13 Disease Horror Book Recommendations
Epidemics, pandemics, whatever you want to call them, diseases can spread quickly and without mercy.
Viruses, parasites, and plagues evade quarantines and infect everyone they come in contact with.
When the human survival instinct kicks in, people spread these diseases, whether they’re aware of it or not.
What a good premise for a horror story!
For fans of The Stand by Stephen King and The Fireman by Joe Hill, here are 13 more disease horror books to catch.
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Table of Contents
Infected – Scott Sigler
Parasite horror – Book 1 of Infected
Across America, a mysterious disease is turning ordinary people into raving, paranoid murderers who inflict brutal horrors on strangers, themselves, and even their own families.
Working under the government’s shroud of secrecy, CIA operative Dew Phillips criss-crosses the country trying in vain to capture a live victim. With only decomposing corpses for clues, CDC epidemiologist Margaret Montoya races to analyze the science behind this deadly contagion. She discovers that these killers all have one thing in common: they’ve been contaminated by a bioengineered parasite, shaped by a complexity far beyond the limits of known science.
Meanwhile, Perry Dawsey, a hulking former football star now resigned to life as a cubicle-bound desk jockey, awakens one morning to find several mysterious welts growing on his body. Soon Perry finds himself acting and thinking strangely, hearing voices.
The fate of the human race may well depend on the bloody war Perry must wage with his own body, because the parasites want something from him, something that goes beyond mere murder.
“Room 1712-B doesn’t exist, because it’s a ‘Black Room’.”
The End of Men – Christina Sweeney-Baird
Virus horror
The year is 2025, and a mysterious virus has broken out in Scotland, a lethal illness that seems to affect only men.
When Dr. Amanda MacLean reports this phenomenon, she is dismissed as hysterical. By the time her warning is heeded, it is too late. The virus becomes a global pandemic and a political one. The victims are all men. The world becomes a women’s world.
What follows is the immersive account of the women who have been left to deal with the virus’s consequences, told through first-person narratives.
Dr Catherine MacLean is a social historian determined to document the human stories behind the “male plague”. Dawn is an intelligence analyst tasked with helping the government forge a new society. Elizabeth is one of many scientists desperately working to develop a vaccine.
Through these women and others, we see the uncountable ways the absence of men has changed society, from the personal – the loss of husbands and sons – to the political – the changes in the workforce, fertility, and the meaning of family.
“Only men carry the virus. Only women can save us all.”
Grim Reaper: End of Days – Steve Alten
Plague horror
Patrick “Shep” Shepherd was a promising major league rookie pitcher on September 11th, 2001. Shaken by the attacks, Shep was driven to enlist in the armed forces even if that meant leaving behind his soul mate and their newborn daughter.
Eleven years and four deployments later, Shep finds himself in Manhattan’s VA hospital. His left arm is gone, his wife and daughter are gone, and he is haunted by the nightmares of war.
With world leaders meeting at the U.N., a biohazard level-4 scientist sees an opportunity to carry out God’s work. She injects herself with Scythe, a swift-acting version of the Black Death, and diligently spreads the infection throughout Manhattan.
The threat of a worldwide pandemic forces officials to seal off the island, leaving the president of the U.S., and Shep’s family, trapped.
Determined to rescue his wife and child, Shep searches through the plague-infested neighborhoods of Manhattan. And the Grim Reaper follows.
“One sneeze, and plague infected a household, eventually the entire village, wiping out its unsuspecting prey within days.”
Flypaper – Chris Angus
Extraterrestrial plague horror
When a 2,000-year-old mummy is unearthed in central China, investigators from all over the world fly to Washington, DC, for a top-secret meeting, hoping to find an answer to its mysterious genetic anomalies.
But the scientists may have mistakenly released a new, deadly disease of extraterrestrial origins during their examination of the genetic markers of the ancient mummy. The devastating human error causes a worldwide plague, one that penetrates the barriers of the human immune system.
Sino expert Eric Logan and archaeologist Dr. Marcia Kessler lead an expedition back to the icy glaciers of China to extract a much older 20,000-year-old mummy, which could help them formulate a cure. Even as they embark on their mission, the strange illness afflicts the people around them, turning men into mindless monsters.
The team retreats to a remote Buddhist monastery and must hold off a vicious army of victims as they wrestle with the possibility that they may be the last living humans on Earth.
“Minqing gave a tired nod. He no longer believed it would make a difference. They would all be dead soon enough.”
The Night Parade – Ronald Malfi
Plague horror
They call it Wanderer’s Folly. A disease of delusions, of daydreams and nightmares. A plague threatening to wipe out the human race.
After two years of creeping decay, David Arlen woke up one morning thinking that the worst was over. By midnight, he’s bleeding and terrified. His wife is dead and he’s on the run in a stolen car with his eight-year-old daughter, who may be the key to a cure.
Ellie is a special girl. Deep. Insightful. And she knows David is lying to her. Lying about her mother. Lying about what they’re running from. And lying about what he sees when he takes his eyes off the road.
“First the birds disappeared. Then the insects took over. And the madness began…”
The Violence – Delilah S. Dawson
Plague horror
They call it The Violence: a strange epidemic that causes the infected to experience sudden bursts of animalistic rage, with no provocation and no memory of their crimes. While it tears the nation apart, one woman sees something unlikely in the chaos: an opportunity.
