Books like 'The Hangman's Ritual'
Readers who enjoyed The Hangman's Ritual by Nick Antosca also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
horror psychological dark literary-fiction
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![Del tiempo y sus demonios by Diego Armando Arciniegas Malagón]()
Del tiempo y sus demonios by Diego Armando Arciniegas Malagón
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDEL TIEMPO Y SUS DEMONIOS: PERSIGUIENDO LA VERDADEsta novela se desarrolla en un pequeño y misterioso pueblo. En un territorio hermoso, inhóspito a la luz de aquellas certezas que las mayorías consideran irrefutables. Lejos del tiempo que, arbitrariamente, tomara la sabia decisión de separar el bien del mal... -
![Of Foster Homes and Flies by Chad Lutzke, Alberto Plumed]()
Of Foster Homes and Flies by Chad Lutzke, Alberto Plumed
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA neglected 12-year-old boy does nothing to report the death of his mother in order to compete in a spelling bee. A tragic coming-of-age tale of horror and drama in the setting of a hot New Orleans summer. "Original, touching coming of age." ~Jack Ketchum, author of THE GIRL NEXT DOOR "With OF FOSTER HOMES & FLIES, Lutzke is firing on all cylinders. It's a lean mean emotional machine... -
![The Pit and the Pendulum - an Edgar Allan Poe Short Story by Edgar Allan Poe]()
The Pit and the Pendulum - an Edgar Allan Poe Short Story by Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 48 ratingsGet set for true terror in one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous short stories.We enter the mind of a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition. The dank prison room is without light and he begins to feel his way around the walls... -
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![Sul lato selvaggio by Tiffany McDaniel]()
Sul lato selvaggio by Tiffany McDaniel
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSix women—mothers, daughters, sisters—gone missing. Inspired by the unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six, this harrowing novel tells the story of two sisters, both of whom could be the next victims, from the internationally best-selling author of Betty."Capture[s] what goes horribly wrong when women don’t fit a customary victim profile.. -
![The Pretty Dead Girls by Skylar Finn]()
The Pretty Dead Girls by Skylar Finn
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen two young girls go missing from a small Georgia town, the crime remains unsolved for nearly thirty years.When Savannah moves home to the small town of Humble, Georgia, she has no intention of getting involved in a kidnapping investigation. But when her older brother Mac becomes the main suspect, Savannah launches a secret investigation in order to clear her brother’s name...Categorized as:
literary-fiction dark mystery romance psychological suspense law-enforcement police-procedural -
![Dangerous Visions by Harlan Ellison, Michael Moorcock]()
Dangerous Visions by Harlan Ellison, Michael Moorcock
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe most honored anthology of fantastic fiction ever published, featuring the works of such luminaries as Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg, Philip Jose Farmer, Robert Bloch, Philip K. Dick, Larry Niven, Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, Damon Knight, J.G. Ballard, John Brunner, Frederik Pohl, Roger Zelazny and Samuel Delany... -
![The Nameless Ones by John Connolly]()
The Nameless Ones by John Connolly
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsFrom the international and instant New York Times bestselling author of The Dirty South, the white-knuckled Charlie Parker series returns with this heart-pounding race to hunt down the deadliest of war criminals... -
![Diablo Snuff: A Foreign Evil by C.C. Genovese, Carver Pike]()
Diablo Snuff: A Foreign Evil by C.C. Genovese, Carver Pike
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"Let me tell you about the night I experienced true evil. It started with a gaze. She was eye fucking the shit out of me." Michael is at the tail end of his bachelor party vacation with his buddies and has had enough of all the gambling and flirtatious prostitutes. Then he meets Isabelle, a foreigner herself, and Michael is smitten. But even evil can come in a beautiful package... -
![The Second Reality by R.R. Haywood]()
The Second Reality by R.R. Haywood
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhat are dreams? They are the mind processing the images, memories and emotions that each of us experience. They are unique to the individual and no two persons can ever experience the same dream. Or so Doctor Charlotte Henson thought when she started treating the enigmatic and charming Michael. The Second Reality. A beautiful tale of love conquering all... -
