Ten terrifying literary horror novels

Mason Coile is a pseudonym of Andrew Pyper, the award-winning author of ten novels, including The Demonologist, which won the International Thriller Writers Award, and Lost Girls, which was a New York Times bestseller and Notable Book of the Year.

[My Book, The Movie: The Wildfire Season; The Page 69 Test: The Wildfire Season; The Page 69 Test: The Killing Circle; My Book, The Movie: The Only Child; The Page 69 Test: The Only Child]

Coile's debut sci-fi thriller is William.

At People magazine he tagged ten "horror novels [that] have something to say about being human while scaring us silly in the most artful ways." One title on the list:

Come Closer by Sara Gran

I like William Blatty’s The Exorcist as much as the next horror nut, but if you’re looking for a nuanced, personal — even funny — account of demonic possession, Gran’s novel tops the list. What begins as an urban woman’s tracking of what may be her descent into madness slides grippingly into the supernatural when she attributes her increasingly violent actions to the influence of a demon who also happens to be her only real friend.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Come Closer is among Lana Harper's five novels that get demon summoning right and Kelly Davio's seven top literary horror titles.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six chilly "And Then There Were None" inspired thrillers

Alexa Donne is the Edgar Award–nominated author of Pretty Dead Queens and The Ivies. By day she lives in Los Angeles and works in television marketing. The rest of the time she contemplates creative motives for murder and takes too many pictures of her cats.

Donne's latest young adult thriller, The Bitter End, is Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None with a Gossip Girl flair.

At CrimeReads Donne tagged six other novels inspired by Christie's classic. One title on the list:

One by One by Ruth Ware

This book is a chef’s kiss for the snowy isolation trope: a group of co-workers from a tech startup come for a retreat at a ski chalet in the French Alps, and everyone it seems has a secret—or beef—with one another. They all love-to-hate the company’s enigmatic co-founder, who goes missing during a ski outing on the first day. Then a blizzard hits and one by one they start dying. The snowstorm in the lap of luxury vibes are immaculate in this one, with a heart-pounding ending you won’t forget. I’ve read this one not once, but twice, and there may be an homage or two to it in The Bitter End!

Read about the other entries on the list.

One by One is among Carolyne Topdjian's five top hotel thrillers and mysteries, Bonnie Kistler's six best office thrillers, Sandie Jones's six mysteries with large casts of characters, Allie Reynolds's seven chilling winter thrillers, and Louise Candlish's ten hardest characters in literature to love.

--Marshal Zeringue

The 25 best historical fiction books of all time

At Oprah Daily Bethanne Patrick tagged the twenty-five best historical fiction books of all time. One title on the list:

Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee

Lee’s mega-bestselling novel about Korean immigrants in Japan. Beginning in rural Korea during the late 19th century, the story starts with the family of a young man named Hoonie, as he gains a wife. Eventually, their daughter Sunja will move to Osaka, Japan, where Koreans are considered second-class citizens, and her family members take to work at the city’s hugely popular pachinko parlors, which also symbolize life’s changing luck. Currently adapted for TV on Apple TV, this one has a big-screen future written all over it, given its locations and cast of characters.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Pachinko is among Asha Thanki seven books about families surviving political unrest, the Amazon Book Review editors' twelve favorite long books, Gina Chen's twelve books for fans of HBO’s Succession, Cindy Fazzi's eight books about the impact of Japanese imperialism during WWII, Eman Quotah's eight books about mothers separated from their daughters, Karolina Waclawiak's six favorite books on loss and longing, Allison Patkai's top six books with strong female voices, Tara Sonin's twenty-one books for fans of HBO’s Succession, and six books Jia Tolentino recommends.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top werewolf books

Brian Asman is a writer, actor, and director from San Diego. He’s the author of Man, F*ck This House (and Other Disasters).

His other books include I’m Not Even Supposed to Be Here Today, Neo Arcana, Nunchuck City, Jailbroke, Return of the Living Elves, and the forthcoming Return of the Living Elves.

Asman's new novel is Good Dogs.

At Electric Lit he tagged seven howlingly good werewolf books. One title on Asman's list:

Bishop by Candace Nola

After a mother and daughter go missing in the Alaskan wilderness, the woman’s brother, Troy Spencer, sets out in search of them. This one’s got it all—an eye-popping setting, mystery/thriller elements, mysterious outsiders, and monster-on-monster action. If you enjoyed True Detective: Night Country, Nola’s novel is a perfect followup, combining polar wilderness and supernatural elements with a fast-paced plot.

Read about the other entries on the list at Electric Lit.

--Marshal Zeringue

Twenty-five of the best books like "Yellowstone"

Emily Burack is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects.

