Book picks similar to
Behemoth by Michael R. Cole
horror
fiction
scary-ocean-beach-lake-water
kaiju
Collapse
Mark Lukens - 2019
The governments of the world and the media tried to suppress it, but little by little the truth got out. The economy had been in a free-fall, banks closed, protests turned into riots, people began hoarding and panicking. And then on a Friday morning, the collapse came.After the government office where Ray Daniels works shuts down, he just wants to get home to his wife and kids. On his arduous journey home, Ray gets a phone call from Craig, his supervisor, inviting him and his family to his home where the answers to the collapse and the Ripper Plague are waiting for him, but the call breaks up and Ray only hears the word Avalon.When Ray gets home to his family, the TV stations have been replaced with a loop of the president of the United States declaring martial law. The electricity and water are shut off soon after that. They hole up in their bedroom for the night - they have no weapons, little food, and no information about why everything collapsed so quickly.After Ray's neighbor, Helen, holds a secret meeting to try to fight back against martial law, she asks Ray to help her blind daughter Emma, promising that Emma can help him and his family find the way to Avalon. But what is Avalon, and what does Emma know about it?Hours later, after soldiers in gas masks take Helen away, Ray has no choice but to flee with his family. Society has crumbled within the last twenty-four hours. Hordes of flesh-eating infected are loose on the streets. The police and military are doing their best to fight back, but they are losing the battle now. The collapse is here, and Ray wants the answers that Craig has, but he must keep his family alive first.
Demonic Indemnity
Craig McLay - 2019
SIU is where they investigate the toughest and scariest claims, like supernatural identity theft (aka demonic possession), exsanguinations (total and partial), zombification, and death or injury by cursed artefacts of all kinds. Despite the new job, Tim’s life is not easy. His new boss is a literal demon with no regard for the company’s scent-free workplace policy. His brother is a lazy, unemployed vampire who won’t move his coffin out of Tim’s apartment. His coworkers are a motley collection of werewolves and ghouls. And his mother won’t stop trying to set him up with psychics from her chain of spiritualist day spas. Tim badly wants to make a good impression by solving his first case. When he gets caught between a powerful cult trying to resurrect an ancient entity and a demon mob boss who wants him dead, Tim knows he is seriously increasing his odds of statistically expected mortality. Demonic Indemnity is another hilariously horrific tale from Craig McLay, author of award-winning international bestsellers Village Books, The Donnelly Tontine and other books you should read immediately.
The Cellar
Richard Laymon - 1980
Armed with video camcorders, these poor souls enter the forbidden house, never to return. The deeper they go into the house, the darker their nightmares become. Don't even think about going into the cellar.
Dead Bait
David DunwoodyAaron Polson - 2009
Drawing on horror, humor with a helping of dark fantasy and a touch of deviance, these 19 contemporary stories pay homage to the monsters that lurk in the murky waters of our imaginations. If you thought it was safe to go back in the water...Think Again!
The Wolfen
Whitley Strieber - 1978
The savage killing of two New York City policemen leads two detectives, a man and a woman bound together by a strange, tough passion, to hunt down the wolfen, called werewolves in former days.
Dark Arts (Dead Keepers Book 1)
Randolph Lalonde - 2009
The minimal success his band, Road Craft, has had is being smothered by an era where bars are becoming discos, and live entertainment is being replaced by larger dance floors. They scored a small record deal years before, but the excitement has cooled, and they never got much radio play. The only hope he has of financing his future rests in a book he hunted down using contacts and skills he learned from his father, who was an expert at acquiring rare occult objects. Max is not a believer in mysticism, but he knows what he has was hard to get, and should be worth thousands. When he's told it's too hot to sell, his dreams are crushed, and his wallet is left empty. He'll have to tell his band mates that his plan has fallen through, and they have come to the end of the road. The members of Road Craft are set to return home during a Pagan summer festival called The Gathering, where hundreds of people gather to celebrate music, nature, and each other. The Gathering also puts him nose to nose with Miranda, a woman Maxwell knew when they were children, a veteran of the New York Rock scene and his equal. He doesn't know it yet, but this is the event that will make him a believer in the occult, and he will have some choices to make. All the while, there are people who know he has the book, and they are determined to twist the knowledge it contains to a terrible purpose, to break the circle of life, making resurrections possible, to open the door between the living and the dead just enough to embrace forbidden power. Their selfish intent would disrupt the natural order enough to change the world, and not for the better. Maxwell's music career is about to be the least of his worries.
Fragment
Warren Fahy - 2009
. . an ecosystem that could topple ours like a house of cards. The time is now. The place is the Trident, a long-range research vessel hired by the reality TV show Sealife. Aboard is a cast of ambitious young scientists. With a director dying for drama, tiny Henders Island might be just what the show needs. Until the first scientist sets foot on Henders—and the ultimate test of survival begins . . .For when they reach the island’s shores, scientists are utterly unprepared for what they find—creatures unlike any ever recorded in natural history. This is not a lost world frozen in time, an island of mutants, or a lab where science has gone mad: this is the Earth as it might have looked after evolving on a separate path for half a billion years.Soon the scientists will stumble on something more shocking than anything humanity has ever encountered: because among the terrors of Henders Island, one life form defies any scientific theory—and must be saved at any cost. International Thriller Writers nominee Best First Novel
Maniac on the Loose
Steve Hudgins - 2018
Fearing that he'll lose his job if word gets out, the head of the hospital, Dr. Franklin Grimm desperately attempts to cover up the escape. Meanwhile, there is a Maniac on the Loose.
