Book picks similar to
Spawn by Shaun Hutson
horror
fiction
paperbacks-from-hell
shaun-hutson
Pin
Andrew Neiderman - 1981
Father was consumed by his medical practice and an analytical approach to life. But he understood the sensual hunger growing inside his children's young bodies. He knew they could help each other answer "The Need". Father had Science. Father had Reason. And he had Pin.
The Wolfen
Whitley Strieber - 1978
The savage killing of two New York City policemen leads two detectives, a man and a woman bound together by a strange, tough passion, to hunt down the wolfen, called werewolves in former days.
Cellars
John Shirley - 1982
Monsters made of blood arise from drains, an invisible hellhound devours human flesh, feral children stalk the shadowy streets and make murder a terrifying game. Occult investigator Carl Lanyard risks his life, his love, and his sanity as he battles the unspeakable forces of darkness. A modern classic by a master of the macabre in a new revised edition.
Keeper of the Children
William H. Hallahan - 1978
It could be someone's pet cat, or a stuffed teddy bear, or a smiling marionette doll.But whatever it is that comes creeping up the stairs will have two qualities: it will be animated by a terrifying, diabolical force, and it will have only one intention -- murder.If Edward Benson wants his daughter back, he will have to fight a battle no human has ever fought before. And he must win, for only the victor will return with his life -- and his soul.
Stage Fright
Garrett Boatman - 1988
Superstar Izzy Stark has the power to make your dreams - and nightmares - come true. He's the master of disaster, the guru of gore, the doctor of doom, the duke of death and destruction - and you can't escape this command performance.
Dark Companions
Ramsey Campbell - 1982
Not all companions are friendly. There are many that you most definitely do not want to see. When Elaine was working late at the office, she thought she was all alone. But something sinister was in the elevator shaft…working its way to her floor. Miles, too, thought he was alone in his new house, the house of a murderer, but he, too, had an unwanted companion. And Knox will never forget what was waiting for him in the dense fog. Come and meet all of these companions and more in this chilling collection of horror tales by award-winning master of terror Ramsey Campbell. That clawing sound you hear, the haunting singing, the moving shadow—they all mean that something is waiting to make your acquaintance. Contains “The Companion”, the story Stephen King called “one of the three finest horror stories I have ever read”. [cover art by Jill Bauman]
The Godsend
Bernard Taylor - 1976
Born in mystery of an unknown mother. Abandoned the morning of her birth. Adopted by the Marlows, who already have four children of their own.THE OBSESSION...Once unleashed, where will it end? The ultimate evil. Profound. Shattering. Ask Bonnie - demonic possession is child's play.THE NIGHTMARE...At first they are accidents. The crib death of the Marlows' baby. The drowning of their son. Then a third child's neck is broken. And the unspeakable is begun...
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!
Twins: Dead Ringers
Bari Wood - 1977
Made into the motion picture Dead Ringers by David Cronenberg.
Childgrave
Ken Greenhall - 1981
But then he sees them for himself: weird and uncanny images of the dead appearing in his photographs. The apparitions seem to have some connection to Childgrave, a remote village in upstate New York with a deadly secret dating back three centuries. Jonathan and Joanne feel themselves oddly drawn to Childgrave, but will they survive the horrors that await them there?The third novel by Ken Greenhall (1928-2014), whose works are receiving renewed attention as neglected classics of modern horror, Childgrave (1982) is a slow-burn chiller that ranks among Greenhall’s best.“Writing in Shirley Jackson’s precise, sharp, chilly prose, Greenhall delivers a slippery book that can’t be pinned down, all about spectral photography, little dead girls, snowbound small towns, and the disquieting proposition that maybe God is not civilized.” - Grady Hendrix, author of Paperbacks from Hell“A very well-orchestrated, eerie tale.” - Publishers Weekly
666
Jay Anson - 1980
666 takes the reader into the world of evil that lies unsuspected behind the door of an ordinary-looking house: a house that reappears from time to time near any city, waiting invitingly, innocently, for someone to rent it, a house in which a dreadful, bloody, orgiastic crime recurs again and again, bringing its victims screaming to the very brink of hell—and into the hands of the devil himself.
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.
The Strangers
Mort Castle - 1984
He’s everybody’s buddy, has a great sense of humor, works hard at his typical boring job to provide for the wife and kids. And he is a Stranger. Michael seethes with furious impatience for the coming of the Time of the Strangers, when he and millions like him will be able at last to reveal their true selves to a horrified, helpless world.
Somebody Come and Play
Clare McNally - 1987
except in the rambling mansion where Myrtle Hollenbeck paced up and down like a mad woman, waiting for the return of her children.But Myrtle's waiting is soon over: one night she is found hanging from her daughter's skipping rope. Everyone believes Myrtle's death to be a case of routine suicide; everyone, that is, apart from Cassie Larchmont, the ten-year-old child who witnessed Myrtle's death, and Robert Landers, an investigating police officer who hears from Cassie how a dark shadow stood by Myrtle's side that fearful night.At the same time, Nicole Morgan comes into Cassie's life. Dark-haired, malevolent, dressed in quaint old-fashioned clothes popular decades before, Nicole seems bent on luring the other children into Myrtle's haunted mansion. The fabulous playroom they discover conceals untold horrors, while outside the terror that has lain quietly on the lake bed for thirty years rises slowly towards them. Only Landers can save them before that evil kills them all...
The Jonah
James Herbert - 1981
Sent to a small coastal town to investigate drug smuggling, Kelso soon found his life—and his sanity—in great danger.