Top new horror books in January 2026
Last updated:
January 29, 2026
January 2026 featuring new releases by George Saunders, Victoria Aveyard, Simone St. James, Adam Silvera, Erin A. Craig, C.M. Stunich, Vincent Ralph, Annelise Ryan, Kathryn Ann Kingsley, Shen Tao and many more.
-
Vigil by George Saunders
A wise, playful, electric novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling, Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo, taking place at the bedside of an oil company CEO, in the twilight hours of his life, as he is ferried from this world into the next... -
![Tempest by Victoria Aveyard]()
Tempest by Victoria Aveyard
After an auction, Priyanka Krishnan at Harper Voyager has signed North American rights to bestselling YA author Victoria Aveyard’s adult fantasy debut, Tempest...romance · fantasy · outlaws · fiction · young-adult · anthologies · horror · historical · female-mc · dystopia -
![A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James]()
A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James
Siblings return to the house they fled eighteen years before, called back by the ghost of their long-missing brother and his haunting request to come home.Strange things happen in Fell, New York: A mysterious drowning at the town’s roadside motel. The unexplained death of a young girl whose body is left by the railroad tracks...horror · mystery · suspense · ghosts · thriller · whodunit · paranormal · fiction · supernatural · vampires -
![No One Knows Who Dies at the End by Adam Silvera]()
No One Knows Who Dies at the End by Adam Silvera
Upcoming 4th installment of the Death-Cast Universe, this title was originally slated for the 3rd installment, but that was split into 2 books, and the title used for the second half. Official description has yet to be released... -
![Untitled by Erin A. Craig]()
Untitled by Erin A. Craig
Lenore's Tale (title to come) will be out summer 2026...romance · fantasy · young-adult · horror · gothic · fiction · mystery · retellings · paranormal · royalty -
-
![Dead Fake by Vincent Ralph]()
Dead Fake by Vincent Ralph
Would you Swipe to Die?When the new craze takes over Bleak Haven High, Ava Wilson refuses to join in. As the niece of an infamous murderer, it’s the last thing she needs.The mysterious website allows people to view their own ‘death’ – an AI generated version of their final slasher-movie-moments... -
![Monster in the Moonlight by Annelise Ryan]()
Monster in the Moonlight by Annelise Ryan
Do werewolves exist? That’s the question skeptical cryptozoologist Morgan Carter has to answer in the latest entry in this USA Today bestselling mystery series.The discovery of a dead body along Bray Road in Wisconsin sparks rumors of The Beast of Bray Road, a werewolf-like creature that is said to inhabit the area.The dead woman has been mutilated by some kind of large animal...cozy · horror · mystery · fiction · supernatural · paranormal · suspense · female-mc · monsters · female-author -
![The Serpent's Sin by Kathryn Ann Kingsley]()
The Serpent's Sin by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
To destroy the vampires who killed her family… she must become one of them.Nadi is trapped in a deadly alliance with Raziel Nostrom. After a honeymoon soaked in blood and desire, they make a pact—to take down his criminal family together.Now Nadi is at the heart of the Nostrom empire, pretending to be a vampire. If her act slips even for a moment, they will tear her apart... -
![The Poet Empress by Shen Tao]()
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao
Debut author Shen Tao introduces readers to the lush, deadly world of The Poet Empress, a sweeping, epic and intimate fantasy perfect for fans of The Serpent & the Wings of Night, The Song of Achilles and She Who Became the Sun.In the waning years of the Azalea Dynasty, the emperor is dying, the land consumed by famine, and poetry magic lost to all except the powerful.Wei Yin is desperate...romance · fantasy · historical-fiction · fiction · historical · audiobook · high-fantasy · sword-sorcery · myths · epic -
![The Witching Hours by Heather Graham]()
The Witching Hours by Heather Graham
A haunting murder and kidnapping on the outskirts of Salem, MA sends two people with unique talents hunting for answers from both the past and present in internationally bestselling author Heather Graham’s electrifying new Krewe of Hunters spin off for fans of Stephen King, Jayne Ann Krentz, Riley Sager, and Simone St. James...romance · mystery · suspense · paranormal · fiction · horror · law-enforcement · police-procedural · book · adult -
![Through Gates of Garnet and Gold by Seanan McGuire]()
Through Gates of Garnet and Gold by Seanan McGuire
A fan-favorite character returns in this action-packed instalment of the Hugo Award-winning Wayward Children series.After Nancy was cast out of the Halls of the Dead and forced to enroll at Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children, she never believed she'd find her door again, and when she did, she didn't look back...fantasy · young-adult · fiction · lgbtq · urban-fantasy · portal-travel · female-author · paranormal · contemporary · horror -
