Books like 'The Return'

Readers who enjoyed The Return by Bentley Little also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

horror  supernatural  monsters/creatures  small town  historical-fiction  prehistoric  archaeology  folk-horror  rural  pulp 

  • Crowbones by Anne Bishop

    Crowbones by Anne Bishop

    Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    In this engrossing and gripping fantasy set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Others series, an inn owner and her friends must find a killer-before it's too late...
  • The Witchwood Boys Did Me Dirty by C.M. Stunich

    The Witchwood Boys Did Me Dirty by C.M. Stunich

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    These forgotten witches aren’t too wicked to fall for.A coven of shadows with a curse on my heart and my house.They bake f*cked-up cupcakes in my kitchen and unalive influencers in my front yard.These men make zombies out of their own relatives, and a panting mess out of their own wife.The Witchwoods are a violent stain on the world.Eradicating that blight is worth the dirty, rotten things we do...
  • Bane County: Forgotten Moon by J.R. Rice

    Bane County: Forgotten Moon by J.R. Rice

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    The large river-island of Bane County has a troubled past; but some histories are eagerly forgotten, especially those written in blood. Nestled into the foothills of the National Wildlife Refuge, the small rural town of Silver Canyon seems idyllic to most; but a long-slumbering evil is about to reawaken...
  • I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells

    I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells

    Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    John Cleaver has called a demon—literally called it, on the phone, and challenged it to a fight. He’s faced two of the monsters already, barely escaping with his life, and now he’s done running; he’s taking the fight to them...
  • Lake Silence by Anne Bishop

    Lake Silence by Anne Bishop

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 37 ratings
    In this thrilling and suspenseful fantasy, set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Others series, Vicki DeVine and her lodger, the shapeshifter Aggie Crowe, stumble onto a dead body . . . and find themselves enmeshed in danger and dark secrets.Human laws do not apply in the territory controlled by the Others–vampires, shapeshifters, and paranormal beings even more deadly...
  • Ghost by Kat Blackthorne

    Ghost by Kat Blackthorne

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Ash Grove is a fine place to die. Blythe has accepted her fate and is tired of running. Who would miss her anyway? She attends her new and eccentric town’s month long Halloween masquerade for one last party before meeting her end. But what will she find...and what will find her? A man in a skeleton mask is watching... and he’s not the only one...
  • The Gulp by Alan Baxter

    The Gulp by Alan Baxter

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Strange things happen in The Gulp. The residents have grown used to it. The isolated Australian harbour town of Gulpepper is not like other places. Some maps don’t even show it. And only outsiders use the full name. Everyone who lives there calls it The Gulp. The place has a habit of swallowing people.A truck driver thinks the stories about The Gulp are made up to scare him. Until he gets there...
  • The Midwives by Duncan Ralston

    The Midwives by Duncan Ralston

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    A killer on the loose. A writer on the run. A town plagued by an ancient evil. On tour with his latest book, true crime writer Martin Savage discovers one of his most-dangerous subjects has escaped. The so-called "Witch Hunter," a delusional murderer of women and their unborn children, holds a deadly grudge. He'll stop at nothing to get his revenge, and destroy everything Martin cares about...
  • Wolf Hunt 2 by Jeff Strand

    Wolf Hunt 2 by Jeff Strand

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    George and Lou used to be thugs for hire. Now they're living in a shack in Costa Rica, hiding from the crime lord who wants them dead. Their last job, to deliver him a werewolf in a cage, went...badly. But they can't hide out forever, and when they're finally captured, it seems as if George and Lou's ultimate fate will involve being doused in gasoline and set aflame...
    Categorized as:
    paranormal  suspense  adult  audiobook  book  comedy  crime  death
  • The Quiet Boy by Nick Antosca

    The Quiet Boy by Nick Antosca

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    But there was no Goldilocks in his story. There were only the Wolfs, who lived together in a cave above a town. Big Wolf, Middle Wolf, and Little Wolf. Big Wolf was a brute. Little Wolf was timid. Middle Wolf was the peacemaker...
  • Mr. Monster by Dan Wells

