My Most Anticipated Horror And Dark Fiction Books Of 2019

Will Haunt you by Brian Kirk March 14^th 2019

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You don’t read the book, it reads you! Rumors of a deadly book have been floating around the dark corners of the deep web. A disturbing tale about a mysterious figure who preys on those who read the book and subjects them to a world of personalized terror.

You need to read this! 

From Brian Kirk the author of 2015’s We Are Monsters (nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel)

I have had the pleasure of reading an ARC copy of Will Haunt You (Review coming soon!) You are in for a hell of a ride with this one!

Pre-order here

Inspection by Josh Malerman – March 19^th 2019

Boys are being trained at one school for geniuses, girls at another. And neither knows the other exists–until now…

From the Author of the bestselling Psychological Thriller Bird Box.

OK, I am SO excited for this book! I loved Bird Box, Malerman is a master of suspense and I can’t wait to read this book!

Pre-order here

The Dark Game by Jonathan Janz – 11^th April 2019

Ten writers are selected for a summer-long writing retreat with the most celebrated and reclusive author in the world. Their host is the legendary Roderick Wells. Handsome, enigmatic, and fiendishly talented, Wells promises to teach his pupils about writing, about magic, about the untapped potential that each of them possesses. Most of all, he plans to teach them about the darkness in their hearts.

The writers think they are signing up for a chance at riches and literary prestige. But they are really entering the twisted imagination of a deranged genius, a lethal contest pitting them against one another in a struggle for their sanity and their lives. They have entered Roderick Wells’s most brilliant and horrible creation.

The Dark Game. 

This is another title I have been lucky enough to have read an ARC of (Review coming in soon!) This is one of the best Horror/Thrillers I have read in a long time, packed with gore and dark humor. 

Pre-order here

Little Darlings by Melanie Golding – 30^th April 2019

Everyone says Lauren Tranter is exhausted, that she needs rest. And they’re right; with new-born twins, Morgan and Riley, she’s never been more tired in her life. But she knows what she saw: that night, in her hospital room, a woman tried to take her babies and replace them with her own…creatures. Yet when the police arrived, they saw no one. Everyone, from her doctor to her husband, thinks she’s imagining things.

A month passes. And one bright summer morning, the babies disappear from Lauren’s side in a park. But when they’re found, something is different about them. The infants look like Morgan and Riley—to everyone else. But to Lauren, something is off. As everyone around her celebrates their return, Lauren begins to scream, these are not my babies.

Determined to bring her true infant sons home, Lauren will risk the unthinkable. But if she’s wrong about what she saw…she’ll be making the biggest mistake of her life.

Melanie Golding’s debut novel which has already been snapped up by HQ for a movie adaption!

Wow, this premise draws me right in! Described as Compulsive and creepy, Check! And Inspired by some of out darkest fairy tales, Check!

Pre-order here

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon – 30^th April 2019

A chilling ghost story with a twist: the New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People returns to the woods of Vermont to tell the story of a husband and wife who don’t simply move into a haunted house–they build one . . .

I am a total sucker for a haunted house story!! Can’t wait for this one!

Pre-order here

Chop Shop by Andrew Post – 13^th June 2019

Amber Hawthorne and Jolene Morris, roommates and business partners at the Hawthorne Funeral Home, are drowning in debt. Because both young women have trouble keeping their partying habits in line, they start selling body parts on the black market to keep their business alive – and their new buyers seem friendly and trustworthy enough at first. That is until the dead gangster they’ve recently parted up turns out to have been full of disease. Now Amber and Jolene’s buyers want something else to make up for lost profits, leaving the two undertakers to learn sometimes running your own business can cost you an arm and a leg. Literally.

For Chop Shop, Andrew Post said he was inspired by the (early) films of Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, and Martin Scorsese, as well as the deliberately over-the-top horror films of the 80’s like Peter Jackson’s Braindead. That was the goal with Chop Shop: a comedic crime caper with buckets of gore.

I mean, how awesome does this book sound?! Dark laughs and tonnes of gore?! LET ME READ IT NOW!!!

Pre-order here

Growing Things and Other Stories by Paul Tremblay –  July 2^nd 2019 

An anthology featuring nineteen pieces of short fiction, The Growing Things is an exciting glimpse into Paul Tremblay’s fantastically fertile imagination.

A chilling collection of psychological suspense and literary horror from the multiple award-winning author of the national bestseller The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts.

I really enjoy Tremblay’s writing, super excited that we are finally getting a short story collection from him!

Pre-order here

The Toll – Cherie Priest – 9^th July 2019

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Take a road trip into a Southern gothic horror novel.

Titus and Melanie Bell are on their honeymoon and have reservations in the Okefenokee Swamp cabins for a canoeing trip. But shortly before they reach their destination, the road narrows into a rickety bridge with old stone pilings, with room for only one car.

Much later, Titus wakes up lying in the middle of the road, no bridge in sight. Melanie is missing. When he calls the police, they tell him there is no such bridge on Route 177 . . .

From Cherie Priest, the author of The Family Plot and Maplecroft, comes The Toll, a tense, dark, and scary treat for modern fans of the traditionally strange and macabre.

I haven’t heard too much about this one as yet but the write up sounds right up my street, super excited to get my hands on a copy of this!

Pre-order here

Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh – 13^th August 2019

It’s the murder trial of the century. And Joshua Kane has killed to get the best seat in the house – and to be sure the wrong man goes down for the crime. Because this time, the killer isn’t on trial. He’s on the jury.

But there’s someone on his tail. Former-conman-turned-criminal-defense-attorney Eddie Flynn doesn’t believe that his movie-star client killed two people. He suspects that the real killer is closer than they think – but who would guess just how close?

New from the author of The Defence, Thirteen has received high praise from Lee Child and Michael Connelly.

What an awesome premise for a killer thriller! I’m intrigued, very intrigued!!

Pre-order here

The Institute by Stephen king – 10^th September 2019

Deep in the woods of Maine, there is a dark state facility where kids, abducted from across the United States, are incarcerated. In the Institute they are subjected to a series of tests and procedures meant to combine their exceptional gifts – telepathy, telekinesis – for concentrated effect.

This is the one I have to wait the longest for, and also the one I am most excited about!! Nothing makes me happier than knowing there is going to be a new book from The King! I get the feeling we are in for a treat, the mention of Telepathy and Telekinesis takes me right back to the classic King stories – Firestarter and Carrie, I cannot wait to see what he has in store for us with this one!

Pre-order here