Book picks similar to
Black Eyed Children by Sara Clancy


horror
fiction
mystery-detective
ghost-horror

Who's Afraid?


Maria Lewis - 2016
    The sudden appearance of a dark, mysterious (and very attractive) guardian further confuses her as her powers begin to develop and she begins to understand that her life can never be the same again. The reader will be swept up in Tommi's journey as she's thrown into the middle of a centuries-old battle and a world peopled with expert warriors and vicious enemies - this is the start of a series - and a world - you will fall in love with.

A Grimoire Dark: A Horror Thriller (The Spirit Hunter Series Book 1)


D.S. Quinton - 2019
     A Hellish Spirit. A fight for more than just her life. When Del Lareaux leaves the St. Augustine orphanage, she is desperate to build a normal life for herself and Jimmy, the mentally handicapped boy she spent years protecting. But when a hellish spirit is raised from the dark swamps of Louisiana, abominations of unimaginable horror begin to prey on the lost souls of New Orleans, and Del’s soul is the most coveted. When Del learns the truth of her secret heritage, she is faced with a choice: forego the gift she was born with for the normal life she dreams of, or embrace her birthright and the dark consequences that follow. A Grimoire Dark explores the Voodoo mythos like never before. Threads of Stephen King and Edgar Allen Poe weave a nightmare veil through which dark elements of a Lovecraftian horror tale are glimpsed; for to view them directly would be ones undoing.

Blood in the Bayou


C.M. Sutter - 2021
    Human bones have been found in numerous sites deep in bayou country, and the locals aren’t too excited about having outsiders poking around in their business.When Jade has a chance meeting with a local hunter, she finds his assistance exactly what she needs to break through that unwelcoming barrier. She brings him on board as their go-between. The hunter inserts himself into their investigation and gains Jade’s trust, but is he authentic, or does he have his own agenda?A bone-chilling blindside and a dangerous chase through the Louisiana swamps is just the beginning, but the question remains—is Jade the hunter, or is she the one being hunted?FBI Agent Jade Monroe Live or Die Series books are listed in chronological order below#1 Blood in the Bayou#2 Blood Trail#3 Blood Reckoning#4 Blood Legacy

The Cobbler's Kids


Rosie Harris - 2005
    Liverpool 1920s: Michael Quinn the cobbler returns home after the First World War forever changed by his experiences on the front line. He moves his family from their comfortable home to live over a shop in Liverpool's notorious Scotland Road. Though admired and liked by his customers, behind closed doors he rules his family with a fist of steel. Fourteen-year-old Vera Quinn longs for a life of her own. But when their mother dies, she must keep house for her father Michael and her brothers, Eddy and young Benny. So begins a life of hardship, until an unexpected series of events leads Vera to discover she is far stronger than she could have ever known…

Witch Island


David Bernstein - 2014
    Even the bravest would not dare go there. Legend said a witch had been burned alive at the stake, and upon her death she cursed the town. Terrified residents performed rituals to keep her spirit trapped on the island where she was buried. Now, over a hundred years later, a group of high school seniors have decided to forgo the local graduation parties and have a small gathering of their own–on Witch Island. They don't fear the legends. They scoff at them. But the group will soon learn these particular legends are nothing to scoff at. And Witch Island will prove far worse than they could have ever imagined.

Promises, Promises: A Robin Bricker Prequel


Laurel Osterkamp - 2016
    Lonely, enigmatic Tristan was her only friend, but when tragedy struck, Robin shamefully abandoned Tristan to resume her safe, suburban life. Now Robin has a successful design business and a passionate relationship with her boyfriend, Nick. Yet when Tristan calls out of the blue, Robin must revisit a dangerous world of lies and ghosts. Will keeping her promise and helping her friend cause Robin to lose everything she holds dear? NOTE: This novella is a prequel to the full-length, standalone 2015 Kindle Scout Winner, The Standout, from award-winning author Laurel Osterkamp. A preview chapter of The Standout is also included.

The Doctor's Estate


Heather Quinto - 2019
    The story takes you on a wild ride into the world of the paranormal and the fight between good and evil. It is the story of a man named Ted who moves into a new home, not knowing the dark secrets that lie within its walls. He is a man who never believed in an afterlife. The mere mention of ghosts or even religions were enough to give him a laugh. However, he finds himself in a home where shadows lurk at every corner ready to attack him, along with terror-filled visions. Ted is taken down a path that makes him question everything-even his sanity. Demons, satanic rituals, and death are what awaits him as he slowly unfurls the hidden secrets of the doctor’s estate.

