Gift Guide: 14 Chilling Books to Place Under a Horror Fan's Tree

Gretchen McNeil's They Fear Not Men in the Woods is a razor-sharp exercise in claustrophobic terror that transcends the typical “scary woods”  narrative.

Seven years ago, Jen Monroe left behind her hometown of Barrow, Washington, after her father, a forest ranger passionate about protecting old trees from the logging companies that run their small town, vanished into thin air.

She vowed never to visit the Evergreen State’s forests…until her estranged mom sent her a text. Her dad’s remains have been found. Her ex-boyfriend suggests a camping trip in honor of her dad.

McNeil masterfully ratchets up the tension, not just through the external threats—the unsettling figure or figures lurking just beyond the firelight. As darkness settles and paranoia takes root, Jen encounters something truly primal out there.

The dialogue is snappy and frantic, perfectly capturing the hysteria of people past their breaking point. This book will resonate with fans of Midsommar, Catriona Ward, and Sarah Gailey.

What makes this book truly scary is its refusal to offer easy answers. The "men in the woods" are less conventional villains and more a manifestation of the deep-seated psychological breakdown occurring. The forest itself becomes a character—dark, ancient, and indifferent—magnifying every whispered accusation and suspicious glance.

This is a cleanly executed feminist horror novel that depicts a descent into dread earned through atmosphere and mounting psychological pressure, not just gore. 

They Fear Not Men in the Woods is a terrifying exploration of how quickly civilization can dissolve when the world shrinks to a patch of cold, dark earth and the terrifying realization that the greatest danger might be the person shivering right next to you.

Prepare for sleepless nights.

Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Fraser is a stunningly ambitious and genre-defying work that rejects conventional true-crime voyeurism. 

The book’s core purpose is to connect the terrifying rise of serial murderers in the Pacific Northwest—killers like Ted Bundy and the Green River Killer—to decades of environmental devastation.

Fraser meticulously advances the lead-crime hypothesis, arguing that the region's epidemic of violence was fostered by dangerously high levels of lead and arsenic spewed by industrial smelters like the notorious ASARCO plant. 

Through lyrical, urgent, and often densely interwoven prose, the text braids together chilling, unsensationalized accounts of these crimes with the history of corporate negligence, painting a picture of institutional amorality that, Fraser argues, mirrors the killers' contempt for life.

The narrative is structured as a complex tapestry, incorporating extensive research on industrial history, the physics of a deadly local floating bridge, and unsettling fragments of Fraser's own memoir growing up near these toxic, terrifying events. 

Far from a simple whodunit, Murderland is a profound meditation on the social, environmental, and neurological factors that warp human behavior, culminating in a passionate, angry closing that transforms a dark true-crime subject into a searing cautionary tale about the cost of environmental indifference.

Haunted Castles is part of a new six-volume series of the best in classic horror and hand-picked by award-winning director Guillermo del Toro. 

This is the definitive, complete collection of Ray Russell's masterful Gothic horror stories, including the infamously horrifying novella triptych of “Sardonicus”, “Sanguinarius”, and “Sagittarius”.

The characters that roam through the halls of Haunted Castles will chill you to the bone: a beautiful woman and an evil ghost walking a hellish road to evil deeds; the evil monster holding two lovers prisoner; and a man’s evil grin showing his hidden sins. Russell has no match in this genre even decades later.

This is a beautiful clothbound classic collection of Edgar Allan Poe's writings, including The Fall of the House of Usher. This selection of Poe’s poems, stories, essays, and reviews shows his unbinding love for probing the inky depths of humanity’s midnight consciousness.

“The Fall of the House of Usher” centers on a gilded family tormented by tragedy and paying the agonizing price for their inequities. Every middle grader knows “The Tell-Tale Heart,” but re-reading it shows why it’s such a classic of literature. 

Also, stories like “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Pit and the Pendulum” are still very accessible for modern audiences. Greed and selfishness are still just as haunting (and relevant) to all of us in 2025.