![We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark]()
We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark
From the bestselling author of the Kingdom of Lies series comes a slow-burn romantasy set in a Roman-inspired world ruled by merciless vampires. Filled with breathtaking combat, vengeful gods, and magical creatures, We Who Will Die is the epic first installment in an enthralling new series perfect for fans of Carissa Broadbent, Jasmine Mas, and Rebecca Yarros...romance · fantasy · vampires · slow-burn · royalty · political-intrigue · magic · found-family · action-adventure · fiction -
![The Book of Blood and Roses by Annie Summerlee]()
The Book of Blood and Roses by Annie Summerlee
In book one of a seductive sapphic paranormal fantasy, a vampire hunter goes undercover at a mysterious university and falls in love with her roommate, an alluring vampire.“Then her red eyes are on mine, gentle, deadly. She takes her time kissing my neck. I pull her closer and say: Bite me.”In the mists of the Scottish Highlands is a university where vampire students study alongside humans...romance · fantasy · vampires · wlw · lgbtq · paranormal · fiction · lesbian-mc · dark-academia · supernatural -
![Lyla, in the Flesh by Nick Roberts]()
Lyla, in the Flesh by Nick Roberts
An unputdownable new psychological horror and suspense novel from award-winning author Nick Roberts.A mysterious Italian castle. Terrible secrets. A dark truth...horror · audiobook · fiction · spirituality · thriller · paranormal · psychological · suspense · ghosts · supernatural -
![Hemlock by Melissa Faliveno]()
Hemlock by Melissa Faliveno
A woman haunted by a dark inheritance returns to the woods where her mother vanished, in this queer Gothic novel—a butch Black Swan. Sam, finally sober and stable with a cat and a long-term boyfriend in Brooklyn, returns alone to Hemlock, her family’s deteriorating cabin deep in the Wisconsin Northwoods, where her mother disappeared years before and never returned...horror · gothic · lgbtq · fiction · spooky · southern-gothic · thriller · mystery · psychological · literary-fiction -
![Porcelain Lullaby: A Horror Novel by Blaine Daigle]()
Porcelain Lullaby: A Horror Novel by Blaine Daigle
An abandoned orphanage. A buried secret. A dark truth.Jake and Nate Shepherd’s world shattered when they were children. After a night of horror, the boys woke to find their home the site of an unspeakable tragedy. One that fundamentally cracked the boys’ psyche and left them orphaned...horror · contemporary · spirituality · paranormal · fiction · suspense · supernatural · book · adult -
![I Will Kill Your Imaginary Friend for $200 by Robert Brockway]()
I Will Kill Your Imaginary Friend for $200 by Robert Brockway
To lonely eight-year-old Kay Washington the worst thing in the world is silence. That’s why Eddie Video makes the perfect imaginary friend. He’s smart, rambunctious, and loves pulling pranks. But most important, he’s never ever quiet. Forty-something, immigrant Ivanon is a contract killer with an unusual imaginary friends who’ve overstayed their welcome... -
![Tea & Alchemy by Sharon Lynn Fisher]()
Tea & Alchemy by Sharon Lynn Fisher
A tea leaf reader in nineteenth-century England falls in love—and in danger—with a reclusive alchemist in an enthralling historical fantasy by the author of Salt & Broom and Grimm Curiosities.Cornwall, 1854. The people of Roche have always whispered about the recluse in the black granite tower that looms above the moorland...romance · fantasy · historical-fiction · fiction · historical · mystery · gothic · vampires · cozy · paranormal -
-
![Better the Devil by Erik J. Brown]()
Better the Devil by Erik J. Brown
A harrowing, edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller about a queer homeless teen who, in a bid for safety, assumes the identity of a boy who went missing ten years ago...only to find that his new home is anything but a safe haven—from All That's Left in the World author Erik J. Brown!Perfect for fans of Karen McManus, Holly Jackson, and Ryan La Sala...romance · young-adult · lgbtq · mystery · contemporary · horror · mlm · fiction · law-enforcement · book -
![A Dance With Death by Amanda Linsmeier]()
A Dance With Death by Amanda Linsmeier
He laces his fingers into my hair and gently tugs me in, his powerful hand threaded into the wet strands. I whimper, from fear more so than pain. It doesn’t hurt. But each word is enunciated as he warns, “Do. Not. Ever. Steal. From. Me. Again.” Corliss Bell would do anything to bring her older sister, Aven, back to life. She’d give up her dreams of being a professional ballerina...romance · fantasy · demons · gothic · magic · young-adult · dark · fiction · action-adventure · urban-fantasy -
![The East Wind by Alexandria Warwick]()
The East Wind by Alexandria Warwick
From the bestselling author of The North Wind comes the final instalment in the Four Winds series - a sweltering standalone romance inspired by the fairytale Rapunzel and the Greek myth of Psyche and Eros. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Scarlett St. Clair and Raven Kennedy... -
![Fruit of the Flesh by I.V. Ophelia]()
Fruit of the Flesh by I.V. Ophelia
