The new year is here and we are excited for some new books to hit the shelves at bookstores everywhere. With a ton of new books slated for the new year, we list 40 of our most anticipated books of 2026.
We are huge horror, thriller, and mystery readers so our list will consist of mostly these books. Just a heads up! Our list is in order of release date.
Note: There are a few novels that have yet-to-be announced by their publishers we are super excited about, but cannot mention them yet.
Inside Man
by John McMahon
Release: January 13
FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles. He and his squad of brilliant yet quirky agents make up the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit, the FBI’s hidden edge, brought in for cases that no one else can solve.
PAR’s latest case involves a militia group stockpiling weapons. When their confidential informant in the case is killed, it quickly becomes clear that the militia did not kill him.
As the squad looks into the evidence surrounding his murder, an unidentified man is caught on camera with their informant. This mystery man’s picture is connected to another case at the FBI, an unsolved series of murdered women, buried in the ground in north Florida. Could they have uncovered a serial killer? And if so, what is his connection to their C.I.?
As PAR juggles an investigation into both the dead women and the militia, they enroll a new informant, only to find the case escalating in dangerous ways. How will PAR handle a case that increasingly looks like a terrorist plot? And in the serial case, with no puzzles or witnesses, and few leads, how will a group set up to decode riddles be successful?
Inside Man by John McMahon is an excellent followup and continuation of the Head Cases series. I am down for whatever may come next, but also satisfied if this is the end to these books. McMahon gave us another thrilling few cases to be solved by PAR and brought heart to go along with it. – CLICK HERE to read the entire review
My Husband’s Wife
by Alice Feeney
Release: January 20
Eden Fox, an artist on the brink of her big break, sets off for a run before her first exhibition. When she returns to the home she recently moved into, Spyglass, an enchanting old house in Hope Falls, nothing is as it should be. Her key doesn’t fit. A woman, eerily similar to her, answers the door. And her husband insists that the stranger is his wife.
One house. One husband. Two women. Someone is lying.
Six months earlier, a reclusive Londoner called Birdy, reeling from a life-changing diagnosis, inherits Spyglass. This unexpected gift from a long-lost grandmother brings her to the pretty seaside village of Hope Falls. But then Birdy stumbles upon a shadowy London clinic that claims to be able to predict a person’s date of death, including her own. Secrets start to unravel, and as the line between truth and lies blurs, Birdy feels compelled to right some old wrongs.
My Husband’s Wife is a thrilling mystery steeped in lies and deception with more twists than a roller coaster. Alice Feeney has crafted yet another stellar novel that’s hard to put down. With characters you care about, even though you might also hate them, and a plot full of original, unpredictable turns, this book makes for an unforgettable must-read. – CLICK HERE to read the entire review
A Box Full of Darkness
by Simone St. James
Release: January 20
Strange things happen in Fell, New York. A mysterious drowning at the town’s roadside motel. The unexplained death of a young girl whose body is left by the railroad tracks. For the Esmie siblings—Violet, Vail, and Dodie—the final straw was the shocking disappearance of their little brother. It started as a normal game of hide-and-seek. The three closed their eyes and counted to ten while Ben went to hide. But this time, they never found their brother—he was gone and the ongoing search efforts turned up no clues.
As their parents grew increasingly distant, Violet, Vail, and Dodie were each haunted by visions and frightening events that made them leave town and never look back. Violet still sees dead people—spirits who remind her of Sister, the menacing presence that terrorized her for years.
And now after two decades running from their past, it’s time for a homecoming. Because Ben is back, and he’s ready to lead them to the answers they’ve longed for and long feared. If the ghosts of Fell don’t get to them first.
A Box Full of Darkness is another strong tale from Simone St. James. While it doesn’t live up to Murder Road or even the book with a slight connection, The Sun Down Motel, it was definitely an enjoyable and truly unsettling novel. – CLICK HERE to read the entire review
On Sundays She Picked Flowers
by Yah Yah Scholfield
Release: January 27
When Judith Rice fled her childhood home, she thought she’d severed her abusive mother’s hold on her. She didn’t have a plan or destination, just a desperate need to escape. Drawn to the forests of southern Georgia, Jude finds shelter in a house as haunted by its violent history as she is by her own.
Jude embraces the eccentricities of the dilapidated house, soothing its ghosts and haints, honoring its blood-soaked land. And over the next thirteen years, Jude blossoms from her bitter beginnings into a wisewoman, a healer.
But her hard-won peace is threatened when an enigmatic woman shows up on her doorstep. The woman is beautiful but unsettling, captivating but uncanny. Ensnared by her desire for this stranger, Jude is caught off guard by brutal urges suddenly simmering beneath her skin. As the woman stirs up memories of her escape years ago, Jude must confront the calls of violence rooted in her bloodline.
