Others: Overwhelmingly positive When Silla and Nori arrive at their aunt's home, it's immediately clear that the "blood manor" is cursed. The creaking of the house and the stillness of the woods surrounding them would be enough of a sign, but there are secrets too--the questions that Silla can't ignore: Who is the beautiful boy that's appeared from the woods? Who is the man that her little sister sees, but no one else? And why does it seem that, ever since they arrived, the trees have been creeping closer?
Genres: horror
Lists: …
Peter Straub
1975 · 287 pages · 1 review
Others: NegativeIn a house in London a woman starts a new life, trying to put tragedy behind her. Then a pretty blonde child runs into view, bringing with her an inexplicable suggestion of evil. Once Julia Lofting had a husband and a daughter. But everything has changed since she bolted from her marriage, in flight from the unbearable truth of her daughter's death. For Julia, there is no escape. Another child awaits, another mother suffers, and a circle of the damned gathers around her. The haunting has begun . . . Less
What made the match, strongest first
Scott Thomas
2017 · 414 pages · 11 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positive"At the end of a dark prairie road, nearly forgotten in the Kansas countryside, is the Finch House. For years it has remained empty, overgrown, abandone. Soon the door will be opened for the first time in decades. But something is waiting, lurking in the shadows, anxious to meet its new guests... When best-selling horror author Sam McGarver is invited to spend Halloween in one of the world's most infamous haunted houses, he relunctantly agrees. At least he won't be alone; joining him are three other masters of the macabre, writers who have helped shape modern horror. But what begins as a simple publicity stunt will become a fight for survival. The entity they have awakened will follow them, torment them, threatening to make them a part of the bloody legacy of Kill Creek."--Cover flap.
What made the match, strongest first
Shirley Jackson
1959 · 246 pages · 13 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveFirst published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers— and soon, it will choose one of them to make its own.
What made the match, strongest first
Sarah Maria Griffin
2024 · 288 pages · 6 reviews
Others: NegativeA tangled, twisted tale of workplace romance and carnivorous plants, penned by the author of 'Spare and Found Parts' and 'Other Words for Smoke'. Shell Pine, after a rough patch, spots a 'HELP WANTED' sign in a mall flower shop. She finds solace in the flowers and the enchanting florist, Neve. However, Neve's predicament is far graver than Shell could fathom. A mall-grown orchid is obsessed with Neve, consuming all in its path to satisfy its insatiable hunger. This story weaves together themes of possession, monstrosity, and retail work, exploring the dark side of desire and growth.
What made the match, strongest first
Sarah Waters
2009 · 512 pages · 2 reviews
Others: Leaning positiveAbundantly atmospheric and elegantly told, The Little Stranger is Sarah Waterss most thrilling and ambitious novel yet. After her award-winning trilogy of victorian novels, sarah waters turned to the 1940s and wrote the night watch, a tender and tragic novel set against the backdrop of wartime britain shortlisted for both the orange and the man booker, it went straight to number one in the bestseller chart in a dusty post-war summer in rural warwickshire, a doctor is called to a patient at hundreds hall home to the ayres family for over two centuries, the georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine but are the ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life little does dr faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his prepare yourself from this wonderful writer who continues to astonish us, now comes a chilling ghost story.
What made the match, strongest first
Stephen Graham Jones
2010 · 251 pages · 1 review
Others: Positive"A boy's summer romance doesn't end in that god kind of heartbreak, but in blood. A girl on a fishing trip makes a friend in the woods who's exactly what she needs, except then that friend follows her back to the city. A father hears a voice through his baby monitor that shouldn't be possible, but now he can't stop listening. A woman finds out that the shipwreck wasn't the disaster, but who she's shipwrecked with. A big brother learns just what he will, and won't trade for one night of sleep. From prison guards making unholy alliances to snake-oil men in the Old West doling out justice, these stories carve down into the body of the mind, into our most base fears and certainties, and there's no anesthetic. Turn the light on if you want, but that just makes for more shadows." p. [4] cover.
What made the match, strongest first
Loved itAnd then I also put a Y on my list for lack of other options and The Trees Crept In. It's written uniquely. There's like big bold words all over the page and things get really tiny. I just thought it was very effective for what it was at the time and I gave it a four.
Loved itthis is one that I would rate more than five stars if possible because this is a creepy story, it's very very creepy and the production quality uses sound effects and music to set the scene ... it just creeped me out so much!
