9 Horror Books that Reflect on Our Current Sociopolitical Climate

16-year-old Ray Garraty has just disobeyed his mother—but this is no ordinary act of teenage rebellion. He has ignored her wishes and signed up for the annual tradition known as the Long Walk.

This competition is an agonizing test of stamina, pitting 100 boys against each other in an endless walk. The contestants must maintain a pace of four miles per hour without taking any breaks—or else.

Each contestant is given three warnings when they drop below the expected speed. Once those warnings are used up, they are permanently—and violently—removed from the competition.

There is one winner: whichever boy keeps up the pace for the longest. This boy is awarded anything his heart desires for the remainder of his life.

But with madness, agony, and certain death lying ahead, is the promise of a better life worth it?

Marcos works at the local processing plant, spending his days slaughtering humans. Of course, no one really thinks of them as people, anymore.

Since his wife left him and he's losing his father more and more to dementia, Marcos makes a point of ignoring the truth at the heart of his job. It's easy to push the thoughts away—everything changed so fast.

It all began with an infectious virus that rendered all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then the government enacted the “Transition,” making it legal to consume human meat, better known now as “special meat.”

Marco does his best to think in only numbers and consignments. But one day he's gifted a high-quality live specimen.

He knows that personal contact is forbidden—punishable by death, even. But he can't help taking small steps every day to treat her like a human being.

Before long he is consumed by the agony of what has been lost. And he starts to think there may still be a chance yet to save it…

It's been a tough year for Sol Reyes. After a string of incidents at her job in the university lab, she's been accused of plagiarism and put on probation.

Her mental health is only getting worse with every visit to her homophobic father. To top it all off, the nightly ritual of unwinding with a glass of wine has turned into an all-day crutch.

Sol's wife, Alice Song, is in a much better place. It's easier for her to be optimistic now that the couple has bought a house in the idyllic community of Maneless Grove.

If you ask Sol, however, their new neighbors are a little too friendly. Not to mention, the Homeowners Association is too pushy, with their constant stream of microaggressions and unsettlingly detailed contracts.

It's not long before Sol begins to wonder if her paranoia about the community is justified. Odd happenings—doors and stairs vanishing, roots spreading through the house—give the impression that something sinister is afoot.

Alice dismisses Sol's fears in favor of worrying about her very real drinking problem and increasingly manic behavior. But when Sol finds a journal from a resident who went missing, it becomes clear why it was so easy for them to purchase this house.

The first sign of trouble came when all of the birds disappeared. Things got worse when the insects swarmed and took over.

But the real danger is the madness. A pandemic called the Wanderer's Folly has gripped humanity—a plague that causes hyper-realistic delusions, daydreams, and nightmares.

This disease threatens to wipe out humanity, but it's two years into decay when David Arlen has the worst night of his life. He's scared, and bleeding—and his wife is dead.

He packs up his eight-year-old daughter, Ellie, and sets off in a stolen car. The doctors won't stop coming for her, certain that she may hold the answers to a cure.

But not only is Ellie special, she also knows that her father is lying to her. About her mother, about why they're on the run, and about the things he can see…

The Earth is in crisis. The oceans are rising and full of garbage, the Amazon rainforest is barely left standing, and innumerable species are hurtling toward extinction.

In one last bid to save the planet, Virgin Zones have been instituted. These are 13 areas of land in which nature has been given back to the earth—no humans allowed.

Of course, who can resist something forbidden?

Dylan, his daughter Jenn, and more adventurous individuals come together to sneak into the oldest of the Zones, Eden, for a race.

But Jenn has a secret ulterior motive: her mother, Kat, who deserted them years ago, has gone into Eden ahead of them.

Jen is desperate to track down her mother, but none of the adventure racers are ready for what awaits them inside the Zone.

Inside Eden, nature has taken over in a primeval way—and it does not regard humans as its friends.

This incredible read is not actually horror fiction, but rather a collection of true crime poetry.

The stories told in these moving poems highlight the cases of more than 100 missing and murdered women in America.

Antenora is Dante's ninth circle of hell, a place reserved for traitors to their country. Some might say that there is no better place for the likes of Nora Willet.

But what really happened to the young woman? The religious community of Bethel, Alabama has differing versions of the truth.

At first, the people of Bethel agreed she was trouble. Then, they worried she was possessed.

Is it possible she lost her mind? What else could drive her to kill three people and harm so many others?

Nora's childhood friend, Abigail Barnes tells the other girl's story, in part a confessional and desperate plea for the girl to come home. It's a tale of a horrific 18th birthday, of a snake coming back from the dead, of intimate encounters at the lake, and a fateful deliverance ceremony.

Abigail has no idea where Nora is now. But she would give anything to know.

Following the death of her grandmother, Black millennial Lena Johnson drops out of college to support her family.

With her family's hefty debt hanging over her head, she takes a too-good-to-be-true job in the enigmatic town of Lakewood, Michigan.

This unusual job offers high pay, a free place to live, and no out-of-pocket medical expenses. The only thing Lena has to do is participate in a secret research program—and tell absolutely no one about the work being done.

And it is incredible work: eye drops that change brown eyes to blue, a potential cure for dementia, pills that chase away bad thoughts.

Lena is told the discoveries at Lakewood are going to change the world. But is the devastating cost of the research worth it?

As the truths of the program come to light, Lena must figure out just how much she's willing to sacrifice for her family.

Isa is a small-time celebrity who rarely shows her face. But now she's found a doctor who can make her whole body more feminine.

When her initial plans for gender-affirming surgery fall through due to a family crisis, she spirals into gender dysphoria and guilt over disappointing her fans who help her raise money.

But a shady ad calling for transgender women to participate in a free, experimental feminization treatment seems like the answer to all of her problems.

While Dr. Skurm may be unsettling flawless, his methods are undeniably gruesome. But beauty is pain, and he delivers some incredible results.

However, just as Isa is starting to feel confident in her new skin, it seems her dream is becoming a nightmare. Her body won't stop changing, and before long she has mutated into something unrecognizable.

Time is running out to find out the truth behind her transformation. If she doesn't, she'll be stuck in this horrific form forever.

This book is an unapologetically queer story that embraces all of the gag-worthy delights of body horror.