Book picks similar to
Evil Whispers by Owl Goingback


horror
horror-thriller
folk-horror
have-in-tbr-piles

The Twisted Ones


T. Kingfisher - 2019
    After all, how bad could it be? Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself. Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale. From Hugo Award–winning author Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher.

Disturb Not the Dream


Paula Trachtman - 1980
     Mulberry is a three-story Victorian in the Hamptons, the perfect summer retreat for the Bradley family. Forty years ago a family was murdered in the house. Now, the bloodstains have been washed away, and the grisly killings are just a chilling local legend. But something unseen still waits in the shadowed hallways and antique furnished bedrooms. For psychiatrist Bert Bradley, his wife Alice, budding teens Stacey and Richard, and innocent five year old Lissie, the summer begins with days at the beach and neighborhood cocktail parties. But all is not right in Mulberry. The cellar door won’t stay closed. Lissie wakes screaming with night terrors. Strange, vivid dreams spread like a contagion to all the Bradleys. The sins of the past have never left Mulberry; they are slowly spinning a web around the unsuspecting family. Shocking secrets will soon be revealed and the innocent will be drawn inexorably towards a night of terrifying bloodshed. DISTURB NOT THE DREAM

The Stronger Half


Jeff Coleman - 2018
     It was after his identical twin Bill suffered the traumatic brain injury that left him crippled and unable to speak. George would see the man sitting on a bench at the mall, or at the store standing by the magazines. But he never seemed to notice George, not even when he tried to communicate. Twenty years later, after dropping out of college to care for Bill, George has become a junior high school janitor. Between his struggling with debt, working a physically demanding job, and taking care of Bill’s needs, life has not been easy. But George doesn’t know the meaning of difficult until the man finally acknowledges him, triggering a terrifying series of supernatural events that leaves George and Bill running for their lives. And as George struggles to protect his twin from an otherworldly evil, he discovers a startling secret about Bill—one that leaves him questioning decades-old assumptions and wondering which of them truly is the stronger half.

Nightscape


Stephen R. George - 1992
    That's when they came. The people who wanted to take him away...change him. Make him like them. They were more horrible than words could describe. And there was nothing he could do to stop them.Bonnie Laine watched her son in terror. Every day he changed a little, grew weaker, paler. Each night he woke up screaming "Don't let it get me!" And somehow she knew the horror was just beginning. Soon it would grow far beyond a little boy's nightmares.Shep Thomas had dedicated his life to destroying the creatures that killed his brother. And Evan was going to lead him right to their hiding place, the place they called the creche. And even though they were far fro human, he was going to send them straight to Hell!

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".

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.

Penpal


Dathan Auerbach - 2012
    Before long, it was adapted into illustrations, audio recordings, and short films; and that was before it was revised and expanded into a novel!How much do you remember about your childhood?In Penpal, a man investigates the seemingly unrelated bizarre, tragic, and horrific occurrences of his childhood in an attempt to finally understand them. Beginning with only fragments of his earliest years, you'll follow the narrator as he discovers that these strange and horrible events are actually part of a single terrifying story that has shaped the entirety of his life and the lives of those around him. If you've ever stayed in the woods just a little too long after dark, if you've ever had the feeling that someone or something was trying to hurt you, if you remember the first friend you ever made and how strong that bond was, then Penpal is a story that you won't soon forget, despite how you might try.

Imaginary Friend


Stephen Chbosky - 2019
    Determined to improve life for her and her son, Christopher, she flees an abusive relationship in the middle of the night with her child. Together, they find themselves drawn to the tight-knit community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. It's as far off the beaten track as they can get. Just one highway in, one highway out.At first, it seems like the perfect place to finally settle down. Then Christopher vanishes. For six long days, no one can find him. Until Christopher emerges from the woods at the edge of town, unharmed but not unchanged. He returns with a voice in his head only he can hear, with a mission only he can complete: Build a treehouse in the woods by Christmas, or his mother and everyone in the town will never be the same again.Twenty years ago, Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower made readers everywhere feel infinite. Now, Chbosky has returned with an epic work of literary horror, years in the making, whose grand scale and rich emotion redefine the genre. Read it with the lights on.

Death Day


Robert Neville - 1986
    The author also wrote "Assassin", "Spawn" and "Slugs".

A Small Dark Place


Martin Schenk - 1997
    Until they hear the story of a little girl who slipped down an abandoned mine. Americans respond with prayers. And cash. Now the Wileys hatch their own desperate plan. But something goes terribly wrong, as their precious daughter Andromeda--scared of shadows, monsters, and most of all, the dark--falls into the darkest place of all.Years later, she returns home, all grown up and recovered from the incident that made her famous. Beautiful, alluring, Andromeda is coming back to the town where it began. To share with everyone the secrets of a small, dark place--and to show them the evil they have made. . . .From the Paperback edition.

The Girl Next Door


Jack Ketchum - 1989
    Shady, tree-lined streets, well-tended lawns and cozy homes. A nice, quiet place to grow up. Unless you are teenage Meg or her crippled sister, Susan. On a dead-end street, in the dark, damp basement of the Chandler house, Meg and Susan are left captive to the savage whims and rages of a distant aunt who is rapidly descending into madness. It is a madness that infects all three of her sons and finally the entire neighborhood. Only one troubled boy stands hesitantly between Meg and Susan and their cruel, torturous deaths. A boy with a very adult decision to make.

The Bird Eater


Ania Ahlborn - 2014
    He abandoned his rural Arkansas hometown vowing never to return, until his seven-year-old son died in an accident, plunging Aaron into a nightmare of addiction and grief. Desperate to reclaim a piece of himself, he returns to the hills of his childhood, to Holbrook House, where he hopes to find peace among the memories of his youth. But solace doesn’t come easy. Someone—or something—has other plans. Like Aaron, Holbrook House is but a shell of what it once was, a target for vandals and ghost hunters who have nicknamed it “the devil’s den.” Aaron doesn’t believe in the paranormal—at least, not until a strange boy begins following him wherever he goes. Plagued by violent dreams and disturbing visions, Aaron begins to wonder if he’s losing his mind. But a festering darkness lurks at the heart of Holbrook House… a darkness that grins from within the shadows, delighting in Aaron’s sorrow, biding its time.

The Haunting of Goldville Cemetery


Carrie Bates - 2020
    The cemetery caretaker mysteriously vanished, never to be seen again.Becca, her husband and sons are thrilled to move into their new house. But the shack at the edge of their property leaves Becca feeling unsettled. When she investigates, voices are heard but no one is there. A cold hand grips hers, leaving Becca running in fear.When her sons defy orders to stay away from the shack, the evil is unleashed. For Becca's youngest son has taken something that belongs only to the dead; and they want it back. When a man haunts their dreams, all too soon, Becca's family realizes that he's not in their dreams at all. Can the family fight back against the evil before it's too late? Or, will they spiral into a nightmare that they can never escape from?

The Claw


Ramsey Campbell - 1983
    Beautiful, hypnotic, ancient, it was the sacred -- and deadly -- talisman of the fabled Leopard Men of Africa.Unsuspected, it would crawl its way into his mind, bringing horrifying destruction into his home. And unresisted, it would demand an unbelievable sacrifice. And then -- perhaps -- it would move on...

Dead Trees Give No Shelter


Wil Wheaton - 2017
    Now, after twenty years away, Jay has come back to his hometown of Garron, Ohio, to uncover the truth about his brother’s death.