The sequel to Crypt of the Moon Spider, Cathedral of the Drowned, is another reminder of The Lunar Gothic Trilogy’s grotesque and crawling beauty. Nathan Ballingrud crafts stories of altered bodies under a sickly moon.

This sequel plunges deeper into Ballingrud's bizarre, pulp-gothic nightmare. It’s an oozing, visually stunning spectacle of body horror and cosmic dread, following Charlie Duchamp's split consciousness to Jupiter's jungle moon, Io. 

One part of his brain is in a jar stranded on Io, who just wants to go home to the woman he loves. The other half is imprisoned in Charlie’s body, hanging from a wall in Barrowfield Home on Earth's moon, host to the eggs of the Moon Spider and possessing an unmatched bloodlust. In a word, this series is trippy.

The setting of a crashed cathedral ship and a giant centipede god is unforgettable. While the breakneck pace sometimes sacrifices emotional depth, the novel is a wildly imaginative, surreal sci-fi horror journey that rewards daring readers who aren’t afraid of some icky descriptions. 

Can’t wait to find out what crawls towards us next in The Lunar Gothic Trilogy, Kingdom of the Conqueror Worm.

Mary Shelley’s gothic horror classic is a cautionary tale of the limits of science and artistic creativity that introduced the world to one of the most iconic monsters in literary history. 

This is a special illustrated edition to celebrate the recent Netflix adaptation by Oscar-winning writer-director Guillermo del Toro, starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, and Mia Goth.

This haunting gothic tale started its decades-long shelf life when Shelley was just nineteen years old, and it’s still the world’s most famous work of horror fiction. 

Read it again or share it with a young horror fan who has never experienced this story before.

A very scary new novel from bestselling #HorrorBookTok marve Ania Ahlborn—the acclaimed author of Brother. Ania Ahlborn delivers a horror novel quite unlike anything out this year, tackling trauma and grief through a haunted house.

The Unseen is a masterclass of the supernatural story, where reality itself is torn asunder and reassembled like tattered pieces of cloth.

Main protagonist Isla Hansen, is a mother haunted by a recent family tragedy when an orphaned child randomly appears on the edge of the Hansens’ rural Colorado property. 

The orphan’s presence in their house gets things moving in sinister directions. Isla’s husband, Luke, and their five children notice strange anomalies that defy any expectation.

I know what you’re thinking… I’ve heard this setup before. The Hansen family dynamics are truly what sell this story of what occurs when you invite a supernatural black hole into your home.

Casey believes the Owera Valley Kingfishers will be in the Winners’ Club this season. Star center fielder Danny is surrounded by a wild mix of raw talent and tenacious spirit, so she knew the team was poised to be legendary. 

With multiple  Bram Stoker plaudits under his belt so far, horror author Robert P. Ottone writes with a quiet confidence for the middle-grade set, without taking any bite out of his stories for adults.

The plot ratchets up when a player disturbs a ghoulish secret: there’s a cemetery plot just beyond center field. This ghoulish discovery puts Danny and the team's very souls in the balance. The Kingfishers are then challenged to a winner-take-all best-of-three series against a team of spectral competitors. 

The narrative is often told from the perspective of Casey, the coach's daughter and baseball enthusiast, whose leadership and strategic mind prove vital when all hope seems lost.

This novella is more than just a spooky tale; it's a heartwarming coming-of-age story about friendship, teamwork, and confronting mortality. Ottone delivers a classic setup that allows the kids, like a modern-day Losers' Club, to display immense bravery and rely on each other to defeat the otherworldly monsters. 

It’s a pitch-perfect introduction to horror themes for young readers, wrapped in a narrative that emphasizes that a team's spirit, like a Louisville Slugger, "never splinters and never breaks."