    Mr. Monster by Dan Wells

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    In I Am Not a Serial Killer, John Wayne Cleaver saved his town from a murderer even more appalling than the serial killers he obsessively studies.But it turns out even demons have friends, and the disappearance of one has brought another to Clayton County. Soon there are new victims for John to work on at the mortuary and a new mystery to solve...
  • Blackwater 6: The Rain by Michael McDowell

    Blackwater 6: The Rain by Michael McDowell

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    As the Caskey family and their town of Perdido rode the crest of prosperity in the 60s, matriarch Elinor had good reason to be proud of her domain. But slowly, silently, unimaginable horrors were creeping into their midst.At the height of revelry, at the peak of chaos, in the fearful silence of blackest night, preternatural horror pounced upon the Caskeys...
  • Blackwater III: The House by Michael McDowell

    Blackwater III: The House by Michael McDowell

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    The Depression came hard to most people in Perdido, Alabama, but the town's first family weathered the storm under the guidane of the indomitable Mary-Love Caskey and the increasing influence of her daughter-in-law, Elinor.Strange and malevolent were the ways of Elinor to those who stood in her way. Those she loved would prosper. Those she disliked would die hideously...
  • Sleep Tight by J.H. Markert

    Sleep Tight by J.H. Markert

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    The sole survivor of a serial killer might hold the key to stopping a new spree of murders in this propulsive thriller in the vein of The Black Phone and The Whisper Man.Dark and twisting at every turn, fans of Catriona Ward will love this chilling new tale from the deviously inventive horror author that Peter Farris calls the “clear heir to Stephen King.”Beware the one who got away . .
  • Nothing Left to Lose by Dan Wells

    Nothing Left to Lose by Dan Wells

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    New York Times bestselling author Dan Wells continues his acclaimed John Wayne Cleaver series, popular with fans of DexterHi. My name is John Cleaver, and I hunt monsters. I used to do it alone, and then for a while I did it with a team of government specialists, and then the monsters found us and killed almost everyone, and now I hunt them alone again.This is my story...
  • Over Your Dead Body by Dan Wells, Kirby Heyborne

    Over Your Dead Body by Dan Wells, Kirby Heyborne

    Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    John and Brooke are on their own, hitchhiking from town to town as they hunt the last of the Withered through the Midwest - but the Withered are hunting them back, and the FBI is close behind...
  • Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues by Diana Rowland

    Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues by Diana Rowland

    Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Angel Crawford is finally starting to get used to life as a brain-eating zombie, but her problems are far from over. Her felony record is coming back to haunt her, more zombie hunters are popping up, and she’s beginning to wonder if her hunky cop-boyfriend is involved with the zombie mafia. Yeah, that’s right—the zombie mafia...
  • Blackwater IV: The War by Michael McDowell

    Blackwater IV: The War by Michael McDowell

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    Wartime in Perdido jolted the sleepy little Alabama town as new people entered the community. Outsiders would invade the comfort of the wealthy Caskeys and take their daughters.This, though, was the part of the master plan of Elinor Caskey, who would see the fasmily flourish amidst the deatruction and death she administered in a fashion more awesome than the war itself...
  • Summer of Night by Dan Simmons

    Summer of Night by Dan Simmons

    Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
    · 38 ratings
    It's the summer of 1960 in Elm Haven, Illinois, and five 12-year old boys are forming the bonds that a lifetime of changes will never erase. But then a dark cloud threatens the bright promise of summer vacation: on the last day of school, their classmate Tubby Cooke vanishes. Soon, the group discovers stories of other children who once disappeared from Elm Haven...
  • Hold Back the Tide by Melinda Salisbury

    Hold Back the Tide by Melinda Salisbury

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    From internationally bestselling, acclaimed author Melinda Salisbury comes a darkly seductive story of murder, betrayal, love, and family secrets in a small town in the Scottish Highlands.Here are the rules of living with a murderer.One: Do not draw attention to yourself.Of course, when you live with a murderer, this is impossible. Even the subtlest of spectres is bound to be noticed...
  • Blackwater V: The Fortune by Michael McDowell

