Books like 'Play Nice'
Readers who enjoyed Play Nice by Rachel Harrison also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary horror mystery supernatural gothic paranormal haunted-places season-autumn thriller spooky
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Different Seasons by Stephen King
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsFrom the Magical Pen of Stephen King, Four Mesmerizing Novellas…“Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”An unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge…the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award nominee The Shawshank Redemption... -
![The Shining by Stephen King, Campbell Scott]()
The Shining by Stephen King, Campbell Scott
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 89 ratingsFirst published in 1977, The Shining quickly became a benchmark in the literary career of Stephen King. This tale of a troubled man hired to care for a remote mountain resort over the winter, his loyal wife, and their uniquely gifted son slowly but steadily unfolds as secrets from the Overlook Hotel's past are revealed, and the hotel itself attempts to claim the very souls of the Torrance family... -
![Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master by K. Ritz]()
Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master by K. Ritz
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSynopsis: For five years Me’acca Mysuth Sheever has lived among his “sworn enemies,” pretending to be one of them. One night he buys a journal, its pages blank. The woman who sells him the journal extracts his promise to record his deeds for study. “Lo, the steps of your life mark the journey of your soul... -
![Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell]()
Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWe're waiting for you to come and play. Dunvegan School for Girls has been closed for many years. Converted into a family home, the teachers and students are long gone. But they left something behind...Sophie arrives at the old schoolhouse to spend the summer with her cousins... -
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![Grave Matter by Karina Halle]()
Grave Matter by Karina Halle
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHorror Romance meets science fiction in this dark and delicious gothic psychological thriller by NYT bestseller Karina Halle, perfect for fans of Gothikana, Ninth House, and Mexican Gothic. Aspiring mycologist Sydney Denik is getting a second chance... -
![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... -
![Home Before Dark by Riley Sager]()
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 74 ratingsIn the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?What was it like? Living in that house.Maggie Holt is used to such questions... -
![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... -
![Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury]()
Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Haunting of Hill House meets Sadie in this evocative and mind-bending psychological thriller following two teen girls navigating the treacherous past of a mysterious mansion ten years apart.Daisy sees dead people—something impossible to forget in bustling, ghost-packed Toronto. She usually manages to deal with her unwanted ability, but she’s completely unprepared to be dumped by her boyfriend... -
![Demon by Matt Wesolowski]()
Demon by Matt Wesolowski
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsScott King’s podcast investigates the 1995 cold case of a demon possession in a rural Yorkshire village, where a 12-year-old boy was murdered in cold blood by two children. Book six in the chilling, award-winning Six Stories series.In 1995, the picture-perfect village of Ussalthwaite was the site of one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, in a case that shocked the world... -
![Ghostwritten by Ronald Malfi]()
Ghostwritten by Ronald Malfi
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFour brand-new horror novellas from “a modern-day Algernon Blackwood” all about books, stories, manuscripts – the written word has never had sharper teeth…From the bestselling author of Come with Me, four standalone horror novellas set in a shared universe! In The Skin of Her Teeth, a cursed novel drives people to their deaths. A delivery job turns deadly in The Dark Brothers’ Last Ride... -
![Come with Me by Ronald Malfi]()
Come with Me by Ronald Malfi
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA masterful, heart-palpitating novel of small-town horror and psychological dread from a Bram Stoker nominee.Aaron Decker's life changes one December morning when his wife Allison is killed. Haunted by her absence--and her ghost--Aaron goes through her belongings, where he finds a receipt for a motel room in another part of the country... -
![My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon]()
My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA spine-tingling psychological thriller about a woman who, after taking in her dying, alcoholic mother, begins to suspect demonic possession is haunting her family.Alison has never been a fan of Christmas. But with it right around the corner and her husband busily decorating their cozy Vermont home, she has no choice but to face it. Then she gets the call... -
![Shepherd's Warning by Cailyn Lloyd]()
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... -
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![American Gothic Tales by Joyce Carol Oates, Charles Brockden Brown]()
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]()
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... -
![Nightmare at 20,000 Feet by Richard Matheson, Stephen King]()
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet by Richard Matheson, Stephen King
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsRemember that monster on the wing of the airplane? William Shatner saw it on The Twilight Zone, John Lithgow saw it in the movie-even Bart Simpson saw it. "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" is just one of many classic horror stories by Richard Matheson that have insinuated themselves into our collective imagination... -
