16 Creepy Robert McCammon Books That Will Keep You Awake At Night

In the terrifying season finale of McCammon's Matthew Corbett series, the titular character finds himself back on the Spanish mainland after spending the previous book stranded on the insidious island of Golgotha.

He's far from out of the woods yet, though. The Spaniards are still after the powerful mystical relic Matthew had gone to Golgotha to chase, and they're determined to find it—or rather, to have Matthew find it. 

In this blood-curdling horror adventure, Matthew must brave all manner of terrifying threats, from the real-world horrors of war to the otherwordly beings who seek the relic too. 

Note: This book is now available for pre-order. 

The colonial-era thrillers continue, with the penultimate installment of the Matthew Corbett series. Corbett has faced villains of all kinds, from the supernatural to serial killers, and Seven Shades of Evil is no different.

Eight gripping stories are included in this work, featuring four original stories and four stories that were previously published in a limited form and are no longer available anywhere else. Here's what the table of contents looks like: 

• “The Four Lamplighters”
• “Night Ride”
• “The House at the Edge of the World”
• “The Scorpion’s Eye”
• “Skeleton Crew”
• “The Pale Pipe Smoker”
• “Wandering Mary”
• “Incident on the Lady Barbara”

The final book in the years-long series, Leviathan, has been finished as of May 1, 2024. McCammon hopes to release it by October 2024, but as it's been so recently finished, there is no set pre-order date nor do we have a synopsis yet. Keep up with his blog to get updates on its release! 

The latest in the adventures of Matthew Corbett takes place in 1704, as he searches for a mirror that can shatter one's mind. Matthew and Hudson Greathouse travel to Italy in search of Brazio Valerani, the son of the sorcerer who created this dangerous object.

But their quest for answers finds them stranded on an island called Golgotha—a place as dangerous as it is beautiful.

The men receive a warm welcome from the islanders, but the more they settle in, the looser their grip on reality gets. And as reality slips away, so too does their identity.

Matthew struggles to keep his wits and focus on the mystery awaiting him on the other side of the island. But the other side of the island also houses an active volcano and an elusive creature.

Book number two in the Matthew Corbett series, Queen of Bedlam takes us to Manhattan in 1702, where crime is running rampant as law enforcement struggles to keep up with them all. Corbett finds himself back in New York after some time in the southern colonies, as he's looking to bring justice to the abusive headmaster of the orphanage of his childhood.

But instead, he finds a throat-slashing murderer terrorizing the town, leaving piles of bodies with cuts in the flesh around his victims' eyes in his wake. 

“The Masker” has been targeting prominent figures in the community, nurturing fear in every heart of the community. Corbett discovers some connections between the victims that give him a leg up on the killer, but also finds himself tangled in a shocking conspiracy. 

It's the winter of 1703, and Matthew Corbett's Manhattan neighborhood is under attack from some serious explosions. Corbett's old nemesis, Captain Fell, will do anything to get Corbett on his professional problem solving team.

So Corbett travels from New York to Pendulum Island, facing off against multiple deadly opponents on his journey to come face to face with the murderous and manipulative criminal mastermind. 

Another Matthew Corbett novel also set in the year 1702, this installment provides some insight into both mind of a killer and the process of a nation transforming itself for the future.

Corbett, an apprentice problem solver for the Herrald Agency, is assigned the mission of accompanying serial killer Tyranthus Slaughter from a Philadelphia asylum to the New York City waterfront.

But during the trip, Slaughter entices Corbett and his partner Hudson Greathouse with an unexpected offer; and consequently catastrophic results. 

McCammon continued his terrifying streak with the seventh installment in the Matthew Corbett series. This novel sees Matthew Corbett, the “Early American James Bond,” volunteer to help a woman whose mind is deteriorating under the influence of a forced drug experiment. 

Corbett enlists an unlikely ally to help him track down a stolen potion book containing the antidote that will save her. McCammon's novel is a riveting read for both die-hard fans of the series and newcomers alike. 

