Book picks similar to
Don't Read by Matt Shaw


horror
thriller
dark
novellas-short-stories

Evangeline


E.A. Gottschalk - 2013
    That secret is Evangeline, the homicidal twin "sister" who narrates this extraordinary memoir of a teenaged serial killer out for revenge and living her dream in the American Heartland.WARNING: Evangeline contains graphic language, sexual situations and violence.

The Asylum


Matt Dymerski - 2013
    What is the nature of insanity? Follow one doctor's hunt for dark Truth through a series of patient accounts, each further from the light than the last...Contains all six of the popular Asylum series of horror stories, brought together for the first time to create a single nightmarish journey into the realms of fear.

Close Reach


Jonathan Moore - 2014
      Kelly Pratihari-Reid and her husband sail their yacht into Antarctic waters, thinking their gravest concerns will be ice and storms—and their cracked marriage. A British girl shrieking across a short-range VHF frequency ends that illusion. It’s coming, she screams. It saw us and it’s coming back! Her voice is drowned by a tide of signal-jamming static, and Kelly sees a target on the radar screen: A ship is coming for them.   Thus begins an unforgettable cat-and-mouse game across stormy polar seas and dire landfalls. Kelly’s pursuers will test her to the limits of her endurance—and beyond. For the ship in her wake is crewed by pirates, with a young leader trained to use the most sadistic tortures in pursuit of his ultimate objective . . . a goal as shocking as it is horrific.Praise for Close Reach  “This is the kind of horror that will make your heart race.”—Examiner.com   “Mind-blowing . . . I started reading it and didn’t stop till I finished.”—Cabin Goddess   “A visceral edge-of-the-seat roller coaster ride.”—The Novel Pursuit   “A book that will appeal to sailing enthusiasts, horror enthusiasts or both!”—To Read or Not to Read Is Not a Question   “Pure adrenaline . . . definitely recommended for fans of dark thrillers.”—Pamelibrarian“Set on the icy polar seas, bristling with suspense, Jonathan Moore’s Close Reach is as horrifying and claustrophobic as any haunted house story. The plot pitches and yaws with twist after twist, and by midpoint the reader is a goner. Leave the lights on, lock the doors, feed the cats, this is an irresistible page-turner of the first order. Highly recommended!”—Jay Bonansinga, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Walking Dead: Fall of the Governor, Part Two and author of The Sinking of the Eastland“Readers will need their sea legs for this hugely enjoyable, roller-coaster voyage of a novel. Close Reach is a brutal tale of redemption and revenge with a heroine to root for at every shocking twist and turn. Jonathan Moore’s writing is as rich as it is raw and thrilling—and storms along at a breakneck pace that will leave you gasping for air.”—Frazer Lee, Bram Stoker Award–nominated author of The Lamplighters, Panic Button, and The Jack in the Green

Taken


Adam Light - 2012
    His wife knows all about it.She told him to do it.

Man Hunt


K. Edwin Fritz - 2013
    Living there are men who have committed all manner of moral crimes. Deceived by an elaborate ruse, they wake deep within fortress walls where they are tortured, brainwashed, and then trained to physical perfection. When they are finally released to the island's hills and abandoned streets, they are told one simple rule: Survive long enough and you will be sent home. The island's only other inhabitants are women. In "Man Hunt", survival of the fittest means being literally hunted. It is "Lord of the Flies" meets hard-core feminism, because it tells both sides of the story.

Panic Button


Frazer Lee - 2011
    On board the private jet, they are invited to take part in the in-flight entertainment – a new online gaming experience. But this is no ordinary game. Trapped at 30,000 feet and forced to play for their lives and the lives of their loved ones by their mysterious captor, they are about to learn that putting your life on-line can have deadly offline consequences… In PANIC BUTTON, Frazer Lee explores timely fears about online privacy and security, cyber bullying and identity theft.

A Dark Autumn


Kristopher Rufty - 2013
    "He s a writer seeking solitude. They are four women on vacation looking for fun and relaxation. But when they meet they will find only terror. An appalling crime will lead to an unthinkable, gruesome revenge. In the deep woods of Mountain Rock, no one will hear the screams, the agony, the mayhem. No one will hear them die. "