At Town & Country she tagged twenty-five of the best books like Taylor Sheridan's hit show Yellowstone (and 1883 and 1923), including:

Stealing by Margaret Verble

In 1923, one plot revolves around the horrifying Indian boarding school that Teonna Rainwater (Aminah Nieves) is sent to. Margaret Verble's Stealing is set against a similar backdrop: Kit, a Cherokee girl, is sent to a boarding school in the 1950s and fights to retain her identity and escape.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Stealing is among Eliza Browning's sixteen top new books by Indigenous authors.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five best novels featuring what-if “Sliding Doors” narratives

Sung J. Woo's short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, PEN/Guernica, and Vox. He has written five novels, Lines (2024), Deep Roots (2023), Skin Deep (2020), Love Love (2015), and Everything Asian (2009), which won the 2010 Asian Pacific American Librarians Association Literature Award. In 2022, his Modern Love essay from The New York Times was adapted by Amazon Studios for episodic television. A graduate of Cornell University with an MFA from New York University, he lives in Washington, New Jersey.

[Coffee with a Canine: Sung J. Woo & Koda; The Page 69 Test: Everything Asian; My Book, The Movie: Skin Deep; Q&A with Sung J. Woo; The Page 69 Test: Skin Deep; My Book, The Movie: Deep Roots; The Page 69 Test: Deep Roots; Writers Read: Sung J. Woo (September 2023); The Page 69 Test: Lines; My Book, The Movie: Lines; Writers Read: Sung J. Woo]

At Shepherd Woo tagged five novels featuring what-if Sliding Doors narratives, including:

The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver

This was the first Sliding Doors-esque novel I read, and it’s a doozy. The book spins off a single moment: will Irina kiss Ramsey, the professional pool player? That action forks the novel into two distinct threads, but there are constant pleasant echoes that reverberate back and forth.

I’ve always believed the greatest draw for reading fiction is that we get to live someone else’s life. In a split narrative, we get to do that twice! Two for the price of one.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Post-Birthday World is among Sonja Lyubomirsky's six favorite books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top mysteries featuring original murders

Lucy Connelly travels around the world, usually with her bossy dog in tow. Her favorite pastime is sipping tea in a quaint cafe as she turns each passerby into a murder victim, witness, or suspect. If she stares at you strangely, don’t worry. She only murdered you in her book.

[The Page 69 Test: Death at a Scottish Wedding; Q&A with Lucy Connelly]

Connelly's new novel is Death at a Scottish Christmas.

At CrimeReads the author tagged ten of "the most ingenious and novel killings in a long tradition of (fictional) killings." One title on the list:

I love an Agatha Christie book. One of my favorite novels of hers is And Then There Were None. A series of murders takes place on a remote island, and each of those murders is based on a nursery rhymes. She varies the ways in which her victims die, and some of those are quite clever. And with each murder, something goes missing in the house. If you haven’t read Christie, this is a good gateway into her books.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

And Then There Were None is among Nicola Upson's top ten golden age detective novels, Jane Robins's ten favorite creepy psychological thrillers, Molly Schoemann-McCann's nine great books for people who love Downton Abbey, Sjón's top ten island stories, and Pascal Bruckner's five best books on guilt.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nineteen novels to understand America

The literary team of The Times (UK) and Sunday Times asked novelists, journalists and US experts to recommend great fiction about America.

I.S. Berry's entry on the list:

Ask the Dust by John Fante (1939)

The Great Depression was one of America’s most defining traumas: our proudly capitalist nation had abruptly plunged from its lofty heights and, accordingly, produced a plethora of great literature. Ask the Dust is an exquisitely written swansong for the American dream — of prosperity, success, religious and secular faith. The iconic protagonist Arturo Bandini, a struggling writer in 1930s Los Angeles, falls in love with unstable, aloof Camilla Lopez, ultimately sacrificing his literary aspirations for her. You won’t love Bandini but you’ll feel for him, and the uniquely American existential futility that pervades the story is revealing, haunting, and palpable.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six of the best dark academia novels

At Mental Floss Chris Wheatley tagged six of the best dark academia novels, including:

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

“Write what you know” is a piece of advice often given to aspiring authors, and that’s essentially what American novelist Donna Tartt did in her wildly successful debut. The four years that Tartt spent at Bennington College, a private liberal arts school in Vermont, were formative for the creation of The Secret History—even though Tartt has since denied that Hampden College, the fictional liberal arts institution in the book, is based off it.

