August’s Winner
Vibe: Medieval Black Death horror where a disgraced knight and a mysterious girl walk straight into a war between Heaven and Hell.
As the plague ravages 14th-century France, a disillusioned knight named Thomas falls in with Delphine, a peasant girl who claims to speak with angels — right as Lucifer makes his move to finish a war against Heaven. The novel pairs historical grimness (plague, famine, religious violence) with outright apocalyptic horror as the two travel toward Avignon.
Origin:
United States
Content warnings:
Sexual assault and threat of sexual assault involving minors, child endangerment, torture, extreme body horror, religious violence, antisemitism, anti-gay bigotry, alcohol addiction.
Vibe: A blood-soaked, fast-moving werewolf chase novel about a woman, a runaway kid, and the thing hunting them both.
Jessa's rough night at the diner turns into something far worse when she finds a terrified runaway boy outside, followed almost immediately by a violent encounter with his father. As they flee together, Jessa slowly realizes the boy's fear itself is manifesting into monstrous, bloody reality behind them.
Origin:
United States
Content warnings:
Graphic violence and gore, child endangerment, abuse, alcoholism, parent death, self-harm, kidnapping, body horror.
Vibe: Lord of the Flies with parasitic worms and no safety rails.
A scoutmaster takes a small troop of boys on a routine camping trip to a remote Canadian island, only to have a starving, infected stranger stagger into camp. Once the parasite spreads, the story turns into a brutally graphic survival nightmare as hunger, infection, and cruelty strip away any veneer of civility.
Origin:
Canada
Content warnings:
Extreme gore, body horror, animal death, starvation, bullying, child endangerment.
Vibe: The classic possession novel that defined the genre — a mother's search for answers as her daughter's body and mind are taken over by something ancient.
When young Regan begins exhibiting terrifying, inexplicable behavior, her mother exhausts every medical explanation before turning to the Church for help. Two priests are drawn into a brutal, escalating exorcism that tests their faith as much as it endangers their lives, in the novel that inspired the landmark film.
Origin:
United States
Content warnings:
Graphic violence against a child, blasphemy/religious desecration, disturbing sexual content, profanity, body horror.