Prodigal Blues


Gary A. Braunbeck - 2006
    Braunbeck comes Prodigal Blues, his first foray into non-supernatural horror.After he finds himself stranded at a truck stop in Missouri, Mark Sieber gets one of the biggest shocks of his life when he recognizes the face of a little girl on a Missing poster as belonging to the same little girl he saw only a few minutes before. Looking around for some sign of her, he comes back to his table in the restaurant to find the little girl sitting there, waiting for him."I'm sorry, mister," is all she seems capable of saying.As the police and media begin to converge on the truck stop, Mark retreats back to his hotel room to call his wife and let her know what's going on, only to be taken hostage by the same people who released the little girl. But his abductors are little more than children themselves.Ranging in ages from 12 to 19, Mark's abductors are in the process of escaping from a sadistic pedophile known to them only as "Grendel" a man whose practices include torture and mutilation specifically, mutilation of the face.Mark's abductors have all been mutilated by Grendel, who may be very close behind them, and need someone with a "normal face" to help them carry out their plan for justice and return home.For the next few days, Mark will come to understand not only the inhuman horror that these children have suffered, but how they eventually learned to fight back and how they discovered that Grendel and his practices are at the center of a very complex network catering to those whose tastes run toward the molestation and mutilation of children.Prodigal Blues is perhaps Braunbeck's most suspenseful and emotionally powerful work to date; a story of suffering, depravity, redemption, and in the end the individual's compassion for his or her fellow human beings that can lead some people to find reserves of courage and determination they never thought they possessed.Terrifying, suspenseful, sometimes surprisingly funny, and ultimately moving, Prodigal Blues is quintessential Braunbeck.

They Never Die Quietly


D.M. Annechino - 2008
    Simon, the highly intelligent, cunning, and deceptively charming villain, redefines the depths of human evil. He believes God has given him absolute authority to purify his unholy victims through a ritual that ends in a grisly crucifixion. Driven by warped religious beliefs and guided by his dead mother, very much alive in his subconscious, Simon abducts “chosen ones” and holds them captive in a Room of Redemption. There, the victims helplessly await their crucifixion. Detective Rizzo urgently yearns to solve the case and gain the respect of her male colleagues, but her obsession to apprehend the killer on her own clouds her thinking. When Simon outsmarts Rizzo and captures her, determined to make her his next victim, she must employ all her resources—both physical and intellectual—to outwit the villain at his own game.

Sinclair: The World's End Murders Through the Eyes of a Killer


Ryan Green - 2018
    They had their whole lives ahead of them. They had nothing to fear and everything to look forward to. Their naked bodies were discovered the following day. They were found six miles apart from each other. No attempt had been made to conceal their bodies, and both girls had been beaten, gagged, tied, raped and strangled. The case attracted widespread media attention and despite the Police's best efforts, they were unable to identify a culprit. Within the next six months, the investigation was scaled down. The World's End killers were still at large. Free to continue terrorising the streets of Scotland. Thanks to the advances in DNA profiling, investigators were able to link the murders of Christine Eadie and Helen Scott to an Angus Sinclair, who was known to the Police. Sinclair had pleaded guilty to culpable homicide of an eight-year-old girl when he was just sixteen and was serving a life sentence for the murder of another seventeen-year-old girl. It is not known how many victims suffered at the hands of Sinclair. He is thought to have killed at least another four women but it could have been twice that amount. Bestselling author Ryan Green assumes the role of Angus Sinclair and attempts to fill in the blanks on one of Scotland's most notorious serial killers. Sinclair is a shocking true story about lust, manipulation, dominance and extreme violence. CAUTION: This book contains descriptive accounts of sexual abuse and violence. If you are especially sensitive to this material, it might be advisable not to read any further.

The Cage


Brian Keene - 2010
    Now, with some of their co-workers dead, the hostages are being slaughtered one-by-one, and if they want to survive the night, they'll have to escape... The Cage.

The Summer I Died


Ryan C. Thomas - 2006
    When Roger Huntington comes home from college for the summer and is met by his best friend, Tooth, he knows they're going to have a good time. A summer full of beer, comic books, movies, laughs, and maybe even girls. So much pain. The sun is high and the sky is clear as Roger and Tooth set out to shoot beer cans at Bobcat Mountain. Just two friends catching up on lost time, two friends thinking about their futures, two friends-- So much blood. --suddenly thrust in the middle of a nightmare. Forced to fight for their life against a sadistic killer. A killer with an arsenal of razor sharp blades and a hungry dog by his side. So much death. If they are to survive, they must decide: are heroes born, or are they made? Or is something more powerful happening to them? And more importantly, how do you survive when all roads lead to death!

What Good Girls Do


Jonathan Butcher - 2017
    She lives with no name.She has never left her room.All she has ever known is pain and abuse.Until now.Today, she will breathe fresh air for the first time, feel sunshine against her skin and even witness human kindness.But she has a point to make - a bleak, violent point - and when she meets her neighbour, Serenity, she finds the perfect pupil.Forced to endure a lesson distilled from a nightmarish existence, Serenity must face unflinching evil, witness the unspeakable, and question her most deeply-held views, until at last she has no choice but to fight for her family's survival.

Pressure


Betsy Reavley - 2018
    The tension escalates as the survivors realise there is a murderer among them, who is preparing to strike again and again…With mounting desperation, people begin to turn on each other. While they struggle to identify who is responsible, each must contend with their own past and the secrets they are hiding.But who is who? And which of them will be next to die?

Bully Boy Blue


John Nicholl - 2017
    Now she's pregnant and in fear for her life. Can she ever escape him?A dark psychological suspense novella by ex police officer and child protection social worker, John Nicholl.The book contains material that some readers may find distressing from the start. It is dedicated to survivors anywhere.