after page of Junji Ito’s original illustrations in this collection of nine eerie tales and a bonus manga story. – Viz Media

H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness –  adaptation and artwork by Gou Tanabe

January 25, 1931: an expedition team arrives at a campsite in Antarctica . . . to find its crew of men and sled dogs strewn and dead. But a still more horrific sight is the star-shaped mound of snow nearby . . . for under its five points is a grave–and what lies beneath is not human! 

At the Mountains of Madness is a journey into the core of Lovecraft’s mythos–the deep caverns and even deeper time of the inhospitable continent where the secret history of our planet is preserved–amidst the ruins of its first civilization, built by the alien Elder Things with the help of their bioengineered monstrosities, the shoggoths.

Since it was first published in Astounding Stories during the classic pulp era, At the Mountains of Madness has influenced both horror and science fiction worldwide! – Dark Horse

The Summer Hikaru Died – Mokumokuren

It has Hikaru’s face. It has Hikaru’s voice. It even has Hikaru’s memories. But whatever came down from the mountains six months ago isn’t Yoshiki’s best friend. Whatever it is, it’s dangerous. Carrying on at school and hanging out as if nothing has changed—as if Hikaru isn’t gone—would be crazy…but when it looks so very like Hikaru…and acts so very like Hikaru… – Yen Press

 

 

 

Blood on the Tracks – Shuzo Oshimi

From the creator who brought you notable works such as The Flowers of Evil, Happiness, and Inside Mari, comes a new suspense drama centering on the theme of a toxic parent.
Dive into this latest thriller by master storyteller, Shuzo Oshimi.

Seiichi’s mother loves him very much, and his days pass with placid regularity. School, friends, even the attention of his attractive classmate Fukiishi. Until one terrible summer day, that all changes… – Kodansha

 

We also have a new blog post about what new horror novels recently got added to our collection! Check it out here.

What’s your favorite way to consume horror?  Let us know in the comments!

 

New Horror Novels

- Stephanie Leave a comment

What genre do you seldom read? For me, it’s horror! While checking the new shelves this month, I found quite a few new titles that caught my eyes in the new horror section. Below are four new horror titles that I wanted to share with you all. As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions are provided by the publishers.

Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes

Halley is on the run from an interplanetary political scandal that has put a huge target on her back. She heads for what seems like the perfect place to lay low: a gigantic space barge storing the cryogenically frozen bodies of Earth’s most fortunate citizens from more than a century ago…

The cryo program, created by trillionaire tech genius Zale Winfeld, is long defunct, and the AI hologram “hosts,” ghoulishly created in the likeness of Winfeld’s three adult children, are glitchy. The ship feels like a crypt, and the isolation gets to Halley almost immediately. She starts to see figures crawling in the hallways, and there’s a constant scraping, slithering, and rattling echoing in the vents.

It’s not long before Halley realizes she may have gotten herself trapped in an even more dangerous situation than the one she was running from…. – Tor Nightfire

Senseless by Ronald Malfi

What do you see…?

When the mutilated body of a young woman is discovered in the desert on the outskirts of Los Angeles, the detective assigned to the case can’t deny the similarities between this murder and one that occurred a year prior. Media outlets are quick to surmise this is the work of a budding serial killer, but Detective Bill Renney is struggling with an altogether different scenario: a secret that keeps him tethered to the husband of the first victim.

What do you hear…?

Maureen Park, newly engaged to Hollywood producer Greg Dawson, finds her engagement party crashed by the arrival of Landon, Greg’s son. A darkly unsettling young man, Landon invades Maureen’s new existence, and the longer he stays, the more convinced she becomes that he may have something to do with the recent murder in the high desert.

What do you feel…?

Toby Kampen, the self-proclaimed Human Fly, begins an obsession over a woman who is unlike anyone he has ever met. A woman with rattlesnake teeth and a penchant for biting. A woman who has trapped him in her spell. A woman who may or may not be completely human.

