A Selection of Horror Books Released, 11 to 17 Feb 2024
Themes: Supernatural, dark academia, ghost, vampire, witch, western, slasher, and bizarro horror
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Table of Contents
An Education in Malice – S.T. Gibson
Dark academia vampire horror
Deep in the forgotten hills of Massachusetts stands Saint Perpetua’s College. Isolated and ancient, it is not a place for timid girls. Here, secrets are currency, ambition is lifeblood, and strange ceremonies welcome students into the fold.
On her first day, Laura Sheridan is thrust into an intense academic rivalry with the beautiful and enigmatic Carmilla. Together, they are drawn into the confidence of their demanding poetry professor who holds her own dark obsession with Carmilla.
As their rivalry blossoms into something far more delicious, Laura must confront her own strange hungers. Tangled in a sinister game of politics, bloodthirsty professors and magic, Laura and Carmilla must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice in their ruthless pursuit of knowledge.
Bloodstained Hearts – Seth Da Silva
Slasher romance horror
Emma, a reclusive artist, and Noah, a mysterious stranger, fall in love, unaware that their romance has awakened the vengeful spirit of the “Crimson Reaper.”
As the body count rises, they must uncover the Reaper’s curse’s dark secrets and face a terrifying showdown to save their love and break the curse.
The Briar Book of the Dead – A.G. Slatter
Witch horror
The Briar family of witches run the town of Silverton, caring for its inhabitants with their skills and magic. Normally, they would be burnt for their sorcery, but the church has given them dispensation in return for their protection of the borders of the Darklands, where the much-feared Leech Lords hold sway.
Ellie Briar is the first non-witch to be born into her family for generations. She is being trained as a steward, administering for the town, and warding off the insistent interest of the church. When her grandmother dies suddenly, Ellie’s cousin rises to the position of Briar Witch, propelling Ellie into her new role.
As she navigates fresh challenges, an unexpected new ability to see and speak to the dead leads her to uncover sinister family secrets, stories of burnings, lost grimoires, and evil spells.
Reeling from one revelation to the next, she seeks answers from the long dead and is forced to decide who to trust, as a devastating plot threatens to destroy everything the Briar witches have sacrificed so much to build.
The Ghosts of the Titanic – Matt Shaw
Supernatural horror
For over 100 years, the Titanic has sat out of reach at the bottom of the ocean. While some people believe it should remain down there, as a memorial for those who lost their lives, others want it raised before the acidic seawater and bacterium reclaim it in its entirety.
Today, with scientists fighting the hostile environment, they’re bringing up each fragile section piece by piece. Their plan being to put it back together again, once it’s on the surface. Their plans hadn’t gone much further given the massive undertaking of the initial stage, although some characters had already started to think of ways they could make money from it.
To start with, everything was going to plan. That is, until the first section was raised and, with it, so too was Hell.
The Girl with the Barbed Wire Hair – Carlton Mellick III
Bizarro horror
There is a girl who lives in the alley behind the old, abandoned fire station. She is always covered in ash and grime, cuts and bruises on her arms and legs, the skirt of her school uniform caked in dirt and ripped into tatters. Her hair is a mess of dreadlocks the color of rusted metal, growing like vines all the way down to her ankles.
She was once human, but not anymore. She’s become a feral creature with an undying thirst for blood and revenge. Everyone at school knows to stay away from her. There are rumors that anyone who crosses her path will be murdered and never heard from again, their throats torn out by the long strands of barbed wire that grow from her head like hair.
But when she meets a young boy named Yusuke, the first person to ever show her an ounce of human kindness, her desire for revenge turns to feelings of love. And she will do whatever it takes to win his heart, even if she has to rip it from his chest in order to obtain it.
Here Comes the Sun – Justin M. Woodward
Splatter western horror
There had been talk of monsters around the small, quiet town of Fort Whipple for some time before the evening of the brutal massacre.
First it was the livestock. Dead, shriveled bodies lined the fields, drained of their blood.