New York Times bestselling and Eisner Award–nominated comics writer Cullen Bunn presents his adult novel debut, Bones of our Stars, Blood of Our World. The plot follows a madcap hunt for a masked serial killer whose savage murders across Wilson Island may just point to a deeper constellation of evil beyond our galaxy.

Cullen’s prose is reminiscent of classic Stephen King, particularly in its focus on a detailed, small-town setting and a large cast of well-developed, relatable characters, such as the pregnant teenager Willa, who becomes the story's emotional heart. 

The violence, perpetrated by the chilling "Mr. No-Face," is uncompromising, with Bunn being unafraid to go right for the jugular.

Bunn successfully builds a cinematic, high-octane narrative, thanks to his background in comics. While the first half moves at a slow-cook pace, once the terrifying, ancient evil is fully unleashed, the story delivers an epic, wild, and messy conclusion that is terrifying and fun. 

Highly recommended for readers who appreciate hard-hitting, multifaceted horror with strong character work and a constant ratcheting of tension like a piano string about to pop.

Bram Stoker Award-winning author Laird Barron (nominated again for Not a Speck of Light) returns to the dark and dreadful with his fifth horror collection. Barron's latest collection is a sinister and cosmic mosaic of sixteen weird tales that live up to its title, diving deep into pits of humanity and beyond. 

Not a Speck of Light is quintessential Barron, blending cosmic horror, rural noir, and pulp fiction into a rough and sophisticated style.

The book is broken up into four sections (Blood Red Samaritans, Wandering Stars, Nemesis, and Lake Terror) featuring a cast of damaged people living in a violent world, encountering monsters, cancer, apocalyptic events, and Lovecraftian horrors. 

Barron pulls no punches. The prose is hardboiled, punchy, and deeply descriptive, often lacing stories with hallucinogenic undercurrents that invite re-readings.

Not a Speck of Light standouts include tales of a Civil War veteran braving the wilds of Alaska and haunted by the ghost of a general he killed, a "final girl" assassin stealing a formula, and a retired couple whose marriage woes are exacerbated by moving to upstate New York and buying an old, sinister house with something creeping in the attic.

Barron’s recurring character Jessica Mace makes an appearance in two stories as she wanders the Earth trying to find out what happened to her mother and being an all-around badass. Alaska, where the author spent his childhood, acts as a frequent nucleus for many of his stories. 

Barron’s masterful collection offers no silver lining, delivering a bleak, blood-soaked, and often surreal experience that will have you gripping the bedframe. Barron’s Afterword message is telling: “For me, every collection is a battle fought in a war of attrition that we all lose in the end.”

The Ramsey Campbell Special Editions are a beautiful gift. Campbell is our greatest heir of a tradition that reaches back through H.P. Lovecraft and M.R. James, and the early Gothic writers. 

The dark, masterful work of the painter Henry Fuseli, a friend of Mary Wollstonecraft, is used on these special editions to invoke early literary investigations into the supernatural.

An Echo of Children will probably delight Weapons fans who like a Gothic tale. Campbell writes a chilling narrative centered on Coral and Allan Clarendon. The couple just moved to the seaside town of Barnwall with their young son, Dean. 

A suspicious number of children have died unnaturally in Barnwall throughout history. The Clarendons call for an exorcism of their house just to be sure, but the ceremony may not have left Dean unscathed.

The book’s dread builds through an unsettling atmosphere and realistic family tension. This horrid little tale focuses on trauma and cycles of abuse and is an effective, intimate work of terror from a master storyteller still cranking out stories at nearly 80.

Penguin’s Little Clothbound Classics are beautiful mini hardcover editions of short works by the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. Lafcadio Hearn's retellings of Japanese kwaidan (ghost stories) in Of Ghosts and Goblins are celebrated as vital cultural bridges.

These are not mere translations but a hybrid of adaptation, folklore, and Hearn's unique imagination, often reflecting his own "ghostly" childhood in Ireland. He’s lauded for introducing Western audiences to a distinct supernatural ecosystem of yūrei (vengeful spirits) and rokuro-kubi (goblins), which operate on a cultural logic rooted in Buddhist and Shintō traditions.

