Book picks similar to
Ratcatcher by V.J. Chambers


paranormal
horror
v-j-chambers
mystery

Insanity


Cameron Jace - 2013
    No one doubts her insanity. Only a hookah-smoking professor believes otherwise; that he can prove her sanity by decoding Lewis Carroll's paintings, photographs, and find Wonderland's real whereabouts. Professor Caterpillar persuades the asylum that Alice can save lives and catch the wonderland monsters now reincarnated in modern day criminals. In order to do so, Alice leads a double life: an Oxford university student by day, a mad girl in an asylum by night. The line between sanity and insanity thins when she meets Jack Diamond, an arrogant college student who believes that nonsense is an actual science.

The Letter


Marianne Spitzer - 2012
    What could she have in common with the town’s richest man? Curiosity draws her to the will reading where she learns she has inherited a vast sum. The conditions of her inheritance require she change her name and reside in the Malone mansion. Long considered haunted by the residents of Malone Springs, Kellie, her fiancé and four friends move in ignoring the rumors. Strange and frightening events begin to plague Kellie before she moves and grow more frightening once she and her friends settle in. Adopted at birth, her adoptive parents killed in an auto accident leave Kellie to investigate her ancestors on her own. What she discovers leads her into more danger and mystery as she learns the true nature of her biological grandfather. Could his evil deeds hurt her from beyond the grave? Who’s responsible for the strange occurrences? What happened to her biological parents? As one solved mystery leads Kellie into another, she and her friends try to solve them all before tragedy strikes.

Touching the Dead


Wendy Cartmell - 2019
     With the body count rising, Jo must touch the dead, to help her solve the case. But is her  first suspect, Daniel Tate, the right man? Or is she misreading the snatched visions? This is the first in a new series following Jo Wolfe, a detective who developed psychic abilities after a riding accident. The only person who knows about her gift (or curse depending upon your point of view) is her father and together they attempt to right the wrongs of the living, with the aid of the dead. Wendy Cartmell is well known for her bestselling, chilling Sgt Major Crane  crime thrillers and Crane and Anderson mysteries, which sometimes have supernatural elements.

The Devouring


Simon Holt - 2008
    But when her little brother, Henry, begins to act strangely, it's clear that these creatures exist beyond a madwoman's imagination, and Reggie finds out what happens when fears come to life.To save the people she loves, Reggie must learn to survive in a world of nightmares. Can she devour her own fears before they devour her?The Devouring is an engrossing tale of terror that will have you wondering: what if your worst fears became your living nightmare?

