Books like 'Poltergeist'
Readers who enjoyed Poltergeist by James Kahn also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
fantasy horror mystery supernatural paranormal ghosts family gothic pulp
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Spirit Prophecy by E.E. Holmes
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTwo sisters, haunted by more than their past... Just weeks after discovering each other’s existence, Jess and Hannah Ballard arrive at Fairhaven Hall, where they will learn the clandestine ways of the Durupinen, an ancient sect of women who control the Gateways between the worlds of the living and the dead... -
Rise of the Coven by E.E. Holmes
Rated: 4.64 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA dark magic seeks to rise even as the dust settles...It's been more than a year since Jess and Hannah Ballard fought to return the power of the Gateways where it rightfully belongs, and the Durupinen world is slowly adjusting to its altered relationship with the spirit world... -
City of the Forgotten by E.E. Holmes
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA malevolent force lurks beneath the streets of Scotland...Jess and Hannah Ballard's determination to protect the Gateways brings them to Edinburgh's Old Town, where a strange phenomenon threatens to disturb the delicate balance between the worlds of the living and the dead. Spirits who wish to cross over are vanishing, and it is up to the Ballard sisters to discover why... -
Cid by Alexie Aaron
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSummer has arrived and, with it, an opportunity for Cid Garrett (paranormal investigator for PEEPS) to make some cash as a carpenter. His colleague Jesse Holden has hooked him up with a fill-in position on a multimillion dollar renovation on an isolated 1920s southern mansion called Hidden Meadow... -
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Dead Stream Curse by J.R. Erickson, Nicole Jatho Swanson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA secret they intended to take to the grave. But the dead will tell.. -
A Horribly Haunted Halloween by Heather Graham
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsHalloween is approachingAnd while it might be different this year, many homes are lavishly decorated. Jackson Crow thinks it’s fine that his adopted son, Corby, takes a walk down the street to see some of the ghoulish displays.Except Corby hurries back to him. One “creature” isn’t—or wasn’t—a creature at all. The bizarre costuming covers someone once real—a human corpse... -
Ready for a Scare? by P.J. Night, Heather Alexander
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBirthday girl and queen of all things spooky, Kelly Garcia is all set to have the perfect night. First her parents are going out of town. And although they hired a babysitter, Kelly is excited to basically be on her own... -
Some Can See by J.R. Erickson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe dead have stories to tell. Are you listening?On a sunny August morning, in 1935, thirteen-year-old Sophia Gray finds her friend, Rosemary wandering in the woods. Rosemary’s yellow dress is tattered and stained, she walks with a strange lurch, and her eyes are vacant and glassy. She beckons to Sophia, desperate to show her something, and Sophia follows... -
Curiosity Killed the Cat by Sierra Harimann
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPoison Apple Books: Thrilling. Bone-chilling. These books have bite!Hannah isn't thrilled to be moving in with her dad and his new family, who live right next to a spooky cemetery. Luckily, Hannah doesn't believe all the "ghost cat" stories she's heard about the graveyard.Not so luckily, the cemetery is the least of Hannah's troubles. Her stepsister, Madison, is the meanest girl in Hannah's grade... -
Callie by Bill Thompson
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDeep in the bayous of southern Louisiana, an ancient mansion called Beau Rivage sits empty and abandoned. Arceneaux family members built the house and lived there for two hundred years. The house is inherited by Callie Pilantro, a down-on-her-luck granddaughter of Juliet Arceneaux, its most recent owner who died there a few months ago... -
The Witches of Santo Stefano by Wendy Webb
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAn investigative journalist uncovers the haunting secret history of her own ancestors in a bewitching novel by the bestselling author of Daughters of the Lake.When Cassie Graves discovers her husband’s affair, it’s enough to chip away at the foundation of her life. But after researching her family’s Italian ancestry, it completely crumbles beneath her... -
The Dead End by Mimi McCoy
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsPoison Apple Books: Thrilling. Bone-chilling. These books have bite! Casey Slater can't believe her bad luck. It's the summer before seventh grade, and instead of the perfect vacation she'd planned with her best friend, Casey is in a remote country town, where her parents are restoring an old, creaky, creepy house. Worst of all, everyone else in town thinks the old house is haunted... -
The Pretender by Rob Blackwell
