King's seal of approval

Stephen King, 79, has spent over 50 years terrifying readers. When a horror novel manages to scare him, it's worth paying attention to his recommendations.

The Troop by Nick Cutter

A scoutmaster takes five boys camping in the Canadian wilderness, but an emaciated stranger arrives carrying something far more dangerous, turning their trip into a gruesome fight for survival.

“The Troop scared the hell out of me, and I couldn't put it down.”

A Head Full of Ghosts

A 14-year-old girl exhibits symptoms of mental illness, but her family believes she's possessed and allows a TV crew to film a reality series about her, blurring illness, possession and exploitation.

“A Head Full of Ghosts scared the living hell out of me, and I'm pretty hard to scare.”

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Residents of Black Spring, New York live with a 17th-century witch whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut wandering their homes. When teenagers expose the haunting online, they threaten to unleash something worse.

“This is totally, brilliantly original.”

The Hunger by Alma Katsu

Katsu reimagines the doomed Donner Party expedition as supernatural horror, where starvation and desperation mount while something unnatural may be following the pioneers west.

“Deeply, deeply disturbing, hard to put down, not recommended reading after dark.”

The Chill by Scott Carson

An aging dam in upstate New York threatens to fail above a town deliberately flooded a century earlier. The people whose community was sacrificed haven't gone quietly, and a supernatural reckoning emerges.

“This is one terrific horror/suspense novel. Characters you root for and a story that grips from the first page.”

Fever House by Keith Rosson

A Portland debt collector discovers a severed hand that compels anyone exposed to it toward violence. A musician and government agency become entangled in a supernatural crisis threatening the entire city.

“Exciting, suspenseful, horrifying and written at a flurry-of-punches pace.”

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

In 1950 Jim Crow Florida, a 12-year-old is sentenced to a brutal segregated reformatory where he can see ghosts revealing what happened to disappeared boys. Due drew inspiration from the notorious Dozier School.

“The Reformatory is one of those books you can't put down. Tananarive Due hit it out of the park.”

Incidents Around the House

An eight-year-old girl lives with a malevolent presence called Other Mommy who repeatedly asks to go inside her heart. As Bela refuses, Other Mommy grows stronger while family fractures make her vulnerable.

“This is the rare novel that's authentically scary.”

Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson

A Vietnam veteran and his adopted niece pursue a vampire that slaughtered their family, forcing them to confront what their hunger for revenge may turn them into and what remains of their humanity.

“Best modern vampire story ever. A mind-blowingly good horror novel that will keep you awake.”