    Blackwater V: The Fortune by Michael McDowell

    Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    Under Elinor's guidance, the Caskey family prospered after the war, not knowing that a dark infernal force was growing in their midst. And Frances, Elinor's favorite daughter, never understood her strange yearning for the Perdido River....until the day her babies were born.Elinor presided over the secret birth, the triumph of her life...
  • Exorcist Road by Jonathan Janz

    Exorcist Road by Jonathan Janz

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    "Possessed by a demon...or by the urge to kill?"Chicago is gripped by terror. The Sweet Sixteen Killer is brutally murdering sixteen-year-old girls, and the authorities are baffled.A seemingly normal fourteen-year-old boy has attacked his entire family and had to be chained to his bed. His uncle, police officer Danny Hartman, is convinced his nephew is possessed by a demon...
  • Within the Woods by Tony Urban, Thomas Rode

    Within the Woods by Tony Urban, Thomas Rode

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Don't go in the woods... For 12-year-old Garrett and his four best friends, the idyllic summer of 1989 crashes to a halt when Garrett's older brother vanishes. Something is very wrong in Sallow Creek, Pennsylvania. Something is turning their neighbors, their relatives, into unstoppable monstrosities... Monsters that are coming for the them...
  • Down in the Hollow by Timothy Hobbs

    Down in the Hollow by Timothy Hobbs

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    It all begins with a decapitated head found at the bottom of a dark well. Bertram Stone is a former Texas Ranger running from the changes of an ever-evolving world. Horses were being replaced by cars. Laws were changing how Bertram could deal justice. Wanting to live out his golden years in peace, Stone flees to the quiet town of Hamilton, Texas where he becomes the local sheriff...
  • Nocturnal by Clio Evans

    Nocturnal by Clio Evans

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    I was his toxic obsession. He was my sadistic monster.Nora:When I took a job at St. Thorns university as a psychology professor, I encountered something—someone—unexplainable. Fascinating. And deadly.Alec Briar had the eyes of a killer.He’s a botanist who would rather rot in his greenhouse alone than deal with students, professors, or me...
  • 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King

    'Salem's Lot by Stephen King

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 73 ratings
    Thousands of miles away from the small township of 'Salem's Lot, two terrified people, a man and a boy, still share the secrets of those clapboard houses and tree-lined streets. They must return to 'Salem's Lot for a final confrontation with the unspeakable evil that lives on in the town...
  • Come for a Spell by Kat Blackthorne

    Come for a Spell by Kat Blackthorne

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    I betrayed my coven for monster lust.I’m a passion witch, he’s an ox-skull demon, can I make it any more obvious? Ok, that’s the shorter version of this quick and dirty tale. The Moon Halo Coven always told me to stay in the light. But being good is so boring and this darkness in the woods pleases me like a champ...
  • Step Devil 2 by Aiden Pierce

    Step Devil 2 by Aiden Pierce

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    “Make no fucking mistake, little lamb. I’m not saving you. Either the Elder One eats you…or I do.” With Titus’s father dead, we were supposed to leave the Pine Barrens and never look back. But with a cult hunting us through the woods and an ancient evil slowly rising from its slumber…We’re damned...
  • Lockjaw by Matteo L. Cerilli

    Lockjaw by Matteo L. Cerilli

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    "Cerilli delivers a stunning debut in this gripping paranormal horror novel about queer teens growing up in a community that doesn’t accept them and the insidious danger of apathy...
  • The Last Town by Blake Crouch

    The Last Town by Blake Crouch

    Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    Welcome to Wayward Pines, the last town.Secret Service agent Ethan Burke arrived in Wayward Pines, Idaho, three weeks ago. In this town, people are told who to marry, where to live, where to work. Their children are taught that David Pilcher, the town’s creator, is god. No one is allowed to leave; even asking questions can get you killed...
  • White Trash Zombie Apocalypse by Diana Rowland, Daniel Dos Santos

    White Trash Zombie Apocalypse by Diana Rowland, Daniel Dos Santos

    Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    Our favorite white trash zombie, Angel Crawford, has enough problems of her own, what with dealing with her alcoholic, deadbeat dad, issues with her not-quite boyfriend, the zombie mafia, industrial espionage and evil corporations. Oh, and it’s raining, and won’t let up...
  • Her Soul to Take by Harley Laroux