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA young girl slaughters her entire family in a quiet suburban neighborhood. The police say she snapped, but Soren Chase knows the truth... -
The Heir of Death by Becca Andre
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsElysia Mallory has never embraced her magic, not when doing so comes at the price of her sanity. Her family is cursed with bizarre necromantic gifts that have driven each recipient mad, and she doesn’t want to be another dead branch on the family tree... -
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44 Book Eight by Jools Sinclair
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt has been six months since Emily Ross disappeared on a cold winter day while walking to her class at the University of Oregon. It has been six months without clues, without leads, without hope.Detective Ellis Frazier is desperate. He knows it is only a matter of time before the investigation ends up as a cold case, dead and forgotten forever... -
Forty-Four Book Eleven by Jools Sinclair
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsNow the prime suspect in a high-profile murder investigation, Abby Craig flees the only place she has ever called home and is forced to live on the run as a fugitive in the shadows of the American Southwest.But Abby soon discovers that she isn't alone. A mysterious stranger is plaguing her every step. A stranger with a dark past who has plans for her... -
Whispers in the Dark by Laurel Hightower
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRose McFarland is a trained killer--a Memphis S.W.A.T. sniper with a secret. Her team knows about the burn scars that lurk under her clothes, a legacy of the house fire that killed her father and brother sixteen years before. Her supervisors know that she spent two years in a rehabilitative facility, healing and learning to cope with the emotional trauma of the fire... -
Lost Girl by Anne Francis Scott
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLost Girl - Readers' Favorite Award Finalist in Paranormal FictionRenowned sculptor Allison Weathers doesn't believe in ghosts. But when a tragic twist of fate leads her to the small mountain town of Dawson Mills, Tennessee, she soon learns that the dead don't always stay silent. Shadows begin to shift in the rambling, old Victorian farmhouse she's purchased. Voices come from nowhere... -
44 Book Seven by Jools Sinclair
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAbby Craig’s worst nightmare has come to life…When an old friend suddenly reappears, a mysterious darkness begins to hound her. Shadowy truths will claw their way to the surface to finally see the light of day. Life and death hang in the balance when a long-buried secret refuses to stay dead... -
Tales Around the Jack O'Lantern: A Mary O'Reilly Short Story by Terri Reid
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe lights are out, the jack-o-lantern is lit and the O’Reilly clan is enjoying their family tradition of sharing ghost stories on Halloween night. Set ten years before Mary moves to Freeport, this novelette offers five unique ghost stories that will leave you checking over your shoulder just to make sure no one “uninvited” is in the room with you... -
The Ghost of Tobacco Road by Dale J. Young
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOn the banks of the Skeleton River in a remote part of North Carolina lies the small town of Starlight. Once known for its tobacco fields and rural charm, Starlight has seen better days. Now most of the stores on Main Street are boarded up, and many of the residents have left town for good... -
The Body at Auercliff by Amy Cross
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"We'll bury her so deep, even her ghost will have a mouth full of dirt!" When Rebecca Wallace arrives at Auercliff to check on her aged aunt, she's in for a shock. Her aunt's mind is crumbling, and the old woman refuses to let Rebecca stay overnight. And just as she thinks she's starting to understand the truth, Rebecca makes a horrifying discovery in one of the house's many spare rooms... -
Sleepy Hollow: A Novelization (Includes the Classic Short Story) by Peter Lerangis, Washington Irving
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHEADS WILL ROLLIt is 1799, the eve if a new century. In New York City, young Constable Ichabod Crane is eager to use his latest scientific methods and his powers of deduction to solve the most brutal of crimes. But nothing can prepare him for the shocking murders that take him far from the city's cobblestones to the eerie town of Sleepy Hollow... -
The Vengeful Dead by Darcy Coates
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsHow far will she go to save the damned?Keira is caught in a deadly battle. Her ability to help ghosts move on from the mortal world has made her a threat to Artec, a powerful corporation intent on trapping the tortured dead for profit. They've been tracking her for years and now, finally, there's nowhere left for her to run.Artec fears Keira and everything she's capable of... -
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Perron Manor by Lee Mountford
