Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in a house filled with books as a son of educated, well-read parents. My mother was an English/French/Spanish teacher, and my father was an encyclopedia editor. Among all the books in our downstairs, there was a custom-built coffin bookcase my father kept stocked with his favorite horror novels. He died when I was eleven and in an effort to get to know him better, I started reading the books in that coffin. I was very quickly turned into a horror fan, and a few years later started writing horror stories myself. Every time I start writing another horror story, I know Iā€™m my fatherā€™s son.


I wrote

Dead End

By Chris DiLeo,

Book cover of Dead End

What is my book about?

The Exorcist meets Pet Sematary on a dead end road where Mike Munacy uncovers the terrible truths his parents haveā€¦

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of A Head Full of Ghosts

Chris DiLeo Why did I love this book?

I still recall quite vividly how reading this book made my skin prickle with gooseflesh. Tremblay does a masterful job conveying a tale of possession through a varied narrative approach that overtly wears its horror influences on its sleeves. The exorcism sequence is so damn unnerving, it continues to haunt me when the hour is late and Iā€™m home alone.

By Paul Tremblay,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked A Head Full of Ghosts as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The lives of the Barretts, a suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia. To her parents' despair, the doctors are unable to halt Marjorie's descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show.Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie's younger sister, Merry. As she recalls the terrifying events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secretsā€¦


Book cover of Lost Boy, Lost Girl

Chris DiLeo Why did I love this book?

Straub is a master, but this title is often overlooked. Itā€™s compact, completely engaging, and features some of the best dread-inducing moments Iā€™ve ever read in a horror novel. His writing is a masterclass in dread, and as a writer I return to it often. Much as Tremblay uses the gimmick of reality TV in A Head Full of Ghosts to horrifying effect, Straub employs email in a creepy and sinister fashion.    

By Peter Straub,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Lost Boy, Lost Girl as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A woman commits suicide for no apparent reason. A week later, her sonā€”beautiful, troubled fifteen-year-old Mark Underhillā€”vanishes from the face of the earth. To his uncle, horror novelist Timothy Underhill, Markā€™s inexplicable absence feels like a second death. After his sister-in-lawā€™s funeral, Tim searches his hometown of Millhaven for clues that might help him unravel this mystery of death and disappearance. He soon learns that a pedophilic murderer is on the loose in the vicinity, and that shortly before his motherā€™s suicide Mark had become obsessed with an abandoned house where he imagined the killer might have taken refuge. Noā€¦


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Book cover of Conditions are Different After Dark

Conditions are Different After Dark by Owen W. Knight,

In 1662, a man is wrongly executed for signing the death warrant of Charles I. Awaiting execution, he asks to speak with a priest, to whom he declares a curse on the village that betrayed him. The priest responds with a counter-curse, leaving just one option to nullify it.

Fourā€¦

Book cover of The Ridge

Chris DiLeo Why did I love this book?

Not a dread-inducing house this time but a lighthouseā€”in the middle of the woods. This book is so original in its elementsā€”a haunted lighthouse, a sheriff in love with the woman who shot him, and a big-cat sanctuaryā€”that it is completely awe-inspiring how Koryta is able to weave together a complex, creepy ghost narrative. Koryta (and his pseudonym, Scott Carson) is always a guaranteed purchase when a new book publishes.

By Michael Koryta,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Ridge as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Discover a brilliant thriller set in a remote big-cat sanctuary: "one of the scariest and most touching horror tales in years" (James Patterson).

In an isolated stretch of eastern Kentucky, on a hilltop known as Blade Ridge, stands a lighthouse that illuminates nothing but the surrounding woods. For years the lighthouse has been considered no more than an eccentric local landmark -- until its builder is found dead at the top of the light, and his belongings reveal a troubling local history.

For deputy sheriff Kevin Kimble, the lighthouse-keeper's death is disturbing and personal. Years ago, Kimble was shot whileā€¦


Book cover of NOS4A2

Chris DiLeo Why did I love this book?

This is, hands down, one of the coolest books Iā€™ve ever read. Hereā€™s how it was described when it appeared on The New York Times Bestseller List: ā€œIn a creepy battle between real and imaginary worlds, a brave biker chick is pitted against a ghoulish villain who lures children to a place where it is always Christmas.ā€ The creepy house in this one is known as Sleigh House, as in Slay House, where terrible things happen. Youā€™ll never think of Christmas, or your imagination, quite the same way again.

By Joe Hill,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked NOS4A2 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Summer. Massachusetts.

An old Silver Wraith with a frightening history. A story about one serial killer and his lingering, unfinished business.

Anyone could be next.

We're going to Christmasland ...

NOS4R2 is an old-fashioned horror novel in the best sense. Claustrophobic, gripping and terrifying, this is a story that will have you on the edge of the seat while you read, and leaving the lights on while you sleep. With the horrific tale of Charles Manx and his Silver Wraith, Joe Hill has established himself as the premiere horror and supernatural thriller writer of his generation.


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Book cover of Murder and Malice

Murder and Malice by Hugh Greene,

Dr. Power is promoted to a chair of forensic psychiatry at Allminster University and selected by the Vice Chancellor for a key task which stokes the jealousy of the Deans, and he is plunged into a precariously dangerous situation when there is a series of deaths and the deputy Viceā€¦

Book cover of Bag of Bones

Chris DiLeo Why did I love this book?

A widowed writer in a haunted lake house in Maine. Itā€™s so utterly Stephen King it might sound like a cliche. Even so, I love this book. I first read it when it was published in September 1999 and I was a senior in high school. I bought it with my own money and carried it around with me like it was a holy text. In some ways it wasā€”it fueled my fire to become a writer myself and for that reason, if not for all the creepiness and dread throughout, this book will always be very special to me.  

By Stephen King,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Bag of Bones as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When Mike Noonan's wife dies unexpectedly, the bestselling author suffers from writer's block. Until he is drawn to his summer home, the beautiful lakeside retreat called Sara Laughs.

Here Mike finds the once familiar town in the tyrannical grip of millionaire Max Devore. Devore is hell-bent on getting custody of his deceased son's daughter and is twisting the fabric of the community to this purpose.

Three year old Kyra and her young mother turn to Mike for help. And Mike finds them increasingly irresistible.

But there are other more sinister forces at Sara Laughs - and Kyra can feel themā€¦


Explore my book šŸ˜€

Dead End

By Chris DiLeo,

Book cover of Dead End

What is my book about?

The Exorcist meets Pet Sematary on a dead end road where Mike Munacy uncovers the terrible truths his parents have kept hidden from him his entire life. Was his fatherā€™s death really a suicide? How were his parents connected to the death of a child years earlier? What secrets are the neighbors not sharing? And why is Mikeā€™s fiancee acting bizarrely and sleepwalking into the woods? Mike must uncover the truths, confront the past, and take unthinkable action to save his fiancee and himself. Mike is about to learn that home can be a place of deathā€¦and death can be welcome.

Book cover of A Head Full of Ghosts
Book cover of Lost Boy, Lost Girl
Book cover of The Ridge

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