Book picks similar to
Senseless by Stona Fitch


horror
fiction
in-library
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Valley Of Death, Zombie Trailer Park


William Bebb - 2010
    To their eternal regret some people have mistaken the screams echoing in the hills as coyotes singing to the moon. When Josey drives his truck down into the valley he quickly learns the horrifying truth. It's not coyotes howling- it's men or what used to be men. Josey discovers that the valley is home to the depraved, the noble, the damned, the innocent, the beautiful, and of course the walking dead. When the least dangerous thing you encounter is an angry rattlesnake you know you've made a wrong turn in Albuquerque.The story is over 110,000 words in length. It's eighteen chapters of adventure, excitement, horror, and thoughtful humor.What kind of zombies are they? There has been an interesting but ultimately pointless debate going on for years about what constitutes a zombie. Is it a dead person who walks around causing mayhem? Or is it someone who is violently insane and seeks only to kill and destroy? Why not both? Nestled in a remote valley, the residents of The Albuquerque Springs Trailer Park have lived out there lives nearly forgotten by the rest of the world. The trailer park is home to dozens of illegal immigrants, a hermit who has turned his back on society, a veteran of World War 2, a grumpy old woman, a family of Meth cookers known to local police officials as the Redneck Gourmets, and a beautiful young woman, are just a few.Life was peaceful, quiet, and boring until a deadly industrial accident killed Juan, one of the illegal immigrants. His friends and neighbors promised to dispose of the victim's body. Unfortunately, he came back and disposed of them- one mouthwatering bite at a time.William Robert Bebb: Who is he? Born in southern California in the 1960’s, William Bebb is a man of many talents. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, he earned scholarships for Forensic Speaking at two universities. William was also Editor of a University of Alabama at Birmingham newspaper from 1989 to 1991. Also, he won numerous awards for extemporaneous and other speeches at intercollegiate competitions across the country.After graduating with a degree in Communication Arts & Broadcasting from The University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1993, he worked in the exciting world of Academia till 1996. Recognized as an invaluable asset, William was recruited to a worldwide television network- where he has prepared programming for millions of people since 1997.

Valencia and Valentine


Suzy Krause - 2019
    To confront those fears, Valencia’s therapist suggests that she fly somewhere—anywhere—before her upcoming birthday. And as Valencia begins a telephone romance with a man from New York, she suddenly has a destination in mind. There’s only one problem—he might not actually exist.Mrs. Valentine is an eccentric old woman desperate for company, be it from neighbors, telemarketers, or even the funeral director (when you’re her age, you go to a lot of funerals). So she’s thrilled when the new cleaning girl provides a listening ear for her life’s story—a tale of storybook love and incredible adventures around the world with her husband before his mysterious and sudden disappearance.The stories of Valencia and Mrs. Valentine may at first appear to have nothing in common…but then again, nothing in life is as straightforward as it seems.

Choker


Elizabeth Woods - 2011
    She eats lunch with the other girls from the track team, but they're not really her friends. Mostly she spends her time watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her, and avoiding the popular girls who call her "Choker" after a humiliating incident in the cafeteria. Then one day Cara comes home to find Zoe waiting for her. Zoe's on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With her best friend back, Cara's life changes overnight. Zoe gives her a new look and new confidence, and next thing she knows, she's getting invited to parties and flirting with Ethan. Best of all, she has her BFF there to confide in. But just as quickly as Cara's life came together, it starts to unravel. A girl goes missing in her town, and everyone is a suspect—including Ethan. Worse still, Zoe starts behaving strangely, and Cara begins to wonder what exactly her friend does all day when she's at school. You're supposed to trust your best friend no matter what, but what if she turns into a total stranger?

Primal Fear


William Diehl - 1992
    Vail is certain to lose, but Vail uses his unorthodox ways to good advantage when choosing his legal team—a tight group of men and women who must uncover the extraordinary truth behind the archbishop's slaughter. They do, in a heart-stopping climax unparalleled for the surprise it springs on the reader...

Asylum


Madeleine Roux - 2013
    An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux's teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity.

The House


Christina Lauren - 2015
    Her parents are still uptight and disinterested, her bedroom is exactly the way she left it, and the outcast Gavin Timothy still looks like he’s crawled out of one of her dark, twisted drawings.Delilah is instantly smitten.Gavin has always lived in the strange house: an odd building isolated in a stand of trees where the town gives in to mild wilderness. The house is an irresistible lure for Delilah, but the tall fence surrounding it exists for good reason, and Gavin urges Delilah to be careful. Whatever lives with him there isn’t human, and isn’t afraid of hurting her to keep her away.

Knock Three-One-Two


Fredric Brown - 1959
    For as the net tightened around the killer more and more people became entangled in a chain of events that ended in an explosion of maniacal savagery.

The Prophet


Michael Koryta - 2012
    When they were teenagers, their sister was abducted and murdered, and their devastated family never recovered. Now Adam keeps to himself, scraping by as a bail bondsman, working so close to the town's criminal fringes that he sometimes seems a part of them. Kent Austin is the beloved coach of the local high school football team, a religious man and hero in the community. After years of near misses, Kent's team has a shot at the state championship, a welcome point of pride in a town that has had its share of hardships. Just before playoffs begin, the town and the team are thrown into shock when horrifically, impossibly, another teenage girl is found murdered. When details emerge that connect the crime to the Austin brothers, the two are forced to unite to stop a killer - and to confront their buried rage and grief before history repeats itself again.

