October gets us in the mood for all of the spookiest things we can find, including great reads. We decided to research which horror books dominated the New York Times Bestseller list every year since 1990 to find your next scary read. Check these frights out.
1990 – The Bad Place by Dean Koontz. This novel follows Frank Pollard, a man who is afraid to sleep because of the mysteries that plague him every morning – like waking up with blood on his hands.
1991 – Cold Fire by Dean Koontz. Reporter Holly Thorne is investigating Jim Ironheart for saving the lives of twelve people in the past three months, but finds that he possesses great power and visions.
1992 – The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice. Rice welcomes you back to the stories of Lestat the vampire for his most dangerous mission in all of his years of existence.
1993 – Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz. Harry Lyon lives an orderly life until he is forced to shoot a man on the job. A nearby homeless man who witnesses the act warns Harry that he only has sixteen hours to live.
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1994 – Insomnia by Stephen King. King returns to Derry, Maine to tell the story of Ralph Roberts, a man plagued by insomnia. But then he realizes the mysteries of the town are not hallucinations due to his lack of sleep.
1995 – The Lost World by Michael Crichton. Six years after Jurassic Park has been destroyed, we explore the rumors that some dinosaurs have survived.
1996 – Intensity by Dean Koontz. Chyna Shephard can’t sleep one night when the murderous sociopath, Edgler Foreman Vess, enters her friend’s childhood home intent on killing everyone inside.
1997 – The Killing Dance by Laurell K. Hamilton. Hamilton’s sixth installment catches Anita Blake, who is dating a vampire and a werewolf, in trouble with someone who has hired a hitman to kill Blake.
1998 – Bag of Bones by Stephen King. Mike Noonan, who is continuously grieving for his wife who died four years ago, visits the summer home that plagues his nightmares.
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1999 – Hannibal by Thomas Harris. It’s been six years since Hannibal Lecter escaped custody, but he has many enemies outside those walls.
2000 – House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. A house on Ash Tree Lane is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, so big that the children of the home wander too far and bring back a horrible creature.
2001 – Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub. Jack draws parallels between the murders that happened long ago and those that are happening now as he believes someone is trying to tell him something through his haunting dreams.
2002 – Everything’s Eventual by Stephen King. A collection of King’s scary stories.
2003 – Prey by Michael Crichton. Eight scientists are trapped as prey for the terrifying molecular entity that becomes stronger by the minute.
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2004 – The Dark Tower by Stephen King. The Gunslinger travels with a little boy to hunt the mysterious Man in Black across an odd land.
2005 – Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. Twenty-three stories of the twenty-three people who respond to an ad for a writer’s retreat, but get into a terrifying situation where they are deprived of survival necessities.
2006 – Cell by Stephen King. Widespread devastation strikes through means of a cell phone – the only survivors left make there way to Maine (of course).
2007 – Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Judas Coyne collects super creepy things, so naturally he buys a dead man’s suit that is haunted by a ghost. When it is delivered to his door he discovers that this ghost is the real deal.
2008 – Duma Key by Stephen King. Like many of Stephen King’s works, this novel deals with the mysteries of memory, love, art, and the supernatural.
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2009 – Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton. This novel continues the stories of Hamilton’s 1997 bestseller.
2010 – Horns by Joe Hill. This book is for you if you love psychological and supernatural horror.
2011 – What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz. John discovers that sometimes the dead return.
2012 – Doctor Sleep by Stephen King. The Shining: Book 2 … need I say more?
2013 – Let Me Go by Chelsea Cain. This book is (perfectly) centered around Halloween and Detective Archie Sheridan as he struggles with an overflowing amount of tasks, including solving murders.
2014 – Revival by Stephen King. Amazon calls this a King “masterpiece” and compares it to Edgar Allan Poe – perfect for the season.
2015 – Consumed by David Cronenberg. This is the legendary filmmaker’s debut novel that Stephen King raves about. All we need to know here!
2016 – Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones. This novel alternates between past and present during the coming of age of a little boy.
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2017 – Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King. This father-son written novel explores a world where women sleep in cocoon-like pods that ensure their passage to a better, equal world. When one woman is immune to the sleeping curse, the male-dominated world argue over what to do with her.
There you have it! Get to reading, folks.
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