A Year of Terror: Take a Look Back at the Best Indie Horror Books of 2024

Lady Ramillia Winmoore may have been a highborn Victorian woman, but her life was far from simple. From the very beginning, Ramillia suffered from missing slices of her memory.

She was largely grateful for the darkness—until she awoke in the West Freeman Asylum for Lunatics, held for the murder of her parents. Years of torture here wear away at her, but the salvation she finally finds with Sir Julian Lawrence may be anything but.

Ramillia and Lawrence marry and she is granted her precious freedom. But his home hides far worse terrors than any asylum.

Forced to become a bloodthirsty immortal, she must assimilate into their cruel lifestyle—though she has powers she's not yet aware of.

Harriet's fresh new start in Bentwood isn't what she thought it would be. Her rental is definitely haunted, and her neighbor Lucy won't leave her alone for anything.

She's about to go out of her mind—until she meets the breathtaking Kelsey at the farmer's market. Now Harriet has a consuming new distraction: the town's multi-level marketing scheme, Serenitea.

The mysterious women peddling this wellness product seem to be perfect from their hair down to their toes. Harriet can't seem to resist their thrall—or their tea.

As she hops on the bandwagon, she starts receiving peculiar emails about “new descendants.” She can't be bothered by this, or by Lucy's wild claims the MLM women are vampires—because the tea makes her feel so at peace.

But one second Lucy is joining the pyramid scheme, and the next she's vanished. Now Harriet's world is fraying at the seams, and she's not sure what to believe…

You've surely heard of manifesting, but that's typically for positive, hopeful thoughts. Karina, wracked with grief and despair, has started turning her darkest, most nightmarish thoughts into reality.

This new and unexpected ability sends her down a terrible spiral of guilt—and the depression that comes with it isn't helping anything.

As a mysterious shadow figure haunts her and visions of her dead family plague her, her sanity is on the line as she tries to find a way to get one good thing out of her new power: a reunion with her family.

The four Lasco siblings stick together through everything the unforgiving world can throw at them. But their unbreakable bond and their childhoods are shattered when the eldest brother, Shawn, is dragged behind closed doors to a violent end.

The official reports cite an accidental death, but Nathan Lasco knows the truth. He knows he will never forgive his mother.

20 years later, the Lasco matriarch has promised to come clean about what happened on The Day of the Door. With a paranormal investigative team in tow, the Lascos reunite once more for the truth.

None of them are prepared for what's waiting for them.

In this debut novella, Silvena heads to an isolated Bulgarian villa in the mountains for a nice vacation with her boyfriend. But as remote as their stay may be, Silvena can't shake the feeling that she's being watched by the house's wooden walls.

Though her boyfriend tries to get her mind off things with their typical BDSM play, Silvena finds her hallucinations get worse after she meets a local woodcutter. Does this man and his peculiar interest in her have some sort of tie to her delusions?

Mixing gut-churning body horror with outrageous satire, this debut from E.K. Sathue follows 29-year-old copywriter Sophia Bannon. It's obvious that there's something off about the luxury skincare company HEBE—Sophia can tell from her first day on the Storytelling team.

But she's got enough secrets of her own, and HEBE  (and its charming founder, Tree Whitestone) is offering her purpose and meaning.

Before long, Sophia herself is addicted to what HEBE is peddling, specifically youthjuice, the moisturizer Tree has asked Sophia to try out.

When Sophia figures out the special ingredient in youthjuice, she has to determine just how big of a price she's willing to pay to stay beautiful forever…

In the wake of a devastating hurricane, a small coastal town's survivors begin to frequent an out-of-service payphone to work through their grief. Here they pour out their hearts and bid farewell to the ones they lost.

And then the phone starts ringing. As more and more people begin answering the inexplicable call, it seems that those lost to the vicious storm are looking to find their way back home.

The Unmothers is a folk horror novel following a journalist, Marshall, struggling to move on after her husband passes away. In the wake of a horrible accident, her editor sends her off to look into a ridiculous rumor in the small town of Raeford.

Here, there are murmurs that a horse has birthed a human child—a healthy baby boy. While the townspeople seem to take more care of their horses than their human citizens, the rumor is still preposterous to Marshall.

Then two horrifically mangled bodies—one horse, one human—are found in a field. Suddenly there's a real story in Marshall's hands.

What unfolds is a dark secret kept for generations; a tale of trauma, rage, and bodily autonomy. It's a truth that seems to turn reality inside out.

Sophie Wickham's life in London is utter chaos, filled with drunken nights, boring work, and men who like to cross a line. And things get even crazier when she starts to receive cryptic messages warning her that someone—or something—is coming for her.

As the messages become more insistent, she has no idea who to trust or what to do. But the warnings urge her to go to a place called Withered Hill…

A year ago, Sophie arrived in the remote Lancashire village of Withered Hill naked, alone, and without a single memory of who she is. The woods surround the village in a thick ring, and the inhabitants are devoted to peculiar pagan traditions.

As she fights to remember anything from her past, it's clear she's not a guest, but rather a prisoner. But is it the smiling villagers keeping her here, or something more sinister in the woods?

Unfolding through a dual timeline, this folk horror novel will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Delia knows better than anyone just how difficult living as a werewolf can be. She's spent most of her life pushing down childhood trauma while fighting against her own nature to find a place in the world.

She's not the only one struggling—many werewolves are in the same boat, abandoned by their families and forced to hide who they are. All they can do is wait for the nights when the Change takes over.

Delia never thought she'd become the den mother to a group of lycanthrope misfits, but banding together under strict rules seems to help them safely navigate the Change.

Now they can hunt without putting their San Diego suburb at risk, and, above all else, they've become a pack and left the lonely days behind.

But it becomes clear just how little they belong in their suburb when a severed leg is found in their backyard. The family's only choice is to cover up the careless kill and retreat into the wilderness, far away from innocent people.

They don't want to endanger anyone. But in the wilds around Talbot, they may not be the biggest predators around.

Liz Remolina returns to San Ojuela in the wake of her aunt's death. She dreads coming home to the remote desert town that was the site of the horrible childhood accident that made her clairvoyant.

She has spent most of her life in the company of wraiths and ghosts. But maybe she can come to terms with her dark family history—as well as her own identity—in the place where it all began.

With her younger sister, Mary, at her side, she sets out by train, only to discover the withered landscape is decorated by monsters and ancient gods. Her one comfort is the fact that Julian, her childhood best friend, still lives in San Ojuela.

But Julian is haunted now, too. Only with his help can Liz escape the darkness that is quickly closing in.

Lovers of New Weird tales rejoice: M. Shaw has delivered a grippingly unnerving collection for you to devour. From car vampires to fascist deer to memory-eating tree gods, you'll be hooked from beginning to end.

These provocative stories will ensure you never feel alone again. For better or worse…