But when human bodies begin falling from the sky, a dark protector of sorts is dispatched to minimize the casualties.
The Hollow Dead – Darcy Coates
Ghost horror – Book 4 of The Gravekeeper
When Keira first woke alone in a strange forest, she remembered only two things: that she could speak with the dead, helping them move on from the mortal world, and that sinister mask-wearing men were hunting her. She had no idea what she’d done to earn their hatred or what dangerous secrets she may have uncovered.
Peeling back layer upon layer of the mystery surrounding her origins, Keira has finally learned that the strange men work for an organization profiting off spectral energy produced by hundreds of chained, tormented souls.
Their goal is to spread their macabre cemeteries across the world, using the agony of the dead to extend their power and reach, and only Keira and her loyal group of friends can stop them.
But there are still mysteries to uncover in Keira’s foggy memories, and as she prepares to fight for the souls of the tormented dead, what she doesn’t know about her own past may come back to haunt her.
I Can See Your Lies – Izzy Lee
Supernatural horror
Fin’s reality is crumbling. Her husband has abandoned her, she’s now a single mom to a 9-year-old daughter, her Los Angeles home is sweltering, and she’s being haunted by disturbing hallucinations that make life a waking nightmare.
Are the visions a product of stress, trauma, psychosis, or something else?
The answers to those questions become clearer when Fin starts digging up dark secrets connected to her mother’s cold-case disappearance, a once-rising actress who mysteriously vanished in 1979.
Next of Kin – Elton Skelter
Serial killer horror
Even the worst of us need someone to come home to. And Jacob Mallory is the worst of all.
Jake, a thrill-seeking psychopathic serial killer, has lived under the radar for years, operating within the city of New York, and emboldened by his lack of capture.
But Jake has one big surprise coming his way. When he gets a call from the hospital to pick up a vulnerable patient, one who claims that Jake is his emergency contact, he feels like he’s won the lottery.
But there may be more to Nathan McGuire than meets the eye.
Those Who Dwell in Mordenhyrst Hall – Catherine Cavendish
Supernatural horror
When Grace first sets eyes on the imposing Mordenhyrst Hall, she is struck by an overwhelming sense that something doesn’t want her there.
Her fiancé’s sister heads a coterie of Bright Young Things whose frivolous lives hide a sinister intent.
Simon, Grace’s fiancé, is not the man she fell in love with, and the local villagers eye her with suspicion that borders on malevolence.
Her friend possesses the ability to communicate with powerful spirits and convinces Grace of her own paranormal gifts. Gifts Grace will need to draw deeply on as the secrets of Mordenhyrst Hall begin to unravel.
The Warm Hands of Ghosts – Katherine Arden
Ghost horror
January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders.
Now home in Halifax, Canada, Laura receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects, but something doesn’t make sense.
Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital, where she soon hears whispers about haunted trenches and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion.
What Feasts at Night – T. Kingfisher
Gothic horror – Book 2 of Sworn Soldier
A standalone sequel to What Moves the Dead.
After their terrifying ordeal at the Usher manor, Alex Easton feels like they just survived another war. All they crave is rest, routine, and sunshine, but instead, as a favor to Angus and Miss Potter, they find themself heading to their family hunting lodge, deep in the cold, damp forests of their home country, Gallacia.
In theory, one can find relaxation in even the coldest and dampest of Gallacian autumns, but when Easton arrives, they find the caretaker dead, the lodge in disarray, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence.
The villagers whisper that a breath-stealing monster from folklore has taken up residence in Easton’s home.
Easton knows better than to put too much stock in local superstitions, but they can tell that something is not quite right in their home, or in their dreams.
The Winnowing Draw – Michael Tichy
Western horror
A 13-year-old city kid wanted for murder.
A fastidious and psychopathic bounty hunter.
An army officer drunk on destructive power.
An ancient evil draws them to the wound of the old west: a place of strange creatures and unfathomable geography.
Published: 17 February 2024
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