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsDescriptionPerron Manor—a place evil calls homeSisters Sarah and Chloe inherit a house they could never have previously dreamed of owning. It seems too good to be true.Shortly after they move in, however, the siblings start to notice strange things: horrible smells, sudden drops in temperature, as well as unexplainable sounds and feelings of being watched... -
At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels of Terror by H.P. Lovecraft
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNIGHTMARE STORIES FROM THE LAND OF TOTAL FEARRenowned as one of the great horror-writers of all time, H.P. Lovecraft produced works of enduring power. Now gathered together into this omnibus volume are seven classics of screaming supernatural terror and vilest horror...Front cover illustration by Tim White.Contents:- Introduction: H. P... -
The Ravenous Dead by Darcy Coates
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsHe'll never let go...Keira, hired as Blighty Graveyard’s new groundskeeper, lives surrounded by the dead. They watch her through the fog. They wordlessly cry out. They’ve been desperately waiting for help moving on—and only Keira can hear them. But not every restless spirit wants to be saved.Sometimes the dead hate the living too much to find peace... -
Blackwater 6: The Rain by Michael McDowell
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsAs 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... -
Shaker Town by Rebecca Patrick-Howard
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTaryn's camera is finally revealing a past to her that she's always longed to see-the mysterious Shakers as they were 100 years ago. But is she seeing a past she hadn't bargained for? Taryn Magill is ready for a break from the supernatural. She'd never planned on being a psychic detective... -
The Brown House by Christy Sloat
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Brown house isn’t a house you want to mess with. It’s that place where you and your friends go on a dare, but no one is brave enough to go inside, and if they do, they come out screaming. So when Brylee Branson and her family move in, it's not long before the evil things lurking in corners come out to play... -
An Unexpected Guest by Heather Graham
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsKrewe Special Agent Jon Dickson and Kylie Connolly met under tough circumstances, but despite that, they discovered it seemed they were meant to be.Now, moved into a condo in the D.C... -
The Haunting of Winchester Mansion by Alexandria Clarke
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn the small town of Black Bay, a vacant, forgotten house sits atop an overlooking bluff. When Bailey and Bodhi Taylor move in and begin renovations, the house seems perfect. But things move on their own, screams echo from the basement, and Bailey sees a shadowy figure out of the corner of her eye... -
Shadow Mirror by Richie Tankersley Cusick
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsUnsettling. There's no better word to describe Miranda Barnes's ability to hear the cries of the dead, feel the wind move her hair when they run by, and - dare she look into a mirror - see the reflection of a ghostly woman behind her. There's only one person to turn to for support: Etienne. As sexy as he is mysterious, Miranda can't help but be drawn to him. He believes her; he wants to help her... -
The Nurse by Amy Cross
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“Twenty years ago, something very bad happened in this house. But it's over now. I promise.” When Rachel moves to a new house with her mother, she immediately realizes that something isn't quite right. Although she's blind, Rachel can tell that the stories about the house's past don't add up. And slowly, she starts to worry that someone or something from that past might still be around... -
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Shepherd's Warning by Cailyn Lloyd
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFor years the abandoned MacKenzie mansion remained hidden in rural Wisconsin. Rumors and stories of apparitions, odd noises, accidents, and strange deaths in or near the property were enough to convince the townsfolk it was haunted and they stayed away... -
The Stars We Walked Upon by M.L. Bullock
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCarrie Jo Stuart's dream catching has gotten out of control and threatens to wreck her happy home. She decides to tell her husband a secret that changes everything, but Ashland has ghosts of his own. Ashland's childhood friend Detra Ann Dowd battles a frightening supernatural being but travels across time to receive help from an unexpected ally... -
American Gothic Tales by Joyce Carol Oates, Charles Brockden Brown
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsJoyce Carol Oates has a special perspective on the “gothic” in American short fiction, at least partially because her own horror yarns rank on the spine-tingling chart with the masters. She is able to see the unbroken link of the macabre that ties Edgar Allan Poe to Anne Rice and to recognize the dark psychological bonds between Henry James and Stephen King... -
