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Each year, our social media feeds are filled with news of the latest books in horror, true crime, and paranormal.
So many chilling new books come out each year—and our TBRs are often stacked with delectable spooky books by the latest emerging authors. We truly are in a golden age of horror fiction.
But sometimes we're in the mood for something older—books that have stood the test of time.
These are the classics that are the most disturbing. They’re strange and unnerving in uncanny ways—often calling us back to something old and ancient and unsettling.
Every month, we’re bringing you a selection of free ebooks to read that are perfect for lovers of all things spooky, mysterious, gruesome, strange, and macabre.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, Edmond Dantès is locked away in the bleak fortress of If.
While there, he discovers a hidden treasure on the Isle of Monte Cristo and vows to escape and use it to exact revenge on the three men who betrayed him.
Alexandre Dumas' sweeping narrative of suffering and vengeance, inspired by a true story of wrongful imprisonment, captivated readers when it was first serialized in the 1840s.
Finished
Explorer and big game hunter Allan Quatermain is on a shooting trip in South Africa when he learns of rising tensions between the Boers and the English, sparked by Sir Theophilus Shepstone's plans to annex Transvaal.
As the Boers prepare for conflict, Quatermain uncovers a darker scheme involving the wizard Zikali, who seeks revenge against the royal Zulu House by inciting a catastrophic war among the Zulu people.
Finished is the gripping conclusion of H. Rider Haggard’s Zulu Trilogy, following Marie and Child of Storm, within the broader Allan Quatermain series.
The Double
Recently promoted DI Richard Staines, a Cambridge graduate, is on the verge of his most perplexing case yet.
Trapped on a balcony during a thunderstorm in Belgravia, he breaks into an acquaintance’s house for shelter. Inside, he is stunned to discover a bound and blindfolded man being searched by a woman in an evening gown—who turns out to be the kindhearted nurse he met just hours before.
Suddenly, everything goes dark.
Benighted
A fierce storm drives travelers Philip Waverton, his wife Margaret, and their friend Roger Penderel off the road, forcing them to seek refuge in a mysterious mansion owned by the eccentric Femm family and their brutish butler, Morgan.
Reluctant to accommodate them, the Femms only allow the group to stay by the ground-floor fireplace, where they hope the storm will pass.
As the night unfolds, the storm intensifies, and the house reveals unsettling secrets, particularly the locked doors on the top floor.
First published in 1927, Benighted inspired the 1932 film The Old Dark House, featuring Boris Karloff, and is J.B. Priestley’s second novel.
