A Selection of Horror Books Released, 13 to 19 Jul 2025

11 horror books this week

Themes: Supernatural, psychological, ghost, witch, cosmic, zombie, western, summer camp slasher, cult, and serial killer horror

The Bewitching – Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Witch horror

Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft.

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva; stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales.

In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, she begins to sense that the malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch.

Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened the lives of her great-grandmother and Beatrice Tremblay is now threatening her own in 1990s Massachusetts. An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved.

Bottling His Ghosts – S.H. Cooper

Ghost horror

After a tragic accident leaves her widowed, Netta flees home to Daunderhead hoping for the space to process her grief.

Instead, she finds her cousin, Thorn, once like a brother to her, swimming at the bottom of every bottle he can find.

Her parents, unable to break him from his alcoholic stupor, have grown despondent and resigned to his fate; and her once beautiful childhood home has fallen into the grasp of nefarious ghosts whose goals remain unclear.

Refusing to allow another tragedy to befall her family, Netta takes it upon herself to help her cousin and-hopefully-stop the hauntings.

The Cold Visitor – Jonathan Butcher

Supernatural horror

All her life, Sally Washington has kept a dark secret: every half-century, her family is summoned by a disturbing entity known as the Visitor and forced to endure a cruel ritual. Two decades since her last encounter and contentedly married in her twilight years, Sally believed she would never experience such horrors again until, unannounced, a new ritual begins.

Herbert, Sally’s devoted husband, knows nothing of the rite that has been passed down like a curse through his wife’s bloodline, but must now face the grim truth.

As the ritual intensifies, malign influences transform the couple’s home into a frozen nightmare, fraught with danger and dreadful revelations.

Terrified but united by the love they share, time ticks closer to the ritual’s crescendo, when Sally and Herbert will finally confront the Visitor and face the most hideous decision imaginable.

Father is Pleased – L. Andrew Cooper

Cult horror

After a bloody rite of passage, Felix becomes a True Son, one of Father’s chosen inner circle, someone with a special vantage on the secluded society of the Settlement of Passing in the Nothing Lands, where all brothers and sisters revere Father.

Father is life, and Father is death, and Father governs rituals that guide his followers on their journeys to meet the void, as death is the greatest good and the only worthy desire.

Felix witnesses and participates in many rituals: the violence and death linked to childbirth, the gut-ripping orgies that serve as theatre, the initiation of another young man in the art of sacrificing an outsider in a manner that will please Father, and more.

Nothing pleases Felix like pleasing Father, and when Father takes notice, he points Felix toward a special destiny in the coming days when threats to their ways of honoring death will come from within.

Girl in the Creek – Wendy N. Wagner

Cosmic horror

Erin’s brother Bryan has been missing for five years.

It was as if he simply walked into the forests of the Pacific Northwest and vanished. Determined to uncover the truth, Erin heads to the foothills of Mt. Hood where Bryan was last seen alive. He isn’t the first hiker to go missing in this area, and their cases go unsolved.

When she discovers the corpse of a local woman in a creek, Erin unknowingly puts herself in the crosshairs of very powerful forces – from this world and beyond – hell-bent on keeping their secrets buried.

It’s Dark in Their Minds – RDG Books Press

Horror anthology

10 chilling tales.

A gripping encounter between a backwoods Mississippi man and a dentist.

A chilling take on birthdays.

A tale where two girls must “Pray the gay away.”

A yarn of murder.

A different kind of hero who defends the children.

A gala dinner in Hampton Bay with a fiery woman’s family.

The day-to-day work of a sociopath.

Why do we fear clowns?

An otherworldly adventure.

A fascinating journey you won’t easily forget.

One Yellow Eye – Leigh Radford

Zombie horror

How far would you go to save your marriage? For British scientist Kesta Shelley, there is no limit.

Having always preferred the company of microbes, Kesta has spent her life looking down the barrel of a microscope rather than cultivating personal relationships. But that changed when Kesta met Tim: her cheerleader, her best friend, her absolute everything.

So, when he was one of the last people in London to be infected with a perplexing virus that left the city ravaged, Kesta went into triage mode.