On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah Scholfied is not a light read, packed with horrors (both real life and fictional), but ultimately hopeful. There are few books that linger with me long after reading, but this is one of those novels. A story about pain, but also about reclaiming joy and finding something beautiful in the aftermath. On Sundays She Picked Flowers is one of the best horror novels I have read in recent times and is highly recommended. – CLICK HERE to read the entire review
Trad Wife
by Saratoga Schaefer
Release: February 10
When Camille Deming isn’t cooking, cleaning, or homesteading in her picture-perfect country farmhouse, she’s posting about her tradwife lifestyle for her online followers. She takes inspiration from other tradwives on social media, aspiring to be like them, but Camille’s missing a key component: a baby. And contrary to what she posts online, things with her husband Graham have been strained. Pressured by her eager followers, Camille fears that without a baby, her relationship will suffer and her social media will never grow out of its infancy.
When Camille discovers a mysterious, decrepit well in the wheatfield behind her house, she makes a wish for a baby. Afterwards, she has unsettling experiences that she convinces herself are angelic in nature, and when she’s visited one night by a strange creature, her wish comes true.
Camille’s pregnancy announcement gets more engagement than anything she’s ever posted—so what if Graham’s reaction is lukewarm? Camille’s life is finally falling into place. Never mind that her pregnancy is developing freakishly rapidly and she’s suddenly craving raw meat. Being a traditional wife is worth it.
Saratoga Schaefer‘s Trad Wife is one of those novels that truly sticks with you. It blends real horrors with the supernatural in a way that’s timely and deeply unsettling. Schaefer delivers a brutal, bloody story that gets under your skin and stays there. My only hope? That a #TradWife stumbles on this book thinking it’s something completely different and ends up along for the ride. – CLICK HERE to read the entire review
Hannibal Lecter: A Life
by Brian Raftery
Release: February 10
This unique biography traces the many lives and crimes of Hannibal Lecter: his disturbing debut in Thomas Harris’s 1981 novel Red Dragon; his rise to infamy in beloved films like Michael Mann’s Manhunter and Jonathan Demme’s Academy Award–winning The Silence of the Lambs; and his unexpected comeback in the cult-hit TV series Hannibal.
Hannibal Lecter: A Life also dives into the untold life and career of Harris, the secretive bestselling author whose passion for reporting, eye for grisly detail, and connections to the FBI helped birth not only Lecter, but also the modern true-crime genre. Along the way, Hannibal Lecter: A Life documents the many ways Lecter’s rise reflected America’s ever-growing obsession with real-life serial killers.
Hannibal Lecter: A Life is a fascinating deep dive into the evolution of Hannibal Lecter and his rise to fame in the horror genre. With a further glimpse into the man behind the creation of the serial killer, Thomas Harris, the publication of his novels and their journey to the big screen, this book was such a thrill. A true must-read for fans of Hannibal Lecter and the franchise of books and films. – CLICK HERE to read the entire review
Nightmare on Nightmare Street
by R.L. Stine
Release: February 17
Twelve-year-old Joe Ferber, his sister Sadie, and their parents have just moved into a house that has all the hallmarks of a horror movie–tombstones in the basement, a creepy doll lying around, strange noises in the wall, and so on. As Joe tries to fall asleep on the first night, his nightlight begins to flash and change colors, and the creepy doll appears in his bed…and then twelve-year-old Shawn Hannigan wakes up from a dream.
Shawn and his little sister, Addie, are seemingly living in the same house with their mother. But when they arrive at their new school for the first day, the teachers are all wearing animal masks, and the principal’s office is pitch black and full of noises. At the end of the day, a stranger claiming to be Shawn’s mom picks him up and tells him he doesn’t have a sister…
As more and more strange things happen to each of them, Shawn and Joe have to figure out what is real, and what is a nightmare…
Nightmare on Nightmare Street by R.L. Stine pays tribute to some of his classic Goosebumps stories while crafting something new which will scare even the most season horror reader. Even in his eighties, Stine continues to create fun, engaging tales with just the right amount of fright, stories that transport me right back to my childhood days of reading Goosebumps books. – CLICK HERE to read the entire review
Nowhere Burning
by Catriona Ward
Release: February 24
Two siblings set off in the dark of night. They’re heading for Nowhere―an abandoned ranch, rumored to be haunted by its former movie-star owner and now a haven for runaways. What awaits could be the freedom they crave. And while they may have escaped the devil they knew, something darker is waiting in the burned shell of Nowhere. Something which asks a terrible price for sanctuary…
Nowhere Burning is an atmospheric story with a slight cinematic feeling to it. Ward pulled me into the world she has built through her vivid settings and eerie, detailed interactions, you almost can feel the story’s creeping unease from start to finish. This feeling was something really special.
Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward is a total mind-bender of a story. Ward crafts an atmospheric and immersive story that is always one step ahead, revealing twists that only fully click once they’ve already landed. Nowhere Burning is an unforgettable and clever must-read horror story. – CLICK HERE to read the entire review
Dollface
by Lindy Ryan
Release: February 24
Horror author Jill has just moved to suburban New Jersey, hoping to fit in with the new PTA moms and maybe not weird everyone out with her Final Girl coffee mug. You know. Make some real friends.
But then a plastic face-masked serial killer begins slashing their way through town, one overly made-up mom at a time. The police are incredulous. The moms are indignant. And Jill is slowly wrapped into a killer’s murderous spree, until she might just be the last woman standing.
A delightfully murderous novel that is equal parts scathing and salacious, Dollface will win you over with its gossip and gore, one body at a time.
Daytide
by Chris Panatier
Release: February 26
Death comes to those who live.
The Longing is here: a ruthless psychological pandemic that only ever ends one way. Most find relief in a bullet or a blade. Kaya Sinh chose fire.
With Kaya gone, her friend Adam has only the support group they’d attended to keep him going. He’s at his lowest when a priest named Hayle Carnoth appears at group one night, claiming to have discovered a cure for the Longing. Thinking it a crude effort by the priest to seek members for his dwindling congregation, Adam drives him off.
But he keeps coming back.
With the Longing closing in, Adam agrees to let Father Carnoth share what he’s discovered. They visit a nearby cathedral, where something has appeared inside the steeple.
Daytide by Chris Panatier is a lot of things: it is a masterclass in utilizing the fantastical to paint a vivid portrait of our own human dilemmas, it is a captivating, action-packed venture into worlds beyond our own, and most of all, it is a fractured mirror that reflects the morality of power, acceptance of narratives, and the strength to fight. With such unique traits to both its world and its characters, Daytide feels like it exists in a category of its own, one that combines so much of what builds incredible stories that stand the test of time. Under Panatier’s intensely creative and capable hands, Daytide is a novel with wings, one that ascends to the highest tier of masterful fiction. – CLICK HERE to read Anna’s review
Partially Devoured
by Daniel Kraus
Release: March 10
The New York Times bestselling author of Whalefall and Angel Down dives into a horror movie classic to examine his favorite film’s importance to our history, culture, and psychology—a perfect blend of research and memoir for fans of the movie, the genre, and beyond
Daniel Kraus first saw George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead when he was five years old. Through watching it approximately three hundred times since, Kraus discovered the many ways the film is tied to his childhood trauma and how its influence has carried into his adulthood. He couldn’t help but wonder: Are there other admirers of the film out there who feel the same?
Partially Devoured uses a frame-by-frame deep dive into Night of the Living Dead to produce a kaleidoscopic cultural investigation of the film’s importance and to examine the author’s early life of rural isolation and local violence.
Careening from film analysis to rabbit-hole tangents, Partially Devoured will take readers from screaming laughter to the depths of grief, all while illustrating how a beloved genre film has woven itself into so many facets of our lives.
Enemy of my Enemy
by Alex Segura
Release: March 24
When reports come in that the Kingpin and a police officer have been killed and that Frank Castle (aka the Punisher) has turned himself in for it, Matt Murdock senses holes in the narratives the media and the streets are quick to run with.
Both criminals have been Matt’s nemeses when he dons the cowl of the Daredevil, and there’s no denying that New York is better off without its Kingpin and with the Punisher behind bars. And yet . . . while the Punisher is a murderous vigilante, he doesn’t kill cops. And he doesn’t turn himself in.
Castle certainly deserves prison for all of the other crimes he has committed in the past. However, Matt’s indominable sense of justice insists that nobody should be locked away for crimes they didn’t actually commit. Representing the vigilante in court, Matt enters a contest of wills and guile with Castle to try and uncover the game beneath the game. And when Matt’s girlfriend takes the stand and complicates matters, there’s truly no rest for the wicked or the just. As the Kingpin’s absence causes passion and ambitions to run hot in Hell’s Kitchen, Matt must decide if justice means the letter of the law, what’s best for the citizen on the streets, or where his heart leading him.
Enemy of My Enemy by Alex Segura carries forward the feeling of the Marvel Crime series that began with Breaking the Dark, but brings a bit more of the grit and grime of the street-level side of the Marvel Universe in Hell’s Kitchen. It expands this emerging corner of the Marvel Crime universe, but is a nice standalone crime story that doesn’t need any further reading to enjoy. – CLICK HERE to read the entire review
Wretch
by Eric LaRocca
Release: March 24
After his husband dies, Simeon Link finds himself overcome by grief and seeking comfort in an unusual support group called The Wretches, who offer an addictive and dangerous source of relief. They introduce Simeon to a curious figure known as Porcelain Khaw—a man with the ability to let those who are grieving have one last intimate moment with their beloved…for a price.
