Book picks similar to
The Kill Riff by David J. Schow


horror
thriller
splatterpunk
paperbacks-from-hell

The Five


Robert R. McCammon - 2011
    As they move through the American Southwest on what might be their final tour together, the band members come to the attention of a damaged Iraq war veteran, and their lives are changed forever.The narrative that follows is a riveting account of violence, terror, and pursuit set against a credible, immensely detailed rock and roll backdrop. It is also a moving meditation on loyalty and friendship, on the nature and importance of families—those we are born into and those we create for ourselves—and on the redemptive power of the creative spirit. Written with wit, elegance, and passionate conviction, The Five lays claim to new imaginative territory, and reaffirms McCammon’s position as one of the finest, most unpredictable storytellers of our time.

Son of the Endless Night


John Farris - 1985
    Ancient and implacable -- armed with sensuality, delusion and horrible death -- it will join itself to human weakness in an unholy alliance.Not since The Exorcist has there been such a powerful novel of demonic possession as Son of the Endless Night.

Crooked Tree


Robert C. Wilson - 1980
    Why are the normally docile black bears now no longer afraid of humans? Why are they attacking, even when unprovoked? Is anyone controlling them? Can local attorney Axel Michelson, who lives on the edge of the national forest, where many of the bears live in their normal habitat, figure out the legend of the bear walk - and could it actually be true, as many Native Americans still believe?

The Moorstone Sickness


Bernard Taylor - 1982
    Suspicious, they try to unravel its mysterious secrets, such as why does so small a village need such a large asylum? By the same author as "The Godsend".

Goat Dance


Douglas Clegg - 1989
    What secrets lie within the ancient place known as the Goat Dance? A Haunted Lake . . . Seven-year-old Teddy Amory should have died that winter's day on Clear Lake, when she fell through the ice while skating with her older brother, Jake. But something got inside her that day . . . something terrifying . . . A Haunted Town . . . Nightmarish forces lurk in the mountains of Virginia, and a shadowy darkness has begun to spread like a shroud over the living. Now a town must face its terrifying past as a possessed child threatens to unleash an unspeakable horror . . .

The Pet


Charles L. Grant - 1986
    When he strikes in Ashford, the town reacts-setting limits on teens' activities, monitoring who goes where-and parents become paranoid.Seventeen-year-old Don Boyd doesn't need the grief. He's already under siege-he's got family trouble, girl trouble, trouble with his high school classes and trouble with the jocks who rule the school. Surely the Howler will kill someone else, somewhere else, and then Don can go back to trying to escape notice.But the Howler likes Ashford. And one frosty autumn night, the Howler chooses Don as his next victim. The attack is swift-but it doesn't go as planned. Suddenly the killer and the boy are surrounded by an unnatural mist, by green fire, by the sound of iron striking iron.And then the real horror begins.

Kill Whitey


Brian Keene - 2008
    He is unstoppable and always gets what he wants. Some say he can't be hurt. Some say he can't be killed.Larry Gibson is about to find out. He is a dock worker on the run with Sondra Belov, a beautiful stripper. Whitey wants Sondra and he will torture and kill to get her. Larry, his friends, and even his cat will never be safe unless they give him Sondra - or they kill Whitey. From horror master, Brian Keene, comes a crime adventure filled with sex, gore, and guns.

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.

Worms


James M. Montague - 1979
    But when the rain came, the creatures left the shadows...WORMSSpectres from the past tortured James Hildebrand's mind. His blackest nightmares were crowded with malevolent, coiling images of decay. Then, suddenly, he knew the threat was real.WORMSThe dead alone could not quench their hunger. And, for the living, the horrors that fed and multiplied in the darkness of the night became more terrible with the dawn...

Creed


James Herbert - 1990
    Telling the difference isn't always easy. It wasn't for Joe Creed. He just photographed the unreal. Now he had to pay the price, because he always thought that demons were just a joke. But the joke was on him and it wasn't very funny. It was deadly.

To the Devil a Daughter (Molly Fountain, #1)


Dennis Wheatley - 1953
    She sent for a wartime secret service colleague to come and help. What they discovered was horrifying beyond anything they could have imagined.Dennis Wheatley returned in this audiobook to his black magic theme which he had made so much his own with his famous best seller The Devil Rides Out. In the cumulative shock of its revelations, the use of arcane knowledge, the mounting suspense, and acceleration to a fearful climax, he out-does even that earlier achievement. This is, by any standards, a terrific story.

The Cellar


Richard Laymon - 1980
    Armed with video camcorders, these poor souls enter the forbidden house, never to return. The deeper they go into the house, the darker their nightmares become. Don't even think about going into the cellar.

Slither


John Halkin - 1980
    Out of the murky sewers they suddenly attacked —snapping, biting, ripping at his flesh. After the first sensationalism had died down, the newspapers lost interest ... the experts dismissed them as no more dangerous than ferrets ... people started to forget.But Matt knew different. All the time they were growing in size and numbers — and they preyed on living flesh!For when they returned — slithering out of village ponds, swimming pools, even bath pipes — the fate of the British population was sealed.And there was no more horrifying way to die ....

Bad Ronald


John Holbrook Vance - 1973
    Perhaps that was the trouble--no one really took a good look at Ronald. Except for his devoted mother, who saw only the son she wanted to see. Who, then, is Ronald? Ronald is that faceless unknown who waits - to take, to grab what he needs, to become the ultimate invader.

The Reddening


Adam Nevill - 2019
    Nor did it bury the horrors predating civilisation. Ancient rites, old deities and savage ways can reappear in the places you least expect.Lifestyle journalist Katrine escaped past traumas by moving to a coast renowned for seaside holidays and natural beauty. But when a vast hoard of human remains and prehistoric artefacts is discovered in nearby Brickburgh, a hideous shadow engulfs her life.Helene, a disillusioned lone parent, lost her brother, Lincoln, six years ago. Disturbing subterranean noises he recorded prior to vanishing, draw her to Brickburgh's caves. A site where early humans butchered each other across sixty thousand years. Upon the walls, images of their nameless gods remain.Amidst rumours of drug plantations and new sightings of the mythical red folk, it also appears that the inquisitive have been disappearing from this remote part of the world for years. A rural idyll where outsiders are unwelcome and where an infernal power is believed to linger beneath the earth. A timeless supernormal influence that only the desperate would dream of confronting. But to save themselves and those they love, and to thwart a crimson tide of pitiless barbarity, Kat and Helene are given no choice. They were involved and condemned before they knew it.'The Reddening' is an epic story of folk and prehistoric horrors written by Adam Nevill, the author of 'The Ritual', 'Last Days', 'No One Gets Out Alive' and the three times winner of The August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel.