Books like 'When a Stranger Comes to Town'
Readers who enjoyed When a Stranger Comes to Town by Michael Koryta also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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Careful little eyes: An addictive, horrifying serial killer thriller by Willow Rose
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsASIN moved from less recent edition hereIan Marks is terrified of ghosts. Especially of the one that has just moved into his shed in the back yard of his house in New Orleans. Everyone else thinks he is just a drunk, but when his girlfriend is killed at night by a man with an axe, he knows he was right to be afraid... -
![Spirit Caller by H.P. Bayne]()
Spirit Caller by H.P. Bayne
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOne night. One last enemy. One chance to stop him forever. It’s all come down to this. More than two years after Sully took desperate measures to escape his enemies, he finds himself headed for an inevitable showdown with the most dangerous of them. Years of murder and deceit are catching up to Lowell, and the ghosts of those he killed are not about to rest until they’ve watched him fall... -
![Changeling by Matt Wesolowski]()
Changeling by Matt Wesolowski
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsOn Christmas Eve in 1988, seven-year-old Alfie Marsden vanished in the Wentshire Forest Pass, when a burst tyre forced his father, Sorrel, to stop the car. Leaving the car to summon the emergency services, Sorrel returned to find his son gone. No trace of the child, nor his remains, have ever been found. Alfie Marsden was declared officially dead in 1995... -
![The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Pober]()
The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Pober
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMurder, revenge, deranged fantasies, and dark superstitions: better leave the lights on after reading these 24 chilling tales of horror and suspense, spun by master storyteller Edgar Allan Poe... -
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![Blackthorn Manor Haunting by Cheryl Bradshaw]()
Blackthorn Manor Haunting by Cheryl Bradshaw
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA woman in black stares at the sea, her body transparent, eyes brimming with tears. Hoping to get a better look at the woman, psychic medium Addison Lockhart leans out over the manor’s windowsill, gasping when she feels an intense pressure pressing down on her back—someone thrusting her forward. She grabs the side of the window to brace herself, but it’s too late. She’s already falling... -
![Dearest by Jacquie Walters]()
Dearest by Jacquie Walters
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA new mom in need of help opens her door to her long-estranged mother—only to invite something much darker inside—in this "fast-paced and frightening debut" (Rachel Harrison) about the long shadows cast by family secrets, perfect for readers of Grady Hendrix or Ashley Audrain. Flora is a new mom enamored of her baby girl, Iris, even if she arrived a few weeks early... -
![Perron Manor by Lee Mountford]()
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... -
![Dark City by F. Paul Wilson]()
Dark City by F. Paul Wilson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsDark City is the second of a new prequel trilogy, Repairman Jack: The Early Years by F. Paul Wilson.It's February 1992. Desert Storm is raging in Iraq but twenty-two-year-old Jack has more pressing matters at home. His favorite bar, The Spot, is about to be sold out from under Julio, Jack's friend... -
![Deity by Matt Wesolowski]()
Deity by Matt Wesolowski
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA shamed pop starA devastating fireSix witnessesSix storiesWhich one is true?When pop megastar Zach Crystal dies in a fire at his remote mansion, his mysterious demise rips open the bitter divide between those who adored his music and his endless charity work, and those who viewed him as a despicable predator, who manipulated and abused young and vulnerable girls... -
![The Curse of Misty Wayfair by Jaime Jo Wright]()
The Curse of Misty Wayfair by Jaime Jo Wright
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLeft at an orphanage as a child, Thea Reed vowed to find her mother someday. Now grown, her search takes her to Pleasant Valley, Wisconsin, in 1908. When clues lead her to a mental asylum, Thea uses her experience as a post-mortem photographer to gain access and assist groundskeeper Simeon Coyle in photographing the patients and uncovering the secrets within... -
![The Twisted Dead by Darcy Coates]()
The Twisted Dead by Darcy Coates
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsKeira is ready for her life to return to normal. Though, to be fair, normal is a tall ask when your ability to see ghosts has landed you the job of groundskeeper in a small town’s cemetery.When Keira receives an invitation to dinner at Dane Crispin’s crumbling ancestral estate, she knows she can’t refuse. The last living descendant of the Crispin family is reclusive... -
![The River by Noelle W. Ihli]()
The River by Noelle W. Ihli
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA short post-script to Ask for Andrea by Noelle W. Ihli. Learn what happened to April... -
![The Reaper's Game by Layton Green]()
The Reaper's Game by Layton Green
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIs it murder from beyond the grave . . . or the final ruse of a twisted serial killer?Three years ago, a deranged murderer dubbed the Halloween Killer butchered half a dozen people in New Orleans. He was caught and sentenced to die. Just before his execution, the Halloween Killer vowed to take revenge on the district attorney who put him behind bars... -