The novel follows a group of six students whose lives are devastated by a murder. Tartt makes use of an unconventional narrative structure to add extra layers of intrigue, with the story told from a viewpoint dated years after the shocking event. This allows for reflection on both the aftermath of it and the social dynamics of the college. Despite several near-misses, The Secret History has yet to be adapted for film—a pity, as the evocative setting and intricate relationships captured in this tome would surely make for some rich cinema.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Secret History is among Ali Lowe's six best campus crime novels, Edwin Hill's six perfectly alluring academic mysteries, a top ten Twinkies in fiction, Kate Weinberg's five top campus novels, Emily Temple's twenty best campus novels, and Ruth Ware's top six books about boarding schools.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven historical mysteries where political intrigue powers the plot

Celeste Connally is an Agatha Award nominee and a former freelance writer and editor whose novels include historical mysteries set in Regency-era England and genealogy-themed cozy mysteries set in modern-day Austin, Texas. Whether the mystery is set in past or present, she delights in giving her books a good dose of romance and a few research facts she hopes you’ll find as interesting as she does. Passionate about history and slightly obsessed with period dramas, what Connally loves most is reading and writing about women who don’t always do as they are told.

[The Page 69 Test: Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord]

Connally's new novel is All's Fair in Love and Treachery.

At CrimeReads the author tagged "seven historical mysteries... wherein each uses political upheaval or intrigue to add extra suspense to their plots." One title on the list:

Julia Kelly – A Traitor in Whitehall (The Parisian Orphan, book 1)

As the war heats up in 1940, Evelyne Redfern, once known as “the Parisian Orphan,” has barely begun working in Churchill’s cabinet war rooms as a secretary when she discovers one of the girls she works with murdered. A fan of classic murder mysteries, Evelyne takes it upon herself to look into her co-worker’s death, and finds herself being thwarted at every turn by David Poole, the minister’s aide—until she discovers David is there to uncover a government traitor. The two must then work together to keep England’s secrets safe from the enemy as they risk their lives to uncover a killer.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten gripping nonfiction titles about history’s greatest mysteries

At Mental Floss Jennifer Byrne tagged ten gripping nonfiction books about history’s greatest mysteries. One title on the list:

Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar

This especially “cold” case will seem familiar to fans of True Detective and the 2000 pound “corpsicle” at the heart of season four’s crime story. Writer/director Issa López acknowledged being inspired by the strange case of nine elite Russian hikers who died in the Siberian wilderness in 1959. The real-life mystery of the Dyatlov Pass hikers isn’t so much about how they perished—hypothermia was ruled the cause of death in almost all cases (although blunt force trauma was a factor in three of the deaths). Rather, it’s why, because the peculiar details surrounding that night make this one an enduring mystery.

The bodies were found about a mile from their tent, which had been ripped open, and none of these expert hikers were wearing shoes in sub-zero temperatures. Not only that, but one body was wearing two watches while another was missing a tongue, and some of their clothes tested positive for radioactivity. In Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident, author Donnie Eichar presents a well-constructed and scientifically plausible theory to explain this head-scratcher of a case which, over the years, has been chalked up to everything from the KGB to “Siberian Demon Dwarves.”

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine titles about the Spanish Civil War

Julian Zabalbeascoa's fiction has appeared in American Short Fiction, The Gettysburg Review, Glimmer Train, One Story, and Ploughshares, among other journals. He divides his time between Boston and the Basque Country in Spain.

What We Tried to Bury Grows Here is Zabalbeascoa's first novel.

At Electric Lit the author tagged nine books -- memoirs and novels that can be found in English -- about Spain’s bloody civil war that served as a dress rehearsal for World War II. One title on the list:

Lord of All the Dead by Javier Cercas, translated by Anne McLean

In Lord of All the Dead, Javier Cercas returns to the subject of Spanish Civil War. In his surprising break-out novel Soldiers of Salamis, Cercas documents his attempt (or the attempt of a character with the name Javier Cercas) to tell the story of a Falangist soldier who narrowly escapes being executed by firing squad at the end of the Spanish Civil War, while searching for the Republican soldier who allowed this escape. The exhumation of the past hums along, stalls, hits a wall, then receives help from none other than Roberto Bolaño. In Lord of All the Dead, Javier Cercas (or, again, a character with the name Javier Cercas) tries once more exhuming the story of a soldier from the Spanish Civil War. This time it is the story of Manuel Mena, the great-uncle to both Javier Cercases, who falls under the sway of fascist ideas and enlists at the age of 17. He will die two years later during the Battle of the Ebro. Cercas knows little else of this man whose absence created a lacuna in the family. With Lord of All the Dead, he repeatedly tries and fails to fill it in and to understand why his great-uncle was willing to die fighting for an unjust cause, “for interests that weren’t even his.” Cercas receives assistance from the filmmaker David Trueba, who adapted Soldiers of Salamis for the screen and directed the film and who has also recently lost his wife to a very handsome and very famous actor (the identity is revealed late in the novel). As with Bolaño in Soldiers of Salamis, Trueba prods Cercas along. “We don’t judge Achilles by the justice or injustice of the cause he died for,” Trueba tells Cercas, “but for the nobility of his actions, by the decency and bravery and generosity with which he behaved. Should we not do the same with Manuel Mena?…Look, Manuel Mena was politically mistaken, there’s no doubt about that; but morally…would you dare to say you’re better than him? I wouldn’t.”

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue