Book picks similar to
The Nosferatu Conspiracy: The Sleepwalker by Brian James Gage
history
horror
politics
historical-fiction
The Monsters of Templeton
Lauren Groff - 2008
In the wake of a wildly disastrous affair with her married archeology professor, Willie Upton arrives on the doorstep of her ancestral home in Templeton, New York, where her hippie-turned-born-again-Baptist mom, Vi, still lives. Willie expects to be able to hide in the place that has been home to her family for generations, but the monster's death changes the fabric of the quiet, picture-perfect town her ancestors founded. Even further, Willie learns that the story her mother had always told her about her father has all been a lie: he wasn't the random man from a free-love commune that Vi had led her to imagine, but someone else entirely. Someone from this very town. As Willie puts her archaeological skills to work digging for the truth about her lineage, she discovers that the secrets of her family run deep. Through letters, editorials, and journal entries, the dead rise up to tell their sides of the story as dark mysteries come to light, past and present blur, old stories are finally put to rest, and the shocking truth about more than one monster is revealed.
Girls of Brackenhill
Kate Moretti - 2020
It’s been seventeen years, and though desperate to start a new life with her fiancé, Hannah is compelled to question the events of her last summer at Brackenhill.When a human bone is found near the estate, Hannah is convinced it belongs to her long-lost sister. She launches her own investigation into that magical summer that ended in a nightmare. As strange happenings plague the castle, Hannah uncovers disturbing details about the past and startling realizations about her own repressed childhood memories.Fueled by guilt over her sister’s vanishing, Hannah becomes obsessed with discovering what happened all those years ago, but by the time Hannah realizes some mysteries are best left buried, it’s too late to stop digging. Overwhelmed by what she has exposed, Hannah isn’t sure her new life can survive her old ghosts.
The Tenth Ward
Rockwell Scott - 2019
And he’s about to take on his most dangerous assignment. Rand has seen better days—his ex is getting remarried, and a persistent “non-believing” university auditor is threatening his job. The last thing Rand needs is to take on a new ghost hunting case. But when a desperate couple approaches him about their terminally-ill daughter, Georgia, who claims a ghost is visiting her hospital room at night, he can’t seem to turn them away. Rand figures that banishing Georgia’s ghostly intruder will be a routine matter. All he needs to do is guide the lingering ghost to the afterlife. But when the ghost returns with a vengeance, attacking Georgia and terrorizing other hospital wards, Rand realizes this is no benign spirit, but an evil demonic entity. He’s faced such monsters before, but never one so complex, so aggressive and violent. If he doesn’t unravel its ancient origins and discover how to banish it back to hell, a hospital full of people will fall victim to its destructive agenda. The Tenth Ward is a supernatural horror thriller for readers who love stories about hauntings and battles with the demonic—the truest form of evil that exists in our world.
You are only one click away from joining Rand Casey in his terrifying battles against mankind’s oldest and most deadly enemy—the servants of the devil.
The White Devil
Justin Evans - 2011
When seventeen-year-old Andrew Taylor is transplanted from his American high school to a British boarding school—a high-profile academy for the sons of England’s finest—his father hopes that the boy’s dark past will not follow him from across the Atlantic. But blood, suspense, and intrigue quickly surround Andrew once again as he finds himself struggling with a deadly mystery left unsolved by a student from Harrow School’s past—the enigmatic poet Lord Byron.
Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula
Valdimar Ásmundsson - 1901
Called Makt Myrkranna (literally, “Powers of Darkness”), this Icelandic edition included an original preface written by Stoker himself. Makt Myrkranna was published in Iceland in 1901 but remained undiscovered outside of the country until 1986, when Dracula scholarship was astonished by the discovery of Stoker’s preface to the book. However, no one looked beyond the preface and deeper into Ásmundsson’s story.In 2014, literary researcher Hans de Roos dove into the full text of Makt Myrkranna, only to discover that Ásmundsson hadn’t merely translated Dracula but had penned an entirely new version of the story, with all new characters and a totally re-worked plot. The resulting narrative is one that is shorter, punchier, more erotic, and perhaps even more suspenseful than Stoker’s Dracula. Incredibly, Makt Myrkranna has never been translated or even read outside of Iceland until now.Powers of Darkness presents the first ever translation into English of Stoker and Ásmundsson’s Makt Myrkranna. With marginal annotations by de Roos providing readers with fascinating historical, cultural, and literary context; a foreword by Dacre Stoker, Bram Stoker’s great-grandnephew and bestselling author; and an afterword by Dracula scholar John Edgar Browning, Powers of Darkness will amaze and entertain legions of fans of Gothic literature, horror, and vampire fiction.
The Seance
John Harwood - 2008
Once, a family disappeared there. And now Constance Langton has inherited this dark place as well as the mysteries surrounding it. Having grown up in a house marked by the death of her sister, Constance is no stranger to mystery, secrets, and the dark magic around us. Her father was distant. Her mother was in perpetual mourning for her lost child. In a desperate attempt to coax her mother back to health, Constance took her to a seance hoping she would find supernatural comfort. But tragic consequences followed, leaving her alone in the world-- alone with Wraxford Hall. Saddled with this questionable bequest, she must find the truth at the heart of all these disappearances, apparitions, betrayal, blackmail, and villainy, even if it costs her life. John Harwood's second novel delivers on the great promise proven by his first with this gripping mystery set in the heart of Victorian England.