Diavola by Jennifer Marie Thorne
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsJennifer Thorne skewers all-too-familiar family dynamics in this sly, wickedly funny vacation-Gothic. Beautifully unhinged and deeply satisfying, Diavola is a sharp twist on the classic haunted house story, exploring loneliness, belonging, and the seemingly inescapable bonds of family mythology.Anna has two rules for the annual Pace family destination vacations: Tread lightly and survive... -
Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce by Ambrose Bierce
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThis volume contains 24 of Bierce's best tales of the unknown. Morbid, cynical, eerie, they take you to a twilight region of flesh and spirit — and into the darkest recesses of the human mind... -
House of Echoes by Barbara Erskine
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe past isn't always dead or buried...When Joss Grant, adopted at birth, inherits Belheddon Hall – a beautiful old house on the East Anglian coast – it is like a dream come true. Eager to begin a new life there with Luke, her husband, and Tom, her small son, she is also impatient to find out about her newly discovered family who lived there for generations... -
Click-Clack the Rattlebag by Neil Gaiman
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNarrated by Neil Gaiman."Click-Clack the Rattlebag" is your Halloween treat from Neil Gaiman and Audible, free through October 31. It's not available anywhere else, and for a limited time, each download from Audible benefits educational charities at DonorsChoose.org... -
The Presence by Heather Graham
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe ultimate moneymaking plan...buy the ancient, run-down Scottish castle and turn it into a tourist destination. Toni Fraser and her friends will put on reenactments combining fact and fiction, local history, murder and an imaginary laird named Bruce MacNiall... -
December by Phil Rickman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn the twelfth-century ruins of the Abbey, it is said every stone was cemented in blood. On December 8, 1980, that blood will run again...In the ruins of a haunted medieval abbey, four musicians hope to tap into the site's dark history. The experience almost destroys them. Years later, the original group is forced to return to the abbey, to confront the old evil they discovered... -
The Farm by Amy Cross
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsOne farm. Two tragedies, thirty years apart. And a tortured figure whose presence connects both incidents... In 1979, the Bondalen family farm in Norway is home to three young girls. As winter fades to spring, Elizabeth, Kari and Sara each come to face the secrets of the barn, and they each emerge with their own injuries... -
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The Haunting of Blackwych Grange by Amy Cross
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFor almost a century now, Blackwych Grange has been left locked and abandoned. But when a team of researchers gains permission to enter the house and monitor for ghosts, a dark presence begins to stir. Paula is thrilled when she's invited to join the team. Soon, however, she starts to regret her choice. Something lurks in the dark rooms of Blackwych Grange, something that seeks vengeance... -
Unrest by Michelle Harrison
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSeventeen-year-old Elliott hasn’t slept properly for months. Ever since the accident that nearly killed him, a shadowy figure has made its presence felt – a figure only he can see. Elliott is convinced his near death experience has enabled him to contact the dead... -
Quarter to Midnight: Fifteen Tales of Horror and Suspense by Darcy Coates
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"Push past the curtains of the rational, safe world and explore the un-nameable horrors living in the darkest corners of our conscience... -
Dark and Deadly Things by Kelly Martin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSince Elise Morgan left her father’s reality television show, Dark and Deadly Things, she put the ghost-hunting life behind her, able to comfortably watch from her couch. Her father has resorted to faking the hauntings that thrill America, but he could never fool Elise. She can see the dead. When the Halloween episode airs live on television, something goes horribly wrong... -
Grave Girl by Amy Cross
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen Sam Marker ran away from her old life, all she needed was a job and somewhere to live. Anything would do. And then, one fateful day, she saw that the town of Rippon was looking for a new gardener...Unfortunately for Sam, the 'garden' is actually a cemetery, and it just so happens to contain the deadliest grave in the world... -
The Titanic Locket by Suzanne Weyn
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDon't touch anything in The Haunted Museum!It looks like the high point of Samantha's spring vacation is going to be a glimpse of a cute boy she sees at The Haunted Museum in England...
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