If you are like us, then you also love a good horror novel. With so many great horror books out there, choosing which one to read isn’t always easy. That is why we curated this list of the 25 must read horror books of all time. Keep reading to see what books made our list!
This list is only going to include 25 must read horror books. Unfortunately, many amazing books won’t make the list. We hope this list encourages you to seek out even more horror books. You can see the full list below!
The 25 Must Read Horror Books of All Time
- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
- The Shining by Stephen King
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- It by Stephen King
- The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
- Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
- Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
- Ring by Koji Suzuki
- Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons
- Pet Sematary by Stephen King
- Carrie by Stephen King
- Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler
- The Stand by Stephen King
- At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft
- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
- The Terror by Dan Simmons
- The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H. P. Lovecraft
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- The Bad Seed by William March
- At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft
- Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
Must Read Horror Books
Our list includes some classics because leaving them off would be a crime. Novels like Dracula and Frankenstein are the face of the genre. If you like horror, then those are worth reading and seeing how many novels have been inspired by them. They may be old but are still some of the best horror novels written.
Other novels that are worth checkout on the list are Ring by Koji Suzuki, and It by Stephen King and The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. All three are well written and two of them have had mainstream success. This list could have included a bunch of novels by King and still have been a solid list.
A horror novel that I loved was Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. It is a story about vampires and Nazis and reads like a thriller. Simmons is a talented writer and this book is detailed and well thought out. It is a different take on vampires that will have you hooked until the last page.
Conclusion
That wraps up this list of the 25 must read horror books of all time. Let us know in the comments which books should have made our list. Happy reading!
Are you using Ai now to write these?
Probably not, because an Ai wouldn’t have made the error to put two books twice in a list of 25 books.
But it shows how much care is taken, when writing and before posting something like this.
I want to believe the AI is smarter than this.
No James Herbert? Biased to American authors.
Excuse me but do we have to read Interview With A Vampire twice? Or were you just unable to come up with another book? Same question about all Stephen King books. I love Stephen King, but there are so many other authors out there. Maybe read some?
This was ridiculous and a waste of time. Try harder.