Hearn's subtle, insidious horror style favors atmosphere and a dream-like quality over modern jump-scare brutality. The stories skillfully weave concepts like reincarnation with Western tropes to make the alien material accessible without requiring deep local knowledge.

The collection showcases Hearn's evolving style; his earlier pieces are often framed with his own presence as a narrator, but the later stories feel more directly drawn from their folkloric sources. 

Of Ghosts and Goblins is a quietly revelatory work that remains a significant literary achievement, highly valued in Japan, for its role in preserving and popularizing these haunting Japanese tales. It’s also a lovely gift for a horror aficionado who has read it all.

Nat Cassidy, author of the acclaimed horror Mary, an Awakening of Terror and Nestlings returns with When the Wolf Comes Home, an adrenaline-soaked drive-in horror movie thrill ride where the wolf finally comes home, and no one will be spared. 

It’s a USA Today, ABC Indie Bookseller Bestseller, and on multiple best of 2025 lists for many reasons, but first and foremost is Cassidy's remarkable knack for crafting memorable characters.

The book follows Jess, a struggling actress, who offers sanctuary to a five-year-old runaway, only to find herself plunged into an adrenaline-soaked nightmare. She quickly discovers the terrifying truth: the boy, often called the "Kiddo," possesses the ability to manifest his greatest fears into lethal, monstrous reality.

What follows is a propulsive, blood-soaked road trip as Jess races to evade the boy's relentless father, all while navigating a world that warps into a funhouse of surreal, fantastical violence. The narrative is packed with jaw-dropping and inventive set pieces that never let up on the momentum. Pure drive-thru cinema horror ready for adaptation.

Cassidy also grounds the story in profound, human themes. It is a powerful exploration of fear, examining how it evolves from a child's primal terror to the complex anxieties of adulthood. 

More critically, the novel uses this monster mash to deliver a heartbreaking story about family and the complex burden of protection. It explores the thin line between a protector and a predator, and the struggle to break generational cycles of trauma. 

Fast-paced, soulful, and relentlessly inventive, When the Wolf Comes Home is a must-read modern horror triumph from 2025.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill (who also just happens to be Stephen King’s son), comes a frightful tale of dark academia, modern-world dangers, and the unexpected consequences of revenge as six friends dabble in the occult and are horrifyingly successful… calling forth an evil dragon that demands regular human sacrifice. 

Hill was inspired by The Secret History by Donna Tartt but where that much-lauded book had the pacing of a snowdrift melting in the sun, Hill blasts through his chunky book about a Faustian bet with the ferocity of a wyvern burning through jet fighters in flight.

The plot centers on Arthur Oakes starting in 1989. He’s a reader, daydreamer, and a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters, exceptional library, and beautiful buildings. 

He’s in the midst of falling in love with Gwen Underfoot when a local drug dealer and her partner coerce him into committing one of the worst crimes for a reader: stealing rare books from the college library. 

The setup and execution pull inspiration from King’s IT, but Hill’s collegiate setting tells a unique “young adults in libraries” story in comparison to his father’s “kids on bikes” classic.

Like the Losers’ Club, Arthur confides in his closest friends for help for every plot twist, while trying to not be eaten by a malevolent dragon.  Wealth buddy Colin Wren suggests using the creepy Crane journal (bound in the skin of its author) to summon a dragon to do their bidding. 

The battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride, the young beauty Allison; and brainy and brash Gwen—join Colin in an effort to shatter our dimension and bring a hungry creature into our world. The novel is a tour de force, deftly blending genres and exploring complex themes of guilt, young aspirations, redemption, and the human capacity for evil. 

With pitch-perfect, deeply flawed characters, King Sorrow is a beautifully paced and richly immersive 896-page slab of horror fiction. Pop this one in a giant gift box. It may not fit in your Christmas stocking.