![Dead Voices by Katherine Arden, Катрин Арден]()
Dead Voices by Katherine Arden, Катрин Арден
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBestselling author Katherine Arden returns with another creepy, spine-tingling adventure in this follow-up to the critically acclaimed Small Spaces.Having survived sinister scarecrows and the malevolent smiling man in Small Spaces, newly minted best friends Ollie, Coco, and Brian are ready to spend a relaxing winter break skiing together with their parents at Mount Hemlock Resort... -
![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... -
![The Haunting of Aveline Jones by Phil Hickes]()
The Haunting of Aveline Jones by Phil Hickes
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAveline Jones loves reading ghost stories, so a dreary half-term becomes much more exciting when she discovers a spooky old book. Not only are the stories spine-tingling, but it once belonged to Primrose Penberthy, who vanished mysteriously, never to be seen again. Intrigued, Aveline decides to investigate Primrose's disappearance.Now someone... or something, is stirring... -
![The Stroke of Winter by Wendy Webb]()
The Stroke of Winter by Wendy Webb
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn the tourist town of Wharton, on the coast of Lake Superior, Tess Bell is renovating her old family home into a bed-and-breakfast during the icy dead of winter…As the house’s restoration commences, a shuttered art studio is revealed. Inside are paintings Tess’s late grandfather, beloved and celebrated artist Sebastian Bell, hid away for generations... -
![Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson]()
Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFor the first time in one volume, a collection of Shirley Jackson's scariest stories, with a foreword by PEN/Hemingway Award winner Ottessa Moshfegh After the publication of her short story "The Lottery" in the New Yorker in 1948 received an unprecedented amount of attention, Shirley Jackson was quickly established as a master horror storyteller... -
![The End of Temperance Dare: A Novel by Wendy Webb]()
The End of Temperance Dare: A Novel by Wendy Webb
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHaunting and atmospheric, The End of Temperance Dare is another thrilling page-turner from the author reviewers are calling the Queen of the Northern Gothic.When Eleanor Harper becomes the director of a renowned artists’ retreat, she knows nothing of Cliffside Manor’s dark past as a tuberculosis sanatorium, a “waiting room for death...Categorized as:
friendship gothic haunted-places paranormal spooky 21st-century action-adventure adult -
![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... -
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![The Intruders by Louise Jensen]()
The Intruders by Louise Jensen
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIt should be the perfect a manor house available rent free in exchange for a bit of housesitting. But when Cass and James dig deeper, they find the place has been abandoned since a robbery left almost all the inhabitants dead almost thirty years ago. But they’ve got to save for a deposit somehow, so they move in, and things quickly take a strange turn... -
![The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier]()
The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsHow long he fought with them in the darkness he could not tell, but at last the beating of the wings about him lessened and then withdrew...A classic of alienation and horror, The Birds was immortalised by Hitchcock in his celebrated film. The five other chilling stories in this collection echo a sense of dislocation and mock man's sense of dominance over the natural world... -
![The Carrow Haunt by Darcy Coates]()
The Carrow Haunt by Darcy Coates
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratings"The dead are restless here..." Remy is a tour guide for Carrow House, a notoriously haunted building. When she's asked to host seven guests for a week-long stay to research Carrow's phenomena, she hopes to finally experience some of the sightings that made the house famous. At first, it's everything they hoped for... -
![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'... -
![Crossroads by Laurel Hightower]()
Crossroads by Laurel Hightower
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHow far would you go to bring back someone you love? When Chris's son dies in a tragic car crash, her world is devastated. The walls of grief close in on Chris's life until, one day, a small cut on her finger changes everything. A drop of blood falls from Chris's hand onto her son's roadside memorial and, later that night, Chris thinks she sees his ghost outside her window... -
![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... -
![Dark and Deadly Things by Kelly Martin]()
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... -
![A Place for Vanishing by Ann Fraistat]()
A Place for Vanishing by Ann Fraistat
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA teen girl and her family return to her mother's childhood home, only to discover that the house's strange beauty may disguise a sinister past, in this contemporary gothic horror from the author of What We Harvest.The house was supposed to be a fresh start. That's what Libby's mom said... -
![We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer]()
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsThe Turn of the Key meets Parasite in this eerily haunting debut and Reddit hit—soon to be a Netflix original movie starring Blake Lively—about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house’s previous residents unexpectedly visit... -
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![The Devil's Woods by Brian Moreland]()
The Devil's Woods by Brian Moreland
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFear wears many skins. Deep within the Canadian wilderness, people have been disappearing for over a century. There is a place the locals call “the Devil’s Woods,” but to speak of it will only bring the devil to your door. It is a place so evil that even animals avoid it... -
![Haunted: A Bridgeton Park Cemetery Book by Ophelia Julien]()
