Halloween is officially less than a hundred days away, which means we are full steam ahead for Spooky Season 2022! As we start to look forward to cooler weather and the blissful crackle of colorful autumn leaves, now is the perfect time to stock your TBR with the season’s most promising upcoming horror novels. From serial killers to Southern gothics, these ten spooky selections will have you primed for the Halloween season in no time!
Portions of this listicle appeared on RueMorgue.com.
Daphne by Josh Malerman
Del Rey, 20 September 2022
A ghost story shared amongst team members of the high school basketball team reignites old terrors when a name that’s not supposed to be spoken — much less thought — suddenly becomes top of everyone’s mind. As much about surviving an undefeatable killer as it is coping with the real-life perils of anxiety, Daphne will stick in your mind long after the pages are finished.
Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman
(Quirk Books, 20 September 2022)
Immersive, adrenaline-racing, and darkly meditative, this Southern horror twists together real and imagined horrors in a terrifying page-turner that tickles the raw nerves of the grieving process and substance abuse. Ghost Eaters leaves a lot to think about once you’ve finished reading.
No Gods for Drowning by Hailey Piper
Polis Books, 20 September 2022
Set in an alternate reality which updates mythology to near-modern day, No Gods for Drowning is written by one of the brightest new voices in horror. Visceral, sharp and powerful, Piper’s latest is an excellent follow up to her Bram Stoker Award®-winning novel, Queen of Teeth.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca
Titan, 6 September 2022
Knit together by three dark and disturbing horror stories—including the viral titular story — about the power of connection, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke is a horror connoisseur’s delight. Twisted and grotesque, this collection is brilliantly gross and utterly delightful.
This Is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau
DarkLit Press, 21 September 2022
Quick, chilling and brutal, Marceau masters her portrayal of toxic narcissism in a bone-chilling tale of a mother-daughter relationship gone horribly wrong. Part Misery, part Sharp Objects, This Is Where We Talk Things Out is a sinister walk down Memory Lane.
Gallows Hill by Darcy Coates
Poisoned Pen Press, 6 September 2022
After being sent away at a young age, a daughter returns to a home she barely remembers — and a winery she knows nothing of — after the death of her parents. A Southern gothic masterpiece, dark secrets come calling when she learns that Gallows Hill is not yet ready to rest.
The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
HarperCollins Children’s, 6 September 2022
When Springville residents are questioned about on prom night horrors, they point to Maddy. In a nod to Stephen King’s Carrie, this culturally relevant story about bullying, racial injustice, and The Weight of Blood pulls back the curtain to show what happens when a girl is terrorized into discovering her telekinetic powers.
Leech by Hiron Ennes
Tor, 27 September 2022
Ennes’s debut is everything strange and unusual should be. A strange death in a remote, snow-covered village, a curious doctor and an unearthly presence Leech the warmth out of you in this bone-chilling body horror that Mary Shelley would be proud of.
Always the First to Die by R. J. Jacobs
Sourcebooks, 14 September 2022
A former horror movie actress returns to the set of her most iconic film only to discover strange circumstances that resemble the plot of her most famous film. Hard memories, sudden deaths and a dangerous past make the actress risk her life to avoid Always the First to Die.
Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth
Vintage, 27 September 2022
What begins as a grief-stricken guilt journey quietly morphs into a dark unraveling of the female psych. Campy, bizarre and fiercely female, Motherthing is too relatable to be entirely comfortable, and that’s what makes it such delicious reading.
