Book picks similar to
Descendants by Stephen R. King
horror
stephen-king
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anthologies
Dragged Into Darkness
Simon Wood - 2003
People spend their entire lives staving off the dark—but no matter the measures taken, black paths and shadowy pits lurk in the unlikeliest of places, waiting to pull the unwary into the depths of despair.These eleven tales offer a morbid sampling of the many forms and fashions of terror—from the subtle prickling of neck hairs at the kiss of a ghostly breeze to the raw-throated screams and feverish clawing of a desperate fight for survival.Witness eleven people torn from their ordinary lives and cast into twisted realities that test their sanity, faith, and very will to live…A pilot must land a crippled aircraft on an impossible runway…A doctor feels far too much sympathy for his deformed patients…A schoolgirl’s secret contract could cost her mother’s soul…A woman whose pack-rat obsessions hide the obscene…For these and seven others, the darkness comes from within and without, subtle, deadly…and relentless.
Fear of Gravity
Brian Keene - 2004
As in life, there are no happy endings, and no matter how high one flies, theres always gravity.
Born Evil
Julia Derek - 2018
Thankfully, he doesn't see her. Having long known Shane has a brain with psychopathic tendencies, her worst fears may be confirmed. Ever since he accidentally shot his father to death at age six, she has done everything she can to ensure Shane doesn't become a full-blown psychopath. He has behaved normally up until now. Have her efforts been in vain? She can tell he's changing, becoming increasingly dangerous, but she can't stomach putting him in a psych ward. But then she finds pics of a dead girl in his phone, a girl everyone thought had died accidentally...NOTE: BORN EVIL is a stand-alone psychological thriller with no sex and very little violence.
Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer
Demelza Carlton - 2013
The worst part is that they're human. "Name?" "Nathan Miller.""What happened?""I was shot.""By whom?""A homicidal lunatic with a gun and bad aim." "Her name?""Caitlin Lockyer.""What happened to her?""Looks like someone tried to kill her."Nathan found Caitlin on a beach covered in blood. Saving her life was just the start. Now he's the prime suspect and he has to find out who's really responsible. Both of their lives depend on it.Who hurt her? Why was he shot? What did he promise? Why doesn't his story add up? Who was the dead man on the beach? What will she remember when she wakes up? A tiny taste of what's in store: "Stay away from her, Nathan. That girl isn't good for you."Stay away from her? I'd go crazy with worry in a day. "You don't know her."Chris looked grim. "Neither do you. Is there anything you wouldn't do for her?" "Yes," I snapped. "I wouldn't die for her."Chris turned around to stare at me, her mouth hanging open. "Do you want to know why?" I asked steadily. "I wouldn't die for her because I wouldn't be able to protect her any more. What if I missed one of the people who hurt her? I couldn't take that risk. She's too important." Nightmares Trilogy Dark, disturbing and definitely scary - Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer is the first book in Demelza Carlton's Nightmares Trilogy. The second book is Necessary Evil of Nathan Miller.
Chosen
R.S. Broadhead - 2017
No emotion. No sympathy. Only emptiness. Piper McAdams’s life was normal. Career? Check. Boyfriend? Check. Friends? Check. One unsettling run in with a homeless man turns everything from normal to terrifying. She begins seeing…things. Things she can’t seem to explain or make any sense. As if things aren’t already getting out of hand, Piper receives news that the only family member she has is dead. She thinks maybe a trip across the country to her hometown will get her away from all the strange events happening. After a late night accident, Piper isn’t in her hometown burying her loved one. She’s in a town called Hell. All she wants to do is leave, but the people seem to be holding her there for some reason. A reason she feels threatens her life. Around every corner things become darker and scarier. Can she escape what is coming for her?
A Question of Will
Alex Albrinck - 2012
They burned down his house. They beat him within an inch of his life. And then they realized they had the wrong man.They should have killed him when they had the chance.Will Stark is a thirty-five-year-old self-made billionaire. He's happily married and father to a young son he adores. He's well-loved in his community for his philanthropic efforts. He lives in a beautiful home inside a private, secure community designed to provide safety for his family from those who would do them harm.His idyllic world is shattered when, despite his best efforts, men storm his community, murder his family in their home, and burn his house down. In his efforts to rush to the aid of those he loves, Will is seized, beaten, and nearly killed.And as it's happening, the men who've attacked him realize they've mistaken him for someone else.Will's rescue from certain death brings him into the midst of a battle between two factions of a secret society, one in which members learn the secrets of developing superhuman abilities. And it's a battle in which a man named Will Stark has been the focal point. Will seizes the opportunity to learn these secrets, and battle those who destroyed his family. His own rapid development, however, means he may become a target for attack of his own accord.As he builds his new life, however, Will is faced with a critical decision. Will he use his new abilities to seek out vengeance? Or will he risk everything he has to save those he holds most dear?