    Her Soul to Take by Harley Laroux

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 32 ratings
    LeonI earned my reputation among magicians for a reason: one wrong move and you're dead. Killer, they called me, and killing is what I'm best at.Except her.The one I was supposed to take, the one I should have killed - I didn't.The cult that once controlled me wants her, and I'm not about to lose my new toy to them.RaeI've always believed in the supernatural...
    Categorized as:
    gothic  paranormal  suspense  adult  age-gap  alpha-mc  anti-hero  book
  • The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates

    The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    There's something wrong with Ashburn House... The ancient building has been the subject of rumours for close to a century. Its owner, Edith, refused to let guests inside and rarely visited the nearby town. Following Edith's death, her sole surviving relative, Adrienne, inherits the property. Adrienne's only possessions are a suitcase of luggage, twenty dollars, and her pet cat...
  • The Reckoning by Carsten Stroud

    The Reckoning by Carsten Stroud

    Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    The astonishing final installment in the page-turning trilogy that Stephen King calls “an authentic work of American genius.”   Niceville has an almost unearthly beauty when the sun tops the ancient nearby mountain called Tallulah’s Wall and bathes it in soft Southern light...
  • Destined to Hide by Sterling Thomas

    Destined to Hide by Sterling Thomas

    Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Escape or die. The man I loved is a liar, a predator who lured me in with sweet words and empty promises. Now, I’m trapped and it’s only a matter of time before he loses control. I have one chance to run. Head for the wilds and don’t look back. If I leave, I might die, but he’ll kill me if I stay. For so long it’s seemed like I’m destined to spend my days in hiding; scared and alone...
    Categorized as:
    paranormal  abuse  adult  book  dystopia  fated-mates  fiction  horror
  • A House by the Sea by Ambrose Ibsen

    A House by the Sea by Ambrose Ibsen

    Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Something has always lived in Winthrop House... After his book becomes a best-seller, novelist Jack Ripley moves into a house on the edge of Cutler Harbor with his wife and two daughters. Nearly a century old, Winthrop House is newly-restored and boasts a gorgeous oceanfront view. But everything is not what it seems...
  • Forest of Shadows by Hunter Shea

    Forest of Shadows by Hunter Shea

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    The dead still hate! John Backman specializes in inexplicable phenomena. The weirder the better. So when he gets a letter from a terrified man describing an old log home with odd whisperings, shadows that come alive, and rooms that disappear, he can’t resist the call. But the violence only escalates as soon as John arrives in the remote Alaskan village of Shida. Something dreadful happened there...
    Categorized as:
    ghosts  paranormal  adult  book  death  demons  family  fiction
  • Cat's Cradle by William W. Johnstone

    Cat's Cradle by William W. Johnstone

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    "No one knew where she had come from. She was just a scrap of a girl clinging to a black cat with eerie yellow eyes. A lost child or an orphan, maybe. It was a miracle she had survived on Eden Mountain at all. Suddenly strange things began to happen in placid Ruger County, bizarre killings that the police couldn't solve. Horrifying accidents that the people couldn't comprehend...
    Categorized as:
    paranormal  pulp  suspense  vampires  adult  animals  book  demons
  • Bone White by Ronald Malfi

    Bone White by Ronald Malfi

    Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    A landscape of frozen darkness punctuated by grim, gray days. The feeling like a buzz in your teeth.The scrape of bone on bone. . .Paul Gallo saw the report on the news: a mass murderer leading police to his victims graves, in remote Dread's Hand, Alaska.It's not even a town; more like the bad memory of a town. The same bit of wilderness where his twin brother went missing a year ago...
  • The Creeper by A.M. Shine

    The Creeper by A.M. Shine

    Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Superstitions only survive if people believe in them...Renowned academic Dr Sparling seeks help with his project on a remote Irish village. Historical researchers Ben and Chloe are thrilled to be chosen—until they arrive...The village is isolated and forgotten. There is no record of its history, its stories. There is no friendliness from the locals, only wary looks and whispers...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  folk-horror  rural  gothic  ghosts  horror  fiction  mystery
  • Jack's Head by Siggy Shade