Hallucinatory, fiendish, and destructively beautiful, Wretch transports us to a world where not everything is as it seems, and those we love may be the ones who haunt us most.
Wretch by Eric LaRocca is a terrifying psychological horror that never lets you feel comfortable. A story of grief, loneliness, obsession, and suffering that is yet another win for the author. Eric has the keen ability to craft stories that are unique and you can feel screamed from his poetic voice. Wretch is truly a must-read horror story, even though I might need a moment before I can catch my breath. – CLICK HERE to read the entire review
Dig
by J.H. Markert
Release: March 24
Eight years ago, a boy took up an axe and slaughtered a dozen people. That odd, troubled boy, Jericho Dodd, has been dead and buried in his father’s yard for years, but ever since that massacre, Crow Island has been a dark and unsettling place.
When Jericho’s father begins digging up the past he buried, a compulsion to dig sweeps over the island and soon everyone else is obsessively churning up dirt, desperate to uncover buried secrets. The compulsion leads to violence and as neighbors turn against each other, the island’s famous tupelo honey, harvested from trees deep in a swamp, changes too.
As dread and paranoia seep up from the ground, it becomes clear that the island itself needs something from its residents–before it digs itself apart for good.
Dig by J.H. Markert takes some familiar pieces of horror stories and twists them into something truly fresh and thrilling. The creeping dread and fantastic setting makes this book a chilling and horrifying read. Markert keeps the tension tight and the atmosphere heavy, keeping me hooked to the end. It’s the kind of horror story that sticks with you, no pun intended, long after you close the book. – CLICK HERE to read the entire review
Wolf Worm
by T. Kingfisher
Release: March 24
Sonia Wilson is a talented scientific illustrator—but she is only able to follow her dream because of her father’s reputation as a renowned scientist. Such is the lot in life for a woman in science in 1899. And after his death, she is left without work, prospects, or hope.
So when the reclusive Dr. Halder offers her a position illustrating his vast collection of insects, Sonia jumps at the chance to move to his North Carolina manor house and put her talents to use.
Once there though, she encounters dark happenings in the Carolina woods, and even darker questions come to light, like what happened to her predecessor? Why are animals acting so strangely, and what is behind the peculiar local whispers about “blood thiefs?”
With the aid of the housekeeper and a local healer, Sonia discovers that Halder’s entomological studies have taken him down a twisted road. His ground-breaking discoveries come with a cost—one that Halder is paying with human flesh.
If Sonia can’t find a way to stop the monstrosity, she may be next under the knife.
Bodies of Work
by Clay McLeod Chapman
Release: April 7
At sixty-six years old, Winston Kemper has always been a nonentity. No one notices him. His simple existence barely registers for those who come into contact with him. Some call him feeble-minded. He is a janitor at the local church, a groundskeeper by default, and that’s it. No friends, no family. When he’s done with work, he returns home—a remote, single room apartment located above a garage—and that is where his true work begins.
Winston Kemper is a collector of voices, and his magnum opus—The Butterfly Girls—is a sprawling epic of untapped imagination. It has no single canvas, no particular frame. It is everywhere—scribbled on the walls, the floor, and countless notebooks.
Winston is creating a fantasia which exists in words, images and blood. As part of his ‘art’ he has been murdering forgotten women. Poor souls who slip through the cracks of society, who no one’s looking for. Mothers, sisters, daughters to someone, but no more.
Winston takes their lives, their voices.
But now he can hear them. They whisper to him. They talk of revenge.
Winston Kemper might not believe in ghosts, but he is about to learn they are very real. And they are very, very angry.
Japanese Gothic
by Kylie Lee Baker
Release: April 21
In this lyrical, wildly inventive horror novel interwoven with Japanese mythology, two people living centuries apart discover a door between their worlds.
October, 2026: Lee Turner doesn’t remember how or why he killed his college roommate. The details are blurred and bloody. All he knows is he has to flee New York and go to the one place that might offer refuge–his father’s new home in Japan, a house hidden by sword ferns and wild ginger. But something is terribly wrong with the house: no animals will come near it, the bedroom window isn’t always a window, and a woman with a sword appears in the yard when night falls.
October, 1877: Sen is a young samurai in exile, hiding from the imperial soldiers in a house behind the sword ferns. A monster came home from war wearing her father’s face, but Sen would do anything to please him, even turn her sword on her own mother. She knows the soldiers will soon slaughter her whole family when she sees a terrible omen: a young foreign man who appears outside her window.
One of these people is a ghost, and one of these stories is a lie.
Something is hiding beneath the house of sword ferns, and Lee and Sen will soon wish they never unburied it.
