7 Best Edgar Allan Poe Books and Their Modern Readalikes

The Raven tells the story of an unnamed narrator mourning the loss of his love Lenore. Of course, there’s more to it than that, but it’s clear that the narrator can’t let go of his grief while desperate to forget.

Margaret is also in a sort of limbo. She’s alone in the house of her dreams, but she’s also not alone. The ghosts, or “pranksters”, keep her company, but their remarks to her questions are as unhelpful as the Raven’s. As for us, we’re left wondering, why do the walls bleed, why does she stay, and where is her husband?

After having to endure the watchful “vulture-eye” of the old man he lives with, our narrator plots his murder. He’s careful and meticulous. But after he buries the dismantled corpse beneath the floorboards, he can’t stop hearing the ominous thump of the dead man’s heart.

While the unraveling leads more to the murder than the aftermath, Mothered still paints a claustrophobic descent into madness. Grace doesn’t want her mother to move in with her. There are secrets and buried hurts and truths better left buried beneath the floorboards. But as the truth beats louder, the two women fight to escape. And only one survives.

A crumbling mansion. A sick friend. The last of a dying family. It’s a tale of envy and desire, greed and corruption. There’s something not quite right in the House of Usher, but what is remains a mystery until the end.

A captivating retelling of Poe’s story, our protagonist, Alex Easton, rushes to the side of his childhood friend, Madeline Usher, when he finds out she’s dying. The ancestral House of Usher is in disarray when he arrives, teeming with fungi and wildlife. It’s clear there’s something wrong. But if Alex can’t figure out what, the House and all its secrets, might end up destroying them all.

A dangerous plague is running through Europe and Prince Prospero hides to avoid catching it. The wealthy can afford the luxury of isolation. And while death torments the poor, the rich nobles attend a masquerade ball put on by the Prince. Only, death doesn’t care about money or nobility.

While death isn’t exactly what forces the family at High Place to stay isolated, avoiding it certainly is top of mind for that family. Noemí doesn’t exactly know who they are, or why her cousin is desperate to escape. But if she wants to survive the mesmerizing seduction threatening to overcome her will, she has to figure it out.

When a tormented prisoner finds himself in the middle of an impossible room at the behest of the Spanish Inquisition, his options slowly run out. After he manages to escape the lowering pendulum threatening to cut him half, the walls close in, pushing him closer and closer to a pit where nothing but death awaits.

Dr. Tamsin Rivers is arrogant, brash, and part of the team assigned to figuring out why the city of San Siroco is sinking. The only problem is her basement is sinking faster. As the walls distort and a door appears, Tamsin is stunned to find an exact replica of herself on the other side. The more time she spends with her, the most of herself she loses. And if she wants to survive, she has to figure out what this doppelgänger wants, before there’s nothing left.

In the last house on Needless Street live three individuals. A teenage girl who can’t go outside. A man who struggles with missing pieces in his memory. And a rather religious housecat. They exist together, forming an uneasy alliance. Until a neighbor moves in next door and shatters the carefully crafted illusions each one has built.

Even though many of the elements in this story are present in many other Poe works, it isn’t the murder or the revenge that makes this tale so fascinating. It’s why the murder took place, what the revenge was for. And the journey into finding those answers is what makes this story a chilling delight.