Book picks similar to
Ratcatcher by V.J. Chambers


paranormal
horror
v-j-chambers
supernatural

The Gravewatcher


Rockwell Scott - 2018
     When workaholic Eleanor receives an anonymous message that her estranged brother Dennis is dead, at first she doesn’t believe it. But when attempts to contact him fail, she puts her upcoming work project on hold and rushes to Finnick, Louisiana — the small, backward town where her brother lived. There, the locals tell her that Dennis committed suicide, although she isn’t so sure about that. Eleanor temporarily settles into Dennis’s creepy, turn-of-the-century house, intending to only stay long enough to pack his few belongings. But that night, Eleanor spots a young boy in the cemetery behind Dennis’s house, speaking to the gravestones. When she approaches him, Eleanor’s interruption of the boy’s ritual sets off a chain reaction of horror she could have never prepared for. The footsteps downstairs, the voices, and the shadowy apparitions are only the beginning. Dennis wasn’t alone in that house, and neither is she. Eleanor soon learns that the boy is being oppressed by a demonic entity. What’s worse, her brother Dennis had also interfered with the boy’s nightly ritual and incurred the wrath of the evil spirit. Now Eleanor must finish what her brother started — to rescue the boy from the clutches of hell before he loses his soul forever. But why is the demon so interested in the boy? What does it want? Eleanor discovers there are others in Finnick who know of the boy’s nightly visits to the graveyard and want them to continue. And they will do whatever it takes to stop Eleanor from ruining their carefully laid plans. The Gravewatcher is the debut novel from supernatural horror author Rockwell Scott.

The Children in the Lake: A Story You Will Never Forget


Mark Edward Hall - 2019
    Nearly a century later there are those who still report seeing the children swimming beneath the surface like elusive dolphins. After losing her husband in a violent car crash, Rachel King and her two young sons venture to Arrowhead Lake to heal. When Rachel discovers that Great Woods Timber is planning to clear-cut this beautiful wilderness she enlists the help of Lilly Bowman and her mysterious father, chief and shaman of the Wabanaki nation. But dark events have been set in motion and Arrowhead Lake is under siege by a sinister force of mercenaries. When Chief Neptune vanishes, Rachel and Lilly call on Seth Ferguson, the local deputy sheriff for help. Together they discover an astonishing truth; a shadowy cabal that will stop at nothing to obtain the secret of Arrowhead Lake, a secret that if unearthed could have far-reaching consequences. When one of Rachel’s sons vanishes in the Lake, she and Lilly embark on a harrowing journey to find him. What they discover is a mind boggling truth that will change their lives forever. *

The Disappearance of Katie Wren


Amy Cross - 2016
     A mutilated body is pulled from the Thames. A mysterious house hides dark secrets, protected by the greatest power in the land. When her daughter Katie vanishes just a few days after arriving in London, Winifred Wren immediately heads to the city. Frantic with worry, she quickly finds herself stonewalled. Katie's apartment appears to have been ransacked, with strange symbols daubed all over the walls, but the police refuse to help. And then Winifred meets Annabelle Churchill, a down-on-her-luck journalist who claims to know the truth. Soon, Winifred learns about the horrors that lurk behind some of London's doors. A mysterious house is said to hide an ancient society, and it quickly becomes apparent that Katie has been drawn into the clutches of a cult. Dark forces are gathering, and an ancient evil is about to be invoked. Meanwhile, the crows and ravens of the city are gathering, preparing for a day that was prophesied two thousand years ago. The Disappearance of Katie Wren is a horror novel about one woman's search for her daughter, and about the secrets that lurk in one of the world's largest cities.