In Ronald Malfi’s brand-new thriller, these three storylines converge to create a tapestry of deceit, distrust, and unapologetic horror. A brand-new novel of dark suspense set in the City of Angels, as only “horror’s Faulkner” can tell it. – Titan Books

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig

Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what.

Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: a mysterious staircase to nowhere.

One friend walks up—and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.

Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods. . . . – Del Rey

When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy

One night, Jess, a struggling actress, finds a five-year-old runaway hiding in the bushes outside her apartment. After a violent, bloody encounter with the boy’s father, she and the boy find themselves running for their lives.

As they attempt to evade the boy’s increasingly desperate father, Jess slowly comes to a horrifying understanding of the butchery that follows them—the boy can turn his every fear into reality.

And when the wolf finally comes home, no one will be spared. – Tor Nightfire

The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag

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Family secrets live at the center of Molly Knox Ostertag’s newest graphic novel, The Deep Dark. A mix of fantasy and romance, Ostertag has written a deeply emotional story of identity, grief, trauma, family, and loss all from the point of view of a high school student with serious adult responsibilities.

Everyone has secrets and high school senior Magdalena Herrera has many. Her secret just happens to be deadly and hidden in the dark basement of her family home. Mags and her family have been keeping this secret for decades, keeping friends at bay while they keep this secret safe and away from others. Mags spends her day working a part-time job, going to school, caring for her sick grandmother, and making out with a girl who already has a boyfriend. Mags wishes that she could have a happy, shiny life, but she is drawn to the basement every night to have her energy drained by her secret.

Mags has been isolated in her small desert community for years, seeming to have everything under control, while really she is slowly unraveling. When childhood friend Nessa walks back into her life, Mags begins to come out of her shell. Nessa brings hope for the future, but her motives aren’t entirely pure. Nessa remembers certain things from their shared past that she has questions about, putting the future that Mags has just started hoping for into question. Quickly Mags realizes that while she wants to be with Nessa, she has to stay behind with her secret without anyone’s help. Mags can’t afford to get attached or be distracted. When Mags’ darkness becomes too big for her to manage, she must decide what she is willing to sacrifice. Will she bring her secret fully into the open or will she remain locked in the dark with her secret, unable to live her life to the fullest?

This queer story with monstrous elements had me hooked from the start with unique page layouts and mixed use of black and white, and color. This is actually the second time I have read this book. This re-read allowed me to catch some foreshadowing that I missed my first read. The tension hit me harder on my second read. This is a story of learning to love and accept the darkest parts of yourself, even when they are angry and have the power to hurt you. Don’t let grief hold you back from overcoming your demons and learning to let other people love all of you no matter what.

We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

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“When things felt right, it only meant there was so much more that could go wrong.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

Charlie and Eve are excited to start their new house flip. They just scored a great deal on an old house nestled in the trees in a beautiful mountainside town. When Eve is home alone one day, she is surprised when a family knocks on their front door. The father says he grew up in the house and wants to show his family the place where he lived as a child, if it’s okay with the new owners of course. Despite her reservations, Eve decides to let the family in, starting her down a path that will change her life forever.

When the family of strangers enters the house, weird and unexplainable things start happening. Something is slightly off about each family member, specifically the father. When the family’s youngest child disappears leaving Eve and the father to search the creepy and ever expanding basement for them, Eve’s bad feelings grow even worse. A ghostly presence is lurking in the basement, but only Eve can see them. The family stays longer than Eve originally intended, but there isn’t much she can do to combat the weather. When Eve learns that Charlie has disappeared and she is unable to get ahold of her, Eve spirals. She begins to love her grip on reality. Is her mental state deteriorating because of her mental health or is something happening to her because of the house? What’s going on? Who is behind these changes? What is Eve willing to risk to survive?

If you choose to read We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer, I highly recommend you read a physical copy as there are maps, journal entries, redacted records, and morse code scattered throughout. I should have known that this would be a difficult read for me as it’s horror and I freaked myself out while reading it (cheers to only being able to read this book while it was light out)! I do still have questions related to some plot holes, but honestly this book is ripe with conspiracy theories, so I will probably never get any answers.

This title is also available in large print.

