Spine-Tingling Wintry Horror Books
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The nights are long. You’re staying bundled up with the shades drawn. You might be alone…or are you? Forget October and Halloween; it’s winter that’s the perfect season to read horror. Lucky for you, we’ve picked out eight spine-tingling wintry horror books for your reading pleasure below.
There’s a lot to be said for daylight horror, but let’s face it: the lengthy, chill-you-to-the-bone nights of winter make for perfect horror reading. If you’re in a snowy area, you might not notice just how quiet everything gets when the flakes start to fall. And if you’re in an arid region, well, you know just how much every crunching leaf and splitting branch echoes in the dark.
The wintry horror books on the list below hail from the U.S., Canada, Sweden, and beyond. Some are historical, others contemporary. But they all embrace the terrors that lurk in the cold and the dark. If you want to read a book that will chill you right to the bone and make your blood run cold, this is the list for you.
Spine-Tingling Wintry Horror Books
Near the Bone by Christina Henry
Mattie and her abusive husband, William, live in an isolated mountain cabin, or so she thinks. A gruesome discovery in the forest reveals to Mattie that they aren’t alone on the mountain. She can ignore the fearsome creature’s calls at night, but she can’t turn away from the three strangers who come looking for it. Nor can she hide from William’s wrath when he learns they have company.
All Access members, read on for seven more recommendations!
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
Years after they encountered a preternaturally unkillable elk in their youth, four Blackfeet men find themselves turned into prey in The Only Good Indians. They weren’t supposed to be hunting on that land in the first place. Now, they’re chased by a supernatural entity hell-bent on vengeance.
The Hunger by Alma Katsu
In the winter of 1846-47, a wagon train of 87 pioneers bound for California wound up waylaid in the Sierra Nevada. Only 48 members of the now infamous Donner Party survived, many of whom returned to civilization with grisly tales of cannibalism and murder. In this supernatural horror novel, Alma Katsu delves into the tragic fate of the Donner Party.
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
A lonely, bullied boy befriends the girl next door, but there’s something odd about her. She’s whip-smart, but ignorant of many things in the world, and she can only play at night. When bodies start to turn up in their little suburb, the boy, Oskar, begins to hope that his tormentors will finally get theirs. But the truth is much stranger—and more horrifying—than he could imagine.
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
When a tiny Anishinaabe community in northern Ontario experiences a massive power outage, its members know they have a hard season ahead. But when outsiders arrive with wild stories of a societal collapse, it becomes clear that this is no ordinary winter. Food supplies begin to dwindle. Community members and outsiders alike grow desperate. So when a body goes missing from the morgue, there’s nothing left to do but fear the worst.
The Prey by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Something dangerous is stalking its prey on the ice in this winner of the Icelandic Blood Drop Award. Kolbeinn doesn’t have a sister named Salvor, but that’s who his ailing mother has just begun asking for. Meanwhile, two couples from Reykjavik have gone missing; their cell phones pinged outside Höfn. But as she and her investigators search for the vanished four, Jóhanna can’t shake the feeling that they’re being watched.
Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories
This anthology centers on stories from the Canadian Arctic. Named after the Inuktitut word for “in the dark,” Taaqtumi explores the unique horrors of the Arctic Circle, from zombies and monsters to human depravity.
Where the Dead Wait by Ally Wilkes
Jesse Stevens is missing. Thirteen years ago, he was William Day’s right-hand man on an Arctic expedition that should have seen their names written in history books. Unfortunately, it failed. Miserably. Catastrophically. Rescuing Jesse may be William’s shot at redemption, but once he’s on the water, he realizes he may have bitten off more than he can chew.
Want more spine-tinglers to read? Try these horror beach reads and check out this list of spooky YA reads.