![Touching the Dead by Wendy Cartmell]()
Touching the Dead by Wendy Cartmell
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA mummified body washed up on a beach near Chichester.A tormented detective cursed with a gift she didn't want. When the autopsy reveals the victim's heart was torn from her body, Detective Inspector Jo Wolfe and her team wonder if someone is continuing the work of Anubis, the Egyptian God of Death. With the body count rising, Jo must touch the dead, to help her solve the case... -
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![Grimm's Puppets by Tom Prater]()
Grimm's Puppets by Tom Prater
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn the autumn of 1968, the bodies of six brothers were found hanging from Hollyhead's billboard dressed in white, flowing gowns. Their killer was never identified.Twelve years later, another death has occurred. Will Metlocke, an author with seemingly psychic abilities, is called back to his hometown by his estranged father in a plea to help solve the murders... -
![The Neighbor by London Clarke]()
The Neighbor by London Clarke
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsClaire Vogel is a recently divorced mother of four girls and a successful counselor living in a planned and prestigious community. She knows all her neighbors, and they know her. But Claire has a secret. To cope with hidden, deep-rooted pain, she often participates in risky, reckless behavior... -
![Through the Mist by Lindsay Jayne Ashford]()
Through the Mist by Lindsay Jayne Ashford
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTwo women disturb the dark history of a deceptively quiet postwar Cornwall village in a haunting novel by the bestselling author of A Feather on the Water and The Woman on the Orient Express.It’s winter 1947 when newlyweds Ellen and Tony Wylde move into an abandoned Cornish farmhouse overlooking the sea... -
![House of Echoes by Barbara Erskine]()
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... -
![The September House by Carissa Orlando]()
The September House by Carissa Orlando
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings... -
![Day of the Accident by Nuala Ellwood]()
Day of the Accident by Nuala Ellwood
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSixty seconds after she wakes from a coma, Maggie's world is torn apart.The police tell her that her daughter Elspeth is dead. That she drowned when the car Maggie had been driving plunged into the river. Maggie remembers nothing.When Maggie begs to see her husband Sean, the police tell her that he has disappeared. He was last seen on the day of her daughter's funeral... -
![Nightingale House by Steve Frech]()
Nightingale House by Steve Frech
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDaniel Price has just had the breakthrough of his life when his novel cracks the best seller list. He and his wife, Nicole, decide to move into the majestic Nightingale House on the shores of Willow Lake, in the town of Kingsbrook, Maine. But Daniel's world is shattered when Nicole is killed in a car crash, and he must raise their eight year-old daughter, Caitlyn, on his own... -
![If It Bleeds by Stephen King]()
If It Bleeds by Stephen King
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 53 ratingsIf it Bleeds is a collection of four new novellas —Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, The Life of Chuck, Rat, and the title story If It Bleeds— each pulling readers into intriguing and frightening places.A collection of four uniquely wonderful long stories, including a stand-alone sequel to The Outsider.News people have a saying: 'If it bleeds, it leads'... -
![Curfew by Phil Rickman]()
Curfew by Phil Rickman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOn the border between England and Wales lies the tiny town of Crybbe, not picturesque enough for the tourist trade, quietly sliding into decay. Max Goff means to change all that. Goff has made millions in the record business, but his heart is in New Age philosophy. He has learned that Crybbe was once a spiritual center of sorts, surrounded by ancient standing stones that were emblems of power... -
![The Town the World Forgot by Boris Bacic]()
The Town the World Forgot by Boris Bacic
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNo one ever escapes from this town.Newlyweds Lisa and John’s summer drive through the Oregonian wilderness takes a chilling turn when an unexpected blizzard traps their car. Desperate for refuge, they find hope in a sign: WELCOME TO ____. Bundling up, they trek through the storm and find that, within the town, the blizzard ceases, though it rages just beyond the town's limits... -
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![The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane by Laird Koenig]()
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane by Laird Koenig
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAlone in the darkened house, with only fire's glow and thirteen flickering candles for illumination, silent except for the mounting chords of a Liszt concerto, Rynn was preparing a solemn celebration. Until a knock at the door shattered sanctuary.Rynn is the little girl who lives in the house at the end of the lane with her father-or so she says... -
![Return to the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz]()
Return to the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIvy Jensen survived the Dark House once, but can she make it out a second time? Two months have passed since Ivy narrowly escaped the Nightmare Elf’s grip, but the memories of Parker, Natalie, Shayla, Frankie, and Garth continue to haunt her. Their killer is still out there—somewhere. The police trail has gone cold, though, and it’s up to Ivy to piece together the clues to find him... -
![House Of Mirrors by Ben Cheetham]()
House Of Mirrors by Ben Cheetham
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsYou know, don’t you, that it’s not my soul the Devil wants, it’s yours?Two years ago the Piper family fled Fenton House after their dream of a new life turned into an unspeakable nightmare. The house has stood empty ever since, given a wide berth by everyone except ghost hunters and occult fanatics.Now something is trying to lure the Pipers back to Fenton House... -
![Watching the Ghosts by Kate Ellis]()
Watching the Ghosts by Kate Ellis
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratings"DI Joe Plantagenet investigates a house with a disturbing past in the fourth of this popular police procedural series"Boothgate House has a sinister past. Once an asylum for the insane, serial killer Peter Brockmeister was sent there on his release from prison in 1978. Three years later, it closed, and Brockmeister died in mysterious circumstances... -
![Hinton Hollow Death Trip by Will Carver]()
Hinton Hollow Death Trip by Will Carver
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFive days in the history of a small rural town, visited and infected by darkness, are recounted by Evil itself. A stunning high-concept thriller from the bestselling author of Good Samaritans and Nothing Important Happened Today. 'Cements Carver as one of the most exciting authors in Britain... -
![Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley]()
Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsIt's a Midsommar night's Scream in this blood-soaked thriller set at a remote healing retreat from horror author Brian McAuley.Hannah has been running from her demons ever since she emerged from a harrowing wilderness trip without her fiancé. No one knows exactly what happened the day Ben died, and Hannah would like to keep it that way.. -
![The Well by Peter Labrow]()
The Well by Peter Labrow
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTrapped. Missing. Cursed. Fourteen-year-old Becca Richards and her stepbrother have fallen to the bottom of an ancient well. Their parents are away; they won't be missed for days. The predatory man who had been stalking Becca now switches his attentions to her best friend. Two women who know where Becca is trapped are desperate that she should never escape... -
![The House Beneath the Oak Trees by Faye Belle]()
The House Beneath the Oak Trees by Faye Belle
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsPenny couldn’t believe her luck when they first arrived at Oak Tree House, the grand country estate where she would be spending the week to celebrate her sister’s 30th birthday along with her mum and aunt. Guarded by two gigantic oak trees, the empty house stands alone within Oakdene, a quiet and desolate village... -
![Clever Little Thing by Helena Echlin]()
Clever Little Thing by Helena Echlin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA taut, powerful psychological thriller following a mother who must confront a sudden and terrifying change in her daughter after the abrupt death of their babysitter.Charlotte’s daughter Stella is sensitive and brilliant, perhaps even a genius, but a recent change in her behavior has alarmed her mother... -
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![In Her Shadow by Mark Edwards]()
In Her Shadow by Mark Edwards
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIsabel’s life seemed perfect. Successful business, beautiful house, adoring husband. And then she was dead.For four years Jessica has never doubted that her sister Isabel’s death was an accident. But when Jessica’s young daughter seems to know long-forgotten details about her aunt’s past, Jessica can’t shake the feeling that there’s a more sinister truth behind the tragedy... -
![Darkness Under the Sun by Dean Koontz, Steven Weber]()
Darkness Under the Sun by Dean Koontz, Steven Weber
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe chilling account of a pivotal encounter between innocence and ultimate malice, 'Darkness Under the Sun' is the perfect read for Halloween — or for any haunted night — and reveals a secret, fateful turning point in the career of Alton Turner Blackwood, the killer at the dark heart of 'What the Night Knows', the forthcoming novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz... -
![Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims]()
Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsYou're cordially invited to dinner. Penthouse access is available via the broken freight elevator. Black tie optional.A dinner party is held in the penthouse of a multimillion-pound development. All the guests are strangers - even to their host, the billionaire owner of the building. None of them know why they were selected to receive his invitation... -
![Whistle by Linwood Barclay]()
Whistle by Linwood Barclay
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Linwood Barclay enters new territory with a supernatural chiller in which a woman and her young son move to a small town looking for a fresh start, only to be haunted by disturbing events and strange visions when they find a mysterious train set in a storage shed.Evil has a one track mind...Annie Blunt has had an unimaginably terrible year... -