Haunted: A Bridgeton Park Cemetery Book by Ophelia Julien
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsStaff ghost story night happens every Thursday at the Poet's Corner Bookstore, but this Thursday will change Cassie's life in ways she could never have imagined. When Michael Penfield walks into the store as the new hire, Cassie is surprised to see her friend from childhood... -
![The Whispering Dead by Darcy Coates]()
The Whispering Dead by Darcy Coates
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsHomeless, hunted, and desperate to escape a bitter storm, Keira takes refuge in an abandoned groundskeeper's cottage. Her new home is tucked away at the edge of a cemetery, surrounded on all sides by gravestones: some recent, some hundreds of years old, all suffering from neglect.And in the darkness, she can hear the unquiet dead whispering... -
![Duma Key by Stephen King]()
Duma Key by Stephen King
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsWhen Edgar Freemantle moves to the remote island of Duma Key to escape his past, he doesn't expect to find much there.But Duma has been waiting for him, and something in the view from his window urges him to discover a talent he never knew he had.Edgar Freemantle begins to paint. And as he paints, the island's secrets begin to stir... -
![The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender]()
The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAsylum meets Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, in this riveting tale of ghosts, secrets, and family, from master of suspense Katie Alender.Delia's new house isn't just a house. It used to be an insane asylum, a place to lock up "troubled" young women long ago. And a restless, wicked spirit is still at play--and it doesn't want defiant girls like Delia to go anywhere... -
![Withered Hill: A dark and unsettling British folk horror novel by David Barnett]()
Withered Hill: A dark and unsettling British folk horror novel by David Barnett
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIf you find your way here, you’re already lost.InsideA year ago Sophie Wickham stumbled into the isolated Lancashire village of Withered Hill, naked, alone and with no memory of who she is.Surrounded by a thick ring of woodland, its inhabitants seem to be of another world, drenched in pagan, folklorish traditions... -
![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... -
![Hydra by Matt Wesolowski]()
Hydra by Matt Wesolowski
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsElusive online investigative journalist Scott King investigates the case of Arla Macleod, who bludgeoned her family to death, in another episode of the chilling, award-winning Six Stories series... -
![The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street by Lindsay Currie]()
The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street by Lindsay Currie
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA girl unravels a centuries-old mystery after moving into a haunted house in this deliciously suspenseful read that Kirkus Reviews calls “just the ticket for a cold autumn night.”Tessa Woodward isn’t exactly thrilled to move to rainy, cold Chicago from her home in sunny Florida. But homesickness turns to icy fear when unexplainable things start happening in her new house...Categorized as:
friendship haunted-places paranormal season-autumn spooky action-adventure audiobook book -
![The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates]()
The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThere'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... -
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![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... -
![100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories by Al Sarrantonio, Charles Dickens]()
100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories by Al Sarrantonio, Charles Dickens
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsScared? You will be! Feel your nerves jangle and chills run up and down your spine thanks to the hair-raising genius of Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, E. F. Benson, H. P. Lovecraft, Fritz Leiber, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Stephen Crane, Charles Dickens, Robert Barr, and many others who know well how to manipulate a reader's emotions... -
![Mina and the Undead by Amy McCaw]()
Mina and the Undead by Amy McCaw
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsNEW ORLEANS FANG FEST, 1995. MINA'S HAVING A SUMMER TO DIE FOR.17-year-old Mina, from England, arrives in New Orleans to visit her estranged sister, Libby. After growing up in Whitby, the town that inspired Dracula, Mina loves nothing more than a creepy horror movie. She can't wait to explore the city's darkest secrets - vampire tours, seedy bars, spooky cemeteries, disturbing local myths.. -
![A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher]()
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsA haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family."Mom seems off."Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps... -
![Dark Inspiration by Russell James]()
Dark Inspiration by Russell James
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDoug and Laura thought they bought Galaxy Farm, but the old house is possessing them instead. Doug and Laura Locke are New Yorkers who need a fresh start, so they move to Galaxy Farm, an old thoroughbred stable in Tennessee. There Doug finds inspiration to write his epic novel and Laura renews her love of teaching. They also rediscover the love that first drew them together... -
![Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie]()
Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie
Rated: 3.71 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsA ghost-hunting reality TV crew gain unprecedented access to an abandoned and supposedly haunted mansion, which promises a groundbreaking thirteenth episode, but as they uncover the secret history of the house, they learn that “reality” TV might be all too real — in Bram Stoker Award nominated author Craig DiLouie's latest heart pounding novel of horror and psychological suspense...
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