![Wallflower by Chad Lutzke]()
Wallflower by Chad Lutzke
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAfter an encounter with a homeless man, a high school graduate becomes obsessed with the idea of doing heroin, challenging himself to try it just once. A bleak tale of addiction, delusion, and flowers."Bleak as hell and honestly horrific."~John Boden, author of JEDI SUMMER"Using his strong narrative, he (Lutzke) conveys the everyday realistic horror and pulls the reader right into the ugliness...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction horror fiction coming-of-age psychological substance-abuse mental-illness -
![The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker]()
The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsSarai Walker has done it again. With The Cherry Robbers she upends the Gothic ghost story with a fiery feminist zeal. --Maria SempleThe highly anticipated second novel from Sarai Walker, following her "slyly subversive" (EW) cult-hit Dietland--a feminist gothic about the lone survivor of a cursed family of sisters, whose time may finally be up... -
![Dreams of the Dying by Nicolas Lietzau]()
Dreams of the Dying by Nicolas Lietzau
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIf your mind is the enemy, where do you run?Years after a harrowing war experience, ex-mercenary Jespar Dal'Varek has taken to drifting. It's a lonely existence, but, barring the occasional bout of melancholia, he has found the closest thing to peace a man like him deserves. Life is "all right."Or so he believes... -
![Left To You by Daniel J. Volpe]()
Left To You by Daniel J. Volpe
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhat would you do to save a loved one?Robert’s mother, Helen, is ravaged with cancer. Every day could be her last, and Robert dreads losing the last member of his family. Robert’s friend and Holocaust survivor, Josef, tells him an unholy story and leaves him a way to save his dying mother. But, as with everything in life, the salvation comes with a steep price... -
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![Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories by Shirley Jackson]()
Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories by Shirley Jackson
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAcclaimed in her own time for her short story “The Lottery” and her novel The Haunting of Hill House—classics ranking with the work of Edgar Allan Poe—Shirley Jackson blazed a path for contemporary writers with her explorations of evil, madness, and cruelty... -
![The Cremator by Ladislav Fuks, Rajendra A. Chitnis]()
The Cremator by Ladislav Fuks, Rajendra A. Chitnis
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratings“The devil’s neatest trick is to persuade us that he doesn’t exist.”—Giovanni Papini It is a maxim that both rings true in our contemporary world and pervades this tragicomic novel of anxiety and evil set amid the horrors of World War II... -
![Seeing Evil by Jason Parent]()
Seeing Evil by Jason Parent
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFate in plain sight.Major Crimes Detective Samantha Reilly prefers to work alone—she’s seen as a maverick, and she still struggles privately with the death of her partner. The only person who ever sees her softer side is Michael Turcotte, a teenager she’s known since she rescued him eleven years ago from the aftermath of his parents’ murder-suicide... -
![The Mother Of All Things by Gabriel Blake]()
The Mother Of All Things by Gabriel Blake
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDARK BEGINNINGS, BRUTAL ENDINGSA traumatic event and the break-up of her marriage returns Elaine to her childhood home where she embarks on renovating the run-down farmhouse as she reconnects with her mother and entertains her two children over the summer holidays... -
![The Bell Chime by Mona Kabbani]()
The Bell Chime by Mona Kabbani
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWinner of the Ladies of Horror Fiction Award for Best Novella of 2020"Can you hear the bell chime?"A girl suffering from paralyzing night terrors finds a missing poster hanging from the door of her apartment building. On that poster is a photograph of a frighteningly familiar face.It’s her.Only, she’s never seen this photo before and something about its grin scares her... -
![The Haunting of the Midwife by James Hunt]()
The Haunting of the Midwife by James Hunt
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA Riveting Haunted House MysteryWhen the Maples family arrives in the small mountain town of Roster, Colorado, they’re convinced it will be the perfect place to raise their newborn daughter. But their dream home turns into a living nightmare when an otherworldly power abducts their child... -
