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| The Devil Crept In: A Novel by Ania AhlbornThe residents of Deer Valley, Oregon have worried for years about the mysterious deaths and disappearances of animals, and -- even more disturbing -- the death of a young boy. Now 12-year-old Jude Brighton has also gone missing, and his ten-year-old cousin Stevie Clark fears that the woods harbor a monster. Jude suddenly returns, but Stevie senses that he's changed beyond recognition. Author Ania Ahlborn sensitively portrays her characters' emotions while deftly escalating the dread that emanates from the forest. Fans of Graham Masterton's Forest Ghost will appreciate The Devil Crept In for its portrayal of a child's apprehension of evil in the woods. |
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| Little Heaven: A Novel by Nick Cutter; illustrated by Adam GorhamOpening in 1980, Little Heaven reunites three professional killers (Micah Shughrue, Minerva Atwater, and Ebenezer Elkins) who barely survived a rescue operation 15 years earlier in remote New Mexico, where a shape-shifting evil creature occupies the mountains. The gruesome, vividly described events of 1965 left its participants victorious but psychologically damaged. In 1980 the monster returns and snatches Micah's daughter, forcing him to call on his former comrades-in-arms to resume the battle. This intense adventure isn't for the faint of heart, but it will satisfy horror fans who crave gore along with unremitting dread. |
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| The Burning World: A Novel by Isaac MarionAuthor Isaac Marion's Warm Bodies zombie series continues in The Burning World, where sentient zombie R and his living girlfriend Julie, along with several undead and living friends, flee a violent anti-zombie militia called Axiom. R, who was revived at the beginning of the series, pieces together his past as he and Julie work frantically to discover what's behind the zombie apocalypse. If this is the first book of the series you've picked up, you can still enjoy R and Julie's love story in the face of death and danger -- but you'll probably want to read the earlier novels as you wait for the planned next installment. |
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| The Undesired: A Thriller by Yrsa Sigurdardóttir; translated by Victoria CribbIn Icelandic author Yrsa Sirgurdardóttir's The Undesired, investigator Ódinn Hafteinsson takes over a cold case involving boys from a home for delinquents who died in the 1970s. Their deaths connect unexpectedly to a present-day crime -- and raise the possibility that Ódinn's dead wife Lára is seeking revenge for her murder. This "slow-burning, bone-chilling tale" (Kirkus Reviews) presents a ghost story in the guise of a twisting, creepy thriller. For another haunting supernatural mystery involving the unexplained deaths of children, try Catriona McPherson's The Child Garden. |
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Horror in the Home, Neighbourhood, and Town |
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The evening spider
by Emily Arsenault
A gripping blend of psychological suspense and historical true crime, this riveting novel--inspired by a sensational real-life murder from the 1800s--by critically acclaimed author Emily Arsenault delivers a heart-stopping mystery linking two young mothers from different centuries. Frances Barnett and Abby Bernacki are two haunted young mothers living in the same house in two different centuries. 1885: Frances Barnett is in the Northampton Lunatic Hospital, telling her story to a visitor. She has come to distrust her own memories, and believes that her pregnancy, birth, and early days of motherhood may have impaired her sanity. Present day: Abby has been adjusting to motherhood smoothly--until recently, when odd sensations and dreams have begun to unsettle her while home alone with her baby. When she starts to question the house's history, she is given the diary of Frances Barnett, who lived in the house 125 years earlier. Abby finds the diary disturbing, and researches the Barnett family's history. The more Abby learns, the more she wonders about a negative--possibly supernatural--influence in her house. She becomes convinced that when she sleeps, she leaves her daughter vulnerable--and then vows not to sleep until she can determine the cause of her eerie experiences. Frances Barnett might not be the only new mother to lose her mind in this house. And like Frances, Abby discovers that by trying to uncover another's secrets, she risks awakening some of her own.
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The graveyard apartment
by Mariko Koike
One of the most popular writers working in Japan today, Mariko Koike is a recognized master of detective fiction and horror writing. Known in particular for her hybrid works that blend these styles with elements of romance, The Graveyard Apartment is arguably Koike's masterpiece. Originally published in Japan in 1986, Koike's novel is the suspenseful tale of a young family that believes it has found the perfect home to grow into, only to realize that the apartment's idyllic setting harbors the specter of evil and that longer they stay, the more trapped they become. This tale of a young married couple who harbor a dark secret is packed with dread and terror, as they and their daughter move into a brand new apartment building built next to a graveyard. As strange and terrifying occurrences begin to pile up, people in the building start to move out one by one, until the young family is left alone with someone... or something... lurking in the basement. The psychological horror builds moment after moment, scene after scene, culminating with a conclusion that will make you think twice before ever going into a basement again.
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Bloodwalker
by L. X. Cain
Lightning flashes. Another child disappears... Zorka Circus's big top roars with laughter and cheers, but when it moves on, children vanish. Circus Security Chief Rurik suspects a killer hides among the performers, but they close ranks--they've always viewed lightning-scarred Rurik as the monster. He must find the culprit before anyone else disappears and his home is destroyed by the murders. Into Zorka Circus comes the Skomori clan, despised as gravedigging ghouls. A one-day truce allows bloodwalker Sylvie to marry. Instead, she finds a body. Alerting others will defy her clan's strict code, break the truce, and leave her an outcast. When more bodies turn up, the killer's trail becomes impossible to ignore. Rurik and Sylvie must follow the clues--even if they lead to something unimaginable...
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Mongrels
by Stephen Graham Jones
A spellbinding and darkly humorous coming-of-age story about an unusual boy, whose family lives on the fringe of society and struggles to survive in a hostile world that shuns and fears them. He was born an outsider, like the rest of his family. Poor yet resilient, he lives in the shadows with his aunt Libby and uncle Darren, folk who stubbornly make their way in a society that does not understand or want them. They are mongrels, mixed blood, neither this nor that. The boy at the center of Mongrels must decide if he belongs on the road with his aunt and uncle, or if he fits with the people on the other side of the tracks. For ten years, he and his family have lived a life of late-night exits and narrow escapes--always on the move across the South to stay one step ahead of the law. But the time is drawing near when Darren and Libby will finally know if their nephew is like them or not. And the close calls they've been running from for so long are catching up fast now. Everything is about to change. A compelling and fascinating journey, Mongrels alternates between past and present to create an unforgettable portrait of a boy trying to understand his family and his place in a complex and unforgiving world. A smart and innovative story-- funny, bloody, raw, and real--told in a rhythmic voice full of heart, Mongrels is a deeply moving, sometimes grisly, novel that illuminates the challenges and tender joys of a life beyond the ordinary in a bold and imaginative new way.
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The binding : a novel
by Nicholas Wolff
When a rare mental disorder begins to consume his small-town neighbors, a young psychiatrist digs up the past for clues to the epidemic's bone-chilling source in this brilliant supernatural horror debut, written in the bestselling tradition of Peter Straub. Convinced that evil spirits have overtaken his daughter, a desperate father introduces her to Nat Thayer, a young psychiatrist in their sleepy blue-blooded Massachusetts college town. Thayer quickly diagnoses the girl with Cotard Delusion, an obscure condition sometimes described as "walking corpse syndrome." But Thayer soon realizes his patient--and many of the local families--are actually being targeted by a malignant force resurrected from the town's wicked history. Thayer must discover the source of the spreading plague...before there is no one left to save.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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