Behind the glamour of Gilded Age New York, a marriage of convenience between an artisan and a ballerina masks their shared appetite for revenge in this darkly seductive gothic romance.In early 1900s New York, former ballerina Petronille De Villier makes an unconventional choice: Marry struggling sculptor Arkady Kamenev. For her, it’s an escape from her family’s unsavory legacy...romance · gothic · historical · historical-fiction · horror · dark · dark-academia · fantasy · fiction · marriage-of-convenience -
![King of Ravens by Clare Sager]()
King of Ravens by Clare Sager
Clare Sager presents an all-new dark, lush romantasy set in the world of the Sabreverse... -
![The Creed Falls Massacres: A Horror Novel by Jon Cohn]()
The Creed Falls Massacres: A Horror Novel by Jon Cohn
A relentless slasher horror novel with an otherworldly twist you'll ever see coming. Read at your own risk!A town divided. An unknowable evil. Actually, make that two evils.Seventeen years ago, a machete wielding masked maniac known as the Silver Fox terrorized Camp Creed, killing nineteen people on a night that became infamous as The Creed Falls Massacre... -
![A Spell for Drowning by Rebecca Ferrier]()
A Spell for Drowning by Rebecca Ferrier
This stunning historical fantasy debut is steeped in the salt and superstition of the Cornish coast, full of forgotten sirens, mischievous sea gods, and the lore from days long since passed. Perfect for readers of Circe and The Bear and the Nightingale...fantasy · historical-fiction · witches-wizards · magic · myths · fiction · historical · nautical · low-fantasy · romantic-love -
![We Call Them Witches: A Novel by India-Rose Bower]()
We Call Them Witches: A Novel by India-Rose Bower
Most people have been devoured by the eldritch creatures, but Sara and her family have been fighting for survival, armed with their knowledge of folklore and pagan rituals - the only weapon that seems to work against these monsters.And then a young woman, Parsley, comes out of nowhere into Sara's life. Found in their garden, they have no idea where she is from...horror · witches-wizards · wlw · lgbtq · fantasy · spooky · dystopia · young-adult · female-mc · fiction -
![We Were Never Here by Sophia Hannan]()
We Were Never Here by Sophia Hannan
A sapphic debut about three ghost hunters turned art thieves using their viral show as a front, who are blackmailed into completing their catastrophic last heist and retrieving the haunted painting that may have murdered their ringleader—but something followed them home that night, and it will do anything to stop them from finishing the job...wlw · horror · young-adult · lgbtq · paranormal · fiction · mystery · gothic · lesbian-mc · romantic-love -
![Wicked Thieves by Rose Marie]()
Wicked Thieves by Rose Marie
Make a bargain—or let the shadows consume you.Which will it be? In the frostbitten kingdom of Elvir, Anelize Yarrow has spent her life as an apothecary in her father’s shop tending to those struggling with an ever-growing, unexplained malady. Determined to find a cure in the hopes of putting a stop to it once and for all... -
![From The Ashes: A Kingdom of Beasts and Starlight by R.C. Perry]()
From The Ashes: A Kingdom of Beasts and Starlight by R.C. Perry
In the city of stars, two destiniescollide.At the end of her hope, faced withpoverty and famine, twenty-five yearold Remmy sets out on the adventureof a lifetime, battling beasts, demons,and creatures of the night to save thePrince of Valeria, entrapped in his ownfather’s snare.The reward?Survival.And the key to the kingdom...romance · fantasy · female-mc · fae · dragons · dark · sword-sorcery · mythical-creatures · epic · fiction -
![Humboldt Cut by Allison Mick]()
Humboldt Cut by Allison Mick
Jordan Peele and Jeff Vandermeer meet The Overstory in comedy writer Allison Mick’s darkly humorous debut eco-horror novel, as a Black woman returns home to the redwood forests of northern California, only to unearth the monsters that lurk among the trees…Jasmine Bay is a nurse for an Oakland mental health facility, battling her own demons, caught in a spiral of suicidal despair... -
![Into The Dark: A Dystopian Horror Novella by Sabrina St. Claire]()
Into The Dark: A Dystopian Horror Novella by Sabrina St. Claire
In a future owned by corporations, war is society's largest industry, and soldiers are its primary feedstock.Bodies go in, get stitched or repurposed, and the system keeps running on whatever remains.Everett is one of its products. He returned from the front mutilated and remade, only to be fed back into the system. Hazel stayed behind, fighting another kind of pain... -
-
![This House Will Feed by Maria Tureaud]()
This House Will Feed by Maria Tureaud
Amidst the devastation of Ireland’s Great Famine, a young woman is salvaged from certain death when offered a mysterious position at a remote manor house haunted by a strange power and the horror of her own memories in this chillingly evocative historical novel braided with gothic horror and supernatural suspense for readers of Katherine Arden’s The Warm Hands of Ghosts and The Silence Factory...horror · historical-fiction · gothic · historical · paranormal · fiction · haunted-places · spooky · suspense · book
