Book picks similar to
The Skin Show by Kristopher Rufty


horror
horror-novels-novellas
fiction
unread-gotem

Three Incidents at Foster Manor


P.T. Phronk - 2019
    An apocalyptic storm. Whispering voices in the air. She was right to fear the worst-case scenario. Amy Burnett has been buried in her work as a security expert. She likes it that way—her dark past can’t invade her thoughts as long as she stays holed up in her office. So why the heck has she ended up at a gothic mansion’s doorstep in the middle of the night? It’s because Craig Foster summoned her there. Amy’s company built the sealed chamber in his basement, for any worrisome worst-case scenario, but now the safe room has presented a scenario of its own: Craig’s daughter is trapped inside. It should be a quick fix. After all, what’s the worst thing that can happen when a stranger arrives at a remote mansion on a stormy night? An impossible mystery? A haunting? A visit from the lurking strangers in the woods? Surely not all three—that would require extraordinarily bad luck. Unfortunately, Amy’s been short on luck lately. Three Incidents at Foster Manor will keep you guessing until the end with a twist-filled, fast-paced, genre-blending mix of mystery, ghost story, thriller, and cosmic horror that will chill you to the core. This is a standalone story, but also acts as a sequel to P.T. Phronk's previous mystery, The Arborist. "Full of interesting characters, twists and scares, it will keep you off-balance all the way to the end!" —Franny "I'm always down some ghostly fun but then the fun dial twisted and wow." —Amazon Reviewer "If you like reading stories somewhat reminiscent of The Twilight Zone this is for you." —Alanna Patterson

The Doll Collector


Joanne Stephen-Ward - 2018
    Utterly brilliant." Marjorie Hall-Venmore - reviewer A couple and their young son burn to death in a house fire. A girl dies from a nut allergy. A woman falls under a train during the rush hour. An accountant falls down the steps to his basement.Their deaths appear to be accidents but Gloria knows they were murdered because she murdered them. And every time Gloria kills she buys a doll.But how many dolls will she need to keep her satisfied?When Gloria takes a room as a lodger her behaviour starts to spin out of control. Gloria wants love and happiness and friendship and she will do anything she can to get what she wants... What everyone is saying about The Doll Collector: "Amazing book. Loved it from beginning to end." Tracey Shults - reviewer"The ending was a real twist and I did not see it coming" Michelle Debnam - reviewer"OMG. A crime book with a difference." Nicki's Book Blog"The Doll Collector is one hell of a creepy read that is sure to give you goosebumps." Chelle's Book Reviews"I highly recommend this book.... a breath of fresh air and not too graphic." Peggy Beaver - reviewer"OMG I loved this twisty and creepy read which had a couple of twists I just didn't see coming!" Sandra Robinson - reviewer The Doll Collector is a twisty and gripping serial killer thriller. It will appeal to fans of psychological thrillers, as well as fans of authors like Mel Sherratt, Sharon Bolton, Jenny Blackhurst and Rachel Abbott.

Crawlspace


Dan Padavona - 2015
    After Jerry stumbles delirious from a bloody accident, a beautiful girl rescues the boy and brings him home to her decrepit apartment complex.Soon Jerry discovers a hidden entrance into the attic, a crawlspace through which he can secretly enter any apartment.But he isn't the only person aware of the secret entrance.Crawlspace is a terrifying journey into urban legend, darkness, and murder.

Bedlam Boy: The Forger & The Traitor


Ian W. Sainsbury - 2020
    Sainsbury. Two short, punchy, action-packed episodes in each book.They murdered his parents, shot him in the head, and left him to die. They should have made sure.Twenty years after Tom Lewis watched his parents die, those responsible are being killed. One by one.Gentle, brain-damaged Tom, a giant of a man who can barely speak, can’t be responsible for their deaths. Can he?When Tom Lewis was shot, something new was created. Something unique. Something deadly. Something patient enough to plan revenge for twenty long years.Meet Bedlam Boy

The Killing Kind 2


Bryan Smith - 2014
    Rob Scott, the love of her life, has been released from prison. Roxie has spent their time apart hatching new ways of perpetrating acts of epic bloodshed, and soon it’ll be time to hit the road again. Other serial killers join them on a cross-country tour of murder and atrocity designed to make legends of them all and cement a legacy of spectacular carnage. Get on the bus and take the ride…if you dare.

The Wisdom Of Secrets: The Templar Covenant


Ami Noone - 2014
    Although they have been mentioned in the bible and traces of their existence are scattered throughout the globe, Peter Madeloy had always presumed that the myths of the possible existence of an ancient brotherhood, living on Earth for milennia, was nothing more than that, a myth. Until one day his father is brutally murdered and his mother is kidnapped. In exchange for his mother’s safe return, Peter must enter his father’s secret world, uncover the truth about his mother’s kidnappers and find the ancient artefact his father had dedicated his life to protecting. Peter enlists the help of his uncle, Daniel O'Brien, a professor of Philology and avid researcher of veiled organisations and his wife, Emily, a geneticist, to unravel a series of clues his father has left him. Together they embark on a journey that thrusts them into the centre of an ancient battle for supremacy that uncovers a truth that for them, will change the history and future of humanity simultaneously. With the enemy watching their every move Peter, Daniel and Emily must figure out his father's clues in time to save his mother and ultimately protect the world from the true secret that was unearthed from beneath King Solomon's Temple all those centuries ago.

