Book picks similar to
Pest by Anna Willett


horror
look-into
monsters
female-authors

The Good Teacher


Petronella McGovern - 2020
    Every morning, she puts on a brave face to teach kindergarten. She's a good teacher, everyone says so - this stalking is just a tiny crack in her usual self-control.A late enrolment into her class brings little Gracie - sick and grieving. Allison takes the girl and her father, Luke, under her wing. She smothers Gracie with the love she can't give her own son. As others question her judgement and the police arrive at her door, Allison starts to wonder if she can trust herself.When Gracie has a chance to go to America for treatment, Allison leads the school in a fundraising drive. But has she crossed a line?How far will the good teacher go to save a life? And whose life will that be?An intriguing tale of our times about kindness and betrayal, and the danger of good deeds.

Grayson Manor Haunting


Cheryl Bradshaw - 2013
    For Addison, it seems like she’s finally found the house of her dreams…until the spirit of Roxanne “Roxy” Rafferty comes to call. Who is Roxanne, why is she haunting Grayson Manor, and how will Addison’s connection reveal a key to her own past that she thought no longer existed?

Highwater


T.J. Brearton - 2014
    He needs a blood transfusion and only one person matches. But first Milliner must solve the mystery at the Kingston house, where Liz Goldfine may have committed a heinous crime, and the dark depths of the lake harbor teenage secrets.Groups of strange young men are gathering on the roads, the old house holds many mysteries, and the waters are rising fast. What lurks deep in the lake and can anyone stop it?

Baba Lenka: Pure Occult Horror


S.E. England - 2020
    The deceased is Baba Lenka, great-grandmother to Eva Hart. But a terrible thing happens at the funeral, and from that moment on everything changes for seven year old Eva. The family fly back to Yorkshire but it seems the cold Alpine winds have followed them home...and the ghost of Baba Lenka has followed Eva. This is a story of demonic sorcery and occult practices during the World Wars, the horrors of which are drip-fed into young Eva's mind to devastating effect. Once again, this is absolutely not for the faint of heart. Nightmares pretty much guaranteed...

The Accusation


Wendy James - 2019
    A body of damning evidence. A world of betrayal.Eighteen-year-old Ellie Canning is found shivering and barely conscious on a country road, clad only in ill-fitting pyjamas. Her story of kidnap and escape quickly enthrals the nation: a middle-aged woman with a crazy old mother has held Ellie in a basement, chained her to a bed and given her drinks from an old baby's sippy cup. But who was this woman and what did she want with Ellie? And what other secrets might she hide?When the accusation is levelled at local teacher Suzannah Wells, no one seems more bewildered than Suzannah herself ... to start with. The preposterous charge becomes manifestly more real as she loses her job and her friends. And the evidence is strong: a dementia-affected mother, a house with a basement, a sippy cup that belonged to her long-dead daughter. And Ellie Canning's DNA everywhere. As stories about Susannah's past emerge, even those closest to her begin to doubt she's innocent.And Ellie? The media can't get enough of her. She's a girl-power icon, a social-media star. But is she telling the truth?

Blood Kin


Ronald Kelly - 1996
    But tonight, his ancestors have awakened their Great-Grandpa Craven. They're planning a party in the backwoods of Tennessee. And the folks of Green Hollow are in for the night of their lives. The last night of their lives...A teenage girl is found with her throat torn open and her body completely drained of blood... A young bride sprouts fangs and turns on her husband ...A little girl's pet rat develops a murderous mind of its own ...A preacher goes insane and slaughters his entire congregation before feasting on their blood...

The Haunting on West 10th Street


Helen Phifer - 2018
    But a gruesome murder at a Greenwich Village brownstone seems to point straight to a paranormal source. Determined to unearth a rational explanation, she vows to find the culprit before he strikes again… But Maria is about to learn that this atrocious crime is far from unique. An identical slaughter rocked the same house decades ago, and Miller must determine if it’s the same culprit, a copycat, or something much darker… When Miller becomes the killer’s next target, will her stubborn cynicism save her or send her to the other side? The Haunting On West 10th Street is the first book in the chilling Ghosts of New York horror series. If you like terrifying tales, supernatural crime stories, and eerie mysteries that span decades, then you’ll love Helen Phifer’s nail-biting novel. Buy The Haunting to dive into the supernatural today!

The Hunted


Gabriel Bergmoser - 2020
    . .and the nightmare begin?Frank owns a service station on a little-used highway. His granddaughter, Allie, is sent to stay with him for the summer, but they don't talk a lot.Simon is a dreamer and an idealist, in thrall to the romance of the open road and desperately in search of something.Maggie is the woman who will bring them together, someone whose own personal journey will visit unimaginable terror on them all. . .'With echoes of Deliverance and Battle Royale, the Australian outback-set The Hunted is a truly terrifying, breathlessly exciting novel. It gut-punches you in the first few pages and doesn't let you recover until the final, thrilling climax. An extraordinary book.' M. W. CRAVEN What readers are saying: 'A high octane roller-coaster of a novel, brilliantly written with strong characters to cheer for. Just don't read it before going to sleep like I did.''This type of horror/action thriller isn't my usual thing but boy, did I love this book.''This entire book was just pure, fast-paced tension and I loved every insane page of it.''I'd say it's a hard book to put down, but a couple of times I found the suspense heightened enough that I needed a break. That's how good it was.''Even the squeamish would find it difficult to put this book down for very long.'

The Vanishing


Bentley Little - 2007
    He leaves behind a chilling, cryptic message: "This is where it begins."Miles away, an alarmed mother receives from her estranged husband an unsettling letter strained with bloody fingerprints.And all across California, children are falling victim to a monstrous change - and their parents, to a mounting fear.Social worker Carrie Daniels and reporter Brian Howells are determined to find the link between these baffling events. But they shouldn't look too deeply into the lives of the victims. It's quite dark there. And God help them, they won't like what they find.