The Sarah Roberts Series Vol. 7-9


Jonas Saul - 2014
    7-9 - Three novels in OneThe Vigilante (Sarah Roberts Book Seven)*Starring Sarah Roberts and guest starring Aaron Stevens from The SpecterDuring a five-month break in Toronto, Sarah has fallen for Aaron Stevens. When the police seek her help to find a serial killer who has operated in the Toronto area for more than twelve years, Sarah receives a series of messages from her dead sister, Vivian.As she closes in the on The Leap Year Killer, Sarah runs into a street gang bent on revenge for her shooting one of their members. Aaron won't accept that she willingly puts herself at risk doing her sister's bidding. Sarah wonders whether the messages are truly from Vivian, or if she possesses a unique psychic ability.With all that she has seen of man's darkest nature, it makes her question why she hasn't given up on humanity yet.The Rogue (Sarah Roberts Book Eight)*Starring Aaron Stevens and guest starring Darwin and Rosina Kostas from The Mafia TrilogySarah Roberts travels to Rome to assist the FBI with their hunt for an Italian-American drug lord with a penchant for violence, despite the warning that she will die within twenty-four hours.Shortly after arrival, Special Agent Penn Kierian is murdered in his hotel room, and Sarah's fingerprints are on the murder weapon. The Italian authorities want to talk to her, but she can't risk exposure to an unseen enemy. She flees to a city she had visited years ago, Umbertide, where she runs into hit men and the ruthless man who wants her out of his way.Parkman, her colleague, an ex-cop turned private investigator, is summoned to Italy to identify Sarah's remains after a massive explosion.Sarah's parents, and the people she loves, must face reality and prepare for her funeral, but Sarah has one more trick up her sleeve.Killing Sarah (Sarah Roberts Book Nine)Sarah Roberts receives a phone call from her colleague Parkman. It's important they meet right away as it's a matter of life and death. Because Parkman is a close friend, Sarah ignores a warning from her dead sister Vivian to stay away. When Sarah is shot, Parkman fires on the retreating four-door sedan, but is not successful in stopping the shooter. He attempts to revive Sarah until the paramedics arrive to take over. When Parkman gets to the hospital, the police question him about who really shot Sarah. After emergency surgery to remove the bullet and reduce the swelling on Sarah's brain, preliminary results show the bullet came from Parkman's gun.He asks to visit Sarah in the ICU, but now no one can find her. He is informed that Sarah Roberts was never admitted to their hospital and the doctor Parkman was talking to earlier about her condition has mysteriously disappeared.Sarah is gone.When Sarah wakes in a modified ambulance, far from the hospital in Toronto, she has retrograde amnesia, leaving her with temporary short-term memory loss. All she can remember of the night she was shot is the image of a man named Parkman. He is standing in front of her with a gun in his hand as a bullet enters her head.The people who shot Sarah are still after her. She needs to work with Parkman in order to stay alive, but all Sarah can think about is revenge for the head wound and Parkman is in her sights.The pain of betrayal goes deeper than the physical wound as Sarah hunts for her former friend while sorting the memories that return in pieces.Killing Sarah is an explosive ride into the depths of a strong woman who makes mistakes and learns the consequences the hard way.

The Becoming of Noah Shaw


Michelle Hodkin - 2017
    This is what happens after happily ever after.Everyone thinks seventeen-year-old Noah Shaw has the world on a string.They’re wrong.Mara Dyer is the only one he trusts with his secrets and his future.He shouldn’t.And both are scared that uncovering the truth about themselves will force them apart.They’re right.

Real Ghost Stories: Disturbing Paranormal Stories Based On True Events


Eve S. Evans - 2019
    Learn more in The Collector.Some things seem ordinary to the naked eye, but sometimes a camera catches things invisible to the naked eye. This one will give you chills in It's Only A Photo.

The Going and the Rise


F.G. Cottam - 2015
    This is the tale of a deadly conspiracy, an all-consuming obsession, and an unlikely heroine.Michael Aldridge, talented architect and devoted family man, has built his dream home on the Isle of Wight, but when strange coincidences take a sinister turn, he must uncover a long-forgotten secret before it’s too late.A wonderfully sinister new novella from the master of the chilling ghost story, The Going and The Rise questions how far you would go to realise your dream… and what you would risk to protect the one you love.

Draculas


Blake Crouch - 2010
    With weeks to live, a package arrives at the door of his hillside mansion—an artifact he paid millions for…a hominoid skull with elongated teeth, discovered in a farmer’s field in the Romanian countryside. With Shanna, his beautiful research assistant looking on, he sinks the skull’s razor sharp fangs into his neck, and immediately goes into convulsions. OPENS THE DOOR TO AN ANCIENT EVIL...A rural hospital. A slow night in the ER. Until Moorecook arrives strapped to a gurney, where he promptly codes and dies.WHERE DEATH IS JUST THE BEGINNING.Four well-known horror authors pool their penchants for scares and thrills, and tackle one of the greatest of all legends, with each writer creating a unique character and following them through a vampire outbreak in a secluded hospital.The goal was simple: write the most intense novel they possibly could.Which they did.A Word of Warning:Within these pages, you will find no black capes, no satin-lined coffins, no brooding heartthrobs who want to talk about your feelings. Forget sunlight and stakes. Throw out your garlic and your crosses. This is the Anti-TWILIGHT.NOTE: DRACULAS is a full length novel, 80,000 words long. But this ebook is also brimming with an additional 80,000 words of extras and bonuses:- a clickable table of contents- a round-robin interview with Strand, Wilson, Crouch, and Kilborn about writing DRACULAS- deleted scenes- two alternate endings- four excerpts from the authors’ other works- the short story “Serial” by Crouch and Kilborn- the short story “Cub Scout Gore Feast” by Kilborn and Strand- the short story “A Sound of Blunder” by Kilborn and Wilson- author biographies- comprehensive clickable bibliographies- an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the writing of DRACULAS, delivered through a collection of over seven hundred emails between the writers as they were brainstorming and writing the book

