8 Terrifyingly Claustrophobic Horror Books

This horror-thriller came out in 2014 and, in 2018, was adapted into a film starring Sandra Bullock. But back before everyone including my mother became familiar with this story, I was just thrilled to come upon a new-to-me horror writer I could get excited about. I fell in love with Malerman’s tale of an unseen menace that causes people to become violent and suicidal. For much of the book, the characters in this story remain in boarded-up houses with papered-up windows, only going outside while blindfolded. The claustrophobia comes from the way in which their world is forced to shrink, and all because of a monster they’ve never seen.

I picked up this sci-fi horror story about a shady cave expedition because it was giving me major Descent vibes. In it, our protagonist — only there to earn some money — makes her way through dangerous underground tunnels, where she is forced to contend with missing supplies, route changes, gear malfunctions, and worse. As she becomes ever more lost and disoriented, the worst part of all is that her only connection to the surface is a manipulative, controlling handler who seems to be hiding something.

A fellow Book Rioter told me about this horror manga and, my god, what a piece of nightmare fuel. In this story, there’s an earthquake in Japan. Afterward, a fault is discovered on Amigara Mountain, located near the epicenter of the quake. But what’s truly weird are all the human-shaped holes that have been revealed in the side of the mountain, holes that seem sized to fit very specific people. As more and more people travel to the fault, drawn to the holes they feel match up with their bodies, things get…wacky.

In this disquieting psychological thriller, a man wakes up from a coma after causing a car accident that took his wife’s life and left him paralyzed. He is left in the care of his mother-in-law who, understandably, has Big Feelings about what has transpired. And so, his MIL neglects him, focused instead on digging holes in his late wife’s garden. But why? With his life shrunk to fit the confines of his bed, his grief and paranoia drive him slowly mad.

I recently read this novella in one quick gulp after a recommendation from a fellow Book Rioter, and it did not disappoint. With a tornado descending upon the neighborhood, one dysfunctional family retreats to their bathroom to wait out the storm, only to find themselves trapped when a tree falls outside the door. Confined to this small space, resigning themselves to the fact that no one seems to be coming to their rescue, each member of the family quickly spirals. But one of them is hiding a secret that eats away at her and, over time, readers can’t help but wonder if, perhaps, this wasn’t a natural disaster after all.

You’re going to have to forgive me because these next few books aren’t out yet. They’re totally worth the preorder, though. In this psychological thriller, a Nigerian woman agrees to an arranged marriage and gets on a plane to Texas and, presumably, to her happy future. But her live-in in-laws are overbearing, especially in their desire for a grandson. And as their behavior becomes increasingly unbearable, she realizes she’s trapped: in a house in which she feels she’s suffocating and in a country that isn’t truly hers.

You won’t have to wait as long for this one, as it’s out at the beginning of April. In this social horror, a young woman — raised by her grandmother — is dealt a huge blow when her caregiver dies. Working at a gas station and with almost no money of her own, she feels trapped in the place where she grew up, and trapped in her grief. But then an odd job opportunity comes away, and she’s forced to confront her grief, and the ghost of her grandmother, on a whole new level.

This last one isn’t out until October (sigh), but you know it’s worth the wait because Due knocks it out of the park every damn time. In her latest, our protagonist is sent to a segregated reform school after he kicks a white boy in the leg. Reform schools are no picnic in the best of times. But this particular school is apparently haunted by the boys who died there. Due wrote on her blog that the story was inspired by her own family history. Her great-uncle was sent to a notorious reformatory — “a prison disguised as a school” — at the age of 15. He never came home. Instead, he was buried at the cemetery on its grounds, the same cemetery readers visit in the Colson Whitehead novel The Nickel Boys. Due went on to write, “The Reformatory is a ghost story, but the monsters are human. History is the monster.”