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“The house smelled musty and damp, and a little sweet, as if it were haunted by the ghosts of long-dead cookies.” ~ from Neil Gaiman's American Gods
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New and Recently Released!
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| Coldbrook by Tim LebbonIn the highly secure Coldbrook research facility, scientists seek a passageway to an alternate version of Earth -- but when they find and open it, the portal admits an undead being that infects workers in the lab. Some of the zombie-contaminated researchers escape into the surrounding Appalachians, while unaffected technician Holly Wright risks entering the alternate universe. Publishers Weekly says Coldbrook's themes of human relationships contrast with the violence and death, adding "intellectual substance to what can also be enjoyed simply as a gutsy horror show." This zombie novel also offers strong character-building and unusual plot twists. |
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| Bird Box by Josh MalermanSeveral years before the start of Bird Box, unidentified beings began roaming the world, causing anyone who glimpsed them to become violently homicidal. Those who have avoided seeing the mysterious creatures stay in sealed, survival-equipped houses, wearing blindfolds if they venture outside. A woman named Malorie, who has two small children, lives with a group of strangers in one such house. When she feels compelled to go looking for a larger community, she blindfolds her children and herself and sets out on a terrifying journey. Kirkus Reviews compares this "unsettling thriller" to Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds. |
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| Forest Ghost by Graham MastertonIn Forest Ghost, two wooded preserves on different continents harbor mysterious entities that drive people who enter the woods to suicide. When a whole Boy Scout troop camping in contemporary Michigan does just that, Sparky Wallace, an Asperger’s-afflicted teen whose best friend was on that trip, isn't surprised. Sparky's widowed father, Jack, is reluctant to get involved in investigating the deaths, until he learns of a possible connection between the Michigan suicides and his grandfather's unexplained disappearance in a Polish forest during World War II. This gripping, spooky tale takes readers back and forth across the Atlantic as Jack and Sparky investigate the deaths…and experience overwhelming terrors in these forests. |
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| Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuireThe legend of the vanishing wayfarer has been retold for centuries and appears in cultures around the globe. In this version of the ghost story, author Seanan McGuire identifies the original stranded teenager. Her name is Rose, she's perpetually 16 years old, and she's been roaming deserted highways for decades, but now she's decided it's time to get revenge on the man who killed her. Recounting Rose's death, her life in the ghost world, and her search for her killer, Sparrow Hill Road offers a "mesmerizing" (Publishers Weekly) combination of love story and murder mystery while launching a planned new series. |
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| The Quick: A Novel by Lauren OwenFans of Victorian-set gothic horror, vampire tales with large casts of characters, the creepiness of London's dark streets, and leisurely, elegant writing will want to settle in with The Quick for a good, long reading spell. Debut novelist Lauren Owen recounts the tale of a young poet from Yorkshire who goes to London -- then mysteriously disappears. When his sister goes looking for him, she discovers a group of amateur vampire hunters trying to stop the murderous plots of a socially elite occult society. If you enjoyed Bram Stoker's original Dracula or Charles Palliser's Rustication, you won't want to miss this. |
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| Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling: A Novel by Michael BoccacinoCharlotte Markham, a young widow in Victorian England, becomes governess to widower Henry Darrow's two sons. Soon after she takes up the post, there's a murder in the nearby village, the housekeeper expresses ghastly warnings, and Paul, one of the Darrow boys, dreams about his late mother. Charlotte's own nightmares parallel Paul's, and she and the boys are oddly attracted to a mysterious, shadowy place called Darkling. As dreams, vague warnings, and reality draw closer to each other, Charlotte realizes she must act to protect the boys -- and her own life. Fans of Daphne du Maurier and Susan Hill will be entranced by this gothic thriller. |
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| The White Devil: A Novel by Justin EvansA taxi deposits 17-year-old American student Andrew Taylor outside the gate of Harrow, where he glumly surveys the storied boarding school attended by Lord Byron and Winston Churchill. Andrew's encounter with Matron doesn't improve his mood -- especially after she hints at ghosts in the basement. Nor does his general sense of confusion lift when he learns that he uncannily resembles the young Lord Byron. But when he stumbles upon a figure assaulting one of his housemates in the graveyard, he realizes he's witnessed a murder -- and the killer saw him. This thrilling combination of mystery and ghost story will keep you turning pages to the end. |
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| The Orphan Choir by Sophie HannahIn The Orphan Choir, Louise Beeston, an ordinary English mom with a humorously obsessive personality, feels threatened by her neighbor's loud music at night and grieves that her seven-year-old son is off at a boarding school where he sings in an elite boy choir. But it's the haunting choral music filling her head that drives her to distraction, even after she persuades her husband to move to a quiet village near her son's school. This is no ordinary earworm, though, and it gradually becomes clear that other indications of danger are also very real. Author Sophie Hannah delivers a ghost story that recalls the expression, "even if you're paranoid, somebody may be out to get you." |
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| Haven by Kay HooperPsychic investigator Jessie Rayburn returns to her hometown, Baron Hollow, North Carolina, to resolve questions about why she had left years earlier. When she arrives, she learns that her sister Emma has been dreaming about brutal crimes against young women. Meanwhile, Jessie and another psychic operative, Nathan Navarro, sense a foreboding entity that may relate to a series of murders, and a group of ghost hunters is carrying out separate inquiries. This intricately plotted tale, the 13th in the Bishop/Special Crimes Unit series, supplies both ghosts and a serial killer in a chilling plot that will please fans of paranormal mysteries and ghost stories. |
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| The Dead Path: A Novel by Stephen M. IrwinRecently widowed Nicholas Close is haunted by visions of ghosts that are re-enacting their own violent deaths. Returning from London to Australia, he finds the spooky forest on the edge of his hometown just as he remembers it...and also recalls the murder of his childhood best friend and other children near those woods. He sets out to discover the cause of these deaths -- with terrifying consequences. In this debut, originally published to great acclaim in Britain as The Darkening, the vivid descriptions of the town and the woods pull you right into the horrors that confront Nicholas. |
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