Scares of Every Kind: 20 of the Best Genre-Blending Horror Novels

No one comes back from Area X. Not fully, anyway. Mass suicide, betrayal: one by one, the expeditions fail. After the members of the 11th expedition come back, they all die of cancer. Now, it’s time for the 12th expedition to make their way inside. Four women come together to document their exploration of that strange land while surviving its surprises. This atmospheric, unique sci-fi horror is sure to keep you fascinated even as it gives you chills.

Nine ancient houses have their rulers and their death magic. Necromancy, communication with ghosts, soul-stealing, it all goes. Gideon is a swordswoman for the Ninth Necromancer, but she wants out of the servant life. Harrowhark, Daughter of the Ninth House, is invited into a deadly competition of the nine houses put on by the galactic empire’s emperor Muir, and she needs a fighter on her side. The pair team up, determined to make it out on top.

I had to include a plague book in this list. They’re fairly common in the horror genre for obvious reasons. In The Deep, it’s a plague of forgetting at first. Little things first, but then bigger things like how to speak and how to make their bodies function. In the depths of the Marianas Trench, a possible cure lurks. A research lab is established under the sea, off the grid from the rest of the world. Will the crew find a cure, or will the depths of the ocean stir up something far more sinister than the plague miles above?

Father is missing. Carolyn, one of his 12 adopted children, spent decades learning from him and the Library. They are Librarians, keepers of vast and ancient knowledge. Now, the siblings must guard the Library and find Father before all they have built is ruined. This strange fantastical thriller-turned-horror is as intriguing as it is bloody.

This one’s graphic and gory and dark, folks. The story opens on Alok, a college professor, who is approached by a stranger claiming to be a beast. Intrigued by these grandiose claims, Alok agrees to transcribe documents the stranger brings. Through these, Alok learns another side of history spanning centuries, in which another race of people, half-beast and half-man shapeshifters, lurk in the shadows. Questions of humanity, identity, and history will plague you through these horrifying pages.

A research vessel searching for mermaids disappears, leaving behind chilling footage of violent creatures that look a lot like mermaids. Seven years later, a new documentary group sets off to prove once and for all if that footage was a hoax or if those terrifying beasts really do lurk below the surface. Tory is more interested in finding out something else: the fate of her sister who was on board all those years ago. Will the crew, and Tory, get the answers they’re looking for, or will they face the same fate as the others?

The Donner Party is reimagined in this pioneer-set narrative. Misfortunes plague their convoy: limited rations, tension among the party, and death turn their West-focused journey into a slog. Tragedy lurks at every turn. When the party decides to travel into unexplored terrain, their limited luck is soon to run out. When members disappear among the mountains, those still alive are left questioning if they’ve been curse or if something else is out to get them too.

It’s 1950, and Noemí Taboada, a Mexico City debutante, is summoned to High Place by a strange letter from her newly married cousin begging for a favor. The estate is remote, but that doesn’t stop Noemí from dropping everything to help her cousin. What she finds when she arrives is her cousin’s charismatic husband, his strange family, and a house that seems to haunt her dreams. This historical fiction horror mash-up is rich in setting and in scares.

The Birth of a Nation, a spell cast by sorcerer D.W. Griffin in 1915, opens a rift between worlds and demons called Ku Klux run rampant. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. Enter Maryse Boudreaux, a bootlegger with a magic sword and a taste for killing monsters. She teams up with a group of fellow monster killers, the set out to save the world from the Klan and its demons. This bloody, historical, hate-filled story will have you on the edge of your seat.

This collection of prose and poetry is demon-filled and giggle-filled in equal measure. The stories explore who or where you might encounter demons, and what to do when you find them inside your neighbors, friends, or loved ones. The author, Linda Addison, was the first African American to receive the HWA Bram Stoker Award. This collection is a must read!

