Book picks similar to
A Debt to be Paid by Patrick Lacey
horror
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thriller
The Valley
William Meikle - 2010
They arrive to find the town empty and some of the buildings wrecked and strewn over a wide area. A new cave leads them to a land that time forgot, a high valley full of animals that are extinct elsewhere, but have thrived in the remote environment. But something else is loose in the land, something even older that has emerged from the cave system. Soon the remaining men are fighting for their lives, and the lives of everything in the valley.
Heart Swarm
Allan Watson - 2015
Five years ago Harlan headed up the investigation of an identical murder in the same woods; a mishandled investigation that effectively destroyed his credibility as a detective. The new case immediately takes a bizarre twist when the body is identified as the same girl found hanging in the woods five years ago. The following day a local man commits suicide and the police find more dead girls hidden in his basement. The case seems open and closed. Until the killing spree begins. Harlan finds himself drawn into a dark world where murder is a form of self-expression and human life treated as one more commodity to be used and discarded. The only clue that links everything is a large oil painting of ‘Sagittarius A’ – a massive black hole at the centre of the galaxy orbited by thirteen stars daubed in blood with the words – Heart SwarmThis edition is no longer available.
Double Visions
Matt Drabble - 2015
She calls it The Shadow World, a place where she can see through the eyes of killers and help bring them to justice.The country cowered in fear as the serial killer christened "The Crucifier" wreaked bloody havoc. Her desperation to prove herself led to a basement confrontation that she wasn't prepared for. As a result the Detective that had allowed her to work on the case ended up dead alongside the killer.After that terrible night her guilt caused her to put away the ability to see inside the minds of monsters, to try and lead a normal life. But now someone else has taken up The Crucifiers' mantle. Someone is killing again, only this time The Shadow World is now a two way street and he wants to play.Sucked into a desperate race for survival Jane is going to learn that sometimes when you stare into the darkness, someone stares back.
Ghost Stories from Hell
Ron Ripley - 2019
Four delightfully diabolical tales have been summoned from beyond the grave, and are certain to make your skin crawl. This collection includes: Boylan House - A small New England town is horrified when it discovers an old house has developed an appetite for the blood of children. Blood Contract - The residents of the town of Thorne suffer a terrible price, when they break a supernatural contract with their ancient protectors. Hungry Ghosts - A troubled psychiatric patient discovers that a secluded cemetery holds the key to stopping a murderous legion of the dead. Sherman’s Collection - The sudden death of a wealthy and mysterious occultist leaves a library of haunted books in the care of his surprised heir. Haunted houses, vengeful spirits, ancient curses—everything you crave in a classic ghost story lurks within this ghastly collection. And as you devour one terrifying story after another, pay no attention to the chill in the air. It just may be the icy presence of the dead, standing over your shoulder…
Merry Bloody Christmas
Ellie Scott - 2018
A chocoholic grizzly bear, a talking Christmas tree, mince pie overdoses and a very bloody murder. Will poor old Saint Nick make it out alive? Sad, strange, funny and gruesome, this overlapping, multi-genre collection of tales has a little something for every reader. Curl up with a mulled wine and some fictional festive misery, and discover what Father Christmas really likes to drink when he wriggles down your chimney. Spoiler: it isn’t milk.
Toys In The Dust
N.M. Brown - 2019
He is sad that he doesn’t have a doll to play with like the girls do, so Suzy hurries home to fetch one. When she returns, Suzy discovers both Tina and the stranger have vanished. A short while later, traffic officer Leighton Jones, who is fighting his own demons, is driving home from the scene of a near-fatal accident. When Leighton sees a young girl race out in front of his car and vanish into the countryside, he reports the sighting. Unfortunately, his superiors, who are increasingly concerned about Leighton’s mental health, doubt the child exists. But after Tina’s mother confirms her daughter’s disappearance, Leighton risks his job by pursuing his own investigation of the case. Meanwhile, in the Californian countryside, a child killer is relentlessly searching for the one who got away. Leighton has his work cut out. But can he prove his sanity and find Tina before the stranger does?
Toys in the Dust
is a gripping and fast-paced serial killer thriller, which will appeal to fans of authors like Damien Boyd, Keith Houghton, Mark Edwards and Angela Marsons. It is loosely connected to N.M. Brown's previous thrillers, also featuring Leight Jones, The Girl on the Bus and Carpenter Road, and can be read as part of a series or as an unmissable stand-alone.