Take One With You


Oak Anderson - 2014
    Anyone determined to commit suicide is urged to first kill someone who "got away with it" before taking their own life. Why not, they ask, "take one with you?"The idea goes viral and things rapidly spiral out of control. As they develop feelings for each other, their worldwide followers begin to enact a very different version of their idea, perverting its original intent and threatening the thin line between civil society and criminal anarchy. Just as they find the hope of happiness together, Charlie and Sarah must deal with the monster they've created, a global epidemic of murder-suicide that threatens the very core of their humanity.Take One With You is a unique crime thriller/millennial love story that poses the question: If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, would you kill someone tonight? Someone who had done something terrible. Someone who deserved to die. If so, who would it be? If you wouldn't go that far, what about your neighbor? Your friend? Your enemy? Who draws the line? Who decides who lives and who dies? And what if we all began to take justice into our own hands?

The Outsider


Stephen King - 2018
    A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories.An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King’s propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face? When the answer comes, it will shock you as only Stephen King can.

Doll House


John Hunt - 2017
    She will be on her own, in a new place hopeful to meet new friends. On the night she moves in, she is taken off the street by two masked men. She is placed in a room which is little more than a cell. A pink cell. A room made for a doll. She is now part of their collection.

The Final Girl Support Group


Grady HendrixGrady Hendrix - 2021
    The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her?Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of her life since. And she's not alone. For more than a decade she's been meeting with five other actual final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. That is until one of the women misses a meeting and Lynnette's worst fears are realized--someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again, piece by piece.But the thing about these final girls is that they have each other now, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.

738 Days


Stacey Kade - 2016
    738 days later, she escaped. Her 20/20 interview is what everyone remembers—Amanda describing the room where she was kept, the torn poster of TV heartthrob Chase Henry on the wall. It reminded her of home and gave her the strength to keep fighting.Now, years later, Amanda is struggling to live normally. Her friends have gone on to college, while she battles PTSD. She’s not getting any better, and she fears that if something doesn’t change soon she never will.Six years ago, Chase Henry defied astronomical odds, won a coveted role on a new TV show, and was elevated to super-stardom. With it, came drugs, alcohol, arrests, and crazy spending sprees. Now he's sober and a Hollywood pariah, washed up at twenty-four.To revamp his image, Chase’s publicist comes up with a plan: surprise Amanda Grace with the chance to meet her hero, followed by a visit to the set of Chase’s new movie. The meeting is a disaster, but out of mutual desperation, Amanda and Chase strike a deal. What starts as a simple arrangement, though, rapidly becomes more complicated when they realize they need each other in more ways than one. But when the past resurfaces in a new threat, will they stand together or fall apart?

The Black Tattoo


Sam Enthoven - 2006
    When Charlie wakes up one day and finds a mysterious, moving black tattoo on his back, it’s a clear sign that he’s even cooler than Jack thought. To top it off, Charlie has got super powers also.Or does he?Jack soon learns the terrifying truth: Charlie’s incredible powers come from an age-old demon called the Scourge, who is using Charlie to bring about its evil master plan. When the Scourge vanishes with Charlie, Jack and Esme, a girl with super powers of her own, follow their friend from the streets of London into Hell itself, where they face horrors that may well cost them their lives.

Close Reach


Jonathan Moore - 2014
      Kelly Pratihari-Reid and her husband sail their yacht into Antarctic waters, thinking their gravest concerns will be ice and storms—and their cracked marriage. A British girl shrieking across a short-range VHF frequency ends that illusion. It’s coming, she screams. It saw us and it’s coming back! Her voice is drowned by a tide of signal-jamming static, and Kelly sees a target on the radar screen: A ship is coming for them.   Thus begins an unforgettable cat-and-mouse game across stormy polar seas and dire landfalls. Kelly’s pursuers will test her to the limits of her endurance—and beyond. For the ship in her wake is crewed by pirates, with a young leader trained to use the most sadistic tortures in pursuit of his ultimate objective . . . a goal as shocking as it is horrific.Praise for Close Reach  “This is the kind of horror that will make your heart race.”—Examiner.com   “Mind-blowing . . . I started reading it and didn’t stop till I finished.”—Cabin Goddess   “A visceral edge-of-the-seat roller coaster ride.”—The Novel Pursuit   “A book that will appeal to sailing enthusiasts, horror enthusiasts or both!”—To Read or Not to Read Is Not a Question   “Pure adrenaline . . . definitely recommended for fans of dark thrillers.”—Pamelibrarian“Set on the icy polar seas, bristling with suspense, Jonathan Moore’s Close Reach is as horrifying and claustrophobic as any haunted house story. The plot pitches and yaws with twist after twist, and by midpoint the reader is a goner. Leave the lights on, lock the doors, feed the cats, this is an irresistible page-turner of the first order. Highly recommended!”—Jay Bonansinga, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Walking Dead: Fall of the Governor, Part Two and author of The Sinking of the Eastland“Readers will need their sea legs for this hugely enjoyable, roller-coaster voyage of a novel. Close Reach is a brutal tale of redemption and revenge with a heroine to root for at every shocking twist and turn. Jonathan Moore’s writing is as rich as it is raw and thrilling—and storms along at a breakneck pace that will leave you gasping for air.”—Frazer Lee, Bram Stoker Award–nominated author of The Lamplighters, Panic Button, and The Jack in the Green