Horror Island: Where Nightmares Become Reality


Ben Hammott - 2018
    Dormant for many millennia as it travelled through the cosmos, it headed towards a blue planet. A fiery spectacle announced its arrival when it entered Earth’s atmosphere and crashed to the surface. Trapped on an island it couldn’t escape from, it grew, evolved, hunted and spawned. Time passed. Human’s arrived… Almost sixty years after it was abandoned by the mysterious movie director, Ezra Houghton, successful horror writer Zane Baloc comes into possession of the remote and infamous Horror Island. Believing it will provide the perfect inspiration for a new horror novel, he wastes no time gathering a small team together to travel to the island to investigate. He plans to spend a few weeks there soaking up the atmosphere and exploring the extravagant horror themed movie sets Ezra spent seven years creating. Stranded miles from help, the team soon discover they are not alone and the rumours of strange, unearthly creatures inhabiting the island are more than just a myth. Their mission of exploration and wonderment turns into a bloody fight for survival against the island’s monstrous inhabitants. Stranded on the island filled with fear inspiring buildings and vicious, alien infected monsters, survival will be difficult. Escape unlikely. From award winning author of the international bestseller Ice Rift series comes a new foray into fear - Horror Island - Where nightmares become reality Horror Island is an action adventure alien monster survival horror set on a remote island. First feedback: “Swap dinosaurs for alien monsters and you have Jurassic park on steroids.” “Monster horror at its finest.” “Scary, gut-wrenching horror. I loved it. More please.” “Hammott is the new master of alien monster horror.” “Hammott’s limitless imagination is possibly scarier than his books and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.” “Alien meets Jurassic Park in Hammott’s latest monster horror fear fest.” “Never short, always packed with exciting action, atmosphere, unique monsters and expertly described scenes, you certainly get your money’s worth with Ben’s books. Horror Island did not disappoint.”

The Thin Wall


E.M. Parker - 2016
    On the surface, the setup was perfect: cheap rent, a great location, and total anonymity.Beneath the surface, however, Corona Heights was something else entirely.Cursed with paper thin walls, the building kept few of its tenants' secrets. But one secret had remained safely buried for years until Fiona's strange encounter with her neighbor - a ten-year-old named Olivia - threatened to unearth it, and all of the unimaginable consequences inherent in its being.As she wages a personal crusade to regain the love and trust of her estranged son, Fiona must also confront the ever-tightening grip of an addiction that she has yet to overcome, a neighbor whose erratic behavior grows more dangerous by the hour, and a seemingly innocent little girl whose dark connection to Corona Heights threatens not only the child's life, but the life that Fiona is trying so desperately to reclaim.And it all begins with a foreboding message from the girl whose face Fiona cannot see, but whose voice is hauntingly clear."Don't ignore the knocking..."

We Are Always Watching


Hunter Shea - 2017
    His father’s crippling vertigo only seems to get worse, and even with his mother working herself to the bone, they’re out of money and options.Grandpa Abraham is a drunk bastard and the living embodiment of the long neglected farmhouse. He claims the place is haunted. Ghosts roam the hall at night and their muffled cries fill the silence of warm, summer nights.On the ceiling above West’s bed are the words WE SEE YOU. In a house plagued by death and mysterious visitations, West realizes something beyond the fiction of his favorite horror books has to be faced.Dark secrets are buried deep, and there are Guardians who want to keep it that way. No matter where they go or what they do, West and his family know one thing… they are always watching.

Shadow's Keep


Meghan O'Flynn - 2018
    Night Shyamalan-level twist.” ~Kristen Mae, bestselling author of the Conch Garden series OLD SINS. NEW BLOOD. Deputy Sheriff William Shannahan doesn’t feel like a detective, at least not like the ones he admires on TV. Not that he needs to be; the small town of Graybel, Mississippi, is a peaceful place, with acres of farmland, neighbors who always take care of their own, and noise from the outside world muted by a hundred miles of forest. That silence is about to be broken. When a child is found dead in the woods, the medical examiner deems it a dog attack. But the paw prints belong to something far larger than any creature in the Mississippi forests, and what animal would remove the victim’s eyes? Though no one believes him, William can’t shake the feeling that a human killer lurks in the shadowed woods. And his girlfriend, Cassie, has a son the same age as the victim. Cassie Parker was raised amid horrors she’s long pushed from her mind, but her scars won’t let her forget. Nor do the hallucinations, dreams so vivid she can feel and smell and taste them. And no one is more terrified than Cassie when another victim is found mauled to death—because this body has been drained of blood. She knows exactly what type of person would sacrifice a child, and why they’re after hers. But how can she explain it to William? This is William’s chance to act like a detective, to protect the woman and child he’s desperate to save. Pushing back against prejudice and presumption, he uncovers a trail of cruelty that spans decades, but each clue brings him closer to a truth more horrifying than killer beasts in the forest. For concealed beneath small-town politics is knowledge that will shatter everything he knows to be true about his town—and the people in it. A compulsively readable thriller in the vein of Cujo, The Girl on the Train, and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, Shadow’s Keep is a mind-bending exploration of obsession, desperation, and how far we’ll go to protect those we love.

