A Selection of Horror Books Released, 24 to 30 Aug 2025
Themes: Psychological, dystopian, survival, curse, summer camp, gothic, cryptid, and ghost horror
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Table of Contents
8114 – Joshua Hull
Psychological horror
After returning to his hometown, Paul, the beleaguered host of a small-time podcast, discovers a longtime friend committed suicide in the dilapidated ruins of Paul’s childhood home.
Desperate to find answers, Paul interviews friends and locals hoping to find closure.
He finds himself in a chilling downward spiral of his memories and the land he grew up on.
Has his past caught up with him or is there something far more sinister at play?
Bio-Dead – Stephen J. Haddon
Dystopian horror movie novelization
Twelve million fatalities in the zone. The first to die were the lucky ones.
In a dystopian future, a devastating bioterrorist attack annihilates Southern California, killing everything in its wake. In the aftermath of the horrendous disaster, squads of hazardous materials teams are dispatched into the dangerous contaminated wasteland to locate and document all human casualties.
Upon discovery of a mysterious structure located deep inside The Zone, one unlucky team comes face-to-face with an evil even deadlier than the toxic environment itself.
Grin – D.W. Gillespie
Middle grade psychological horror
A twelve-year-old boy is thrilled that he’ll get to play endless games at his family’s arcade, but soon realizes he’s in the fight of his life when he’s forced to save himself and his possessed Uncle from a sinister video game.
Danny is spending a week with his Uncle Bill who runs a massive retro arcade called PixelWorks. His only plan is to play as many games as possible from open to close, but he wasn’t expecting to find the Holy Grail of arcade collectors, a gruesome looking game titled Grin.
Anyone who plays the game becomes surprisingly violent, and soon with the help of his friend Jodi and a knowledgeable videogame streamer, Danny realizes that Grin holds the soul of a dead serial killer.
Soon, the killer makes the jump into Bill’s body, and it’s up to Danny to figure out a way to stop him for good.
How Bad Things Can Get – Darcy Coates
Survival horror
It was supposed to be the party of the century: miles of idyllic white sand beaches, lush jungle foliage … and a dark legend nobody dreamed might be all too true.
When an online influencer and several hundred of his most loyal fans land on Prosperity Island, the plan is simple: five days of elaborate games, drinking, and suntanned fun.
A week in paradise should have been a welcome respite. The only survivor of an infamous cult, Ruth wants nothing more than to keep her head down and not draw attention. She’s spent decades outrunning her blood-soaked childhood, and her identity is a closely held secret.
But then the true history of the island is revealed, along with its sinister connection to Ruth’s past.
As guests go missing and games turn deadly, Ruth and the rest of the attendees are forced to question whether they’ve really been invited to paradise, or whether something much darker, and far bloodier, is waiting for them just beyond the bonfire’s light.
Lost on Doll Island – Cassandra Ramos-Gomez
Middle grade psychological horror
Diego feels trapped. He’s confined in an arm cast, stuck with his tía and tío for a week in Mexico City, and smothered with the sickening fear that he’s the one who really caused his parents’ divorce. But most of all, he’s trapped in his own secret. Because ever since he got to Mexico City, he’s started having strange dreams of a doll calling his name.
Then Diego learns of La Isla de Muñecas, an island full of legendary magic that can make children’s wishes come true. If Diego can harness the power there, maybe he could fix everything that has gone wrong in his life.
So, with the help of two new friends, Diego takes a boat to the legendary island. From the moment the kids step ashore, nothing is as it seems, with dolls disappearing and reappearing in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, Diego is more trapped than ever before, and as the night goes on, he’s not sure he can escape.
Modern Mummies – A.C. Bauer (editor)
Horror anthology
They’ve been dead for centuries, but all that changes right now.
Thirteen tales , but not your typical mummy horror stories from centuries past. No, Modern Mummies takes place in the here and now, amidst the horrors of our modern world.
Follow the iconic mummy as it travels in new and exciting directions-through the watery graves of bogs, frozen wastelands, an EDM dance floor, and far beyond the boundaries of the traditional mummy trope.
Experience a 21st-century mummy unwrapping party gone awry.
Become haunted by long-dead felines.
Unravel the mysteries of modern-day mummification.
Open Wide – I.M. Eerie
Middle grade psychological horror
A boy’s worst fears about the dentist may prove true.
Eddie has always been afraid of the dentist. He even bit the last one he went to (by accident). And Dr. Yankum, the eccentric new dentist in town, isn’t making matters any better. He pulled two of Eddie’s teeth, teeth Eddie swears were perfectly healthy. And he finds out he’s not the only kid in town who has had unnecessary extractions.
Who or what is Dr. Yankum? And what does he want with their teeth?
When the doctor starts dating Eddie’s mom, Eddie knows it’s only a matter of time before her teeth go missing too!