Monsters in the Archives
by Caroline Bicks
Release: April 21
After Caroline Bicks was named the University of Maine’s inaugural Stephen E. King Chair in Literature, she became the first scholar to be granted extended access by King to his private archives, a treasure trove of manuscripts that document the legendary writerʼs creative process—most of them never before studied or published. The year she spent exploring King’s early drafts and hand-written revisions was guided by one question millions of Kingʼs enthralled and terrified readers (including her) have asked themselves: What makes King’s writing stick in our heads and haunt us long after we’ve closed the book?
Monsters in the Archives by Caroline Bicks is an outstanding deep dive into five of Stephen King’s most iconic early works. Bicks reveals the level of dedication and hard work that goes into each of King’s books and includes notes, edits and changes that King made along the way by including copies of the original material. This book is a must-read for fans of King, especially those of Pet Sematary, The Shinning, Night Shift, ‘Salem’s Lot, and Carrie. – CLICK HERE to read the entire review
Make Me Better
by Sarah Gailey
Release: May 12
An exclusive invitation.
A remote island infamous for its miraculous ecology.
A once-in-a-lifetime chance to fix everything that’s broken.
But sometimes growth requires sacrifice….
WELCOME TO KINDRED COVE.
Celia is so tired of being alone. All she wants is to have a family—to belong to someone. That’s why she’s going to Kindred Cove for the annual Salt Festival held by the secluded community that lives there. They promise that healing is possible. They promise that transformation is inevitable. There is no grief at Kindred Cove, because there is no suffering. Nothing is ever lost.
Celia knows that, at that mysterious island surrounded by that impossible, ever-growing reef — she will find herself.
She’s ready to be healed. She’s ready to be transformed.
She’s ready to believe.
Dead Weight
by Hildur Knutsdottir
Release: May 26
Unnur was living a normal, if lonely, life until a black cat showed up at her door. Trying to do the right thing, Unnur reunites the lost pet with its owner―a young woman named Ásta who is in desperate need of some help. Unnur reluctantly agrees to take in the cat until Ásta is able to care for it again herself.
Soon, Ásta becomes a fixture in Unnur’s life and the two form an unlikely friendship. But like a black cat, trouble is tailing Ásta, and Unnur is the only one there when things take a violent turn. Nothing tests a friendship like blood on your hands.
Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir is a well-written, fast-paced thriller with a gripping story and premise. Much like The Night Guest, I was happy with what I read, it’s an easy read, thought I am not sure why I like it as much as I did. There is not much that goes on, and the story isn’t long, yet there’s something about Knútsdóttir’s writing that kept me glued to the page. I enjoyed every moment of it. – CLICK HERE to read the entire review
The Last Time We Drowned
by Saratoga Schaefer
Release: June 2
Six influencers. One luxury yacht. Nowhere to hide.
Charlie Engels is broke and desperate when her bookstagram account lands her the offer of a lifetime: join Empress, a state-of-the-art yacht houseboat off the Florida Keys turned influencer paradise. Lucrative brand deals and a ready-made “sisterhood” of internet stars–it may not be Charlie’s dream job, but she knows she’d be a fool to turn it down.
It’s also the perfect distraction; Charlie’s eager to outrun her past and a staggering betrayal by her former best friend. Now, aboard Empress, Charlie is surrounded by dazzling women with their own baggage: the magnetic but ruthless leader, the spiraling fashion queen, the inseparable twins, the peacemaker with cracks in her confidence, and the memory of the influencer who Charlie is replacing. The same influencer who Charlie keeps seeing on board, even though the others insist she quit.
But when a hurricane traps the group at sea with their billionaire boss, the dream turns claustrophobic. Communications cut. Supplies dwindling. Old betrayals bubbling to the surface. Then the first body drops.
As paranoia mounts and alliances splinter, Charlie realizes the real danger isn’t the storm outside–it’s the deadly games being played below deck. And if she can’t outwit a killer, her past won’t be the only ghost that comes back to drown her.
Headlights
by CJ Leede
Release: June 9
Special Agent Daniel Stansfield is ready for a change. Burnt out and defeated by the job, it’s his last day with the FBI. But before he can turn in his badge, he’s summoned back to Denver, the city he ran from four years ago, with a chilling message: it’s happening again.
Seemingly innocent people are waking up on the side of the highway, with no memory of how they got there, wearing the skin of victims they’ve allegedly never met. And they each share one haunting detail: a strand of a stranger’s hair is tied around their tongue.
Now Daniel is pulled back into the gruesome cycle, and every clue leads him deeper into the shadows of his own past. He will have to confront the ghosts of his traumatic childhood and face what’s been hunting him all along— before he and the people he loves become the next victims.
Woven with a brilliant blend of darkness and shining light, Headlights by CJ Leede exemplifies the best of what the horror genre can accomplish through a superb fusion of crime and otherworldly terror. This is a deeply moving novel, one that manages to stir the soul through profound reckonings of every nature. Haunting, arresting, and most importantly, inspiring, may we all welcome the headlights we find in the long night. – CLICK HERE to read Anna’s review
The Other
by Annie Neugebauer
Release: June 9
In The Other, a couple on an outdoor retreat meet their doppelgangers and soon much put to the test how well they truly know each other.