The Hag


Erik Henry Vick - 2019
    But the demons have a new leader, and Toby, Benny, Shannon, Mike, and Scott now face the collected might of the demons inhabiting Oneka Falls.They hunted the Demon King in the forest around the town and sparked a war with an enemy they barely understood. Worse yet, by attacking Herlequin and disrupting his plans, they painted a bright target on their own backs for the rest of the demons in the town. Led by Chaz Welsh and Lee LaBouche, the demons strike back, forcing the demon hunters to run for their lives.The Hag advances the horrifying series that will bring back your childhood fear of the dark. If you like your hair standing on end, if you like your pulse pounding with fear, then you'll love this terror-inducing, tense thriller from Erik Henry Vick.The Bloodletter Collections:    Demon King--Book One    The Hag--Book Two (release date: September 6, 2019)    Our Lady Chaos--Book Three (release date: December 6, 2019)If you like your terror in smaller bites published more rapidly, the complete contents of the series is also available in The Bloodletter Saga..Please note: The complete contents of this collection also appear in Wrecker and Black Swan, books one and two of The Bloodletter Saga. How can Toby, Benny, Shannon, Mike, and Scott hope to win a war against the demons entrenched in Oneka Falls? How can they even hope to survive?

Come with Me


Ronald Malfi - 2021
    Haunted by her absence--and her ghost--Aaron goes through her belongings, where he finds a receipt for a motel room in another part of the country. Piloted by grief and an increasing sense of curiosity, Aaron embarks on a journey to discover what Allison had been doing in the weeks prior to her death.Yet Aaron is unprepared to discover the dark secrets Allison kept, the death and horror that make up the tapestry of her hidden life. And with each dark secret revealed, Aaron becomes more and more consumed by his obsession to learn the terrifying truth about the woman who had been his wife, even if it puts his own life at risk.

Veiled


Karina Halle - 2016
    He had other plans for her.Death.It's something that Ada Palomino has always known so well, having grown up in a house of horrors, surrounded by a family plagued by ghosts and demons and things that go bump in the night.But after the sudden and tragic death of her mother two years ago, death has never felt so personal. Or so close.Now eighteen, Ada is trying to move on with her life and the last month of summer holds nothing but sunshine and promises with her first year at a Portland design school just around the bend. That is until her increasingly violent and realistic dreams, dreams of other worlds, of portals and veils where her mother is tortured and souls bleed for mercy, start to blend into reality. Ada has to lean on her older sister, Perry, to try and make sense of it all but even then, she's never felt more alone. Then there's Jay. Tall, handsome and deeply mysterious, Jay would be just another stranger, a familiar face on the bus, if it wasn't for the fact that Ada has met him before. Every night. In every single dream. And the more that Ada is drawn to him in both worlds, the more she's in danger of losing everything. Including her heart.And her very soul.

What Adam Wants: (a short story)


Michael Hebler - 2016
     Days after losing her child while giving birth, Rachel, and her husband, David, are haunted by the incessant cries of a baby. It is their stillborn, Adam, and he wants something from Rachel... something deadly.

The Withering (House of Souls #3)


Ambrose Ibsen - 2020
     Longtime resident Edgar August thinks he knows who's behind them. Edgar has a secret. In his spare time, he enjoys looking into his neighbors' windows, observing their private lives and spreading gossip. The old doctor who lives behind him has been acting strangely as of late, and witnessing his erratic behaviors over the course of weeks, Edgar begins to suspect that the retired physician, Marcel Dubois, is the kidnapper. As his snooping gets more invasive, Edgar becomes convinced that his neighbor is up to something. But that something, it turns out, is more horrifying than a mere kidnapping. The Withering is the third novel in the House of Souls series.

Raven: The Balance: Book Two


Nick Shamhart - 2012
    Why should the afterlife be any different? We are given a choice when we die to move on to the Source, stay on earth and slowly evolve into more of what we were (good people become angels and bad people become demons), or a chosen few can work to keep the Balance between them. The title character Raven is such a warrior who works to maintain that balance.Malign, the demon responsible for most of the world’s cataclysmic wars, has come to the United States with an army of vampires or, more specifically, demons she has convinced to act as those fabled creatures of the night to sow discord and social unrest. Raven and the other Balance soldiers must track Malign down and in their spare time try to convince the ancient angel Metatron that he is doing more harm than good with his participation in mortal affairs. Tagging along for the ride are a motorcycle gang of millionaire philanthropists, Raven’s fellow Balance warrior Zeus’ younger angelic brother, and the demon Lucifer with his babysitter Gabriel.The novel is written in two styles. Each chapter begins in a soliloquy from the title character Raven, where she tells pieces of her back-story intertwined with philosophical musings on her family life and dealing with loss, with the following bulk of the chapter told in a third person narrative.

