Forbes’ 20 Greatest Horror Books of All Time, Ranked

Horror can terrify readers through ghosts and monsters, but it can also expose grief, isolation, prejudice and the darkness people carry with them. Forbes assembled a list of 20 notable horror books that stretches from Gothic classics to contemporary graphic fiction.

The selection is broader than a conventional “scariest books” ranking. It includes literary fiction, dark fantasy, psychological novels, a medical thriller and books suitable for younger readers.

Forbes’ 20 Greatest Horror Books of All Time

• The Shining — Stephen King
• Frankenstein — Mary Shelley
• Pet Sematary — Stephen King
• The House Across the Lake — Riley Sager
• Something Wicked This Way Comes — Ray Bradbury
• White Is for Witching — Helen Oyeyemi
• Coraline — Neil Gaiman
• The Ruins — Scott Smith
• Those Across the River — Christopher Buehlman
• Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories — Roald Dahl, editor
• Beloved — Toni Morrison
• Doing Harm — Kelly Parsons
• The Only Good Indians — Stephen Graham Jones
• Road of Bones — Christopher Golden
• Nothing but Blackened Teeth — Cassandra Khaw
• The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night — Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
• Lord of the Flies — William Golding
• Let the Right One In — John Ajvide Lindqvist
• The Haunting of Hill House — Shirley Jackson
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle — Shirley Jackson

Correction note: The House Across the Lake was written by Riley Sager, not Caroline Kepnes, and Doing Harm was written by Kelly Parsons. Earlier versions of this page contained incorrect attributions.

Five Books to Read First

The Shining by Stephen King

Forbes placed The Shining first, and it is an understandable choice. Jack Torrance brings his family to the isolated Overlook Hotel, where supernatural forces exploit his anger and addiction. The family’s deterioration is even more disturbing than the haunted setting.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein remains unsettling because it is a tragedy about responsibility, loneliness and the consequences of unchecked ambition. Victor creates life and then abandons it.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is both a ghost story and an examination of slavery’s lasting trauma. Its supernatural presence cannot be separated from memory, grief and history.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

As a big Neil Gaiman fan, I think Coraline is one of the easiest recommendations here. It is accessible to younger readers but never talks down to them. The Other Mother offers Coraline everything she thinks she wants—at a terrible price.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Jackson’s novel helped define the modern haunted-house story. Readers are never completely sure where the house ends and Eleanor’s psychological unraveling begins.

Is This the Definitive Horror List?

No list of 20 books can represent the entire genre. Readers could reasonably ask about Clive Barker, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft or Anne Rice. Treat this as a varied starting point rather than an objective final verdict.

I would personally begin with The Shining, Beloved, Coraline, The Haunting of Hill House and Frankenstein. Together, they show how many different forms horror can take.

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