Incidents Around the House, Josh Malerman (Del Rey 978-0-59372-312-8, $28.00, 384pp, hc) June 2024.

After so many great novels – Bird Box, Goblin, Black Mad Wheel, Daphne – perhaps the most impressive thing about Josh Malerman is that he seems to be getting better with each new novel. That’s certainly the case with Incidents Around the House, which is the author’s fastest, sharpest, creepiest novel to ...Read More

The Redemption of Morgan Bright, Chris Panatier (Angry Robot 978-1-9152-028-95, $18.99, 416pp, pb) April 2024. Cover by Sarah O’Flaherty.

Chris Panatier’s The Redemption of Morgan Bright is a great psychological thriller full of mystery that slowly morphs into a full-blown hor­ror novel. At once the story of a sister looking for answers, a narrative about a crumbling psyche, and a tale that gets progressively more mysterious with each new revelation, ...Read More

This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Distur­bances, Eric LaRocca (Titan 978-1-80336-664-7, $22.99, 240pp, hc) April 2024.

Eric LaRocca has quickly established himself as one of strongest and most unique voices in contempo­rary horror fiction. This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances is emotionally charged and full of the kind of strange body horror LaRocca is known for. A collection of four novellas that aren’t afraid to explore humanity, ...Read More

The Malachi Covenant, Dee Kelly Jr. (Forefront Books 978-1-63763-255-0, $26.00, 432pp, hc) April 2024. Cover by Mary Susan Oleson.

The international success of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code spurred a slew of novels that wanted to work in that same arena, blending elements of thrillers and historical fiction with ele­ments from various religious faiths. Unfortunately, while some were outstanding, many seemed to lack research and didn’t bring anything new ...Read More

Greatest Hits, Harlan Ellison (Union Square & Co. 978-1-45495-337-1, $19.99, 496pp, tp) March 2024. Cover by Max Loeffler.

What can be said about Harlan Ellison at this point? The man is a legend. Unfortunately, some­times legends get lost in the folds of time and that makes it harder for newer generations of readers to discover their work. Greatest Hits, a superb collection of some of Ellison’s best short ...Read More

Baby X, Kira Peikoff (Crooked Lane 978-1-63910-633-2, $30.99, 336pp, hc) March 2024. Cover by Nicole Lecht.

Kira Peikoff’s Baby X is a solid technothriller that feels very timely while also delivering great entertainment. At once a novel of big ideas that will satisfy fans of science fiction and a fast-paced narrative about crimes that might become a reality sooner rather than later, Baby X pulls readers into a future ...Read More

Forgotten Sisters, Cynthia Pelayo (Thomas & Mercer 978-1-66251-391-6, $16.99, 303pp, tp) March 2024. Cover by Olga Grlic.

Cynthia Pelayo has made a name for herself in horror by bringing to the table a mixture of horror, crime fiction, and folklore that always contains a dash of poetry and by telling stories that invariably take place in Chicago, a city that Pelayo always turns into a character in her work. ...Read More

Small Town Horror, Ronald Malfi (Titan Books 978-1-80336-565-7, $27.99, 400pp, hc) June 2024.

It’s hard to find fresh, unique ghost stories. It’s probably even harder to find original narra­tives – horror, mystery, crime, whatever – in which someone is forced to go back to their home­town to face their past. In Small Town Horror, author Ronald Malfi manages to do both. At once a spooky tale about a ...Read More

Beautyland, Marie-Helene Bertino (Farrar, Straus, Giroux 978-0-37410-928-8, $28.00, 336pp, hc) January 2024. Cover by Abby Kagan.

Marie-Helene Bertino’s Beautyland is one of the most unique novels I’ve read in a while. A wonderful mix of science fiction and literary fiction, this story is full of humor but also packs a treasure trove of witty observations about the human condition and a sharp dissection of life in small-town America through ...Read More

Black Sheep, Rachel Harrison (Berkley 978-0-59354-585-0, $27.00, 304pp, hc) September 2023. Cover by Katie Anderson.

Horror, perhaps the best dancing partner when it comes to genre because it gets along very well with everyone else, can be a lot of things, and that includes hilarious. Rachel Harrison’s Black Sheep contains all the elements you’d expect from a horror novel – a creepy presence, dread, emotional turmoil, bloody sacrifices, Satan. However, ...Read More

What Kind of Mother, Clay McLeod Chapman (Quirk Books 978-1-68369-380-2, $21.99, 304pp, hc) September 2023.

Clay McLeod’s Chapman’s What Kind of Moth­er is a great horror novel in which creepiness and body horror take a back seat to grief and the horror it pushes people to do. A story that’s as harrowing as it is sad and strange, What Kind of Mother is a superb addition to McLeod’s catalog and ...Read More

The September House, Carissa Orlando (Berk­ley 978-0-59354-861-5, $27.00, 352pp, hc) Sep­tember 2023. Cover by Daniel Brount.

Books that can make you feel things are special, and Carissa Orlando’s The Sep­tember House will make readers feel a lot of different things. The September House is a strange horror novel in which the horror elements are mostly dealt with using the kind of nonchalance people display while waiting in line at the ...Read More