![Joe Hill Collection by Joe Hill]()
Joe Hill Collection by Joe Hill
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsGet four bone-chilling novels of psychological and supernatural suspense from New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill in one e-book, including: Heart-Shaped Box, 20th Century Ghosts, Horns, and NOSA2. Each publication of Hill is beautiful textured, deliciously scary, and greeted with the sort of overwhelming critical acclaim that is rare for works of skin-crawling supernatural terror... -
![The Devil's Pocketbook by Ross Jeffery]()
The Devil's Pocketbook by Ross Jeffery
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsErik and Lara are in mourning for their daughter, who was born “incompatible with life”. To get away from their suffocating grief and the ever-present shadow their daughter has cast in their lives since passing, and desperately trying to recover their increasingly rocky relationship, they take a trip to the seaside town of Polperro, in Cornwall... -
![The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell by Brian Evenson]()
The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell by Brian Evenson
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratings"Here is how monstrous humans are."A sentient, murderous prosthetic leg; shadowy creatures lurking behind a shimmering wall; brutal barrow men: of all the terrors that populate The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell, perhaps the most alarming are the beings who decimated the habitable Earth: humans... -
![White trash : Broken pieces of June 2 by Stuart Bray]()
White trash : Broken pieces of June 2 by Stuart Bray
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWaking up with a massive hole in her gut June must find the men responsible for the atrocities she faced and take herself from star to director. Lines will be crossed, blood will be spilled, the camera will roll... -
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![The Art of Murder by José Carlos Somoza]()
The Art of Murder by José Carlos Somoza
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn 2006, the art world has moved far beyond sheep in formaldehyde and the most avant-garde movement is to use living people as artwork. Undergoing weeks of preparation to become 'canvases', the models are required to stay in their pose for ten to twelve hours a day and, as art pieces, they are also for sale... -
![Hard Candy by Andrew Vachss]()
Hard Candy by Andrew Vachss
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn this mercilessly compelling thriller, Burke—the private eye, sting artist, and occasional hit man who metes out a cruelly ingenious vengeance on those who victimize children—is up against a soft-spoken messiah, who may be rescuing runaways or recruiting them for his own hideous purposes... -
![Either Side of Midnight by Tori de Clare]()
Either Side of Midnight by Tori de Clare
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWHAT IF THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE TURNED INTO YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE? When nineteen-year-old Naomi Stone is snatched from her husband at knifepoint on the night of their wedding and taken to a deserted cemetery, she knows her life is finished. Drugged and disorientated, she loses consciousness as she lies in an open grave with a gun to her head... -
![The Good Samaritan by John Marrs]()
The Good Samaritan by John Marrs
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsShe’s a friendly voice on the phone. But can you trust her?The people who call End of the Line need hope. They need reassurance that life is worth living. But some are unlucky enough to get through to Laura. Laura doesn’t want them to hope. She wants them to die.Laura hasn’t had it easy: she’s survived sickness and a difficult marriage only to find herself heading for forty, unsettled and angry... -
![Angry Candy by Harlan Ellison]()
Angry Candy by Harlan Ellison
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Seattle Times said of Angry Candy: "Ellison's stories rattle the bars of complacency that people put around their souls . . . Razor sharp . . . piercingly profound." Once again, Ellison's writing defies all labels. These seventeen stories by a modern master are an "assembled artifact" of anger and faith - as bittersweet as a"jalapeno-laced cinnamon bear... -
![Don't Call Me Crazy by Octavia Grant]()
Don't Call Me Crazy by Octavia Grant
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAward winning Investigative Reporter Ivory Addison has been on the scene of every Local, National, and International event deemed newsworthy. Her work ethic has a certain je ne sais quoi, that has not gone unnoticed... -
![Unwell by Effie Campbell]()