Darker Still
Leanna Renee Hieber - 2011
It was the most exquisite portrait I'd ever seen--everything about Lord Denbury was unbelievable...utterly breathtaking and eerily lifelike.There was a reason for that. Because despite what everyone said, Denbury never had committed suicide. He was alive. Trapped within his golden frame.I've crossed over into his world within the painting, and I've seen what dreams haunt him. They haunt me too. He and I are inextricably linked--bound together to watch the darkness seeping through the gas-lit cobblestone streets of Manhattan. Unless I can free him soon, things will only get Darker Still.
Inamorata
Megan Chance - 2014
The twins, who have fled scandal in New York, are determined to break into Venice’s expatriate set and find a wealthy patron to support Joseph’s work. But the enigmatic Hannigans are not the only ones with a secret agenda. Joseph’s talent soon attracts the attention of the magnificent Odilé Leon, a celebrated courtesan and muse who has inspired many artists to greatness. But her inspiration is otherworldly and comes with a devastatingly steep price.As Joseph falls under the courtesan’s spell, Sophie joins forces with Nicholas Dane, the one man who knows Odilé’s dark secret, and her sworn enemy. When the seductive muse offers Joseph the path to eternal fame, the twins must decide who to believe—and just how much they are willing to sacrifice for fame.
The Leper House
Andrew Taylor - 2014
They built it outside the Suffolk town so it would not infect the healthy with its horrors. But the town itself is long gone, washed away by the North Sea. Only the Leper House remains, a shelter for the unwanted. A bereaved man strays there on a stormy night when the bell tolls once again beneath the waves. In a nearby house, a woman waits for history to repeat itself. When time isn’t what it seems, nor is love and nor are ghosts. And nor are we. The Leper House is a 19,000-word novella, written for Kindle Singles and available here for the first time. Andrew Taylor is a British crime and historical novelist whose books include the international bestseller, The American Boy (a Richard-and-Judy selection), and the Roth Trilogy (filmed for TV as Fallen Angel). Among his many awards are the Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Excellence in crime writing. His latest novel is The Scent of Death, winner of the 2013 Historical Dagger.
Devil in the Countryside
Cory Barclay - 2017
It's 1588, the height of the Reformation, and a killer is terrorizing the German countryside. There are reports that the legendary Werewolf of Bedburg has returned to a once-peaceful land. Heinrich Franz, a cold and calculating investigator, is tasked with finding whomever -- or whatever -- the killer might be. He'll need all the help he can get, including that of a strange hunter who's recently stumbled into town. Though they're after the same thing, their reasons are worlds apart. And through it all, a priest tries to keep the peace among his frightened townsfolk, while a young woman threatens his most basic beliefs.
DRT (A Ghost Story)
Eric Thomas - 2012
It turns out Greg has no idea what it really means to be afraid. After witnessing a horrifying fatal crash, a crash Greg believes he had a hand in causing, he begins to see the ghost of the dead driver. The strain becomes unbearable as Greg attempts to determine why the ghost has sought him out, what it wants from him, and whether any of what is happening is even real.DRT is the second novel from author Eric Thomas. It's an alternating look at the absurd and the shocking as he tells the story of one man's struggle to maintain his sanity.
Things in Jars
Jess Kidd - 2019
Luckily, her search is aided by an enchanting cast of characters, including a seven-foot tall housemaid; a melancholic, tattoo-covered ghost; and an avuncular apothecary. But secrets abound in this foggy underworld where spectacle is king and nothing is quite what it seems.Blending darkness and light, history and folklore, Things in Jars is a spellbinding Gothic mystery that collapses the boundary between fact and fairy tale to stunning effect and explores what it means to be human in inhumane times.
Level Zero: A Nightmare in Riverton Novel
Dan McDowell - 2021
A sinister character lurks in an abandoned tunnel just beneath, manipulating Chris as he struggles to walk a fine line between his love for the dark and the macabre and a collapsing marriage.Todd Adams, a manic depressive financial advisor, awakens from a coma along with 53 others, fighting to understand unexplained phantom memories that plague them. As each work to unravel their meaning, they begin to disappear into a labyrinth beneath the hotel at the torment of a bizarre captor. Discovering mutual commonality in an unresolved past, Todd works to lead them out.Will they find the key to freedom?
Where Darkness Dwells
Glen R. Krisch - 2011
They stumble upon the Underground, a network of uncharted caverns just below the surface of Coal Hollow. Time holds no sway in the Underground. People no longer age and their wounds heal as if by magic. By morning, one boy is murdered, while the other never returns home.The Underground is hidden for a reason. Certain locals want to keep their lair secret, no matter the cost.After learning a long-held family secret, Theodore Cooper is set adrift. Once well off and set in his ways, he is no longer sure of his role in society. He leaves his comfortable life in Chicago to tramp the countryside, searching for meaning in this new context. During his travels, he’s drawn to an abandoned house in Coal Hollow and impulsively buys it.Cooper doesn’t know that a massacre had taken place in his new house. In 1851, a group of bounty hunters tracked a family of runaway slaves to the home. They wound up killing the homeowners as conspirators, then chased the runaways into a cellar tunnel leading to the Underground. The bounty hunters cornered the slaves and killed them. To everyone’s astonishment, the slaves then rose from the dead. Over time, the bounty hunters chose to stay below ground, taking advantage of their new slave labor to build what they term “Paradise.”Their numbers are augmented by deathbed miners who are offered immorality in exchange for their subservience and labor.Below a town struggling to survive both the Great Depression and the closing of the local coal mine, there lives an immortal society built on the backs of slavery and pervasive immorality.
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter
Theodora Goss - 2017
One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father’s former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capture…a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes.But her hunt leads her to Hyde’s daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns. With the assistance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary continues her search for the elusive Hyde, and soon befriends more women, all of whom have been created through terrifying experimentation: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherin Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein.When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past return. Now it is up to the monsters to finally triumph over the monstrous.