Book picks similar to
Watcher by Alen B. Curtiss
horror
novella-short
tbr
no-zombies-vampires-werewolves
The Grindhouse Experience
Sam West - 2020
The waiting list is long, the acceptance rate small. On the night of Halloween, the lucky winners will be kidnapped and taken to the secret location where The Grindhouse Experience will commence… The operation is run by Ethan Blake, the millionaire, playboy son of the notorious and world-renowned British film director, Jefferson Blake. Blake died in 1992, but his legacy lives on. His films helped define exploitation cinema in the 60s and 70s, and are some of the most violent and disturbing ever produced. Ethan has a secret agenda. He has plans for the next bunch of entrants into The Grindhouse Experience. There is a lot that the public don’t know about Jefferson Blake who did far more than just make era-defining, sleazy movies. Ethan will show these curious students exactly what it was that his father used to do. He will honour his father’s name with their blood.
Bedbugs
Ben H. Winters - 2011
ft., 2BR 2BA, eat-in kitchen, one block to parks and playgrounds. No broker’s fee.Susan and Alex Wendt have found their dream apartment.Sure, the landlady is a little eccentric. And the elderly handyman drops some cryptic remarks about the basement. But the rent is so low, it’s too good to pass up.Big mistake. Susan soon discovers that her new home is crawling with bedbugs... or is it? She awakens every morning with fresh bites, but neither Alex nor their daughter Emma has a single welt. An exterminator searches the property and turns up nothing. The landlady insists her building is clean. Susan fears she’s going mad—until a more sinister explanation presents itself: she may literally be confronting the bedbug problem from Hell.
A Lady's Brave Heart
Rose Pearson - 2021
Her brother has always been cruel but there is something even darker going on within his house. Terrified and yet determined not to sit idly by whilst her brother enacts his plan, Violet forces herself to intervene. The handsome gentleman is none other than the Duke of Abernyte and Violet finds herself beginning to lose her heart, even though she knows such a thing can never be.Matthew is quite certain that his time at war will help him with his responsibilities back in London. But when he finds himself dizzy and powerless, he can only rely on the aid of one mysterious young woman for help. Unable to recall her face, Matthew does all he can to discover her. When his interest in Lady Violet seems to drive her away from him even further, Matthew is certain she knows something important. Will his determination push her too far? And can he permit himself to open his heart to her, despite the danger?
The Right Kind of Wrong
Shilpa Suraj - 2021
And everything she might just need.Intelligence Officer Karan Bhatnagar has only vengeance on his mind. Nothing will stop him from seeking justice for his murdered parents.Not even almost losing his own life. And certainly not the doctor who healed but couldn’t save him. The woman he can’t afford to fall for. And the killer's next target.There's only one thing left to do...find the killer and end him before he ends them. Will Karan and Aria risk everything for a love that is all kinds of wrong? And yet, is the right kind of wrong.
Triggered Reality (Reality & Dreams #1)
Hadena James - 2017
For Eric Clachan, it was the day he would get justice through bloodshed. A rifle would ensure that the spree killer would never destroy another family. He wouldn’t stop there. Eric had a list of other targets inside the prison walls. Targets that would ensure justice would change. A single day would change the world and pave the way for the US Marshals to become the baddest serial killer hunters in the world. Eric knew this as he looked down the scope and took aim. Max Goff needed to relax. His life had become overwhelming. He should have gotten a massage and spent a day with friends. Instead, he stole a car and began a killing spree that would terrorize an entire city. Until the newly formed US Marshals’ Serial Crimes Tracking Unit would come hunting for him and he would learn what fear really was.
The Billionaire's Secret Baby (Part Two)
Paige North - 2018
Everyone knows that when “The Angel of Death” takes over your company, your job is as good as dead. But I’m terrified for an entirely different reason. Because Jet Bishop isn’t just my cruel and heartless new CEO. He also happens to be the father of my child, and he doesn’t even know it. Our one night stand took place years ago, and I’m certain he doesn’t remember me, or the night that rocked my world in so many ways. Now I have a beautiful little girl to protect. A job that I desperately need. A terrible man that I need to stay far away from, only now he is so close. And every hour he gets closer. Because Jet has his sights set on me again. He might not remember me, or maybe he does. What I do know is that the moment he touches me again, I will be his. I’ll melt for him like I did that one night, and he will do whatever he wants to me. Until everything I’ve ever loved is shattered in pieces around me…
Dreamland
Robert L. Anderson - 2015
Her mother taught her the three rules of walking: Never interfere. Never be seen. Never walk the same person’s dream more than once. Dea has never questioned her mother, not about the rules, not about the clocks or the mirrors, not about moving from place to place to be one step ahead of the unseen monsters that Dea’s mother is certain are right behind them.Then a mysterious new boy, Connor, comes to town and Dea finally starts to feel normal. As Connor breaks down the walls that she’s had up for so long, he gets closer to learning her secret. For the first time she wonders if that’s so bad. But when Dea breaks the rules, the boundary between worlds begins to deteriorate. How can she know what’s real and what’s not?
