Before we begin, I promise you, this is not your run-of-the-mill, end-of-the-year best books list.
As I do each year here at The Lineup, I try to give you a more nuanced look at the year that was by walking you through some of the more interesting trends I have noticed accompanied by the example titles that illustrate them best.
We were blessed with an abundance of great horror this year, and while I would never be able to fit all of my favorites in this one article, I did see three distinct trends emerge, all of which took the genre in original and vibrant directions, drawing in new readers, and providing us all with amazing reading experiences.
Historical Horror Expands Its Reach
Historical horror is not new (pun intended), but in the past it was often centered around real historical events as authors heavily leaned on the unease of what the reader already knows to be true.
Think The Hunger by Alma Katsu or The Reformatory by Tananrive Due, both inspired by horrific, true events. But this year, some of the best horror books did something new, they were set in a more general past, immersing readers in a time and place without a known event as their guidepost.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
“What I am is the Indian who can't die. I'm the worst dream America ever had,” says Good Stab, a Blackfeet, vampire roaming the Montana prairie in 1912 looking for vengeance, to Lutheran minister Arthur Beaucarne, as he visits each Sunday to give his confession.
Unfolding through found journal pages, Jones’ novel has made nearly every 2025 best list this year, including the New York Times and Publishers Weekly.
It is a masterpiece of American fiction in any genre, a story that asks readers to question the violence inherent in Manifest Destiny, a revered concept in American history.
The Country Under Heaven
It’s 1880 and Union vet Ovid is still dealing with a blast during Antietam that not only injured him but also opened a crack between dimensions, an event that gave Ovid “the sight” and allowed monsters to sneak into an America still struggling to heal from its Civil War.
Told in vignettes where Ovid travels the country, battling monsters real and supernatural, this unique novel is full of heart, a tale that manages to replicate what is best about a classic Western and an awesome Cosmic Horror novel all in one terrifying, thought-provoking, and thoroughly entertaining package.
Black Flame
Ellen is a young, closeted, gay Jewish woman living in NYC in 1985, working as a film preservationist whose company has just taken on the responsibility of resurrecting a cult, possibly haunted Nazi film.
Deliciously nasty, vicious, and erotic, this novel succeeds equally on two distinct levels of terror– a perfect portrayal of the disorientation of being deeply closeted and a cursed media story in which the film is more than just haunted, it is out to get all who encounter it.
Some readers might quibble with me that 1985 is historical, but may I remind you, it was 40 years ago!
Unique Horror Retellings
Retellings have always been an important part of Horror. Think about the ghost stories that have been told over and over again, around campfires and at sleepover parties for generations.
However, this year I saw a distinct shift in the retelling subgenre as we went from more literal retellings to authors who used stories from horror’s past to tell something new and exciting.
The inspiration is there, but readers who don’t know the source material well, or even at all, won’t miss out on fully enjoying these 2025 novels.
A Game in Yellow
Confidently and deftly combining the cosmic horror classic, The King in Yellow, and Sapphic Erotica, Piper brings readers into Carmen’s world.
Bored at her job and with her love life, Carmen’s girlfriend introduces her to Salt, a mysterious woman with access to a book that brings euphoria if read in snippets, but read too much, and madness will follow.
As Carmen becomes obsessed with the book, it appears to start reading her as well. A mesmerizing, disorienting, and original tale of terror, ecstasy, and madness, this is a story that demonstrates the enduring power of Chambers' 130 year-old work.
Play Nice
Paying homage to the horror classic Amityville Horror, both the very messy true story and the huge catalog of media it has spawned since, Harrison’s latest follows influencer Clio as she clears out the allegedly haunted house of a mother she barely knew in the wake of her death.
What begins as an opportunity for house flipping content, reveals ugly and sinister truths about her mother, their family, and the root of all of their suffering.
Unresolved trauma haunts this book, but it is also a witty, terrifying, and clever, psychological ghost story that will bring even more readers into Harrison’s growing fold.
When the Wolf Comes Home
After a particularly bad day at work, aspiring actress Jess finds a young boy whimpering outside her apartment complex and brings him inside. But this is no ordinary boy, and the father who is looking for him is a monster who will stop at nothing to get him back. So begins Cassidy’s unique take on the werewolf trope, a story that is an homage to classic 80s chase novels in general, and an episode of the Twilight Zone in particular. Full of action, adventure, blood, and twists, the tale is anchored by the evolving relationship between Jess and the kiddo. Readers will get invested in their journey fairly quickly, but the biggest chills come toward the end as Cassidy forces a confrontation (for Jess and the reader) with the power that fear holds over all and no one will be spared.
Not Your Parents’ Religious Horror
As I compile this article each year, I begin with a big list of some of my favorite books and look for connections. This final trend came to me as a result of that process.
There were some key titles, with wide critical acclaim that all took a terrifying and fresh look at religion and used it as the foundation for their horror. There are no exorcisms here. And we aren’t just talking about western religions either.
Angel Down: A Novel
Told in one single sentence and unfolding like a chant, Kraus’ latest follower Private Bagger as he is trying to stay alive in the trenches of WWI France.
When he and four other misfits are asked to stay behind and “take care of” a suffering soldier abandoned in no man's land, what they actually find in the field of battle is an angel, shot out of heaven by the fighting, and now trapped in barbed wire.
As the men carry the angel enroute to rejoin their unit, each is mesmerized by her light and tempted by her power. Will she save them all or lead to their deaths?
This visceral, brutally honest, brilliant and bold novel uses a well worn religious symbol to take a long look at very human horrors.
The Unworthy: A Novel
An unnamed narrator is surviving a climate apocalypse safely locked behind the walls of a religious order where she is an “Unworthy” striving to become “Enlightened.”
The macabre rituals she recounts are unnerving, but Bazterrica sows even more discomfort as our narrator can only share her story in fits and starts, finding time to scribble what she can without her pages being discovered. Past and present are blended together, words crossed out, and sentences left unfinished in her haste.
Unreliable in the most literal sense, the narrator wins readers’ trust with her engaging and humanizing voice amidst a bleak and violent world, as she offers all who find her story a sliver of hope.
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng: A Darkly Funny, Gory, and Ghostly Horror Novel
Unfolding during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, readers follow Cora, a crime scene cleaner, immune to the bloody messes and gore of the increasing numbers of murdered East Asian woman surrounding her, that is until she she watches her sister be pushed in front a a train as the killer whispers—bat eater.
As Cora spirals emotionally, mentally, and physically, her Aunt’s constant reminder that ignoring her preparation for the upcoming Hungry Ghost Festival (when the gates of hell are opened and the living must care for the dead or risk their wrath) are only making it all worse.
This is a gut-wrenching, blood-soaked story, bursting with oppressive dread and racism, and steeped in religious traditions that perfectly enhance the horror for all audiences.
Featured image: Annie Spratt / Unsplash