The first book in the Matthew Corbett series, we find the protagonist investigating charges of witchcraft in the Carolinas in 1699. Matthew has serious doubts that Rachel Howarth is guilty of the murder and deviltry of which she’s been accused in the small settlement of Fount Royal. Racing to uncover the truth before Rachel is hanged for her crimes, Matthew unearths village conspiracies, the discovery of which put his own life in danger. What does this tiny, devout village have to hide? And is it too late to push back the tide of evil? 

The last novel McCammon published before his hiatus from writing, this book is about a Vietnam War veteran on the run. Suffering from his exposure to Agent Orange and desperate when his car is repossessed, Dan Lambert kills a loan officer in a moment of rage and flees to the Louisiana bayou.

On his trail are two unlikely bounty hunters: an Elvis impersonator and a Siamese twin. This is a thrilling tale of outsiders and a broken man.

Called a “page-whipping thriller” by Kirkus Reviews, Mine won Robert McCammon his second Bram Stoker Award.

A novel of motherhood and madness, it centers around two very different women: Mary “Terror” Terrell, a psychopathic radical wanted by the FBI, and new mother Laura Clayborne.

Their divergent lives collide when Mary, compelled by an obsessive delusion, kidnaps Laura’s baby—sending them both on a deadly chase that will take them to the brink of insanity. And maybe even beyond. 

A Russian ex-pat working for the British Secret Service, Michael Gallatin has been tasked with uncovering a Nazi plan designed to thwart the D-Day invasion. The fate of the world is at stake, but luckily Michael has a secret weapon: he’s a werewolf.

With mere hours before the Normandy landing, Michael must unleash the beast within him onto the Third Reich, and in doing so, face his true nature.

The Wolf’s Hour is an example of McCammon’s ability to masterfully blend genres, combining horror, fantasy, historical fiction, and mystery into one thrilling novel.

Nominated for the Bram Stoker Award (it lost to The Silence of the Lambs; hard to fault it there), The Philadelphia Inquirer called Stinger “the ultimate horror novel.”

After a UFO crash lands in West Texas, an otherworldly stranger arrives shortly thereafter, bringing news of an evil alien bounty hunter named Stinger.

When Stinger encloses the area within an impenetrable dome, the residents are left at the mercy of his predatory search—and band together to protect his prey. Stinger marked McCammon’s second stop on the New York Times bestseller list.

McCammon’s first New York Times bestseller and co-winner (along with Stephen King’s Misery) of the 1987 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel, Swan Song is a “long, satisfying look at hell and salvation” (Publishers Weekly).

Set after the nuclear apocalypse, it tells the story of several seemingly unrelated characters as they trek across the decimated American landscape. Only the eponymous Swan—a young psychic haunted by a bleak vision of the future—knows how they all tie together.

She is the key to their survival, but can a 9-year-old girl truly stop the force of pure malevolence threatening to destroy all of civilization? 

What if Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” was based on true events? That’s the premise of McCammon's 1984 novel, which introduces us to the latter-day descendants of the Usher dynasty. It has been years since horror novelist Rix has stepped foot in his family’s sprawling ancestral home. But when his father dies unexpectedly, the prodigal son must return once again, and confront the cursed Usher legacy: His family is hiding a terrible secret, and Rix suspects it involves the children who have vanished from the surrounding North Carolina mountains.

McCammon's first novel published in hardcover, Mystery Walk follows two psychics from different worlds: Billy Creekmore, a young Native American from Alabama schooled in his tribe's ancient mysticism, and Wayne Falconer, son of a fervent southern tent evangelist.

Linking the pair is an ominous dream. Soon, this shared vision takes shape, and Billy and Wayne must face the nightmarish darkness. 

They Thirst transplants the macabre trappings of Hammer Film's Horror of Dracula from Eastern Europe to the City of Angels. Master vampire Prince Vulkan has established his base of operations in Kronsteen Castle, the former home of a murdered movie star.

His plan of action? To transform all of L.A. into an army of the undead. As his bloodsucking henchmen take to the city streets, an eccentric cast of characters—including a vengeful orphan, a dying priest, a TV actor, and a tortured homicide detective—must fight for their humanity and their survival.