Eddie and his best friend, Darryl, band together and put their sleuthing skills to the test to uncover the truth about Dr. Yankum. But they’re not prepared for what they find.
Secret Lives of the Dead – Tim Lebbon
Curse horror
When Jodi, BB and Matt decide to burgle a derelict country home as a thrilling dare, they become embroiled in a twisted legacy of supernatural terror.
There are rumours of a bizarre curse hanging over the hoard of antiques and jewellery within the house. And unbeknownst to the others, one member of the trio has darker motives for breaking into the property.
Lem is a brutal man obsessed with a gruesome family legend. He is determined to right the wrongs of the past and lift the curse placed on his bloodline. By completing the work of his father and bringing a bizarre selection of scattered relics back together, he hopes to be free of the malign influence that has hounded every generation of his family for two centuries.
Across a single day a deadly pursuit will culminate on the desolate, storm-swept Crow Island, and those involved are given cause to wonder if believing in a curse deeply enough bring its own bad luck?
Sleepaway Camp – B.R. Flynn
Summer camp horror movie novelization
It’s the summer of ’83. The sun is blazing, the shorts are cut high, and at Camp Arawak the bodies are starting to pile up.
For Angela Baker, Camp Arawak is supposed to be a fresh start-a place to meet new friends, enjoy summer days, and leave behind the shadows of her past. But the ghosts of her trauma are never far behind. Quiet, withdrawn, and painfully misunderstood, Angela doesn’t fit in among the loud, often vicious campers.
But something else lurks beneath the surface of Camp Arawak-a darkness that stretches beyond Angela’s fragile world. And as tensions rise and bodies fall, Angela begins to change. Something inside her is stirring.
This Vicious Hunger – Francesca May
Gothic horror
Thora Grieve finds herself destitute and an outcast after the sudden death of her husband, but a glimmer of hope arrives when a family friend offers her the chance to study botany under the tutelage of a famed professor.
Once at the university, Thora becomes entranced by a mysterious young woman, Olea, who emerges each night to tend to the plants in the private garden below Thora’s window.
Hungry for connection, Thora befriends Olea through the garden gate and their relationship quickly and intensely blossoms. Thora throws herself into finding a cure for the ailment confining Olea to the garden and sinks deeper into a world of beauty, poison, and obsession.
Thora has finally found the freedom to pursue her darkest desires, but will it be worth the price?
Welcome to the Ghost Show – J. W. Ocker
Middle grade ghost horror
When mysterious ads for the Ghost Show appear around town, nobody can tell what it is. A band? A movie? A game? But that magic word, ghost, excites Hazel Gold, or Zel to her friends. As founder of her school’s Creepy Club (three members strong!), she’s always looking for paranormal activity.
Turns out the Ghost Show is a black, five-story skull that appears on the edge of town as a supernatural attraction. Stepping inside, the Creepy Club is greeted by the eccentric Amadeus Everest Mancer, a self-proclaimed ghost catcher who guides them through an aquarium full of vaporous floaty things, sheets that cover gobs of dripping red goo.
Then Mancer offers Zel what she’s always wanted: the chance to see a real ghost. But it turns out to be more than she bargained for. To stop him, the Creepy Club must fight a massive ghost infestation and free the trapped souls within, culminating in chilling battle that blurs the line between reality and the supernatural.
What Lurks: A Cryptid Anthology – Graveside Press
Horror anthology
There’s no solid proof they exist … but the audio recordings and video transcripts, the old journal entries and first-hand accounts and tales passed down through the generations, the evidence can’t be so easily dismissed.
You’ll know them by the smell of sulfur and rot, or by the steady ringing in your ears. You’ll hear them knock if you don’t keep that lantern in the window lit or forget to leave an offering. And if you catch it on film … don’t look a second time.
Monsters that were once human and monsters who want to be. From the deepest parts of Appalachia and the darkest parts of coastal forests, to old rail yards and your very own backyard, there’s always somewhere for them to hide.
What the Dead Can Do – Peter Rosch
Ghost horror
A young child’s fate is at stake in a deadly battle between his deceased parents.
When a commercial flight crashes, 183 people on board perish, and one two-year-old boy survives.
Ethan is entrusted to family friends, Matthew and Nicole per his late parents’ wishes.
From the afterlife, Ethan’s parents, Tag and Amanda, watch helplessly as Nicole’s secret addictions, the family’s financial struggles, and the public’s fascination with their story ignite events that threaten their son’s welfare.
Soon, Amanda’s grief turns into an insidious obsession: Ethan belongs with her and no one else, and she sets out to reunite with her son by any means possible, including killing Ethan herself.
After Amanda learns how to possess the living, only Tag stands in her way. He must protect his child, even if the consequences of his actions mean he may never see his wife or son again.
Published: 30 August 2025
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