Breakout:
Dominique Mondesir - 2017
Looking for a major payoff to save his brother and sister, he needs money and fast. But when his imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit and shipped lightyears away from family that need him the most, his options are taken from him one by one. Now locked away in a prison where the vilest and most dangerous reside, hope looks bleak. He needs help and he needs it fast. But can he rely on the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy, a crazed scientist, a plucky engineer and a backstabbing thief, to get the job done. There’s only one way to find out, but is he willing to bet his life on it?
Excess: The Art of Treason
Mathias Frey - 2012
And he decides to act.
The Peeling & Other Terrifying Tales (Horror Collection)
Iain Rob Wright - 2018
A new outbreak is about to begin. The world's most deadly disease is loose, and anyone who catches it is doomed. Symptoms include coughing, sneezing, abdominal pain, and rotting of the flesh. There is no cure. Infection is 100% fatal. Stay calm. Please do not panic. The situation is under control. It is under control. The Peeling & Other Terrifying Tales is a collection of novellas and short stories from bestselling horror author Iain Rob Wright. It begins with the 80-page novella THE PEELING, and also includes several short stories, most of which have never been published before. Full table of contents below: 1. THE PEELING 2018 (novella) 2. THE PEELING OF SAMUEL LLOYD COLLINS 3. THE PEELING OMNIBUS (5 previously released novellas set in The Peeling universe) 4. EHLLF (short story) 5. VLOG LIFE (short story) 6. HEIRLOOMS (short story) 7. THE EAGLE & THE WOLF (short story) 8. CHICKEN BOY (short story) 9. THE WITNESS (short story) 10. THE BOB SAGA (1 previously released short story & 1 previously unpublished) "Iain Rob Wright scares the Hell out of me!" - J. A. Konrath "Iain Rob Wright is sick and twisted." - David Moody "A master of the genre." - Matt Shaw
A Good and Useful Hurt
Aric Davis - 2012
The last either expects is romance, but that’s what they get as they follow their off-kilter careers and love lives into complete and total disaster.When Mike follows a growing trend and tattoos the ashes of deceased loved ones into several customers’ tattoos, he has no idea that it will one day provide the solution — and solace — he will sorely need. And when the life of a serial killer tragically collides with the lives in the tattoo shop, Mike and Deb will stop at nothing in their quest for revenge, even if it means stepping outside the known boundaries of life and death. Ink that is full of crematory ashes, a sociopathic killer, and pain in its rawest form…this is going to hurt.When the hope of redemption runs headlong into the dark side of life’s chaos, we are left with one of the most haunting thrillers in recent memory. A Good and Useful Hurt delivers the bittersweet essence of life with the sting of a needle in skin.
Blood at the Premiere
R.R. Haywood - 2016
At a film premiere she tries engaging a producer about a new project… before everything goes terribly wrong.Soon Swallow finds herself on the run amidst the full horror of the Undead. Along with a small band of survivors, and one miserable producer, Swallow must do everything just to stay alive on the blood-soaked streets.As the Undead get more numerous, can she run, beat and hack her way out of trouble?
The House of Strange Stories
Ruskin Bond - 2018
It was behind me, then it was before me. Then it was over me. I was in the arms of the corpse!’With The House of Strange Stories, celebrated writer Ruskin Bond brings forth a collection of some of the most blood-curdling tales ever written. Featuring Stacy Marie Belloc Lowndes’ ‘The Lodger’, Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Red-Headed League’, Wilkie Collins’ ‘The Duel’, Bram Stoker’s ‘The Sqaw’, Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado’, and several of Bond’s own, these tales of macabre, suspense, vampires, and haunted houses will leave even horror fans terrified.
Collected Ghost Stories
M.R. James - 1931
R. James is widely regarded as the father of the modern ghost story, and his tales have influenced horror writers from H. P. Lovecraft to Stephen King. First published in the early 1900s, they have never been out of print, and are recognized as classics of the genre. This collection contains some of his most chilling tales, including A View from a Hill, Rats, A School Story, The Ash Tree, and The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance. Read by BAFTA and Emmy-award winning actor Derek Jacobi, and with haunting and evocative music, these tales cannot fail to send a shiver down your spine.
Before You Sleep: Three Horrors
Adam Nevill - 2016
In this book you'll find two ghost stories and a tale of ancestral demoniac horror. In the big white house on the hill angels are said to appear . . . When the children left the house, their toys remained . . . A confused and vengeful presence occupies the home of a first-time buyer . . .
Miramont's Ghost
Elizabeth Hall - 2015
Only one person knows the truth: Adrienne Beauvier, granddaughter of the Comte de Challembelles and cousin to the man who built the castle.Clairvoyant from the time she could talk, Adrienne’s visions show her the secrets of those around her. When her visions begin to reveal dark mysteries of her own aristocratic French family, Adrienne is confronted by her formidable Aunt Marie, who is determined to keep the young woman silent at any cost. Marie wrenches Adrienne from her home in France and takes her to America, to Miramont Castle, where she keeps the girl isolated and imprisoned. Surrounded by eerie premonitions, Adrienne is locked in a life-or-death struggle to learn the truth and escape her torment.Reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, this hauntingly atmospheric tale is inspired by historical research into the real-life Miramont Castle in Manitou Springs, Colorado.