The Sixth Nik
by Daniel Kraus
Release: June 23
Deep into space, far past the triworld outposts, beyond range of the lethal trollbot internet, soars The Sickness: a ship woven from biomatter and capable of reacting to every need of its human crew. Sisilla, a nine-year-old cultist with a brain enhanced by arcane tech known as “niks,” has boarded to investigate the enigma of Fém—a plague-riddled planet that has abruptly gone rogue.
The mysterious crew includes a faceless assassin, a beautiful engineer jigsawed by plastic surgery, a peyote-addicted medic, and—most lethal of all—a rugged, NonModded captain with a score to settle with Sisilla. Other dangers abound. A hacked robot begins to believe Sisilla is its daughter. The Sickness itself is mutating, possibly even pregnant. And the secret of Fém is more horrific than anyone could have imagined. To survive, Sisilla will need to forsake her predetermined fate and embrace the unknown.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep
by Paul Tremblay
Release: June 30
Meet Julia Flang, a twenty-something former semi-professional gamer, living with her retired uncle, and working two jobs she doesn’t like. Out of the blue, her estranged mother, a CFO for one of the world’s largest tech companies, offers her a temp job with a payday Julia can’t refuse. One sham interview later, she’s offered the job: to chaperone a man in a vegetative state—one with proprietary AI implanted in his head—from California to the East Coast.
To sum up in Julia’s own words: “You want me to remote control this dead dude across the country.” In a word, yes. But he’s not dead dead.
Meet a middle-aged man who wakes within a disorienting hellscape filled with monstrous grotesqueries. Worse than the fluid, morphing reality in which he’s trapped, he has no memory of who he is. He certainly doesn’t remember getting the rabbit tattoo on his arm. He only knows that he must find a certain person. Who? He can’t remember.
Using a cell phone modeled after a video game controller, Julia fumblingly navigates the man she calls “Bernie” from the company campus and onto planes and through one of the largest airports in America. All the while, the man endures an ever-changing and worsening nightmare that offers clues as to who he was—and who he must track down. And as their two lives intertwine, Julia and Bernie become unlikely allies and fugitives on a collision course with reality.
Storm Tide
by Paul Doiron
Release: June 30
Game Warden Mike Bowditch investigates a series of brutal killings during a life-changing year in Storm Tide, the harrowing new thriller from Edgar Award-nominated author Paul Doiron.
When the magnificent home of entrepreneur Brian Malloy mysteriously goes up in flames, Maine game warden Mike Bowditch tries to pull Malloy’s burning body from the fire but is too late. Malloy was suspected of murdering his young, illegitimate son. Now it looks like someone else has delivered a verdict.
Miles away, on a lonely stretch of icy railroad track, the body of Axl Deming, once accused of a brutal rape, is found literally cut in half. Though the two murders seem unrelated, a cryptic text from an unknown number draws Bowditch to the scene—and hints at a chilling connection. He suspects someone is orchestrating the executions of criminals who escaped justice, and for reasons he can’t explain, his own name is on the list, but the state police aren’t convinced. His search for the truth takes him through frozen harbors, trackless forests, and remote islands, far from rescue.
Meanwhile, Bowditch is facing a disciplinary hearing that could end his career. His wife Stacey, just weeks from giving birth, is being stalked by a stranger in a white van. And when he realizes someone has also been watching their home, the case turns increasingly personal.
To protect his family, Bowditch must work alone to uncover who’s behind the killings—and stop them before he becomes their next victim.
Fabulous Bodies
by Chuck Tingle
Release: July 7
Fashion influencer by day and grave robber by night, Poppy Stringer is on call when Eddie Michaels—a flamboyant, piano-slamming rockstar and queer icon—unexpectedly dies. All Poppy has to do is retrieve Eddie’s body from the medical examiner’s office, but what starts as a routine delivery quickly goes off course when Eddie wakes up.
Now, Poppy must fight for her life in a blood-soaked night of carnage and fabulous entertainment all across Palm Springs.
The Gargoyle and the Mason
by Jamie Flanagan & Marina Claire
Release: July 14
In The Gargoyle and the Mason, a lonely gargoyle learns the transformative power of friendship and acceptance.
Words by Jamie Flanagan, screenwriter of Netflix’s Midnight Mass, The Fall of the House of Usher, and more.
Fully illustrated by Marina Claire.
Carry Me to My Grave
by Christopher Golden
Release: August 4
Maggie Wise will take your eyes.
When Malcolm was growing up, the local kids made up that chant about his mother, claiming she was a witch. He and his siblings did their best to ignore it. Now, Maggie is dying, and those same siblings have left Malcolm and his sister-in-law Violet to hold a vigil at her bedside.