Things Undone
Travis Liebert - 2020
All things unknown and unknowable are coming to light... Strange creatures wander the dark canopies of Germany's Black Forest. A young boy harbors something both dark and divine within him. A man learns to control his dreams, only to find an ancient evil imprisoned within them. Something lurks in the shadows of a woman's house, and it wants her baby. All of these things and more in this riveting new collection of 18 terrifying cosmic and paranormal tales. Get it now and discover the terrors that lurk within.
The Coldwater Haunting
Michael Richan - 2019
Ghosts in the windows. Something climbing the stairs. Ron lands the home of his dreams, isolated on a rural mountain, away from the noise and crowds of the city. With the house in need of repairs, he works on fixing it up before his wife and son join him. Unfortunately, the more he repairs, the more problems he uncovers. During the day, he works on the mundane: septic system, plumbing, electrical wiring. But when the night comes and a deep darkness settles on the lonely property, a whole new set of troubles develop: scratching at the windows, the sound of footsteps on the stairs, shadowy figures in the yard. Threats. Attacks. Ron comes to realize the house is unsafe — not because of the physical problems, but because of the unseen. He needs to rid the building of whatever evil has taken hold, but there’s one huge obstacle: he doesn’t believe in ghosts. He’s a total skeptic. His friend Jake helps with the repairs. Jake is more willing to accept that the nightmarish apparitions in the house are real, and his girlfriend Freedom attempts to cleanse the house. Her methods backfire, so she leaves, frightened, refusing to return to the house. She demands Jake leave too, but Ron convinces Jake not to abandon him. Desperate to solve the haunting, Jake ropes in others who claim to have “the gift,” but they all fail, unable to confront and outwit the evil inside the house. While Ron and Jake try to uncover the mystery, they go on a frightening journey, eventually coming to terms with the mountain’s troubled history. An ugly, brutal war waged between two families still consumes the area, and Ron’s house is caught in the middle of it. The Coldwater Haunting is a ghost novel of over 100,000 words. It contains chilling scenes some may find disturbing. Advance readers report the book interfering with their dreams…
“Extremely creepy!” “Kept me on edge…no way to escape it.” “Goose flesh on my arms!” “The warning was merited…dreamt about it ALL night.” “The best book you’ve written.”
Canni
Daniel O'Connor - 2019
Your plumber, the mail carrier, the folks next door, the girl at the coffee shop, cops, those who worship in churches, synagogues, and mosques, your favorite band. Your best friend. They all want the same exact thing. They want to kill you. Daniel O’Connor’s Canni is a glimpse into at a future that may be closer than we think. A time when no one can be trusted. When everyday citizens can turn into monsters without warning. As America begins to fall following a terror attack, a small band of friends make their final stand in Vegas. And Sin City is about to get a whole lot worse. Remember... Your parents, your children, your spouse. They want to kill you….And you, them.
The Bone Curse
Carrie Rubin - 2018
His companion Laurette, a public health student from Haiti, senses danger and worries an evil curse now runs through him.Ben scoffs at the idea—he simply has a wound that won’t heal—and back home he returns to his stressful clerkship at the hospital. But when people close to him succumb to a grisly illness and a dark priest pursues him, his skepticism wavers. Could a bone from an 18th-century skeleton with a frightening history really cause modern-day disease?With the help of Laurette, he scrambles to find a cure through Vodou before more of his loved ones die. But first, he must battle the mysterious priest who’s bent on vengeance and determined to have Ben’s blood as his own."The Bone Curse is a strong medical thriller--inclusive, skillfully written, and inviting."--Foreword ReviewsThe Bone Curse, though a standalone, is the first in a series about a man of science who gets caught up in otherworldly situations.
Strangers
David Moody - 2014
The bodies of the dead – savagely mutilated, unspeakably defiled – are piling up with terrifying speed. There are no apparent motives and no obvious connections between the victims, but the killings only began when Scott Griffiths and his family arrived in Thussock...“In his evocation of fear and unease and the speed with which he grips you, he brings to mind old Brit horror writer James Herbert. And that is some recommendation.” —London Lite“Moody has the power to make the most mundane and ordinary characters interesting and believable, and is reminiscent of Stephen King at his finest.” —Shadowlocked"Moody is as imaginative as Barker, as compulsory as King, and as addictive as Palahniuk." —Scream the Horror Magazine
The Dreams
Matthew R. Fleming - 2017
As tension mounts and he finds himself questioning the motives and loyalty of his companions, one of the group members disappears, leaving only a pool of blood behind. It soon becomes clear that something very large and unnatural is in the deep secret places of the forest. And it knows they are there . . .
Kong: King of Skull Island
Joe DeVito - 2005
A prequel and sequel to the 1933 novel that introduced King Kong blends the talents of a renowned fantasy artist with those of a top science fiction writer to create a worthy and long-awaited successor to the Depression-era fantasy that spawned numerous feature-length films.