Sarah and David were in love, once. But, now, married life is a struggle. To try to save their relationship, they turn to couples’ counseling. One day, as they make the commute to the office, things seem off. There aren’t as many people on the road, nor people at the office. Then, they find their counselor very much a zombie. Now, the couple has to unite to survive. But it turns out that the presence of brain-eaters doesn’t fix their marriage problems. Do couples that slay together really stay together? Find out in this zombie-filled tale.

Dark humor is a staple of the funny horror genre, and Bunny is a perfect fit. The story follows Samantha Mackey, a sort-of-outcast student of the MFA program in New England. The rest of her cohort are her opposite. They’re rich, cliquey girls who call each other bunny. What’s that about? When Samantha gets an invite into the exclusive group, she is drawn deep into their weird rituals and the blurring of reality that comes along with them. Loneliness, friendship, and, well, bunnies collide in this darkly funny story.

Helen Oyetemi’s entire catalogue is full of horrific, interesting twists on the fairy tales we know and love. White is for Witching is no different. Full of references to magic mirrors and secret doors, this fairytale-esque story centers on Miranda after the unexpected death of her mother. Their house seems plagued with voices, women of generations past who talk to her. She grows hungry, too. Hungry in a way she can’t satisfy with food. Miranda finds herself retreating from her brother and father more and more until there seems to be nothing left.

Grimm’s “Twelve Dancing Princesses” takes a dark turn in this haunted novel. Annaleigh lives in a manor by the sea with her 12 sisters. At night, they sneak out to dance and frolic in ball gowns and silk. But then, one by one, her sisters die in strange circumstances. The village people tell each other stories of the family’s curse. After Annaleigh is plagued by visions of ghosts, she starts to think the deaths weren’t so accidental after all. This dark fairytale is as haunting as it is beautiful.

Based on the changeling folktales, The Changeling brings the story into modern day New York City. Apollo is determined to be a good father after the birth of his first son. But soon, his wife Emma starts spewing stories about their son not being their son after all. At first, he assumes it a lack of sleep. But pictures appear on her phone of their son and then Emma herself disappears. Apollo sets out to find her, encountering a stranger who claims to have information about her. This haunting, mythic tale is a thrilling journey of one man dedicated to his family no matter the cost.

This collection of stories is a powerhouse one after another. One puts a new twist on the girl-with-the-ribbon tales of the past. Another takes on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. With each, Machado writes incredibly beautiful prose alongside horrific violence. It’s an experimental and weird collection you can’t miss.

Patricia is a stay-at-home mom with distant teenage children and a busy, distracted husband. Her social life revolves around her weekly book club with some of the other mothers nearby. When a new, intriguing stranger moves into the neighborhood, and children start to go missing, conversations turn in his direction. Patricia launches her own investigation, finding something horrible lurking in her suburb.

The gated community of Bonita Vista seems perfect. That’s why Barry and Maureen are willing to join an HOA to live in a house inside those gates. Soon, they start getting notices they’ve violated some aspect of The Association’s lengthy list of rules. More and more arrive until they’re buried in penalties. Barry sets out to fight the system they bought into in the first place, realizing those gates they loved for keeping out the rest of the world might also be keeping something sinister in.

Weekend barbeques, picturesque porches, and 9 to 5 work make up the lives of Colquitt and Walter Kennedy. And, really, their whole suburban neighborhood lives the same peaceful life. That is, until construction starts on the empty lot next door. The house that emerges is beautiful — and sinister, as it seeps out the best of the people who try to live inside it. Owners come and go, driven mad by the walls of that gorgeous place.

Accomplished photographer Joanna and her family make the move to Stepford, Connecticut. The community is perfect, everyone successful and beautiful. The perfect place to raise her two children, to grow old with her wonderful husband. As Joanna tries to fit in with the neighborhood women so busy with housework while her husband spends more and more time at the mens’ club, the divide between men and women gets more and more prevalent and then disturbing. Something is very wrong in Stepford.