The 25 best horror books
The 25 highest-ranked horror books in our ranking of 2,816, scored on how much readers love them, their prize, best-list and bestseller record, and current buzz. We rank 86 horror books in all. How we rank
- 1
The Stand86.5Must-Read ScoreThe Stand
A weaponized superflu escapes from a military lab and wipes out most of humanity in weeks.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (4 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1990 (Publishers Weekly)PBS Great American ReadBBC's The Big Read - 2
It83.7Must-Read ScoreIt
In the town of Derry, Maine, in 1958, seven misfit kids who call themselves the Losers' Club discover that something has been killing the town's children, an ancient evil that most often appears as a clown named Pennywise.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (14 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1986 (Publishers Weekly) - 3
The Shining83.2Must-Read ScoreThe Shining
Jack Torrance takes a job as the off-season caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, high in the Colorado Rockies, hoping for a fresh start with his wife, Wendy, and son, Danny, and time to write.
- 4
The Institute81.2Must-Read ScoreThe Institute
In the middle of the night, intruders murder twelve-year-old Luke Ellis's parents and take him to the Institute, a facility hidden in the Maine woods where children with mild telepathic and telekinetic powers are tested, abused and used.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (2 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2019 (Publishers Weekly) - 5
Different Seasons80.7Must-Read ScoreDifferent Seasons
Stephen King's collection of four novellas mostly isn't horror.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (3 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1982 (Publishers Weekly) - 6
Misery79.9Must-Read ScoreMisery
Paul Sheldon is a bestselling novelist who has just killed off Misery Chastain, the heroine of his popular romance series, so he can write something serious.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (7 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1987 (Publishers Weekly) - 7
The Picture of Dorian Gray79.8Must-Read ScoreThe Picture of Dorian Gray
Dorian Gray is a beautiful young man in London when his friend Basil paints his portrait.
Why it made the listPBS Great American ReadGuardian 100 Best Novels in EnglishBBC's The Big Read - 8
The Green Mile79.5Must-Read ScoreThe Green Mile
In 1932, Paul Edgecombe is the head guard on death row at Cold Mountain Penitentiary in Louisiana, where the walk to the electric chair is a stretch of faded green linoleum.
Why it made the listBBC's The Big Read - 9
The Exorcist79.0Must-Read ScoreThe Exorcist
In Georgetown in 1971, Chris MacNeil, a famous actress, notices that her eleven-year-old daughter, Regan, is changing: noises in her room, then strange behavior, then violent fits that doctors can't explain.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (12 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1971 (Publishers Weekly) - 10
Empire of the Vampire77.2Must-Read ScoreEmpire of the Vampire
It has been twenty-seven years since the last sunrise, and vampires have waged war on humanity ever since, building an eternal empire.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (fantasy) finalist (2024, for Empire of the Damned) - 11
Angel Down77.1Must-Read ScoreAngel Down
Private Cyril Bagger has survived the trenches of World War I by his wits, cheating and swindling his fellow soldiers whenever he can.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2026) - 12
Swan Song76.7Must-Read ScoreSwan Song
After a nuclear war destroys America, a handful of survivors set out across the wasteland.
Why it made the listPBS Great American Read - 13
Pet Sematary75.6Must-Read ScorePet Sematary
Louis Creed, a young doctor, moves his family to a house in rural Maine beside a highway where trucks barrel past.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (13 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1983 (Publishers Weekly) - 14
You Like It Darker75.3Must-Read ScoreYou Like It Darker
Twelve new stories by Stephen King: a man who dreams of where a murdered woman's body is buried and can't make the police believe how he knows; a grieving father on a Florida island who meets a woman with twin babies, decades after the events of Cujo; two old friends with a strange secret about their talents; and a man who meets someone who can answer any question, for a price.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (horror) winner (2024)#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)19 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2024 - 15
Dark Curse75.3Must-Read ScoreDark Curse
Raised in an icy prison by her evil father, Lara Calladine escaped childhood with her mysterious gifts intact: human, yet mage, she carries the blood of three species and belongs to none.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1) - 16
House of Leaves75.0Must-Read ScoreHouse of Leaves
Johnny Truant finds a manuscript by a dead blind man, Zampanò, analyzing a documentary that may not exist: The Navidson Record, about a family whose house is bigger on the inside than the outside, with a dark hallway that keeps growing.
Why it made the listBBC's The Big Read - 17
Watchers73.3Must-Read ScoreWatchers
Travis Cornell, a lonely ex-soldier, goes hiking in the California hills and meets a golden retriever who seems almost human, smart enough to communicate and terrified of something in the woods.
Why it made the listPBS Great American Read - 18
Light in August72.4Must-Read ScoreLight in August
Lena Grove, young, pregnant and unmarried, walks from Alabama to Jefferson, Mississippi, looking for the man who got her pregnant.
Why it made the listTIME All-TIME 100 NovelsModern Library 100 Best Novels - 19
The Ocean at the End of the Lane72.4Must-Read ScoreThe Ocean at the End of the Lane
A man returns to his childhood home in rural England for a funeral and wanders to the farm at the end of the lane, where he remembers something he'd forgotten.
Why it made the list37 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2013Nebula Award finalist (2013) - 20
The Sound and the Fury72.0Must-Read ScoreThe Sound and the Fury
The Compsons were once a great family in Mississippi, and they are falling apart.
Why it made the listTIME All-TIME 100 NovelsModern Library 100 Best NovelsBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books) - 21
World War Z71.8Must-Read ScoreWorld War Z
Presented as an oral history collected after humanity barely survived a zombie pandemic, World War Z tells the story of the war through interviews with survivors around the world: soldiers, doctors, politicians and ordinary people, from the first outbreak in China to the turning of the tide.
Why it made the list100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2009 - 22
Full Dark, No Stars71.6Must-Read ScoreFull Dark, No Stars
Four novellas about what pushes ordinary people over the edge.
Why it made the listOne of the ten best-selling books of 2010 (Publishers Weekly)24 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2010 - 23
The Outsider71.4Must-Read ScoreThe Outsider
An eleven-year-old boy is found murdered in an Oklahoma town, and every piece of evidence points to Terry Maitland, the town's beloved Little League coach: fingerprints, DNA, witnesses.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)49 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2018 - 24
Holly70.8Must-Read ScoreHolly
Holly Gibney, the private investigator from several Stephen King novels, reluctantly takes the case of Penny Dahl's missing daughter, Bonnie, even though her partner has Covid and her complicated mother has just died.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (horror) winner (2023)#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)20 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2023 - 25
Frankenstein70.5Must-Read ScoreFrankenstein
Victor Frankenstein, a young Swiss scientist, discovers how to bring dead matter to life, and builds a creature from parts of corpses.
Why it made the listPBS Great American ReadGuardian 100 Best Novels in EnglishBBC's The Big Read