But they’re not as alone as they think they are. A dark figure waits and watches from beneath the willow tree across the street. Hundreds of miles away, an ancient evil stirs in its burrow under a farmer’s cornfield. Across the country, other buried things begin to dream in anticipation of Maggie’s demise. On her deathbed, the old woman elicits a promise from Malcolm, her youngest child―when she dies, he and Violet must return her body to her birthplace in Shediak, Maine.
From the moment she takes her last breath, before her remains are even loaded aboard the baggage car of the Imperial Limited, there are forces trying to stop Malcolm from fulfilling that promise. Violence erupts on the train, evil preys on its passengers, and once the sun goes down, those long-buried things are coming to make Maggie Wise pay for her past. God help anyone who stands in their way.
Be Still My Unbeating Heart
by Josh Winning
Release: August 4
Bastian may be a vampire, but he doesn’t bite.
. . . Not anymore, at least.
These days, Bastian just wants to live his best undead life: visit charming Italian villages, maybe dance in the square with a cute boy, all with Whitby, his best friend (and magical talking cat) by his side. What he doesn’t want? To stumble across a dead body on the beach, a girl who appears to have been killed by a vampire.
It wasn’t Bastian. He swears—on his own grave.
But the local police chief doesn’t trust Bastian, or any vampire, for that matter, so he assigns detective Nico De Luca to keep an eye on him until his trial. And while Bastian normally wouldn’t complain about having a gorgeous, mysterious man by his side, he has more important things to worry about, because the police chief has called the Vampire Council, and if the real killer is still at large when they arrive, the whole town could be in danger. As more bodies begin to pile up, Bastian, Whitby, and De Luca must get to the bottom of who in Vernazza is framing vampires, before it’s too late.
Meat Bees
by Dane Erbach
Release: August 4
By the time Scarlett Sutton arrives at her dad’s cabin in the Smoky Mountains, two locals have already been eaten alive by wasps. Of course, she doesn’t know this yet. All Scarlett knows is her mom finally checked herself into a hospital to take care of her mental health, leaving Scarlett alone with her dad all summer.
After he insists that she get a job, Scarlett accepts a position at nearby Stovetop Outfitters, hoping to spend as much time away from him as possible. She doesn’t expect to trip over a skeletonized corpse beneath the zip-line during one of her shifts—and definitely doesn’t expect to be thrown into a Netflix-style true crime investigation.
The local sheriff’s department is so overwhelmed by these unsolved deaths that when one of the Stovetop Outfitters employees disappears next, Scarlett and her co-workers set out to find him on their own. They discover something much more horrifying: a swarm of yellow jackets stripping the meat off his body. Scarlett never signed up to solve a disgusting mystery, but in order to protect her friends and family, she must defeat the mountain’s darkness and all these godforsaken wasps.
Meat Bees by Dane Erbach is exactly the campy horror story I was hoping for. It delivers a terrifying story of swarming wasps and a supernatural element that kept me truly terrified from beginning to end. And the nod to Paramore? That alone would’ve been enough to keep me reading. – CLICK HERE to read the entire review
Them
by W.H. Chizmar
Release: August 11
A top-secret government project hits upon a revolutionary idea for transporting matter across the vast reaches of the universe, and it succeeds in bringing something back. Something alive. Soon, mankind’s reign comes to an abrupt halt when a truck hauling a very special shipping container overturns and rolls off the highway, unleashing an otherworldly horror upon an unsuspecting New England countryside, where it cannot be contained…
Several years later, an unidentified man emerges from the rubble of humanity, seeking other survivors and a shred of hope amid an eerie and lonely landscape. He travels by night up the rural East Coast, discovering Americana ruins and encountering monsters the likes of which no one has survived. Scarred and molded by the cruel horrors of this new natural order, he must face his own dwindling humanity and pray that any others out there have not become monsters themselves…
Devil Inside
by Clay McLeod Chapman
Release: August 11
After a traumatic accident that almost cost Jordan his life, he’s finally starting to feel normal again. Well, maybe not normal. Everything tastes like ash, and when he looks at the people around him, their faces start to melt. At least he’s not dead, right? His friends are doing their best to get him back on his feet, maybe find someone to talk to, perhaps even find someone to take his mind off his last failed relationship.
Then he meets Lilith. The two share an instant connection but after a wild and passionate night together, she ghosts him. Jordan searches the city for Lilith, desperate to see her again. But when a woman claiming to be Lilith shows up, wearing a different face but knowing intimate details about Jordan, he worries he’s losing his grip on reality. As he grows closer to this mysterious woman, he discovers that happily ever afters sometimes come at a cost. How far will Lilith take him, and how much darkness will he embrace to find love?