Unwell by Effie Campbell
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTwo women. One asylum. Deadly secrets.When nineteen-year-old Ginny’s mother abandons her at Wellard Asylum, she isn’t sick. She’s pregnant. Behind the iron gates patients cower, the rules are broken, and the basement hides evils that would make monsters squirm. Ginny only has one keep her baby safe, no matter what.Nurse Nancy once believed hospitals were for healing the vulnerable... -
![Folly by Laurie R. King]()
Folly by Laurie R. King
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAn acclaimed master of suspense creates a heroine you will never forget in this superbly chilling novel of a woman who begins a desperate undertaking that may transform her life--or end it.WHAT HAPPENS IF YOUR WORST FEARS AREN’T ALL IN YOUR MIND?Rae Newborn is a woman on the edge: on the edge of sanity, on the edge of tragedy, and now on the edge of the world... -
![In My Father's Basement by T.J. Payne]()
In My Father's Basement by T.J. Payne
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA must-read psychological thriller for anyone who's fascinated by serial killers. A 60-year old handyman goes on a murder-spree, abducting and torturing people with hand-tools.After he's caught, the media wants to hear his story. What made this old man snap? Why did he do the horrible things he did? What really happened down there in his basement? The public fascination in The Handyman swells... -
![Windeye by Brian Evenson]()
Windeye by Brian Evenson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA woman falling out of sync with the world; a king's servant hypnotized by his murderous horse; a transplanted ear with a mind of its own. The characters in these stories live as interlopers in a world shaped by mysterious disappearances and unfathomable discrepancies between the real and imagined... -
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![Guide by Dennis Cooper]()
Guide by Dennis Cooper
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsChris is a young porn star who wants to experience death at someone else's hand; Mason has lurid fantasies about members of British pop bands; Sniffles is a teenage runaway whose need for love outweighs his attachment to life... -
![Orpheus Builds a Girl by Heather Parry]()
Orpheus Builds a Girl by Heather Parry
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBased on a true story, Orpheus Builds a Girl is a novel of sisterly love, sinister obsession, and the battle for control of the story. A dark, chilling debut novel from award-winning writer Heather Parry.German doctor Wilhelm Von Tore shares with the reader the story of his one true ove; a love written in the stars, decades in the making, a love so strong it transcended death itself...Categorized as:
literary-fiction dark horror fiction gothic historical-fiction retellings historical -
![A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers]()
A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsFood critic Dorothy Daniels loves what she does. Discerning, meticulous, and very, very smart, Dorothy’s clear mastery of the culinary arts make it likely that she could, on any given night, whip up a more inspired dish than any one of the chefs she writes about... -
![Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett]()
Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsShortlisted for the 2007 Costa Novel Award“I read Skin Lane with one eye closed out of sheer animal terror. Then, unimaginably, it brought me to tears; what a work of art—so unexpected and heartbreaking and lovely.”—Armistead Maupin“A powerful and complex story of sexual obsession. . . . A profoundly original meditation on thwarted desire... -
![Borderlands 3 by Thomas F. Monteleone, Elizabeth Massie]()
Borderlands 3 by Thomas F. Monteleone, Elizabeth Massie
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe stories we tell are not limited to monsters and harsh otherworlds. Yet the fiction books in the Borealis imprint certainly belong to a world other than our own. This line encompasses our science fiction, fantasy and horror novels and anthologies... -
![Lost Highways: Dark Fictions From the Road by D. Alexander Ward, Rio Youers]()
Lost Highways: Dark Fictions From the Road by D. Alexander Ward, Rio Youers
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt’s dangerous out there…on the road.The highways, byways and backroads of America are teeming day and night with regular folks. Moms and dads making long commutes. Teenagers headed to the beach. Bands on their way to the next gig. Truckers pulling long hauls. Families driving cross country to visit their kin.But there are others, too. The desperate and the lost. The cruel and the criminal... -
![Sticky Fingers 2 by J.T. Lawrence]()
Sticky Fingers 2 by J.T. Lawrence