![Mystery by Peter Straub]()
Mystery by Peter Straub
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAfter a tragic accident which he barely survives, Tom Pasmore develops an obsession with death--an obsession which leads him to investigate two murders--one in the past and one in the present... -
![The Throat by Peter Straub]()
The Throat by Peter Straub
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsPeter Straub’s chilling Blue Rose Trilogy comes to an astonishing close—secrets unearthed, demons revisited, and mysteries solved. The Throat. Tim Underhill, now an acclaimed novelist, travels back to his hometown of Millhaven, Illinois after he gets a call from John Ransom, an old army buddy... -
![Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra]()
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 9 ratings***Note that many reviews contain spoilers***A razor-sharp thriller about a mother forced to the breaking point when her life and the lives of her children are threatened by an intruderHome alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. She hears a noise—old houses are always making some kind of noise... -
![Beast by Matt Wesolowski]()
Beast by Matt Wesolowski
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsElusive online journalist Scott King examines the chilling case of a young vlogger found frozen to death in the legendary local ‘vampire tower’, in another explosive episode of Six Stories… In the wake of the 'Beast from the East' cold snap that ravaged the UK in 2018, a grisly discovery was made in a ruin on the Northumbrian coast... -
![Submerged by Cheryl Kaye Tardif]()
Submerged by Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the international bestselling author that brought you CHILDREN OF THE FOG comes a terrifying new thriller that will leave you breathless…Two strangers submerged in guilt, brought together by fate…After a tragic car accident claims the lives of his wife, Jane, and son, Ryan, Marcus Taylor is immersed in grief. But his family isn't the only thing he has lost... -
![Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano]()
Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsOn a creepy island where everyone has a strange obsession with the year 1994, a newcomer arrives, hoping to learn the truth about her son's death--but finds herself pulled deeper and deeper into the bizarrely insular community and their complicated rules...Clifford Island. When Willow Stone finds these words written on the floor of her deceased son's bedroom, she's perplexed... -
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![Small Horrors: A Collection of Fifty Creepy Stories by Darcy Coates]()
Small Horrors: A Collection of Fifty Creepy Stories by Darcy Coates
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSomething mimics human voices as it lures you into the woods. One of the morgue's corpses is missing. Your friend wants to meet late at night, but they're not acting like themselves. Immerse yourself in the macabre, the gothic, and the chilling with this collection of fifty short stories... -
![The Doorkeepers by Graham Masterton]()
The Doorkeepers by Graham Masterton
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAs far as her family knows, Julia Winward, a young American woman, has been missing in England for nearly a year. When her mutilated body is found floating in the Thames, her brother, Josh, is determined to find out what happened to his sister for all that time, and exactly who - or what - killed her. But nothing Josh discovers makes any sense... -
![The Dark Hour by K.J. Young]()
The Dark Hour by K.J. Young
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“Deliciously creepy!”—Barbara Taylor Sissel, bestselling author of The Truth We BuryMark Norman can’t catch a break—until he’s hired as a live-in home health aide for two elderly siblings who live at Alden Manor, a run-down mansion mired in the past. His charges, former stage magicians Roy and Alma Walgrave, give off an eerie vibe, but they are also wealthy and careless with their money... -
![18 Best Stories by Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe]()
18 Best Stories by Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA chilling compilation of some of Edgar Allen Poe's best-loved stories, edited by Vincent Price and Chandler Brossard and with an introduction by Vincent Price, including:The Black Cat - The Fall of the House of Usher - The Masque of the Red Death - The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar - The Premature Burial - Ms... -
![Nothing Hidden Ever Stays by H.R. Mason]()
Nothing Hidden Ever Stays by H.R. Mason
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA two-hundred-year-old curse. A tangled thread of mental illness. A growing list of Ross family women dying young. The house where it all began, Desolate Ridge, holds all the secrets.Abandoned at a hospital when she was only three years old, Aubrey Ross grew up as a ward of the state, passed from one foster family to the next... -
![Under the Blade by Matt Serafini]()
Under the Blade by Matt Serafini
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen she returns, so does the horror… At seventeen, Melanie Holden was the sole survivor of Cyrus Hoyt’s killing spree at Camp Forest Grove. Now in her forties, she has bottomed out personally and professionally, still haunted by the undying memories of that madman...
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