Gloria
Bentley Little - 2021
Gloria's mom is... different. She's younger than when she died, dressed in clothes from the 1980s. And nobody else in Gloria's family seems to recognize her.As Gloria tries to figure out the reason for her mother's reappearance ― and the odd behaviors the woman begins to exhibit ― other bizarre events occur. The changes to Gloria's world are small and subtle, at first... then they become much more startling.The freaky situation might just be connected to a mysterious shed in a small California town. The strangers who gather around the shed seem to know Gloria's name... and maybe they aren't strangers after all.With Gloria, Bentley Little presents one of his most complex and compelling novels ― one that is certain to surprise readers on every page.
Sunblind
Michael McBride - 2014
Border Patrol Agent Christian Rivera discovers the body of an undocumented alien in the middle of the vast Sonoran Desert with three enigmatic words carved into her flesh, presumably by her own hand, it triggers a frantic search for the remainder of her party, a group of twenty-five men and women who have inexplicably vanished into the desert.Aided by two of the agency's best trackers, Rivera follows the woman's trail into the brutal heart of one of the hottest and most unforgiving landscapes on the planet, where nothing can survive for long. As more bodies turn up, Rivera and the others begin to realize they may be up against an enemy far deadlier than the desert, an unseen adversary that will stop at nothing to take from them what it needs to survive. A mythical evil that may not be myth at all, but horrifically real, could very well be stalking them, and their only hope of surviving the same fate that befell the missing party lies in deciphering the clues to their disappearance before it's too late. If it isn't already…From Michael McBride, bestselling author of Burial Ground and Snowblind, comes Sunblind, a thrilling new novel of terror and action that will take you on an unforgettable journey from the desperate streets of Mexico, through the deadliest corridor in the world, to a place where mankind was never meant to tread.
A Cure for Madness
Jodi McIsaac - 2016
But when she receives news of her parents’ murder, she’s forced to return to the quiet town of Clarkeston, Maine, to arrange their funeral and take legal guardianship of her unpredictable and mentally ill brother, Wes.While Clare struggles to come to grips with the death of her parents, a terrifying pathogen outbreak overtakes the town. She is all too familiar with the resulting symptoms, which resemble those of her brother’s schizophrenia: hallucinations, paranoia, and bizarre, even violent, behavior. Before long, the government steps in—and one agent takes a special interest in Wes. Clare must make a horrifying decision: save her brother or save the world.
All That Remains
Al Barrera - 2015
Kyle, Sara, and Tim are scavengers, hiding in the remains of human civilization from the hungry things that destroyed it. Living on the few items that haven’t rotted in the thirteen years since civilization was wiped out. But something has shown itself: A terrible creature that betrays an intelligence in the madness of the beings that rule the planet. When the group finds Kaylee, a little girl who claims to know of a safe haven somewhere in Tennessee, they embark on a desperate journey to find it. Memory and loss, depravity and salvation— their last run will put them face to face with horrors of both man and monsters the likes of which they’ve never seen.
The Mourning House
Ronald Malfi - 2012
Sam Hatch is a shadow of his former self. He travels the byroads of America, running away from a past he cannot escape. There is no salvation for him.And then he sees the house. Like a siren, it calls to him. Yet the house is not what it appears to be. Is it a blessing, a gift...or a curse?
The Foot Soldier
Mark Rubinstein - 2013
The Foot Soldier brings you to the hell of jungle combat. Close your eyes and this novella takes you there. It conveys the terror and brutality of jungle warfare and their effect on the American riflemen--those who bore the greatest burden. It's every bit as compelling as The Things They Carried.
Louisiana Blood (A Chandler Travis and Duke Lanoix Mystery Thriller)
Mike Donald - 2019
When the remains of Jack the Ripper’s first five victims are discovered in present day Louisiana, an English detective and a local sheriff form an unlikely alliance to unravel the mystery…and find themselves caught up in a modern-day conspiracy.
Little Emmett
Abe Moss - 2019
She’s taking him somewhere safe. In the forest ahead lies a house full of children like him—children whose parents have been diagnosed like her. Mentally ill. The Cradle—a government organization hellbent on eradicating the condition—believe they have the ultimate solution. Like any other disease, they seek to quarantine it. Entire families ripped apart and placed in asylums. Total removal from the gene pool, they say. For the future of humanity… Now Emmett can’t decide what’s more frightening: this new home where he’ll supposedly be safe, hidden from The Cradle and its horrific reputation…
…or the ideas in his mother’s head which led them there in the first place.
Hell: The Necromancer
Tom Lewis - 2021
In the year of Manson, war, riots, and societal upheaval, a new and more insidious evil stalks the city, leaving a grisly trail of dismembered corpses and horrifying phenomena in its wake. And the only lead the police have is a fifteen-year-old girl with terrifying powers.From the author of ‘Hell: The Possession and Exorcism of Cassie Stevens,’ comes a terrifying new tale of supernatural horror. Sometimes evil has a child's face.