Recs if you like The Sun Down Motel...

are you sick of being recommended stephen king when you ask for a horror novel? have you picked up a book expected to be scared, but the scariest thing about it was a woman being needlessly tormented and gaslit? have you read 4627473 books about a man in a haunted house and need something different?

if so, this list is for you :)

a masterlist of horror by anyone who isn't a straight cis white man, started in 2022 and brought to pb in 2026.

Fiction stories about Haunted houses and other locations. Maybe it’s ghosts, maybe it’s cursed, maybe it’s ancient gods or creatures? All kinda of supernatural haunts and creatures attached to homes, objects, or locations.

Here's every book so far from BOTM's monthly shortlist since February 2015 for anyone who wants to read them all like I do!

This includes book that have either mystery or thrillers as a primary or secondary genre. If you have recommendations to add please comment and I'll happily add them 💕

All the towns or cities in these books deserve a detour. Some probably even a quarantine. From bizarre creatures to cosmic weirdness to simmering malevolence to just plain human absurdity, these stories have it all. If you can’t keep driving, just remember, don’t drink the water

I love horror that takes place in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, so figured I'd put it all together here and hope for more recs in the process! This is a Stephen King free list.

what gab smolders read in 2025 as per her book talk video! horror + in tier order from most to least liked by her:

★ S TIER: from "night shoot" to "old country"

★ A TIER: from "what stalks the deep" to "listen to your sister"

★ B TIER: from "the long walk" to "the gathering"

★ C TIER: from "banquet for the damned" to "model home"

★ D TIER: from "3 streets" to "my darling dreadful thing"

★ F TIER: from "basilisk" to "survivor song"

Thrillers I read or want to read. Variety of authors.

We think of summer as the season of light, but shadows are longest when the sun is highest. It is the time of the year when the woods grow too thick to see through, the water grows too dark to see into, and the heat makes the mind play tricks. From the rotting porches of the South to the blood-stained cabins of the North... We call them the Summer Nightmares.

Protagonists and supporting characters who see and/or hear the dead / ghosts

The top 100 books of the 2020’s as voted on by Goodreads members

How many have you read?

The top 5 have switched order, they should be: 5) I’m Glad My Mom Died 4) The Midnight Library 3) The House in the Cerulean Sea 2) Project Hail Mary

1. Addie LaRue

if you’re craving something that feels like the next martha’s vineyard (iykyk)! books that evoke the same feeling as the magnificent tv show ‘widows bay’

thrillers (potentially horrors as well) featuring the paranormal - ghosts and ghouls, psychic powers, things that are not able to be explained the way Scooby Doo and the gang do, by pulling the mask off a creepy dude.

Summer-what? Summerween! The people of this town love Halloween so much, they celebrate it twice a year!

Books across all genres taking place almost entirely in hotels, motels, inns, B&Bs, boarding houses, retreats, you get the point. Whether it’s a single night or an extended stay, you’re an employee or an owner, the transitory element of hotels can provide us with great stories. Sometimes it’s about getting lost, finding yourself, taking a break, healing, investigating or trying to find a way out… Recommendations encouraged

Horror, Psychological, Thriller, Dystopian or books that explore dark concepts or ideas

Books I could not put down until I finished

Some spooky, some cozy - these are some of the best autumn books I've read.