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

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“Comprehension is key, and that hasn’t exactly been mastered by the citizens of this country.”
― Tiffany D. Jackson, The Weight of Blood

Tiffany D. Jackson is a young adult writer who writes with gusto and anger. Her books always stick with me for long periods of time and relate to stories in the news. My latest read, The Weight of Blood, was one I went into blind. The Weight of Blood is a retelling of Carrie by Stephen King, telling the story of a Georgia high school hosting its first integrated prom and a biracial teenager navigating a small town’s legacy of racism. This book is heavy and disastrous and necessary to read. Highly recommend.

Maddy Washington is an outcast in her small town of Springville, Georgia. She has always been the target of bullies. Having been homeschooled until her early teenage years, Maddie has never quite fit in. The school bullies are the least of her problems though. She has more serious problems to deal with. The precarious life she has made for herself is destroyed one day with the arrival of a surprise rainstorm. Her secret: Maddy is biracial. Her father Thomas has required Maddy to pass as white for her entire life due to his fanatical beliefs.

The students and some staff at Maddy’s school react badly to Maddy’s news. When a video goes viral showing students bulling Maddy, the school’s racist beliefs and history become news across the country. Things come even more to a head when the news discovers that Springville High holds two separate proms every year: a white prom and a black prom. In order to improve their image, students and administration decide to host their first integrated prom. This doesn’t go over well, especially when the white class president asks her Black quarterback boyfriend to take Maddy as his date to the integrated prom.

Maddy starts to hope that maybe a normal life is possible for her. The closer prom gets, the more excited she becomes. Some of her classmates are angry though, deciding that she needs to be taught a lesson. Flashing back and forth from 2014 and to present day, readers learn more about what happened leading up to prom in 2014 and how the Springville residents left alive after prom night are dealing with the shock of what happened that night.

This title is also available in large print and audiobook.

Black Queer Horror Titles

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I’m not a horror person (horror movies make me jump out of my skin), but recently I have been gravitating towards more queer horror books. For some reason, I can manage these! I’ve selected a list of young adult and adult horror titles published in 2024 and before. This list features black queer main characters fighting against monsters and the system that they live.

At the time of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions provided by the publisher.

The Blonde Dies First by Joelle Wellington

Devon is always being left behind by her genius twin sister, Drew. At this point, it’s a fact of life. But Devon has one last plan before Drew leaves for college a whole year early—The Best Summer Ever. After committing to the bit a little too much, the twins and their chaotic circle of friends learn why you don’t ever mess with a Ouija board if you want to actually survive the Best Summer Ever, and soon find themselves being hunted down by…a demon?

But while there’s no mistaking the creeping, venomous figure is not from around here, their method doesn’t feel very demonic at all. In fact, it’s downright human—going after them in typical slasher movie kill order. And that means Devon, the blonde, is up first and her decade-long crush, Yaya, is the Final Girl who must kill or be killed to end the cycle.

Devon has never liked playing by anyone else’s rules though, not even a demon’s, and the longer this goes on, the more she feels Drew and Yaya slipping away from her even as she tries to help them all survive. Can they use their horror movie knowledge to flip the script and become the hunters instead of the hunted? Or will their best summer ever be their last? – Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Model Home by Rivers Solomon

The three Maxwell siblings keep their distance from the lily-white gated enclave outside Dallas where they grew up. When their family moved there, they were the only Black family in the neighborhood. The neighbors acted nice enough, but right away bad things, scary things—the strange and the unexplainable—began to happen in their house. Maybe it was some cosmic trial, a demonic rite of passage into the upper-middle class. Whatever it was, the Maxwells, steered by their formidable mother, stayed put, unwilling to abandon their home, terrors and trauma be damned.

As adults, the siblings could finally get away from the horrors of home, leaving their parents all alone in the house. But when news of their parents’ death arrives, Ezri is forced to return to Texas with their sisters, Eve and Emanuelle, to reckon with their family’s past and present, and to find out what happened while they were away. It was not a “natural” death for their parents . . . but was it supernatural?