The Small Hand
Susan Hill - 2010
Compelled by curiosity, he approaches the door, and, standing before the entrance feels the unmistakable sensation of a small hand creeping into his own, 'as if a child had taken hold of it'.Intrigued by the encounter, he determines to learn more, and discovers that the owner's grandson had drowned tragically many years before. At first unperturbed by the odd experience, Snow begins to be plagued by haunting dreams, panic attacks, and more frequent visits from the small hand which become increasingly threatening and sinister ...
Evil In Disguise
Deborah McClatchey - 2010
Little do they know that the unsuspecting, yet odd-looking turtle, is a fiend in disguise. The town bully, Victor Lockett, kidnaps the reptile and finds out he’s made a terrible, terrible mistake! The turtle is now on the loose and the killings begin. Elmer Jacks, the pet shop proprietor, finally reveals the true identity of the turtle to the two boys. He says there is an old scroll that was lost which holds the answer to the cursed tortoise and can revert it back to human form. Charlie’s pretty neighbor, Sunni Russell, joins them on their hunt for the beast. With her help, they search the Internet for the answer to the reversal of the curse. But will they find it? And most importantly, if they find the turtle, will the special words on the scroll even work?
The Intruder (Audible Original)
Jeffery Deaver - 2021
But that tranquility is shattered when he realizes a figure from his past has arrived in town, armed with a knife, his intentions clear from the man’s attempts to break into Evan’s house in the middle of the night. The authorities can do nothing.Evan can turn only to the nightmares that plague his sleeping hours for answers. But the question is: can those dreams save him, or are they part of the intruder’s plan?
The Last Days of Jack Sparks
Jason Arnopp - 2016
No stranger to controversy, he'd already triggered a furious Twitter storm by mocking an exorcism he witnessed.Then there was that video: forty seconds of chilling footage that Jack repeatedly claimed was not of his making, yet was posted from his own YouTube account.Nobody knew what happened to Jack in the days that followed - until now.
Thirteen
Anya Allyn - 2014
This free story also includes five chapters of DOLLHOUSE, the first book in the bestselling horror series tinged with gothic romance. (less)A hidden mansion. A silent carousel. Missing girls.Hunted by her uncle, a thirteen-year-old girl flees into the woods and stumbles into a secret world of nightmarish horrors: a basement full of life-size toys and kidnapped girls forced to dress as dolls — a place where escape only exists in dreams.In the days before she knew a toy box could be a place of dread; before her hair was curled in ringlets and her lips were painted red; before she forgot her name — she was Molly Parkes.
Seed
Ania Ahlborn - 2011
His childhood is his darkest secret, but after a near fatal accident along a deserted road, the darkness he was sure he’d escaped rears its ugly head… and smiles.But this time, he isn’t the only one who sees the soulless eyes of his past. This time, his six-year-old daughter Charlie leans into his ear and whispers: Daddy, I saw it too.And then she begins to change.Faced with reliving the nightmares of his childhood, Jack watches his daughter spiral into the shadows that had nearly consumed him twenty years before. But Charlie isn’t the only one who’s changing. Jack never outran the darkness. It’s been with him all along. And it’s hungrier than ever. A new breed of dark fiction: the subtlety of Seed will haunt you, and the end will wickedly satisfy.
A Good and Happy Child
Justin Evans - 2007
After months of accepting his lame excuses and strange behavior, his wife has had enough. She demands that he see a therapist, and George, desperate to save his unraveling marriage and redeem himself as a father and husband, reluctantly agrees. As he delves into his childhood memories, he begins to recall things he hasn’t thought of in twenty years. Events, people, and strange situations come rushing back. The odd, rambling letters his father sent home before he died. The jovial mother who started dating too soon after his father’s death. A boy who appeared one night when George was lonely, then told him secrets he didn’t want to know. How no one believed this new friend was real and that he was responsible for the bad things that were happening. Terrified by all that he has forgotten, George struggles to remember what really happened in the months following his father’s death. Were his ominous visions and erratic behavior the product of a grief-stricken child’s overactive imagination (a perfectly natural reaction to the trauma of loss, as his mother insisted)? Or were his father’s colleagues, who blamed a darker, more malevolent force, right to look to the supernatural as a means to end George’s suffering? Twenty years later, George still does not know. But when a mysterious murder is revealed, remembering the past becomes the only way George can protect himself–and his young family.A psychological thriller in the tradition of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History–with shades of The Exorcist–the smart and suspenseful A Good and Happy Child leaves you questioning the things you remember and frightened of the things you’ve forgotten.From the Hardcover edition.