Don’t Tell


Queen Elly - 2017
    Because for every attempt, her mother is condemned to even more terrible suffering.All thi unfolds in a place thick with fear and confuaion: her own home.DIES IRARE SALVAME, DONINE.

Happenstance: A Frank Sherman Novel (Frank Sherman Thrillers Book 1)


Joel Austin - 2021
    

Queen Joanna


Kate Danley - 2014
    And when a face in the mirror confronts her with a dire warning, she realizes her life is at risk. Has she awakened a curse—or been struck by madness? “Queen Joanna” presents a haunting twist on the legend of Bloody Mary. This short story originally appeared in the From the Indie Side anthology.

The Devil Makes Three


Tori Bovalino - 2021
    The worst of them is Eliot Birch: snide, privileged, and constantly requesting forbidden grimoires. After a bargain with Eliot leads to the discovery of an ancient book in the library's grimoire collection, the pair accidentally unleash a book-bound demon.The demon will stop at nothing to stay free, manipulating ink to threaten those Tess loves and dismantling Eliot’s strange magic. Tess is plagued by terrible dreams of the devil and haunting memories of a boy who wears Eliot's face. All she knows is to stay free, the demon needs her... and he'll have her, dead or alive.

Deadly Gift / Deadly Harvest / Deadly Night


Heather Graham - 2010
    Brought to Newport, Rhode Island, from her native Ireland to nurse ailing millionaire Sean O'Riley, she's living a life few can imagine. But money can't hide the tension between O Reily s trophy wife, his paranoid daughter, the eccentric aunt in the attic and the staff members who run the house. When O Riley s business partner goes missing, family friend Zach Flynn arrives. Determined to help him solve the case, Caer becomes enmeshed in a mystery that weaves together the sins of the past with one family s destiny and a spirit that watches the mansion, possessing a deadly gift.DEADLY HARVESTWhen a young woman is found dead in a field, dressed up as a scarecrow with a slashed grin and a broken neck, the residents of Salem, Massachusetts, begin to fear that the infamous Harvest Man is more than just a rumor. But out-of town cop Jeremy Flynn doesn t have time for ghost stories. He's in town on another investigation, looking for a friend s wife, who mysteriously vanished in a cemetery. Complicating his efforts is local occult expert Rowenna Cavanaugh, who launches her own investigation, convinced that a horror from the past has crept into the present and is seducing women to their deaths. Jeremy uses logic and solid policework. Rowena depends on intuition. But they both have the same goal: to stop the abductions and locate the missing women before Rowena herself falls prey to the Harvest Man s dark seduction.DEADLY NIGHTAidan Flynn, a private investigator and eldest of the Flynn brothers, scoffs at the haunted-house rumors--especially since Kendall Montgomery, a tarot card reader who has been living in the mansion, is the one to tell him the tale of a woman in white. But when he finds a human bone on the grounds, and another by the river, Aidan delves into the dark history of the Flynn plantation. Forced together to uncover the truth, Aidan and Kendall realize that a serial killer whose victims seem to vanish into thin air has long been at work and that their own fates are about to be sealed forever unless they believe in the unbelievable.

A Head Full of Ghosts


Paul Tremblay - 2015
    As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts' plight. With John, Marjorie's father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming, the family agrees to be filmed, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend.Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie's younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long ago events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television begin to surface--and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising vexing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.