Rivers Solomon turns the haunted-house story on its head, unearthing the dark legacies of segregation and racism in the suburban American South. Unbridled, raw, and daring, Model Home is the story of secret histories uncovered, and of a queer family battling for their right to live, grieve, and heal amid the terrors of contemporary American life. – MCD

The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste

In a country divided between humans and witchers, Venus Stoneheart hustles as a brewer making illegal love potions to support her family.

Love potions is a dangerous business. Brewing has painful, debilitating side effects, and getting caught means death or a prison sentence. But what Venus is most afraid of is the dark, sentient magic within her.

Then an enemy’s iron bullet kills her mother, Venus’s life implodes. Keeping her reckless little sister Janus safe is now her responsibility. When the powerful Grand Witcher, the ruthless head of her coven, offers Venus the chance to punish her mother’s killer, she has to pay a steep price for revenge. The cost? Brew poisonous potions to enslave D.C.’s most influential politicians.

As Venus crawls deeper into the corrupt underbelly of her city, the line between magic and power blurs, and it’s hard to tell who to trust…Herself included.

The Poisons We Drink is a potent YA debut about a world where love potions are weaponized against hate and prejudice, sisterhood is unbreakable, and self-love is life and death. – Sourcebooks

Something Kindred by Ciera Burch

Welcome to Coldwater. Come for the ghosts, stay for the drama.

Jericka Walker had planned to spend the summer before senior year soaking up the sun with her best friend on the Jersey Shore. Instead she finds herself in Coldwater, Maryland, a small town with a dark and complicated past where her estranged grandmother lives—someone she knows only two things about: her name and the fact that she left Jericka’s mother and uncle when they were children. But now Jericka’s grandmother is dying, and her mother has dragged Jericka along to say goodbye.

As Jericka attempts to form a connection with a woman she’s never known, and adjusts to life in a town where everything closes before dinner, she meets “ghost girl” Kat, a girl eager to leave Coldwater and more exciting than a person has any right to be. But Coldwater has a few unsettling secrets of its own. The more you try to leave, the stronger the town’s hold. As Jericka feels the chilling pull of her family’s past, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about her mother, her childhood, and the lines between the living and the dead. – Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Tender Beasts by Liselle Sambury

Sunny Behre has four siblings, but only one is a murderer.

With the death of Sunny’s mother, matriarch of the wealthy Behre family, Sunny’s once picture-perfect life is thrown into turmoil. Her mother had groomed her to be the family’s next leader, so Sunny is confused when the only instructions her mother leaves is a mysterious note: “Take care of Dom.”

The problem is, her youngest brother, Dom, has always been a near-stranger to Sunny…and seemingly a dangerous one, if found guilty of his second-degree murder charge. Still, Sunny is determined to fulfill her mother’s dying wish. But when a classmate is gruesomely murdered, and Sunny finds her brother with blood on his hands, her mother’s simple request becomes a lot more complicated. Dom swears he’s innocent, and although Sunny isn’t sure she believes him, she takes it upon herself to look into the murder—made all the more urgent by the discovery of another body. And another.

As Sunny and Dom work together to track down the culprit, Sunny realizes her other siblings have their own dark secrets. Soon she may have to choose: preserve the family she’s always loved or protect the brother she barely knows—and risk losing everything her mother worked so hard to build. – Margaret K. McElderry Books

Books published in 2023 and before

Cold Weather Reading

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Below is a list of cold weather books for those readers who enjoy watching snow fall from the warmth and coziness of their home. Those who don’t necessarily want to venture out into the cold, but who still want to be involved in wintery happenings. Here you can find a list of horror, fiction, and mystery novels published in 2024 that are set in cold climates. Curl up with one of these books and experience winter while staying warm!

All of the titles in this list are owned by the Davenport Public Library at the time of this writing. Descriptions have been provided by the publishers.

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes

An abandoned planet. A hidden past. A deadly danger.

Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of Eckhart-Reiser syndrome (ERS)—the most famous case of which resulted in the brutal murders of twenty-nine people. It’s personal to her, and when she’s assigned to a small exploration crew who recently suffered the tragic death of a colleague, she wants to help. But as they begin to establish residency on an abandoned planet, it becomes clear that the crew is hiding something.

And Ophelia’s crewmates are far more interested in investigating the eerie, ancient planet and unraveling the mystery behind the previous colonizers’ hasty departure than opening up to her.

That is, until their pilot is discovered gruesomely murdered. Is this Ophelia’s worst nightmare starting—a wave of violence and mental deterioration from ERS? Or is it something even more sinister?

Terrified that history will repeat itself, Ophelia and the crew must work together to figure out what’s happening. But trust is hard to come by…and the crew members aren’t the only ones keeping secrets. – Tor Nightfire

A Haunting in the Arctic by C.J. Cooke

The year is 1901, and Nicky is attacked, then wakes on board the Ormen, a whaling ship embarked on what could be its last voyage. With land still weeks away, it’s just her, the freezing ocean, and the crew – and they’re all owed something only she can give them…

Now, over one hundred years later, the wreck of the Ormen has washed up on the forbidding, remote coast of Iceland. It’s scheduled to be destroyed, but explorer Dominique feels an inexplicable pull to document its last days, even though those who have ventured onto the wreck before her have met uncanny ends.

Onboard the boat, Dominique will uncover a dark past riddled with lies, cruelty, and murder—and her discovery will change everything. Because she’ll soon realize she’s not alone. Something has walked the floors of the Ormen for almost a century. Something that craves revenge. – Berkley

Only One Survives by Hannah Mary McKinnon

Becoming the star is easier when the rest of your band is dead…

All drummer Vienna Taylor ever wanted was to make music. If that came with fame, she’d take it—as long as her best friend, guitarist Madison Pierce, was sharing the spotlight and singing lead. And with their new all-female pop rock band gaining traction, soon everyone would hear their songs…

Except, on the way to an event, the Bittersweet’s van careened off an icy mountain road during a blizzard—leaving one member dead and another severely injured.

In order to survive the frigid night, the rest took shelter in a nearby abandoned cabin. But Vienna’s dreams devolved into a terrifying nightmare as, one by one, her fellow band members met a gruesome end…and Madison simply vanished in the night.

What really happened to the Bittersweet? Did Vienna’s closest friend finally decide to take center stage on her own terms?

She doesn’t want to believe it.

But guilty people run. – MIRA

The Gathering by C.J. Tudor

In a small Alaska town, a boy is found with his throat ripped out and all the blood drained from his body. The inhabitants of Deadhart haven’t seen a killing like this in twenty-five years. But they know who’s responsible: a member of the Colony, an ostracized community of vampyrs living in an old mine settlement deep in the woods.

Detective Barbara Atkins, a specialist in vampyr killings, is called in to officially determine if this is a Colony killing—and authorize a cull. Old suspicions die hard in a town like Deadhart, but Barbara isn’t so sure. Determined to find the truth, she enlists the help of a former Deadhart sheriff, Jenson Tucker, whose investigation into the previous murder almost cost him his life. Since then, Tucker has become a recluse. But he knows the Colony better than almost anyone.

As the pair delve into the town’s history, they uncover secrets darker than they could have imagined. And then another body is found. While the snow thickens and the nights grow longer, a killer stalks Deadhart, and two disparate communities circle each other for blood. Time is running out for Atkins and Tucker to find the truth: Are they hunting a bloodthirsty monster . . . or a twisted psychopath? And which is more dangerous? – Ballantine Books

This title is also available in large print.

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

‘A church is a sort of wood. A wood is a sort of church. They’re the same thing really.’

Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scot is an unusual girl. She can talk to animals and trees-and she is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods.

One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis encounters a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a strange figure enters in their midst-and the path of her life is changed forever.

Featuring gorgeous illustrations truly worthy of the magic of this story and an afterword by Susanna Clarke explaining how she came to write it, this is a mesmerizing, must-have addition to any fantasy reader’s bookshelf. – Bloomsbury Publishing

Cold Weather Reading Books released in 2023