Arguably harder than crafting and keeping your New Year’s Resolution is coming up with your TBR for next year.
2025 is packed with fantastic releases, specifically within the horror genre, including everything from a gothic reimagining of Greek tragedy to a look inside a violent religious sect surviving at the end of the world.
Early predictions call for cannibalism to remain in vogue, and this year is for the girls. The ladies on this list will have you counting down to 2026.
Sorry—too soon.
In 2025, women run the show, cannibalism continues, and the dark sides of motherhood will be explored.
Long story short, if the horrors must persist in the New Year, then why not lean the hell into them?
Here are some of the most-anticipated horror books coming out in 2025.
The Lamb
Pub Date: February 4, 2025
A queer folktale in which a mother and daughter live alone in the woods preying upon lost travelers, The Lamb promises to start the year off strong and hints at a continuation of the literary trend of cannibalism made popular by hit titles like Chelsea G. Summers’ A Certain Hunger and Agustina Bazterrica’s Tender is the Flesh in years past.
This debut novel follows Mama and Margot, an isolated girl whose interactions with the outside world are limited to her time in school, when one of the lost travelers or “strays” (as they call them) arrives at their door and threatens the family dynamic, offering a glimpse into the tempestuousness of mother-daughter relationships.
If you’re into this, you might also want to check out Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen, which releases March 25, 2025.
Which is a perfect segue to…
The Unworthy
Pub Date: March 4, 2025
The long-awaited sophomore novel from Bazterrica, the feminist horror force behind 2017’s Tender is the Flesh, is finally here in the form of a story about women in a secret, though violent religious order during the end of the world.
In The Unworthy an unnamed protagonist finds her life upended when a stranger infiltrates the convent where she lives in safety compared to the chaos outside.
The protagonist's interactions with this stranger unlock secrets packed deep inside her mind and make her question what it means to be a part of the order.
Touted as a story that investigates climate crisis as well as ideological extremism, this is one that will not disappoint.
Eat the Ones You Love
Pub Date: April 22, 2025
Eat the Ones You Love follows Shell, a young woman whose life has fallen apart, as she decides to take a chance on a help-wanted sign in her local flower shop.
However, she gets more than she bargains for when it turns out the inventory is… flesh-eating.
A story about the horrors of possession and the horrors of working in retail (IYKYK), Eat the Ones You Love is an exploration into queer workplace love affairs with a fantastical bend.
Early reviews say this one is “unexpected yet precise” and perfect for fans of Paul Tremblay.
Ecstacy
Pub Date: June 17, 2025
Los Angeles Times Book Award Winner, Ivy Pochoda changes gears from crime to gothic horror in Ecstasy, coming out just in time for summer.
A story about a widow yearning to return to her more vibrant youth, Ecstasy follows Lena to the island of Naxos in Greece where her controlling son prepares to unveil a new real estate project called the Agape Villas.
But while there, Lena becomes preoccupied with a group (or a cult, perhaps?) of free-spirited women who live on the beach outside of Agape.
Described as both “hallucinatory” and “addictive,” with a synopsis that gives the perfect whiff of Suspiria vibes, Ecstasy promises an exploration of themes like female identity and desire.
If it’s anything like Pochoda’s last release Sing Her Down, Ecstasy will make for a killer one-sitting summer read.
Girl in the Creek
Pub Date: July 15, 2025
In the vein of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation, Girl in the Creek follows Erin Harper, a freelance writer, who returns home to investigate the disappearance of her brother in the Clackamas National Forrest, where strange things have been happening for years.
However, her investigation is interrupted when the body of a girl she finds in the forest goes missing from the local morgue only for her prints to show up at another crime scene.
Is there a serial killer on the loose, or can the mystery of Clackamas National Forrest be blamed on some pesky spores ala The Last of Us?
If you like eco-horror, it seems like Girl in the Creek will be the book for you.
Tantrum
Pub Date: August 5, 2025
When Thea delivers her daughter, Lucia, it’s not quite love at first site.
In fact, despite how easy the pregnancy was in comparison to her first two, upon seeing her daughter, Thea is certain Lucia is a monster. The child has a hunger that’s so insatiable it’s unsettling.
For fans of Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage and Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova, Tantrum investigates the darknesses of childhood and motherhood all at once.
Buckle up the car seat for one hell of a dark ride.
What Hunger
Pub Date: August 12, 2025
Pitched as a mash-up of Jennifer’s Body and Little Fires Everywhere, What Hunger tells the story of Ronny Nguyen, a Vietnamese girl who lives in the shadow of her older brother who will soon depart for college.
But when Ronnie goes to her first high school party, a boy crosses the line, and pushes her to a point of no return. Ronny leaves the party consumed by something larger than herself and with a new hankering for raw meat.
What Hunger is an exploration into the hell that is teenage girlhood as Jennifer Check (or Diablo Cody, rather) so eloquently puts it as well as an investigation into Ronny’s family history via the lens of Vietnamese food.
If you’re looking for a story that sits at the intersection of female rage and the violence of girlhood with a sprinkle of generational trauma on top, this one is perfect for you.
Overall, as readers, in 2025 we still seem to be consumed by over-consumption, and many horror titles this year appear to investigate some of the darker sides of motherhood, which is a refreshing trend.
However, no matter how you slice it, (or stab it) if you’re a horror fan, 2025 is sure to be an entertaining—and chilling—year.