Psychosis


Tony Marturano - 2021
    I know that. And I was fine with it until it cost me my family. Now, I’ll do anything to get them back – even see a therapist. Which is a joke, because I am a therapist. At least I was before I was fired. Now, with nowhere else to go, I’ve had to move out of the city and into the house I inherited, here, in the idyllic fishing village of Porthcove, but only for as long as it takes to sell it. Because something isn’t right about this place. You see, I need the money, so I’ve started seeing some of the locals, you know, as patients, but I tell you, there’s something really disturbing about charming neighbours sharing chilling secrets. And it isn’t just that. It’s the other things. Strange, inexplicable things. It started with odd smells, creepy sounds, and then the intruders… oh God, the intruders. Now, a child has gone missing, the police are asking questions, and I’m starting to wonder if they’re right. Maybe I can’t be trusted, but you should come and see for yourself; there’s something seriously wrong with this place. It is something hideous, terrifying, and it’s been here the whole time, just waiting to devour my hope, my sanity and maybe even my life.”PSYCHOSIS IS THE PREQUEL TO TONY MARTURANO'S NO1 BESTSELLING SUPERNATURAL THRILLER, HAUNTED.

The Spirit Chaser


Kat Mayor - 2015
    Some places should be left alone.Austin Cole has it made. Star of the hit television show Spirit Chaser Investigations, he has become the world’s most famous paranormal investigator. Although hard work, a talented investigation team, and favorable genetics have something to do with it, it’s his lack of fear and willingness to take risks no one else will that make Spirit Chaser Investigations cable’s number-one show. When a ghost-hunt-gone-wrong seriously injures his best friend and lead psychic, Austin is forced to find a replacement for a team member he considers irreplaceable.Casey Lawson can’t catch a break. She’s been on her own since she turned eighteen and is scraping by as a part-time psychic and cashier at a New Age store. When a desperate Austin Cole calls her up and offers her a position on his team, has her fortune finally changed?He’s a control freak; she’s stubborn and opinionated. It takes time, but when they finally realize they’re working on the same side, everything clicks, both on and off screen. Just when things are looking up, a new threat emerges. Over the years, Austin has angered plenty of demons, and one of them has set her sights on him. Now he’s the one in danger, and it’s up to the team to rescue him from the riskiest investigation of their lives.

Dark Island


Stephen Cross - 2019
    Within days, two families are dead. No wounds, no illness, their faces frozen in terror. What horror did they see in their last moments? Was it enough to frighten them to death? Tom has worked the mediterranean holiday resorts for years. Barman, kitchen hand, waiter. Always moving, always one step ahead of his past. The job at Milera Island Resort, a new five star hotel, is too good to be true. Accommodation, good pay, easy work. What could go wrong? A few days after the grand opening the resort is thrown into chaos. Two famlies are found dead. No marks on their bodies, no obvious injuries, no apparent cause of death. Their faces, however, are frozen masks of terror. Panic takes the island, evacuation begins, but how long do they have? Tom begins to suffer strange hallucinations and terrifying dreams, more unexplainable deaths occur, and as the chaos deepens Tom becomes aware of a dark presence descending from the woods. Can Tom find a way for everyone to escape before the darkness takes them? Is his past entwined with the growing madness? Who, or what, is the killer amongst them? Dark Island is a thrilling horror novel from the writer of the Surviving the Fall series. Expect chills that will keep you up at night...

The Eye Stones


Harriet Esmond - 1975
     She soon discovers that both her sister and her new husband have tragically perished in a fire which destroyed their home. Alone in the bleak Norfolk brecklands, Deborah is at first forced to accept hospitality from the handsome yet forbidding widower, Sir Randall Gaunt. Yet even when Deborah later stumbles upon the warm companionship of Lord Stannard, the charming young aristocrat wooing her with such passionate urgency, the strange events that follow cause her feelings of uneasiness to grow. And then, before long Deborah becomes inextricably involved in a nightmare of unimaginable evil…