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDiverse, dark-humoured, and deliciously bite-sized, this compelling collection of 12 short stories by JT Lawrence include:GATSBY'S DOUBLEAn artist's Pomeranian has been replaced by an imposter.COURT, MARRY, KILLWhose body ends up being unzipped by fish on the ocean floor?ROCKABYE BABYA female-only cult has a very dark side...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction 21st-century adult anthologies audiobook contemporary female-mc -
![Rage by Kimberly A. Bettes]()
Rage by Kimberly A. Bettes
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBrian Boozer is a good kid in a bad situation. At thirteen, he's already endured the pain of losing his father and the agony of living with a step-father who hates and abuses him. At school, Brian suffers even more torment, delivered by bullies who seem to enjoy making his life miserable. The only bright spot in Brian's life is Carly, the girl on whom he's had a crush for years... -
![Liar, Dreamer, Thief by Maria Dong]()
Liar, Dreamer, Thief by Maria Dong
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsKatrina Kim may be broke, the black sheep of her family, and slightly unhinged, but she isn’t a stalker. Her obsession with her co-worker, Kurt, is just one of many coping mechanisms—like her constant shape and number rituals, or the way scenes from her favorite children’s book bleed into her vision whenever she feels anxious or stressed...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction action-adventure adult amateur-sleuth audiobook book contemporary -
![Beyond Redemption by Michael R. Fletcher]()
Beyond Redemption by Michael R. Fletcher
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFaith shapes the landscape, defines the laws of physics, and makes a mockery of truth. Common knowledge isn't an axiom, it's a force of nature. What the masses believe is. But insanity is a weapon, conviction a shield. Delusions give birth to foul new gods.Violent and dark, the world is filled with the Geisteskranken—men and women whose delusions manifest, twisting reality...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary dark-fantasy -
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![Problem Child by Victoria Helen Stone]()
Problem Child by Victoria Helen Stone
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsShe’s cold, calculating, and can deceive with a smile. Jane Doe is back in the Amazon Charts bestselling series - and this time she's met her match.After a brutal childhood, Jane Doe has been permanently wired to look after herself and only herself. Now, looking next to normal, Jane has a lover and a job. But she hasn't lost her edge. It sharpens when she hears from her estranged family... -
![Desert Flowers by Paul Pen]()
Desert Flowers by Paul Pen
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsRose and Elmer have created an idyllic sanctuary for themselves and their five daughters in Mexico’s Baja California desert. Out there in the middle of nowhere, blissfully cut off from the burdens of modern society, they’re free to raise their beautiful family…and preserve its secret.And they’re never giving it up.Then a young hiker named Rick comes looking for a place to stay... -
![Good Night, Sleep Tight by Brian Evenson]()
Good Night, Sleep Tight by Brian Evenson
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“PERHAPS TOMORROW I WILL WAKE UP ANOTHER PERSON. PERHAPS TOMORROW I WILL WAKE UP NOT A PERSON AT ALL.”From the “master of literary horror” (GQ) comes a collection of new stories tracing the limits and consequences of artificial intelligence and “post-human” relationships... -
![June: Broken pieces of June 3 by Stuart Bray]()
June: Broken pieces of June 3 by Stuart Bray
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn this continuation of White Broken pieces of June 2 the twisted, and depraved "doctors" and "nurses" at the black hill's asylum, are about to meet their new patient. June is back, and she's bringing some old friends along for the ride... -
![Wake in Fright by Kenneth Cook]()
Wake in Fright by Kenneth Cook
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWake In Fright was first published in 1961 and the film version, The Outback, starring Donald Pleasance was released in 1971. Both the book and the film have achieved a cult status as the Australian answer to US and UK novels and films of 1960s youthful alienation... -
![The Open Curtain by Brian Evenson]()
The Open Curtain by Brian Evenson
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen Rudd, a troubled teenager, embarks on a school project, he runs across a series of articles from the 1902 New York Times chronicling a vicious murder committed by the grandson of Brigham Young...
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