Book picks similar to
Weed Species by Jack Ketchum


horror
jack-ketchum
fiction
true-crime

Hell House


Richard Matheson - 1971
    Two previous expeditions to investigate its secrets met with disaster, the participants destroyed by murder, suicide or insanity. Now a new investigation has been mounted - four strangers, each with his or her own reason for daring the unknown torments and temptations of the mansion...

Survivor


J.F. Gonzalez - 2004
    Lisa was looking forward to spending time alone with her husband, and telling him that they were going to have a baby. Instead, it became a nightmare when her husband was arrested and Lisa was kidnapped. But the kidnappers aren't asking for ransom. They want Lisa herself. They're going to make her a star . . . in a snuff film.

Dead Inside


Chandler Morrison - 2015
    Along the way, lines will be crossed, taboos will be violated, and common decency will take an extended leave of absence. This is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. Or anyone who enjoyed Fifty Shades of Grey. A young hospital security guard with a disturbingly unique taste in women. A maternity doctor with a horrifically unusual appetite. When the two of them meet, they embark on a journey of self-discovery as they shatter societal norms while engaging in destructive and abhorrent behavior. As they unwittingly help each other understand a world in which neither of them seems to belong, they begin to realize what it truly means to be alive...and that it might not always be a good thing.

Smolder


Michael R. Goodwin - 2021
    Not thinking about what might be lurking in the shadows, he soon finds out that you are never truly alone in the woods.

The House Next Door


Anne Rivers Siddons - 1978
    Life is made up of enjoyable work, long, lazy weekends, and the company of good neighbors. Then, to their shock, construction starts on the vacant lot next door, a wooded hillside they'd believed would always remain undeveloped. Soon, though, they come to realize that more is wrong than their diminished privacy. Surely the house can't be "haunted," yet something about it seems to destroy the goodness of every person who comes to live in it, until the entire heart of this friendly neighborhood threatens to be torn apart.

Agent of Chaos


Kami Garcia - 2017
    His story is set in the spring of 1979, when serial murder, the occult, and government conspiracy were highlighted in the news.The book will follow Mulder as he experiences life-changing events that set him on the path to becoming an FBI agent.

Experimental Film


Gemma Files - 2015
    A. Macalla Whitcomb. By deciding to investigate how Mrs. Whitcomb's obsessions might have led to her mysterious disappearance, Lois unwittingly invites the forces which literally haunt Mrs. Whitcomb's films into her life, eventually putting her son, her husband and herself in danger. Experimental Film mixes painful character detail with a creeping aura of dread to produce a fictionalized "memoir" designed to play on its readers' narrative expectations and pack an existentialist punch.

Goddess of Filth


V. Castro - 2021
    But we weren’t witches. We were five Chicanas living in San Antonio, Texas, one year out of high school.” One hot summer night, best friends Lourdes, Fernanda, Ana, Perla, and Pauline hold a séance. It’s all fun and games at first, but their tipsy laughter turns to terror when the flames burn straight through their prayer candles and Fernanda starts crawling toward her friends and chanting in Nahuatl, the language of their Aztec ancestors. Over the next few weeks, shy, modest Fernanda starts acting strangely—smearing herself in black makeup, shredding her hands on rose thorns, sucking sin out of the mouths of the guilty. The local priest is convinced it's a demon, but Lourdes begins to suspect it’s something else—something far more ancient and powerful. As Father Moreno's obsession with Fernanda grows, Lourdes enlists the help of her “bruja Craft crew” and a professor, Dr. Camacho, to understand what is happening to her friend in this unholy tale of possession-gone-right.

Castle of Blood


C.L. Werner - 2019
    It's sure to terrify and delight you in equal measure.THE STORYGuests are arriving at the ancient castle of Mhurghast, summoned by the reclusive Count von Koeterberg. They expect a grand feast, and something more... The ambitious Baron expects to inherit the Count's wealth; the wife of a broken swordsmith hopes to revisit happier times; the fallen priest prays for a chance of recovering his faith. Seven families, each with their own dark secrets. Each with their own hidden agenda. Each marked for revenge. Doomed to discover the depths of horror and despair, it is not a night of revelry that awaits them, but a night of unprecedented terror. Son will turn against father and daughter against mother, as daemonic evil descends upon Mhurghast.

Burnt Offerings


Robert Marasco - 1973
    They find a beautiful old country mansion on Long Island -- restful, secluded, with pool and private beach -- perfect, for the right people. But their "perfect" summer home hides terrors beyond their wildest imaginings. During that long summer the house becomes a nightmare from which there seems to be no escape.

Night of the Mannequins


Stephen Graham Jones - 2020
    Stephen Graham Jones returns with Night of the Mannequins, a contemporary horror story where a teen prank goes very wrong and all hell breaks loose: is there a supernatural cause, a psychopath on the loose, or both?

The Rain Dancers


Greg F. Gifune - 2012
     When Will and Betty Colby return to Betty's hometown to settle her late father's affairs and prepare his house for sale, they assume they'll be faced with some cleaning, basic repairs and making runs to the local dump. Will also hopes it will afford Betty a chance to reflect on the difficult relationship she had with her father. But something more is happening in this quiet little town, in this dark old house at the end of this seemingly deserted dirt road. In the middle of a rainstorm, a man calling himself Bob Laurent appears in the night on their doorstep, claiming to be an old family friend. He seems harmless enough, only Betty has no memory of him. Yet he knows everything about her, her father and their lives. He even knows intimate details about Will and his life. While the storm rages on, a cauldron of tension, suspicion and fear builds between the couple and the stranger, dragging Will and Betty to the very brink of madness. A vile and unrelenting evil has returned to claim what was taken from it long ago, and all the demons of the past, present and probable future have come home to roost. Before the storm clears and the sun rises, Will and Betty Colby will come to know the horrifying truth. People live and die...but the evil they do is eternal.

Nyctophobia


Christopher Fowler - 2014
    One, there's never been an actual authenticated haunted house. Two, it's not the house that's haunted, but the person.Callie is a young architectural student who marries Mateo, a wine importer, and moves to a grand old house in Southern Spain. Hyperion House is flooded with light, it also has a mute gardener, a sinister housekeeper and a sealed, dark servants' quarters that nobody has the keys for. And although initially happy, and taking care of Mateo's daughter, Callie can't help being drawn to the dark empty rooms at the back of the house, and becomes convinced that someone is living in there.Uncovering the house's history, she discovers the shocking truth. As Callie's fear of the darkness returns, she comes to understand the true nature of evil.

Harvest Home


Thomas Tryon - 1973
    The quiet, peaceful place was straight out of a bygone era, with well-cared-for Colonial houses, a white-steepled church fronting a broad Common. Ned and Beth Constantine chanced upon the hamlet and immediately fell in love with it. This was exactly the haven they dream of. Or so they thought.For Ned and his family, Cornwall Coombe was to become a place of ultimate horror.

Comfort Me with Apples


Catherynne M. Valente - 2021
    Her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect. Their home together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect. Everything is perfect.It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband and everything is perfect.But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze...But everything is perfect. Isn't it?