New Horror Novels to Read This Halloween

1. **The Ship of Death**, by Kyle Winkler, explores the blurred lines between reality and fantasy through the story of a couple who test board games. They stumble upon a haunted role-playing game that reveals its terrifying nature, conveyed through a unique format of rule-book excerpts and police reports.

2. **The Need**, by Megan Mostyn-Brown, marks her literary debut, featuring a rare genetic disorder that compels individuals to consume flesh. The narrative follows two families—one struggling to conceal their son’s affliction and another reveling in it—leading to a lethal collision rooted in themes of envy and power.

3. In **In the Woods They Wait**, Carrie Lee South tells the story of Audrey Figg, a park ranger investigating her brother's 15-year-old disappearance as another child goes missing. This gothic tale blends personal grief with supernatural elements, providing a gripping exploration of loss and discovery.

4. **Something Is Killing the Children: Hope Is a Knife**, co-written by James Tynion IV and Kiersten White, serves as a prose novel offshoot of the popular comic series. Protagonist Erica Slaughter investigates a child’s murder in a small Idaho town, uncovering dark secrets amid rising tensions led by a charismatic preacher.

5. **The Calamities**, by Chuck Wendig, introduces a new series in which souls are traded by the powerful Maynes dynasty. The narrative follows Mourning, the reluctant heir, as he grapples with familial expectations and the potential to overthrow the family’s sinister operations.

6. **The Rouse**, by China Miéville, intertwines the stories of two protagonists—a grieving mother and a troubled soldier. Through cursed objects imbued with spiritual energy, the novel explores themes of war and its haunting aftermath, blending elements of espionage and the supernatural.

7. **You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom**, by Vincent Tirado, transforms a family drama into horror as a patriarch’s will reveals that a family member is a demon in disguise. The tension escalates into violence and distrust during a stormy family gathering.

8. **Odessa**, by Gabrielle Sher, tells a tragic horror story set during the early 20th-century pogroms in Russia. A family resorts to dark magic to resurrect their murdered daughter, only to discover that something sinister has returned in her place.

9. **Blacktail**, by Scott Hawkins, is a revenge fantasy that follows a wolf seeking vengeance against humans after they kill his mate and unborn offspring. Guided by a witchy cat, he aims to awaken the Forest God to exact his revenge, blending eco-horror with dark fantasy.

10. **Pictures of You**, by Josh Malerman, introduces Emily, who wakes up in a hotel room next to someone claiming to paint her. With memories of a night gone awry and a sense of impending danger, she races against time to save herself and her boyfriend from becoming part of a sinister masterpiece.