Neena Viel’s second novel, I’ll Watch Your Baby, follows two timelines, Lottie Turner’s 1974 Chicago schemes and Bless’s 1994 robbery gone terrifyingly wrong, through a Southern Gothic haunted house that has earned every one of its ghosts. A socially sharp, historically grounded Black horror novel with a Publishers Weekly Starred Review, it is one of the most significant releases of 2026. This is our full review.
Horror Book Reviews
New Writings in Horror and Supernatural Vol III Review: Stephen Jones Revives a Classic
Stephen Jones doesn’t just edit a horror anthology; he curates a conversation between generations of dark fiction writers, and Volume III continues that vital tradition.
The Other by Annie Neugebauer Review: Doppelganger Horror Done Right
The fear isn’t the monster under the bed. It’s the face in the mirror that looks back a moment too long.
The Nest by Kenneth Oppel Review: When Wasps Promise Salvation
“A dark teenage family drama for children which bleeds into an unsettling dream world”
Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir: Icelandic Horror at Its Most Ferocious
The feminist horror thriller Reykjavík is built on blood and friendship. Two women in Reykjavík. One black cat. One abusive man who doesn’t understand what he’s walking into. Knútsdóttir’s Dead Weight is ferocious, intimate, and lit from the inside with a fury that feels entirely earned. Feminist horror at its … Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir: Icelandic Horror at Its Most FerociousRead more
Trad Wife by Sarah Langan: A Feminist Horror Novel for 2026
Read the full review to find out why Trad Wife is Sarah Langan’s best work to date, how it sits within the current wave of literary horror, and why its central argument about bodily autonomy, influencer culture, and the ancient horror of the controlled life is one the genre has been building toward for decades.
The “Phantom Variable” Incident: The Story of the Slot Machine that Hunted Players in 2004
The “Phantom Variable” Incident: The Story of the Slot Machine that Hunted Players in 2004 Playing casino games and betting on sports have been popular activities for centuries. Long before the internet and before digital reels, people were drawn to games of chance with an intensity that went beyond simple … The “Phantom Variable” Incident: The Story of the Slot Machine that Hunted Players in 2004Read more
Antony J Stanton on Horror That Shapes a Writer
What shapes a horror writer? Antony J Stanton credits The Devil Rides Out, a ghostly TV film from 1982, and a healthy obsession with Dracula. He also names Between Two Fires as the most underrated horror novel ever written.
A Parade of Horribles Review: Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 8
Horror that fights back. The abyss flinches.
Jill Palmer Interview: Frostbite and the Zombies We Inherit
Jill Palmer’s Frostbite isn’t just a zombie novel. It‘s a brutal, hopeful exploration of choosing your own family when the world has already ended.
Femme Feral Review: Sam Beckbessinger’s Feminist Werewolf Novel
Some horror novels make you check under the bed. Sam Beckbessinger’s Femme Feral makes you check your own reflection for teeth. This feminist body horror novel about a queer photographer’s lycanthropic liberation is a howl of feminine rage you won’t forget.
S.A. Barnes Interview: From Space Horror to Dark Academia Romantasy
Claustrophobic space stations. Corporate corruption bleeding into deep space. A doomed luxury cruiser lost for decades, its halls still wet. S.A. Barnes built a devoted readership on sci-fi horror that traps you in the dark with nowhere to run.
Now she’s swapped the wreckage for a dusty university library. But don’t mistake the change of clothes for a change of temper.
Abyss by Nicholas Binge Review: A Corporate Horror That Hits Too Close to Home
Joe Rice walks into an empty office in Canary Wharf. He sits down at a computer. An AI asks him how he is feeling. And the abyss opens. Not beneath his feet. Beneath his chair.
Don’t hand in your notice. You won’t live to regret it.
This Book Hates You 2.0 by David L. Tamarin Review: Extreme Horror Returns
This Book Hates You 2.0 is not a book to be read. It’s a contract signed in bad faith. David L. Tamarin’s transgressive fiction collection promises to assault your senses, and it faithfully delivers.
Frostbite by Jill Palmer Review: A Gut-Punch of a Zombie Novel That Redefines Survival
Jill Palmer’s Frostbite is a masterclass in character-driven horror, proving the most terrifying apocalypse isn’t the monsters outside the gates but the inherited trauma found in a mother’s cold, calculating stare. It redefines survival as a brutal, hopeful act of choosing your own family.