Chelsea Martin has been a prisoner in her own home for too long. Her controlling husband has manipulated her for years, cutting her off from all support. Her narcissistic mother is no help, and her teen daughter is realizing she might be falling into the same trap when her once-adoring boyfriend shows a dark side.
But when the Violence erupts, Chelsea creates a plan to liberate herself and her daughters once and for all.
“The scariest part, to Ella, was the look in Thomas’s eyes. It was like … no one was there at all.”
The Last Town on Earth – Thomas Mullen
Virus horror
Deep in the mist-shrouded forests of the Pacific Northwest is a small mill town called Commonwealth, conceived as a haven for workers weary of exploitation. For Philip Worthy, the adopted son of the town’s founder, it is a haven in another sense, as the first place in his life he’s had a loving family to call his own.
And yet, the ideals that define this outpost are being threatened from all sides. A world war is raging, and with the fear of spies rampant, the loyalty of all Americans is coming under scrutiny. Meanwhile, another shadow has fallen across the region in the form of a deadly virus striking down vast swaths of surrounding communities.
When Commonwealth votes to quarantine itself against contagion, guards are posted at the single road leading in and out of town, and Philip Worthy is among them. He will be unlucky enough to be on duty when a cold, hungry, tired, and apparently ill, soldier presents himself at the town’s doorstep begging for sanctuary.
The encounter that ensues, and the shots that are fired, will have deafening reverberations throughout Commonwealth, escalating until every human value – love, patriotism, community, family, friendship – not to mention the town’s very survival, is imperiled.
“No one from town was allowed to leave anymore, and no one was allowed to come in.”
Blindness – José Saramago
Dystopian horror
A city is hit by an epidemic of “white blindness” which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive.
There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers, among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears, through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing.
“I am blind, I am blind, he repeated in despair…”
Apnea – Jay Sizemore
Virus horror
In the future, a virus threatens humanity with extinction. During the Great Sleep, nearly all men on the planet suddenly perish, throwing the world into chaos.
For the few left behind, one hope remains: an experimental drug that keeps carriers of the virus awake for 21 straight days.
The treatment offers a slim chance of survival, but those willing to undergo the trial do so at the risk of losing their very minds.
Joseph Conrad is about to begin this treatment … against his will.
“She shook him again, rubbing her eyes with her other hand, telling herself not to panic, she was just jumping to conclusions.”
And Then I Woke Up – Malcolm Devlin
Plague horror
In a world reeling from an unusual plague, monsters lurk in the streets while terrified survivors arm themselves and roam the countryside in packs. Or perhaps something very different is happening. When a disease affects how reality is perceived, it’s hard to be certain of anything.
Spence is one of the “cured” living at the Ironside rehabilitation facility. Haunted by guilt, he refuses to face the changed world until a new inmate challenges him to help her find her old crew.
But if he can’t tell the truth from the lies, how will he know if he has earned the redemption he dreams of? How will he know he hasn’t just made things worse?
“We’re hungry for fresh listeners, because the more you tell your own story, the more it makes sense to you…”
Q Island – Russell James
Virus horror
An ancient virus has surfaced on Long Island, NY, turning its victims into black-veined, infectious, psychopathic killers. Chaos and madness rule.
In desperation, the military quarantines the island, trapping Melanie Bailey and her autistic son Aiden. Somehow Aiden survives infection. He could be the key to a cure, if Melanie can get him to the mainland.
She must get him past the growing legions of the infected, through the military quarantine, and out of the hands of Jimmy Wade, a criminal gang leader who has his own plans for what to do with such a boy.
Escape may be impossible from Q Island.
“The ice spread downward. In no time, it encased the mammoth’s cooling body. It would remain undisturbed for ten thousand years.”
The Fear – Spencer Hamilton
Pandemic horror
When a virus sweeps across the globe, Ash and Jack must each face their fears. Married and isolated in one small apartment, both women grow restless, claustrophobic and paranoid.
As the horror outside their door ramps up to apocalyptic levels, inside Jack is slowly unraveling. She shuts herself away and fears everything. Fears the virus has crawled its way inside, down her throat, into the lining of her stomach. Ash is afraid, too; afraid of what her increasingly erratic wife will do to her.
“The fear began for Ashley on the same day as everyone else – on Friday the 13th, of all days.”
Survivor Song – Paul Tremblay
Virus horror
In a matter of weeks, Massachusetts has been overrun by an insidious rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. But unlike rabies, this new disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb.
Hospitals are inundated with the sick and dying, and hysteria has taken hold. To try to limit its spread, the commonwealth is under quarantine and curfew. But society is breaking down and the government’s emergency protocols are faltering.
Dr. Ramola “Rams” Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-thirties, receives a frantic phone call from Natalie, a friend who is eight months pregnant. Natalie’s husband has been killed and, in a failed attempt to save him, Natalie, too, was bitten. Natalie’s only chance of survival is to get to a hospital as quickly as possible to receive a rabies vaccine. The clock is ticking for her and for her unborn child.
Natalie’s fight for life becomes a desperate odyssey as she and Rams make their way through a hostile landscape filled with dangers beyond their worst nightmares.
“She thinks about what tomorrow will be like at the hospital and her head spins through worst-case scenarios.”
Published: 15 August 2024
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