7 Terrifying and Thrilling New Horror Books in May 2025

Things are bleak at Aymar Castle. They’ve been under siege for six months, and as their supplies run low, the survivors begin contemplating the horrifying possibility that they’ll need to cull their numbers.

Miraculously, the Constant Lady and her Saints arrive. In exchange for adoration, they replenish their stores and heal the sick. Despite an army at their gates, the castle descends into madness.

But three women still see the direness of the situation. To save the castle, they have to resist not only temptation, but the violence their resistance might bring.

When trailblazing actress Vivian Yin dies, her daughters expect to inherit her sprawling Southern California estate.

But at the reading of the will, the entire family learns that there was a last-minute change and the house is going to another family—one that has been estranged for decades.

Refusing to relinquish their claim, both families move into the mansion. As her daughters try to unravel the truth of their mother’s last weeks, they discover that something sinister is haunting them.

Both families have to confront the terrible secrets they’ve each been hiding before it’s too late.

After a near-death accident, Emily and her family move to Larkin Lodge in Dartmoor. Even though the house is gorgeous, something about it feels off to Emily.

But all of the strange things that alarm her only happen when she’s alone. Is it the house? Or is she still experiencing post-traumatic hallucinations?

Emily insists someone was murdered in the house.

As her obsession with the truth splinters her marriage, the secrets she and her husband are keeping threaten to destroy them both.

Detective Izzy Jaynes of the Buckeye City Police Department just received a disturbing letter threatening to kill “thirteen innocents and one guilty” to atone for the death of an innocent man.

When it becomes clear that the letter is deadly serious, Izzy turns to her friend Holly Gibney for help. But Holly has problems of her own.

She’s been hired to be the bodyguard for an outspoken and controversial women’s rights activist.

As a stalker closes in on his prey and a killer’s timeline runs out, Holly finds herself in the middle of two of her most challenging cases ever.

Three years ago, Antonia and her family lived in an opulent mansion looking down on the legendary Salto del Tequendama waterfall in Soacha, Columbia.

When her mother dies in a fatal fall into El Salto, her father becomes so despondent he tries to burn the manor down—with Antonia inside. Now, their home has been converted into a luxurious hotel.

Haunted by fragmented memories and the dark history of the estate, Antonia is drawn back home. But the longer she stays, the more uncertain she becomes.

Did her mother really take her own life? Or was it someone—or something—else?

When journalist Emily Gibbons goes missing, police discover a bundle of letters between Emily and the infamous Mrs. Lovett—Sweeney Todd’s accomplice.

Decades after horrifically baking men into pies and selling them in her Fleet Street shop, she’s still the talk of London. With each letter, Emily and the Chief Inspector reading the letters get closer to learning the truth behind Mrs. Lovett’s life.

But it’s a journey that may have cost the journalist everything.

In 1989 Soviet Estonia, there is a cursed forest where villagers hurl accusations of witchcraft, and a lantern-eyed spirit waits for people to wander too far.

Vik knows the spirit is real because her little sister Anna crossed that invisible line and was never seen again. So, when Anna stumbles back into the village on the five-year anniversary of her disappearance, it seems like a miracle.

But there are differences between the Anna Vik remembers and the Anna that came back. Differences that make Vik wonder if she’s something else entirely.

It’s clear she was never meant to leave the forest. And if Vik can’t uncover the truth, the forest will find a way to reclaim Anna forever.