A House of Ghosts: A Riveting Haunted House Mystery Boxset


Mason Dean - 2021
    Struggling with writer’s block and a tight deadline for his new novel, David Pragmore suggests a retreat away from Hartford to his wife, Susan, in order to find fresh inspiration. The publishers want David’s new book to shine in the horror genre, so when David reads about the odd manor with a haunted past, it seems like the perfect place to recapture his muse. But David and Susan quickly discover that some stories aren’t meant to be told.The Haunting of Saxton MansionAuthor Rob Hooper and his wife, Janet, are looking for a quiet place to live. The grandiose, isolated Victorian-style relic is everything they could want. A mysterious, widowed owner offers them a deal that can’t be passed up. But they quickly discover that some things are too good to be true.

Villa Normandie


Kevin Doherty
    The Normandy coastal village of Caillons is under German occupation, its villagers struggling to survive. With her husband forced into compulsory service for the German Reich, Jeanne Dupré, mother of two adolescent daughters, risks everything to lead the local Resistance cell.Life becomes even more dangerous with the arrival of British agent Daniel Benedict. He needs Jeanne's help to complete his mission, vital to Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings. But Jeanne is suspicious that they are not fighting for the same outcome. Their joint foe is Jürgen Graf, a Nazi oberleutnant set on wiping out the local Resistance. Aware that a spy is at large, Graf is on a ruthless mission to hunt Benedict down. With the help of a network of Catholic priests, Benedict penetrates the heart of the Nazis’ defences against Allied invasion, the Atlantic Wall. As the lives of Jeanne and Benedict become increasingly intertwined can they stay true to themselves? Will they have to sacrifice all in their fight for freedom..? ‘Villa Normandie’ is a moving historical novel, presenting an accurate picture of life under Nazi occupation. It is thoroughly detailed, meticulously researched and vividly authentic - depicting the turbulent world of the French resistance and the struggle of the French people for freedom.

Operation Jai Mata Di


Pratik Shah - 2015
    The hostage-takers threaten to shoot pilgrims every day, unless the incumbent Government accedes to their demands. With the popular Hindu festival of Diwali just around the corner and elections less than six months away, the Government at the center is under immense pressure to act. What will the Government do? The army? The intelligence agencies? The common man? No terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Who are these men? Is there a larger plot? Faced with such unprecedented events, will the country descend into unimaginable anarchy or will it rise above the issues of collective apathy and greed that have plagued it since Independence?

In The Middle of Middle America


David B. Lyons - 2021
    

Helltown: A Horror Novel


Stephen Bentley - 2015
    It's nothing like the suburb you might live in . . . Unless, that is, an insane, Listerine-guzzling Realtor sold you your house? Or perhaps your postman happens to have a disturbing relationship with his claw hammer? A grieving Dan LaBarbara knows something is different in Helltown as soon as he comes back home. Yeah, sure, the town always been a little off. You can feel that about the place, like if you stepped into a house whose only occupants were freshly murdered corpses in an upstairs bedroom. But this is something else entirely. Standing in his little brother Barbie's basement workshop, holding one of those dioramas Barbie's been building since the accident, the ones that seem to move when you hold them, Dan can feel Barbie's terror. Barbie must know something is coming, something big, something evil. He's trying to warn Dan in the only way he knows. Why else would Barbie build a diorama depicting a man-sized version of a cartoon rabbit with bloody teeth about to devour a trembling teenager? Why else would he spend so much time crafting an intricate model of Death standing over a pimply teenager in the school library? And let's not even talk about that little model of the mob of undead surrounding the massive tower of vicious black spines behind the high school. Hilltown has a story to tell, and the lonely brain-damaged man who builds magical dioramas in his basement workshop has been telling it all along. As the evil closes in around them, Dan and his new love interest Jessica must do the impossible: save everyone one in Hilltown before it's too late.

A Memory Of Demons


David Ambrose - 2003
    But Tom's demons return with a vengeance as he discovers the baby is possessed by the spirit of another girl, who went missing 10 years ago - the night Tom had his last drug-fuelled blackout.

Blood Dance (The Lost Lansdale #3)


Joe R. Lansdale - 2000
    Family, friends and farms lost in the conflict, they’ve been drifting for the past decade—driving sheep, punching cattle, chasing Indians. It pays a man’s bills, mostly… but just mostly. More than panning for gold, it turns out, though that had seemed like a good idea at the time.And so they find themselves in the Dakota Territory, looking at a cold December with empty pockets and emptier prospects. Which is how otherwise (mostly) upstanding southern gentlemen come to contemplate signing-on as hired guns for a train robbery.If the robbery came off well, no one was double-crossed, and the boys retired to live a comfortable life south of the border, it wouldn’t be much of a Western. Fortunately, Lansdale knows better, and has written a rip-roarer. You probably guessed that from the title, though. Long-unavailable, having fallen between the cracks of the publishing industry, Joe R. Lansdale's Blood Dance is a genuine Western Adventure to rival any of the classics. Fans of Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour, take note.

