A Year of Terror: Take a Look Back at the Best Indie Horror Books of 2025

In the dark expanse of the internet, a single line of text hangs heavy for all to read: “If you're reading this, you've likely thought that the world would be a better place without you.”

The sentence was typed out by Ashley Lutin. Since his wife died and his young son vanished, he has spent many nights thinking this—and far worse.

Ashley can't find peace in death. But he can bring peace to others.

He has devised a ritual for those who are torn between their wish to die and their desperation for a better life.

Sinking in his own infinite grief, Ashley sparks a connection with Jinx, a potential candidate for his next ritual. He tells him a tale that is as disturbing as it is fascinating.

Now the two men are caught in a spiral of painful revelations and long-buried secrets clawing their way to the surface.

After all, a new life can only be achieved through death…

This book is a gripping feminist retelling of the classic novel Carmilla.

The industrial revolution is in full swing, and the 10-year marriage between Lenore and steel magnate Henry has fallen apart. And when Henry's big plans take the couple to the remote British Moorlands for a hunting party, a carriage accident thrusts the enigmatic Carmilla into their lives.

By day, Carmilla is a pale and fragile woman. Come nighttime, however, she is a vibrant and stirring creature.

Lenore feels something waken anew in her at the presence of Carmilla. And soon the girls of the local village have fallen sick with a horrific hunger.

With the hunting party drawing closer, Lenore begins to question the choices she has built her life upon. Divided between winning back her husband and feeding the cravings Carmilla has instilled in her, she will soon come face to face with a darkness lurking within her household.

Jennifer Plummer is under the control of something known as the Divine Flesh, which is trapped inside her body. And while Jennifer and the Divine Flesh have a searing hatred for one another, it seems they're both in love with Jennifer's ex-husband, Daryl.

Jennifer takes an experimental drug hoping to rid herself of the Divine Flesh for good, but it only makes matters worse. With the Divine Flesh free from Jennifer's body, it can now “love” every human to death.

Which, of course, actually means it plans to assimilate them into itself forever.

Now it's up to Jennifer and Daryl to save the universe, but time is quickly running out.

If you're a fan of quick reads and devastating horror, this novelette is perfect for you.

A creature from another plane is sent to Earth to harvest fear from a young girl. However, as he invades her dreams, he finds that he is but one horrific thing in this child's life.

This beautiful anthology gathers folk horror stories rooted in the collective and scattered Asian cultures around the world.

Edited by KP Kulski, this collection features work by Ai Jiang, Nadia Bulkin, Lee Murray, J.A.W. McCarthy, and more.

In the rugged Catalonia mountain range known as the Guilleries, the land is inhabited by wolf hunters, ne'er-do-wells, ghosts, and demons. In one farmhouse known as Mas Clavell, a remarkably old woman lies on her deathbed.

As family and caretakers pass through to tend to her, all of the women who have ever lived and died in Mas Clavell wait for her to join them. They've got a party planned just for her.

The sun sets, and four centuries' worth of stories begin to unravel as food and laughter fill the home. Everything begins with the matriarch, Joana.

Joana was once desperate for a husband—a man who could provide, a “full man”. To get one, she summoned the devil and struck a bargain: her soul for a man to marry.

On her wedding day, Joana discovered that her husband was missing a toe, lost to a confrontation with wolves. This let her exploit a loophole in her bargain, opening a door to a complicated web of consequences…

Catherine Coldbridge is a lot of things: a doctor, an occultist, and a widow. But she's not the latter for long.

Catherine's husband, Private Frank Humble, was killed in a Sioux attack in 1879. Overcome with grief, Catherine used her unique skillset to resurrect him.

Unfortunately, Frank lost his soul during the reanimation process. After he went on a violent killing spree and disappeared, Catherine fled too, unable to face what she had done.

25 years later, Catherine returns to Texas with a pair of killers to make things right. But Frank has set up an unusual new life for himself, parading around in the Wild West Show as the Unkillable Frank Lightning.

Is there one last chance for redemption for this tragic pair?

Brigid is a gay single mother who cut ties with her extremist Catholic family years ago. She thought it was the best thing she could have done, not only for herself, but for her daughter, Dylan.

However, when Dylan is overcome with unnatural fits of violence, Brigid is reminded of a girl from her childhood who had the same affliction. That is, until the girl got an exorcism from Brigid's uncle, Father Angus.

Believing her daughter to be under the influence of demon possession, Brigid takes an unthinkable risk and goes home. She doesn't know anyone worse than Father Angus, but she doesn't know anyone else who can help her daughter, either.

However, as Brigid unravels secrets about Father Angus, that past exorcism, and her family's history, she realizes that she and Dylan are in more danger than ever before.

In this time of shifting politics and personal freedoms, 19 authors whose reproductive rights are at risk have gathered to pen stories of inspired horrors. From being forced to carry an unwanted child to seeking revenge upon a man who stole the right to choose, these stories are timely and chilling.

Ruth is stuck in more ways than one. She's a closeted queer woman struggling to live paycheck to paycheck who can't get out of her small, religious hometown of Kill Devil, Kentucky.

And when her manager finds out she lives with her girlfriend, Ruth is fired from the megachurch-owned craft store, New Creations.

In retaliation, Ruth tries to steal some yarn. When she's caught in the act, the employees don't call the cops—they lock her in the store and attack her.

Now Ruth must fight for her life with only craft supplies to aid her in battle. And in this struggle, she falls deeper into the twisted web of the New Creationists, who are harboring a horrific secret that threatens all of Kill Devil.

Patricia's whole life fell apart at the sound of a whistle.  Now, two decades later, she is still haunted by its awful sound.

Her father's unsolved death pushes her to risky behavior in pursuit of answers. She'll do anything—even break into mausoleums in the dead of night—to figure out the truth.

When a group of novice cryptid hunters shows up in town, Trish jumps at the chance to find some clarity. Together they search in a sealed, abandoned mine, twisting through tight, dark tunnels brimming with mysterious creatures.

Only darkness lies ahead, but Trish isn't turning back until she knows the truth.

In a special car, a man can travel anywhere he can fathom, including the past. This vehicle can even take him back to the biggest mistake of his life, a moment he does not want to relive, and one he cannot escape—one that may be even worse to change…

An unmemorable film about “alien hand syndrome" seems harmless until a wave of viewers are inspired to self-harm. And then even more oddities follow for those obsessed with the film.

A woman attempts to bring her deceased lover back to life with a dark ritual that demands she attack his corpse. But does she long to be with him again, or do they simply have unfinished business?

This collection of evocative stories is great for fans of Stephen King, Tananarive Due, and Junji Ito.