Rock Paper Scissors


Matty Dalrymple - 2017
    Who will win this deadly zero-sum game? Rock breaks scissors. Scissors cut paper. Paper covers rock. The rules are simple—except when it's people's lives at stake. When Lizzy’s parents discover the damage she can do with her mind, they hide her away, trying to save her from life as a human lab rat … and trying to save others from her power. But they can't hide her forever. Little do they know that professed friends are actually enemies who will eliminate anyone who gets in the way of their goal of turning Lizzy’s power to their own ends. As her protectors are picked off one by one, will Lizzy be able to escape from this deadly zero-sum game? Find out now in this first installment of the Lizzy Ballard Thrillers Trilogy!

Frozen Charlotte


Alex Bell - 2014
    Dunvegan School for Girls has been closed for many years. Converted into a family home, the teachers and students are long gone. But they left something behind...Sophie arrives at the old schoolhouse to spend the summer with her cousins. Brooding Cameron with his scarred hand, strange Lilias with a fear of bones and Piper, who seems just a bit too good to be true. And then there's her other cousin. The girl with a room full of antique dolls. The girl that shouldn't be there. The girl that died.

The Haunting of Winchester Mansion Omnibus


Alexandria Clarke - 2017
    When Bailey and Bodhi Taylor move in and begin renovations, the house seems perfect. But things move on their own, screams echo from the basement, and Bailey sees a shadowy figure out of the corner of her eye. Is the house haunted? And if it is, what does the ghost want with Bailey?

Last Days


Adam Nevill - 2012
    The cult became a worldwide phenomenon in 1975 when there was a massacre including the death of its infamous leader, Sister Katherine. Kyle's brief is to explore the paranormal myths surrounding an organization that became a testament to paranoia, murderous rage, and occult rituals. The shoot's locations take him to the cult's first temple in London, an abandoned farm in France, and a derelict copper mine in the Arizonan desert where The Temple of the Last Days met its bloody end. But when he interviews those involved in the case, those who haven't broken silence in decades, a series of uncanny events plague the shoots. Troubling out-of-body experiences, nocturnal visitations, the sudden demise of their interviewees and the discovery of ghastly artifacts in their room make Kyle question what exactly it is the cult managed to awaken – and what is its interest in him?

The Forlorned (The Forlorned #1)


Angela J. Townsend - 2018
    An advertisement lured him to the island, offering a job renovating the old lighthouse and ramshackle buildings. What he didn't know was that he was the only applicant. None of the locals wanted the job...no one dared. Isolated and alone, Tom soon discovers why. Messages from disembodied voices; ghostly visitations and escalating horrors draw Tom deeper into the island's evil past...a darkness that forces Tom to unbury the truth and bring demons of his own into the light.

Otter's Toy Box


Yolanda Olson - 2017
    It quickly becomes a want; a longing that consumes me. It's escaped me for so long. Every desperate attempt I’ve made to obtain it has been in vain so far. I can't begin to tell you how excited I was the day I found it. Waiting to be bought; waiting for a new owner. Waiting for me. It's taken me a long time and it's been a hard road, but it's mine; it always has been and now no one can take it away from me. No matter how hard they try. It: It has waited a long time to finally have an owner. Years of mistreatment and neglect had it scared that it would never have a home to call its own. When it was finally packaged for shipment, it was beyond excited. The dark ride and unkind hands were worth it in the end because it was finally going home. But was that home all it hoped it would be?