Best Horror of 2025

 I've made my list, I've checked it twice, the following books are more creepy than nice!

Another year of great books has gone by, and I have been privileged to have a front-row seat for some fabulous reading. These are my picks for the Best Horror of 2025. The title links will take you to the book synopsis, review, author information if available on Goodreads, and Amazon page. If you're looking for something spectacular to read, allow me to recommend any or all of these eighteen books. Yes, you read that right, my list is even bigger this year.

The Poorly Made and Other Things by Sam Rebelein    The Night Birds by Christopher Golden

What Fresh Hell Is This? Dark Tales by Del Howison    Scurry by Seann Barbour

Nerve Endings by Kealan Patrick Burke      At Dark, I Become Loathsome by Eric LaRocca

Urban Legends: Three New Tales of Terror    Cottonmouth By Kealan Patrick Burke

Tantrum by Rachel Eve Moulton                    Dark Roads Traveled by Tony Tremblay

                                  The Burning Class by Luisa Colón           

  The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi

Bloody Bones by Garrett Boatman      The Haunting of Paynes Hollow by Kelley Armstrong

The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale     Tainted Towns by Victoria Williamson

Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson                Steel Machines by Dan Franklin        

Humbug by Luciano Marano

 A terrifying new take on the most famous ghost story of all time.

From award-winning author Luciano Marano comes Humbug—a gruesome, noir-infused reimagining of A Christmas Carol that blends supernatural horror, crime thriller, and psychological suspense into one unforgettable holiday nightmare.

In modern-day Seattle, Detective Stuart (Scrooge) Caine is a jaded homicide cop on the edge of burnout. Every Christmas brings another murder, but this year’s case is different. A brilliant psychopath—dubbed “Humbug” by the press—has made a tradition of killing an entire family every December 25th. With the investigation going cold and his career slipping away, Scrooge receives a visitation on Christmas Eve that shatters his The ghost of his former partner, Marley, and three monstrous spirits—manifestations of history’s most notorious unsolved Jack the Ripper, Zodiac, and The Cleveland Torso Murderer.As the line between nightmare and reality blurs, Scrooge is forced to confront his past, his sins, and the darkness waiting for him on Christmas morning.

Humbug is a chilling holiday horror novella—a macabre fusion of ghost story, police procedural, and psychological redemption tale—perfect for fans of A Christmas Ghost Story, Candy Cain Kills, and Hark! The Herald Angels Scream.

Sometimes, the ghosts of Christmas past don’t come to save you…they come to collect.

Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Where Stories Come Alive!

A hardboiled cop dubbed "Scrooge" by the media, who hates Christmas, is on the hunt for the "Humbug" killer. So nicknamed due to his penchant for murdering an entire family every Christmas.
When he is taken off the case, he is visited by the spirits of three murderers, plus his deceased partner, Marley. Can they help him open his heart to the season? And more importantly, can they lead him to the killer?

This modern-day take on the Dickens classic is a much darker and gorier version. It has been decades since I read the original, but I still watch several of the movie versions every year. The spirits here are far less benign, and the streets more dangerous. If you like retellings with a malevolent twist or are a fan of holiday horror, this is for you. At its heart, this is still a story of redemption, but the path to get there is harsh. 

4 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Crystal Lake Publishing for the e-ARC

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Chilling Childlore: Ten Twisted Childhood Tales by Victoria Williamson

Ten unnerving tales of the weird and uncanny from award-winning author Victoria Williamson.

An unwelcome visitor, a hungry house, an unsettling doll and a sinister Christmas surprise…

These are just some of the disturbing childhood tales in this anthology for adults who are young at heart, and younger readers with old souls who have strong stomachs and a taste for the macabre.

 

I love short horror stories, and Victoria Williamson is adept at bringing on the spine tingly chills and unnerving thrills without loads of gore.

In these 10 twisted tales the protagonists are children, but I would not recommend these as bedtime stories for very young readers because some of them do get pretty damned creepy, especially the longer story at the end "Curtain Calls" about a girl who senses something terribly wrong with her renovated bedroom, particularly with the second hand material that was used to make her new curtains.

There are cautionary tales, such as what happens to one child when she makes up a haunted house story to manipulate her parents, and an amusing story of what happens to the favored child who won't quit picking on her sister. There is the fear a child has of being left alone with a strange relative he has never met, and of course, there is more than one bully to be dealt with.

I loved all of these stories. If you are in the mood for some hair-raising tales without explicit bloodshed, this is for you.

5 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Silver Thistle Press for the gifted paperback.

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About the author

City Hall by Bentley Little

Paul Wardlow couldn't be happier after landing his job as an administrative assistant at Arovista city hall. The pay is good, the benefits are great, and he has the opportunity to finally help put some good out into the world. It seems like a dream.

But all is not well in city hall, and it hasn’t been for some time.

Doors open up on hallways that are not listed on any layout. Employees attend meetings and return changed. Strange men come and go, with no record of them being employed there--or even of being alive.

And then there are the whispered rumors of the Corp Yard, where no one is ever seen entering and no one is ever seen leaving, but screams are still heard.

Arovista's local government is preparing for changes. Big changes. For a new plan. A new future. And it will not tolerate interference.

As the saying goes… you can't fight City Hall.

CITY HALL is Bentley Little in his element, a scathing plunge into violence and madness and small scale government that only he could deliver.

Do people choose to work at City Hall or does the city choose them?

Paul Wardlow had been job hunting for a while and was excited to land an interview at City Hall. After the unpleasant turn his interview took, he never expected to be hired. He would have been better off had he never applied.

Gavin Barre wants to make some positive changes and decides to run for City Council. Little does he know who holds the real power in Arovista.

Janis Kaminsky had been retired from City Hall for 2 years when she was asked to return. She ignored her hazy memories of something being not quite right in her previous years working there. Those half-remembered feelings about the basement might have only been nightmares. Having escaped once and lived to retire, she should never have gone back.

What begins as just another ordinary situation spirals into the bizarre and frightening. Some of the characters are already deeply under the city's influence,  leaving very few normal people to notice or care what is happening. Are they any match for the power of the city? Or as they go along to get along will they lose that small voice of conscience that tells them what they are witnessing is wrong? Bentley Little's City Hall reads like a darkly comedic fever dream of satire and horror where the bizarre becomes the new normal and I loved it.

My thanks to Cemetery Dance Publications for the ARC.

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