Lance Brody Omnibus


Michael Robertson Jr. - 2017
     Omnibus Includes: DARK BEGINNINGS (Book 0, Prequel Novella): The true beginning to the Lance Brody series, Dark Beginnings introduces us to Lance Brody and all his unique abilities, and leads us to the tragic events that unfold in Lance’s hometown of Hillston that force our young hero to start his life on the run, and show us the dark and strangely powerful duo that will hunt him … and haunt him. DARK GAME (Book 1): After meeting two new friends--one of this world, and one of another--Lance learns that young men have been disappearing from the small town of Westhaven without a trace. No clues left behind, no answers. Left with no choice but to use his unexplainable gifts--the ones that allow him to see beyond the veil and into the shadows--Lance sets out to restore peace to Westhaven before another boy can vanish ... But the darkness Lance felt the moment he arrived will do everything it can to stop him. No matter the lives lost. DARK SON (Book 2): Six years before Lance Brody arrives to stay in the old farmhouse in the tiny town of Ripton’s Grove, Mark Benchley murdered his wife and teenaged daughter before turning the shotgun on himself. But while the town has accepted the Benchley family’s fate, it doesn’t take long for Lance to realize there might be much more to the night the Benchley family died, and the farmhouse itself, than anybody knows. Anybody alive, that is. While digging for answers and trying to piece together the clues the ghosts of the farmhouse seem to be offering him, Lance discovers something that shakes him to his core. A young boy named Ethan who may carry with him a secret bigger than anything Lance could have ever expected. A secret that may change Lance’s life forever. What Amazon Readers are saying about the Lance Brody Series: "I was totally captivated from page one." "The story pulls you in, and makes it hard to put down." "Loved it! Great premise. Very entertaining." "One of the best reads in ages! I was drawn in & felt like I knew the characters personally." "If you like paranormal and mysteries, READ THIS BOOK!!" "This excellent mystery and ghost story keeps you guessing until the very end." "There are very few book series that keep me interested. THIS SERIES IS FUN AND I JUST CANNOT PUT THEM DOWN. I cannot wait for the next one."

The Possessed: A Supernatural Horror Novel (Sadistic Souls #1)


Kirk Kilgrave - 2018
    Like the footsteps outside her bedroom door late at night. Or the pounding in the walls. Maybe even the reason why her sister is trying to ruin her life. Jocelyn finds a rational explanation for every strange incident until logic breaks down and sinister events ratchet up, convincing her that an evil entity has infested her home. With the help of a pair of paranormal investigators and a priest, Jocelyn hopes to defeat the malevolent entity before it destroys her family. But what Jocelyn doesn’t realize is that this demon has more nefarious plans than she could possibly imagine. And it’s eager to set them in motion.

Bone Quarry


K.D. McNiven - 2019
    Dive leader, Megan Gerhart and her team discover what appears to be an underwater graveyard, heaped with bones…human bones! When they call in paleontologist Rourke Wolf to investigate their chilling findings, the team is thrown into a spine-tingling adventure that could cost them their lives, both in and out of the water. Faced with death-defying odds, they must confront dinosaurs believed to be extinct for 8 million years … Does the team have the grit to escape this terrifying encounter alive, when the odds are not in their favor?

The Mist


Stephen King - 1980
    Suddenly a violent storm sweeps across the lake and ends as abruptly and unexpectedly as it had begun. Then comes the mist...creeping slowly, inexorably into town, where it settles and waits, trapping you in the supermarket with dozens of others, cut off from your families and the world. The mist is alive, seething with unearthly sounds and movements. What unleashed this terror? Was it the Arrowhead Project---the top secret government operation that everyone has noticed but no one quite understands? And what happens when the provisions have run out and you're forced to make your escape, edging blindly through the dim light?

The Silk House


Kayte Nunn - 2020
    Healing. Haunting. The spellbinding story of a mysterious boarding school sheltering a centuries-old secret by the bestselling author of THE BOTANIST'S DAUGHTER.Australian history teacher Thea Rust arrives at an exclusive boarding school in the British countryside only to find that she is to look after the first intake of girls in its 150-year history. She is to stay with them in Silk House, a building with a long and troubled past, where the shadows hide more mysteries than she could ever imagine.In the late 1700s, Rowan Caswell leaves her village to work in the home of an English silk merchant. She is thrust into a new and dangerous world where her talent for herbs and healing soon attracts attention.In London, Mary-Louise Stephenson lives amid the clatter of the weaving trade and dreams of becoming a silk designer, a job that is the domain of men. Arriving in the market town of Oxleigh, she brings with her a length of fabric woven with a pattern of deadly plants that will have far-reaching consequences for all who dwell in the silk house.Intoxicating, haunting and inspired by the author's background, THE SILK HOUSE is the exceptional new gothic mystery by Kayte Nunn.

The Forest


Michaelbrent Collings - 2020
    Now, twenty years later, the two survivors are going back…For Tricia and Alex, the idea is simple: find and rescue their friend, Sam, from his insane mother. But when they enter the forest, they discover that their idea is anything but simple. Because this forest isn’t like any other. In this forest, a silver mist hangs. In this forest, a simple trip of a few miles can turn into a nightmare. In this forest, the monsters are real.Twenty years later, Tricia and Alex remember nothing of what happened that day they lost their friend. They know only that three kids went in, but only two came out.Now, they are going back. To find their lost memories. To discover what happened to Sam that day.To encounter fear itself.The forest, as Alex and Tricia will discover, is a place where madness reigns. A place where a simple path becomes an ordeal. A place where the past comes to life, and the future is anything but certain.Because the dead don’t stay dead… in The Forest.