Clown in a Cornfield 4: Lights! Camera! Frendo!
by Adam Cesare
Release: August 18
Sabrina Alvarez is pretty much a nobody—until she lands the starring role in the big budget film based on the Kettle Springs Massacre. Sabrina knows she should be on top of the world. She’s going to be THE Quinn Maybrook, Final Girl of Final Girls, national hero and certified badass. But as soon as Sabrina gets to Kettle Springs, she just can’t quite shake the feeling that something’s off. A spate of deaths, an out-of-control director, a town decimated by loss and divided by anger, and a movie designed to glorify it all. Something bad is brewing, and this time, it’s all on film.
Kiss Slay Replay
by Rachel Harrison
Release: September 1
It’s the picture-perfect wedding weekend: The venue is dreamy, the weather is beautiful, love is in the air—and Willa Sullivan is having a bad time. She’s excited to celebrate her best friends finally having the big wedding they’ve always wanted, but this is the first time she’s seen her ex-fiancé in months, and he brought a date. Everything feels off, like she stumbled into an alternate universe. But things start to look up when Willa meets Danny, the groom’s charming and single childhood best friend. When they sneak off together, their rendezvous is interrupted by a masked killer terrorizing the reception. Willa and Danny fight to save the ones they love and survive the night, but the killer is unrelenting. A final girl Willa is not.
Or is she? She wakes up and it’s the morning of the wedding. She just had the most intense nightmare of her life. Only as the day unfolds, there are some uncanny coincidences that make her question whether it was really a dream, déjà vu, or something more sinister. After a horrifying turn of events, Willa comes to understand that she’s stuck in a loop of carnage and terror that she must learn how to escape or else suffer a fate worse than death—being an eternal wedding guest.
A Thousand Monstrous Forms
by Saratoga Scheafer
Release: September 15
Artist Poppy Reed doesn’t care if others think her marriage to Celia Marie Fox, a wealthy art dealer, is impulsive. Sure, they’ve only known each other for six months, and Celia has an infamous reputation, but Poppy is brimming with excitement when she moves across the country to Celia’s home: a formidable, isolated, and art-filled manor called Busirane.
As Poppy tries to celebrate her first weeks of marriage and enjoy her new home, Busirane seems intent on rebuffing her every attempt to settle in. Strange noises and confounding occurrences lead Poppy to believe the house is haunted, a suspicion worsened by Celia’s insistence that Poppy avoid the locked basement.
When Celia leaves for a work trip, Poppy is left alone in the house, then finds herself snowed in. Surrounded by secrets, stalked by faceless statues, and beset by bodiless whispers, she struggles to trust her wife—and her own mind. When Poppy is eventually drawn to the forbidden basement, dark truths shatter everything she thought she knew, throwing her into a desperate bid for survival.
Drenched in dread, this contemporary gothic folktale retelling will have you checking all the locks. Twice.
Crone
by Keith Rosson
Release: September 29
Eli Lamp is a broken man. An ex-detective, ex-addict, and long-grieving father whose daughter, Hannah, disappeared a decade before, Eli decimated his old life investigating her abduction and is now indebted to the Crooked Wheel, a local drug gang, as an enforcer. He lives in a rundown trailer at the edge of the woods, where he keeps Hannah’s room in pristine condition and tries to make it through one day at a time.
But when the son of the Crooked Wheel’s boss is found viciously murdered in a crime scene that doesn’t seem to add up, Eli receives a new order: Find out who the killer is and your debt to the Wheel is clear forever. You’re free. This pursuit brings him into the orbit of Avery Bryant, Hannah’s best friend and the last person to see her before she went missing. Soon, Eli and Avery are entwined in a hunt for answers that spans decades, stretches the realm of possibility, and brings churning to the surface a conspiracy linking not only these current tragedies, but the buried sorrows of Eli’s past.
And though none of them dare say the word “witch,” at least not out loud, something lurks in the woods, bent-backed and black-eyed, clawed and vengeful, looming ever closer. . . .
Tracking Death (Killer VHS #8)
by Nikki R. Leigh
Release: Summer
Pitched as Final Destination meets Sinister, Tracking Death follows a group of young adults who find their deaths predicted in scenes from their favorite cult horror VHS.
Happy Hour (Killer VHS #9)
by Gemma Amor
Release: Fall
In Happy Hour, the eccentric owner of a 90s underground London cocktail bar has a unique and disturbing way of keeping an eye on everything and everyone, then disappearing those who don’t behave.
Barbie Just Won’t Die
by Tanya Pell
Release: October
Barbra Jacobs, star of the Mirror film franchise, has spent her career as a Scream Queen, posing at horror cons and signing photos of herself in her underwear. With the 20th anniversary of the first film looming, Barb is 40, perimenopausal, still battling her BDD demons daily, and desperate to land a serious role. But when fans and friends begin dying around her in homage to her films, Barb must decide if she’s going to be a Final Girl forever or if she’s going to do more than accidentally survive.