The Girl in the Spider's Web: by David Lagercrantz | Recap and Analysis


Instarecap - 2015
    It brings back two memorable characters from the blockbuster trilogy by the late Stieg Larsson; “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”, “The Girl Who Played with Fire”, and, “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” . Like the three books, “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” is translated from the original Swedish language, and most of the action happens in and around Stockholm. Lisbeth Salander, the brilliant anti-social hacker once again teams up with Michael Blomkvist, a relentless reporter, to help infiltrate a murderous technology organization with links to powerful corporations, law enforcement agencies, and nothing less than the the United States’ National Security Administration, or NSA. There appears to be a distinct difference in storytelling between the three Larsson books and Lagercrantz’s Spider, which can be attributed to the subject matter on hand or the writer’s style, and maybe even both. Larsson seemed to let events unfold slowly, since he did, after all, have three books to gradually introduce us to, and develop, the characters especially Lisbeth Salander. Some critics decry Lagercrantz’ narrative as fragmentary and confusing, with dozens of characters in a wide array of backgrounds: journalists, spies, hackers, law enforcement officers, scientists and of course killers, who at times seem to briefly emerge, vanish, and then turn up again. Then there is the sometimes arcane language of hacking, cryptography, physics, and artificial intelligence, where there are complicated moments when the characters discuss such prime-number factorization (PNF), self-teaching algorithms, singularity theory, black holes, prime-number factorization and black holes. Many of the characters are indeed geniuses and Lagercrantz mostly succeeds in allowing the science to be decipherable. The original trilogy’s anti-heroine, Lisbeth Salander, isn’t much seen in the first half of the book, but is quickly inserted into the action, and of course, turns into the main focus of events. Most of the characters from the original trilogy show up in the book, including the shadow of Lisbeth’s horrendous dead father, Zalachenko, and the traitorous Hans Faste. Two new compelling characters are introduced: Camilla Salander/Zalachenko, Lisbeth’s evil twin, and 8-year old August Balder, and autistic savant and mathematical genius, who shares most of the spotlight with Salander. The action is fast paced and the characters, many, and like the first three Larsson novels, may be a tough read to put down. Read more.... Download your copy today! for a limited time discount of only $2.99! Available on PC, Mac, smart phone, tablet or Kindle device. © 2015 All Rights Reserved by Unlimited Press Works, LLC

Thirteen Degrees: 13 Scary Stories and Tales of Horror


Brenden Dean - 2015
    Bring a blanket, huddle around the fire, and try to keep warm as you encounter psychotic abductors, deadly spirits and demons of the woods. When They Come Alone - One man's Halloween ritual is far more vicious than it seems. His playful prank is a mask for something more. A Monster in his Closet - A boy is troubled by something in his closet. But, as we will soon see, there is no monster in his closet. Eat Your Heart Out - A quarreling lesbian couple's camping trip goes awry. They may not survive the night when something intrudes in the night. Meet Me at the Looking Tree - A tragic tale of two boys, a towering tree, and a new pair of binoculars. When one of them goes missing, the other's life will never be the same. The Deer Cam - An avid hunter's first hunt of the season turns horrific when noises send him running home. The terror is not over when noises accompany his sleep. What Mustn't be Seen - One night, a boy hears his next door neighbor's home being invaded. But what he witnesses is much worse than a couple of thieves. He Who Waits - Ever since childhood, a girl is constantly watched by a suited man just outside her home. Nobody else can see him. Later in life, a tragedy shows the man's dreadful intentions. The Orb - A metallic, glowing sphere lands in a small town, and those who come close to it are flooded with euphoric visions. Those who touch it disappear in a flash. But unknown horrors await them on the other side. The Way of the World - A wealthy man invites a beggar over for dinner, but the menu may not be to his liking. You Should've Opened the Door - A lonely woman hears news of an escaped killer. That night, the strange knocking begins. Forgetful - A man awaits much needed sleep. But he soon realizes he has forgotten a few routine things. One of which may cost him his life. Sensations - A little girl enjoys spending the night at her grandparents, save for the fact that something visits her at night. Soon, she will learn the horrid truth of the sensations she feels at night. A Stranger's Approach - A distraught woman is having enough trouble affording life when a stranger begins to follow her. Quickly, the stalking becomes too much, and a fateful climax ensues. What people are saying about Brenden Dean's works - “Beautifully written. Absolutely amazing.” –David B. “Holy s***. That was amazing.” -Jacob S. “Now that’s how you write a f****** twist.” -Stefan T. “There’s a lot of good stories out there, but [When They Come Alone] is great.” -Fredrick H. “. . . It's very well written and personable. High praise.” -R. Bowers “F****** amazing. I love it.” -Paula M. “Oh, this is the first thing I’ve read on /r/NoSleep that actually freaked me out. Good job. Good f****** job.” -Cassie A. “Wow. Holy s***. . . The ending really got me.” -Bradley S. "This is probably the saddest story I’ve ever read on /r/NoSleep. God damn, made me cry even.