Book picks similar to
The Companion by Ken Greenhall


horror
paperbacks-from-hell
physical-tbr
united-states

The Fog


James Herbert - 1975
    A yawning, bottomless crack spreads through the earth, out of which creeps a fog that resembles no other. Whatever it is, it must be controlled.

Layla


Colleen Hoover - 2020
    After weeks in the hospital, Layla recovers physically, but the emotional and mental scarring has altered the woman Leeds fell in love with. In order to put their relationship back on track, Leeds whisks Layla away to the bed-and-breakfast where they first met. Once they arrive, Layla’s behavior takes a bizarre turn. And that’s just one of many inexplicable occurrences.Feeling distant from Layla, Leeds soon finds solace in Willow—another guest of the B&B with whom he forms a connection through their shared concerns. As his curiosity for Willow grows, his decision to help her find answers puts him in direct conflict with Layla’s well-being. Leeds soon realizes he has to make a choice because he can’t help both of them. But if he makes the wrong choice, it could be detrimental for all of them.

Come Down Into Darkness


Clare McNally - 1988
    There were dark stories of murder and suicide told about it. But it was just what Doreen Addison was looking for - big, inexpensive and secluded. It was perfect for her child refuge.At first it was just a crazy man in the woods and a dead cat on the back porch. But then the children started seeing and hearing a beautiful woman dressed in black and there was a terrible accident in the cellar. Something wasn't right about this house.And then the nightmare really started as children disappeared and Doreen found herself confronting an evil power beyond all understanding. Only one thing could save her and the children from destruction: she must discover the secret of the woman in black who commands them all to Come Down Into Darkness.

The Night of the Moonbow


Thomas Tryon - 1989
    In this spellbinding novel of idyllic childhoods torn apart by the blossoming terror of child pitted against child, Tryon spins a tale of the hidden horrors that lurk behind children's innocence, and an inevitable explosion of evil.

Bring Me Children


David Lozell Martin - 1992
    John Lyon, a veteran but emotionally unstable newscaster, is drawn into a sinister web of evil in the heart of Appalachia when he investigates a woman's bizarre story about a West Virginia doctor who has been killing babies.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle


Stuart Turton - 2018
    again.It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed.But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden – one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party – can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot. The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath...

If I Die Tonight


Alison Gaylin - 2018
    She used to be able to tell what they were thinking, feeling, if they were lying…But it's as though every day, every minute even, she knows them a little less. Her boys aren’t boys anymore, they’re becoming men - men she’s not sure she recognises, men she’s not sure she can trust.So when one of her son’s classmates is killed in suspicious circumstances, people start asking questions.Was it really a hit and run? A car-jacking gone wrong? Or something much more sinister?Now Jackie must separate the truth from the lies.How did that boy end up on the road?And where was her son that night?

The Soft Whisper of the Dead


Charles L. Grant - 1982
    Grant has written a vampire novel set in the author's distressing little town of Oxrun Station. It is a region to be found on the same maps as Lovecraft's Arkham and King's Castle Rock. The Soft Whisper of the Dead is the first of the Oxrun tales to be placed in other than a contemporary setting. The first in a trilogy of historical horror novels, it is the account of the evil Count Braslov's attempt to subjugate the Oxrun population to his vampiric will.This first novel of a fast-paced trilogy is fraught with gas-light atmosphere, plucky women, a befuddled constabulary and is filled with the excitement of the classic vampire tale. Great fun.

Pearl


Josh Malerman - 2019
    Inside your head.Or is it?Come to me... A voice that makes you want to pick up that axe over in the corner of the barn.And swing it.And kill.Feed us. Feed us now.It is the voice of Pearl.Sing for me. Sing for your precious Pearl...

14 Ways to Die


Vincent Ralph - 2019
    Ten years ago, Jess's mother was murdered by the Magpie Man.She was the first of his victims but not the last.Now Jess is the star of a YouTube reality series and she's using it to catch the killer once and for all.The whole world is watching her every move.And so is the Magpie Man.

Bones & All


Camille DeAngelis - 2015
    Since she was a baby, Maren has had what you might call "an issue" with affection. Anytime someone cares for her too much, she can’t seem to stop herself from eating them. Abandoned by her mother at the age of 16, Maren goes looking for the father she has never known, but finds more than she bargained for along the way. Faced with love, fellow eaters, and enemies for the first time in her life, Maren realizes she isn’t just looking for her father, she is looking for herself. The real question is, will she like the girl she finds?

No Exit


Taylor Adams - 2017
    No help for miles. What would you do?On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college student Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. With the roads impassable, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop. Inside are some vending machines, a coffee maker, and four complete strangers.Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm . . . and makes a horrifying discovery. In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked in an animal crate.Who is the child? Why has she been taken? And how can Darby save her?There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, and no way out. One of her fellow travelers is a kidnapper. But which one?Trapped in an increasingly dangerous situation, with a child’s life and her own on the line, Darby must find a way to break the girl out of the van and escape.But who can she trust?

Sleeping Beauties


Stephen King - 2017
    If they are awakened, and the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place. The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied, or is she a demon who must be slain?

Pretty Girls


Karin Slaughter - 2015
    No one knew where she went - no note, no body. It was a mystery that was never solved and it tore her family apart.Now another girl has disappeared, with chilling echoes of the past. And it seems that she might not be the only one.Claire is convinced Julia's disappearance is linked.But when she begins to learn the truth about her sister, she is confronted with a shocking discovery, and nothing will ever be the same...

Moroi


John Black - 2020
    A blackout. A vacation gone awry. Snow, feral dogs and flesh-eating humans. Silence. Growling. Silence...It begins with random reports of a new flu virus...What should have been a relaxing winter vacation in a small town with the family turns into a hopeless situation.Andrei, Lili, their seven-year-old son and Lili’s parents soon understand that the blackout was just the beginning. A mysterious disease turns everybody else into growling monsters and now they must fight for their lives. There's no power, no cell phone signal, no food supplies and it's the middle of the winter. Roads are covered in snow and there's nowhere to go.Every decision, any move, could mean a terrible death. Are they the only ones alive? What makes these zombie-like abominations tick?The family struggles to find food, shelter, much needed medicine and to stay alive in the process. But why do they seem to be immune? And if one of them gets sick, will the others be able to find a cure? All while being hunted by growling creatures and packs of stray dogs. Growlers can be read as a standalone.I Am Legend meets Bird Box in this terrifying new version of the apocalypse.Growlers Moroi is book one of the Growlers series, a post-apocalyptic horror thriller that follows a family as they struggle to survive after an unknown disease quickly transforms their world...