Though the government has rounded up and disposed of all the infected, Kesta is able to keep her husband (un)alive and hidden with resources from the hospital where she works. She spends her days reviewing biopsy slides and her evenings caring for him, but he’s clearly declining. The sedatives aren’t working like they used to, and his violent outbursts are becoming more frequent. As Kesta races against the clock, her colleagues start noticing changes in her behavior and appearance. She is withering away, self-medicating with alcohol, and has stopped attending her mandated ZARG (Zombie Apocalypse Recovery Group) meetings. Her care for Tim has spiraled into absolute obsession.

There are whispers of a top-secret lab working on a cure, and Kesta clings to the possibility of being recruited like a lifeline. But can she save her husband before he is discovered? Or worse, will they trigger another outbreak?

Killer on the Road / The Babysitter Lives – Stephen Graham Jones

Serial killer horror / Psychological horror

2 novels in one book.

The Babysitter Lives

When high school senior Charlotte agrees to babysit the Wilbanks twins, she plans to put the six-year-olds to bed early and spend a quiet night studying: the SATs are tomorrow, and checking the Native American/Alaskan Native box on all the forms won’t help if she chokes on test day. But tomorrow is also Halloween, and the twins are eager to show off their costumes.

Charlotte’s last babysitting gig almost ended in tragedy when her young charge sleepwalked unnoticed into the middle of the street, only to be found unharmed by Charlotte’s mother. Charlotte vows to be extra careful this time. But the house is filled with mysterious noises and secrets that only the twins understand, echoes of horrors that Charlotte gradually realizes took place in the house eleven years ago. Soon Charlotte has to admit that every babysitter’s worse nightmare has come true: they’re not alone in the house.

The Killer on the Road

Sixteen-year-old Harper has decided to run away from home after she has another blow-out argument with her mother. However, her two best friends, little sister, and ex-boyfriend all stop her from hitchhiking her way up Route 80 in Wyoming by joining her on an intervention disguised as a road trip. What they don’t realize is that Harper has been marked by a very unique serial killer who’s been trolling the highway for the past three years, and now the killer is after all of them in this fast-paced and deadly chase novel that will have your heart racing well above the speed limit as the interstate becomes a graveyard.

Rain Shadows: Dark Tales from Washington State – Tamara Kaye Sellman & Clay Vermulm

Horror collection

Inspired by the dark forests, high deserts, misty mountains, and tumultuous seas of Washington State, this collection delves into the horror that lives beyond the shadows and fog of the Pacific Northwest.

These stories explore the folklore, culture, mysticism, and horror that call Washington home.

Three-Fingered Willy – Neal McLaughlin

Summer camp slasher horror

It’s 1981 and the Reagan era begins. Kids line up at arcades to plunk quarters into Donkey Kong machines. 750 million tune in to watch Prince Charles and Diana tie the knot. Olivia Newton John gets physical on something called Mtv. And in Crystal Falls, New Hampshire, teenagers are getting hacked to pieces by a hedge shear-wielding lunatic at Camp Mattapan.

Pamela was excited to return to camp and reunite with her old friends for some good ole Mattapan-mania. But swimming, kickball, archery, and the rest of the camp classics aren’t the only activities scheduled. This summer, BLOODY MURDER has been added to the itinerary!

As the hacked-up bodies of Pamela’s friends pile up, suspicions arise that this might be the work of camp legend Three-Fingered Willy, a former handyman who went crazy and fled to the woods after losing two fingers in an accident. But surely that can’t be. Three-Fingered Willy is just a campfire tale, isn’t he?

But Pamela knows the truth. Three-Fingered WIlly is real. She and her friends were there the night of his “accident.” Not only were they there, they were responsible. Now, after all these years, it seems Willy is back for his revenge.

The Unkillable Frank Lightning – Josh Rountree

Western Frankenstein horror

Catherine Coldbridge is a complicated woman: A doctor, an occultist, and, briefly, a widow.

In 1879, Private Frank Humble, Catherine’s husband, was killed in a Sioux attack. Consumed by grief, she used her formidable skills to resurrect him. But Frank lost his soul after the reanimation, and disappeared after a killing spree. Unable to face her failure and its murderous consequences, Catherine fled to grieve.

Twenty-five years later, Catherine has decided she must make things right. She travels back to Texas with a pair of hired killers ready to destroy Frank. But Frank has remade himself as the Unkillable Frank Lightning, traveling with the Wild West Show.

Reaching for a last chance at redemption, Frank and Catherine are at an impasse. As time runs out, their final choices may result in considerable bloodshed.

Published: 19 July 2025

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