Book picks similar to
The Sickness by Stephen R. King
horror
short-stories
backburner
book-i-have-that-i-haven-t-read-yet
The Park Service
Ryan Winfield - 2012
That's what fifteen-year-old Aubrey VanHouten learns when he stumbles onto a post-apocalyptic paradise where the few remaining humans live on the run from deadly drones controlled by a mysterious Park Service. Torn between loyalty to his new best friend and trusting the girl of his dreams, Aubrey must learn to survive in a world he never dreamed existed while searching for answers to why everything he was taught is a lie. Beautifully written with challenging moral dilemmas and heart-melting friendships, The Park Service trilogy is an epic coming-of-age-story that will inspire and delight readers young and old.
Spot and Smudge
Robert Udulutch - 2017
The Spot and Smudge series explores the love of a unique family, the loyalty of their very special dogs, and the perils of underestimating them. These smart, imaginative stories weave together elements of horror, thriller, mystery, espionage, crime, medical drama, and genetic engineering. Note: This series contains some colorful language and mature themes. "Shove over brother, let me show you the proper bloody way to strangle someone." The Hogans weren’t looking to start a war. They just wanted to leave their troubles behind, move closer to grandma, and let their kids adopt some damn puppies.
But their quaint new town is harboring some gruesome secrets…
…and their strange new pups are not what they appear to be.
There’s a dark connection between these mysterious orphaned canines and the town’s twisted criminals…and that connection is dragging the Hogans into a ruthless fight they aren’t prepared to win. But the grit of a devoted family, like the loyalty of a faithful pair of dogs, shouldn't be underestimated… …Especially when those cunning dogs are the most significant leap forward in the forty million years of canine evolution.
The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror
Joyce Carol Oates - 2016
As he grows older, he begins to collect “found dolls” from the surrounding neighborhoods and stores his treasures in the abandoned carriage house on his family's estate. But just what kind of dolls are they? In “Gun Accident,” a teenage girl is thrilled when her favorite teacher asks her to house-sit, even on short notice. But when an intruder forces his way into the house while the girl is there, the fate of more than one life is changed forever. In “Equatorial,” set in the exotic Galapagos, an affluent American wife experiences disorienting assaults upon her sense of who her charismatic husband really is, and what his plans may be for her.In The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror, Joyce Carol Oates evokes the “fascination of the abomination” that is at the core of the most profound, the most unsettling, and the most memorable of dark mystery fiction.
Bad Games
Jeff Menapace - 2013
Some fishing, some barbecue, some games...The Fannelli brothers are heading to Crescent Lake too. Some stalking, some kidnapping, some murder, definitely some games...though not necessarily the type of games the Lamberts had in mind. But it doesn't matter. The Lamberts are going to play whether they like it or not.An intense psychological thriller, Bad Games has the dark, mind-bending chills of The Bad Seed combined with the fish-out-of-water dread and suspense of Deliverance. So let Jeff Menapace's highly anticipated suspense thriller keep you up all night as it delves into the mystery of nature versus nurture when comprehending the evil in man, along with the will and determination an innocent family must summon to fight back against horrific odds.
One-Hit Wonder
Lisa Jewell - 2001
When Bee turns up dead, and Ana is dispatched to the big city to clear out her apartment. Instantly seduced by the secondhand glamour of Bee's baubles, bangles and bottles of Pierre-Jouet, Ana takes up with Bee's wild club-hopping cronies. News of a missing cat and a remote country cottage soon convince Ana that her sister was leading a secret life. Now Ana is on a mission to discover what really happened to Bee Bearhom, the one-hit wonder--and what is about to happen to the unremarkable Ana Wills.
One Semester
Charlotte Byrd - 2016
But I wasn’t going to let that stop me from attending my dream school. There’re more than 30,000 students on campus. What were the chances that I’d see him again? Or so I’d thought. And then I discovered that Tristan was going to be my roommate! It’s as if the whole universe conspired for us to fall in love again.
Titanoboa: Journey To The Amazon
P.K. Hawkins - 2017
They've become routine to him. But this time, the expedition is going to be anything but normal. Hank, along with a hardened river boat captain, his much younger girlfriend, and his main professional rival, are in the Amazon purely to study frogs. All their plans vanish quickly, however, when they are attacked by a Titanoboa, an enormous prehistoric snake that should be millions of years in its grave. As their crew dwindles from a series of terrifying attacks, they discover a secret: a long lost colleague of the professor has taken up residence on an island in the deepest parts of the jungle. And if Hank and the others can't find and stop her, then the Titanoboa will not be the only extinct monster unleashed back into the world.
I Can't Sleep
J.E. Rowney - 2020
“I can’t sleep.Not since June 16th, 2018.Not since what happened…”Traumatised by the events of her past, exhausted by insomnia, Becky Braithwaite believes that a new start will help her to recover.She leaves home to fulfil her brother’s dreams, and honour the life he never had…but she soon finds that escaping from the past is not as easy as she imagined.Is her fatigued mind playing tricks on her, or is danger really lurking in the shadows?This unputdownable psychological thriller will keep you turning the pages to find out the truth.
Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest
Gregg Olsen - 1997
Linda Burfield Hazzard. It was supposed to be a holiday for the two sisters. But within a month of arriving at what the locals called Starvation Heights, the women were emaciated shadows of their former selves, waiting for death. They were not the first victims of Linda Hazzard, a quack doctor of extraordinary evil and greed who would stop at nothing short of murder to achieve her ambitions. As their jewelry disappeared and forged bank drafts began transferring their wealth to Hazzard’s accounts, Dora Williamson sent a last desperate plea to a friend in Australia, begging her to save them from the brutal treatments and lonely isolation of Starvation Heights.In this true story—a haunting saga of medical murder set in an era of steamships and gaslights—Gregg Olsen reveals one of the most unusual and disturbing criminal cases in American history.