    Jack's Head by Siggy Shade

    Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    ...
    Categorized as:
    ghosts  paranormal  adult  book  demons  fiction  horror  insta-love
  • Step Devil: A Dark Paranormal Stepbrother Romance by Aiden Pierce

    Step Devil: A Dark Paranormal Stepbrother Romance by Aiden Pierce

    Rated: 3.71 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    There’s something off with my new stepbrother…something monstrous.When my mom up and marries a man she doesn’t know, she uproots us from our home in upstate New York to live in the tiny, backwoods town of Bishop, buried deep in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.There’s something terribly wrong with this place...
    Categorized as:
    paranormal  abuse  adult  book  contemporary  cruel-mc  dark  demons
  • Carnival by William W. Johnstone

    Carnival by William W. Johnstone

    Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    The locals were ecstatic when the carnival pulled into Holland, Nebraska. They shrieked in delight on the lightning-fast rides. They gasped in shocked fascination at the chilling collection of freaks and human oddities. But all the while, piercing red eyes glared out at the townies from the shadows of the midway. Eyes that burned with vengeful hatred. Eyes that lusted for blood . .
  • When It Comes by Kady Ash

    When It Comes by Kady Ash

    Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Some people claim they're haunted by their pasts, but me?I'm actually haunted by mine, by a ghost who trips people when they flirt with me, gets me fired, and is trying to get me to go back home to Hallowtide.And then there's Nox.Beautiful, tattooed, powerful, and exists only in my dreams. The sex is great, but I can't hold onto that forever...
  • Honeysuckles by January Rayne

    Honeysuckles by January Rayne

    Rated: 3.79 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    I’m a monster DNA experiment and she’s everything my beasts want. I escape the hell that tortured me for months. I’m turned into something so dangerous and brutal; I don’t recognize myself. And when I feel a pull in my chest, I follow it not understanding why. I see her and possession takes over. Her beauty is addiction. And her smell? God…her scent….mmm… It drives me insane...
  • Hellfire by John Saul

    Hellfire by John Saul

    Rated: 3.84 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Pity the dead. For one hundred years the old mill has stood silent, its dread secrets locked away and barred from view. Still the people of Westover, Massachusetts, remember--remember and whisper of that fateful day when horrifying flames claimed eleven innocent lives. The day the mill's iron doors slammed shut--forever.Pray for the living...
    Categorized as:
    ghosts  paranormal  suspense  vampires  adult  book  classics  crime
  • The Possession by Ambrose Ibsen

    The Possession by Ambrose Ibsen

    Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    A brutal murder. A seaside village drenched in fog. A vile history...Aaron Andrews, a newly-minted doctor, returns to the village of Aetherton to take up his late father's practice. Hopes of easing into his new role and restoring the local clinic are dashed, however, when the disfigured body of a child is discovered in an empty flowerbed...
  • The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry

    The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    When people go missing in the sleepy town of Smith's Hollow, the only clue to their fate comes when a teenager starts having terrifying visions, in a chilling horror novel from national bestselling author Christina Henry.When the bodies of two girls are found torn apart in the town of Smiths Hollow, Lauren is surprised, but she also expects that the police won't find the killer...
  • Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker

    Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker

    Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    It's an oppressively hot and sticky morning in June when Sterling and her brother, Phin, have an argument that compels him to run into the town swamp—the one that strikes fear in all the residents of Sticks, Louisiana. Phin doesn't return. Instead, a girl named Lenora May climbs out, and now Sterling is the only person in Sticks who remembers her brother ever existed...
    Categorized as:
    ghosts  gothic  paranormal  suspense  amnesia  book  contemporary  dark
  • Crimson by Gord Rollo

    Crimson by Gord Rollo

    Rated: 3.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    The small town of Dunnville is no stranger to fear. Evil has stalked its dark streets once before, twenty years ago, leaving in its wake a legacy of blood and madness. These days, no one in the town likes to talk about it much. Some folks deny it ever happened....But four boyhood friends are about to discover the truth, though no one will believe them...
The Return by Bentley Little
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