My favorite books to warp your brain with shocks, twists, and horror

Why am I passionate about this?

It wasn’t until high school when I read Stephen King’s Night Shift that illuminated the genre for me—horror. My first short story was The Dark Shadow, and it fit me like a glove. My writing is inspired by the books I like to read, as I’m sure it is with all writers, and I write characters that I know and in settings I am familiar with for authenticity. The years of experience have honed my craft, and my books are a culmination of my favorite things—supernatural horror, suspense, heart, drama, westerns, and action.


I wrote...

The Intruders

By Brett McKay,

Book cover of The Intruders

What is my book about?

Pray they don’t get in.

Dex Sanders is just a family man struggling to make ends meet until he and his family are abducted from their home by a group of armed men. They are taken to an underground bunker, where he’s tortured and questioned about things he knows nothing about. When the kidnappers realize they nabbed the wrong guy, Dex and his family are set to be executed. Can Dex free his family, run from relentless killers, and discover the secret behind the strangers who bear a horrifying, supernatural ability? Taken meets The Thing.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Intensity

Brett McKay Why did I love this book?

When this book caused me to pull over, park, and listen to the last hour, making me late to my work appointment, I knew I was reading (listening) to the most intense, suspenseful, tightly written novel.

As much as I love horror and the supernatural, none of it thrills me unless it is accompanied by suspense, and no one cranks them out better than Koontz.

By Dean Koontz,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

If you delight in the suspense of Stephen King and Harlan Coben, you'll love Intensity - a classic thriller by Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz.

Edgler Vess is a sociopath intent on murder. He lives for one purpose only: to satisfy all appetites as they arise, seeking ever more outrageous experience. To live with intensity.

When he attacks her friend, Laura, Chyna Shepherd is saved by the instincts developed during a dark and turbulent childhood. Not knowing Laura is already dead, Chyna follows, hoping to save her friend, as Vess carries her body to his…


Book cover of Pet Sematary

Brett McKay Why did I love this book?

Nobody weaves a better tale than Stephen King. He is the all-American storyteller who transports you into his world of characters and settings, making you fall in love with them just before he shatters all of that like a hammer against a mirror.

It is like listening to a good friend next to a campfire drinking beers, and Pet Sematary has all of the good horror elements from atmosphere, cemeteries, ancient burial grounds, and dead people rising from the grave.

By Stephen King,

Why should I read it?

10 authors picked Pet Sematary as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now a major motion picture! Stephen King’s #1 New York Times bestseller is a “wild, powerful, disturbing” (The Washington Post Book World) classic about evil that exists far beyond the grave—among King’s most iconic and frightening novels.

When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job and moves his family to the idyllic rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. Despite Ludlow’s tranquility, an undercurrent of danger exists here. Those trucks on the road outside the Creed’s beautiful old home travel by just a little too quickly, for one thing…as is evidenced by the…


Book cover of The Drive-In

Brett McKay Why did I love this book?

Lansdale is much like King in the way of being a storyteller, but his style is all his own. It’s wacky, humorous, and at times disturbing.

The Drive-In is a trilogy, but the first one sets itself apart as one of the craziest and most terrifying stories that sticks with me like a nervous tick. A group of people trapped inside a drive-in trying to survive makes for good social and societal break-downs.

By Joe R Lansdale,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

When a group of friends decided to spend a day at the world's largest drive-in theater horror fest, they expected to see tons of bloody murders, rampaging madmen, and mayhem, but only on the screen. But as a mysterious force traps all the patrons inside the drive-in, the worst in humanity comes out. The first limited edition hardcover of all three Drive-In novels, with an introduction by famed horror film director Don Coscarelli and stunning illustrations by David Ho. This is a limited edition and each copy is signed by Joe R. Lansdale and David Ho.



Book cover of The Bad Place

Brett McKay Why did I love this book?

This book had me at the main character hiring a private eye to follow him because he is waking up in a different location each morning with no memory of how he got there but his pockets are filled with diamonds.

This story delved into the madness of psychos while also plummeting me into other worlds and satisfying my hunger for supernatural elements. I couldn’t love this book more. 

By Dean Koontz,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Bad Place as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Frank Pollard awakens in an alley, knowing nothing but his name and that he is in danger. Over the next few days he develops a fear of sleep because when he wakes he finds blood on his hands and bizarre and terrifying objects in his pockets. Distraught and desperate, Frank begs husband-and wife detective team Bobby and Julie Dakota to get to the bottom of his mysterious, amnesiac fugues. It seems a simple job, but they are drawn into ever-darkening realms where they encounter the nightmare, hate-filled figure stalking Frank. And their lives are threatened, as is that of Julie's…


Book cover of The Troop

Brett McKay Why did I love this book?

This was my first Nick Cutter reading but it won’t be the last. He created a most terrifying scenario that is so close to reality it’s disturbing.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of Lord of the Flies but much more violent. He truly kept turning the horror crank with each dripping chapter. I couldn’t stop listening to this story. 

By Nick Cutter,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Troop as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'THE TROOP scared the hell out of me, and I couldn't put it down. Not for the faint-hearted' STEPHEN KING

He felt something touch his hand. Which is when he looked down.

For the scouts of Troop 52, three days of camping, hiking and survival lessons on Falstaff Island is as close as they'll get to a proper holiday.

Which was when he saw it.

But when an emaciated figure stumbles into their camp asking for food, the trip takes a horrifying turn. The man is not just hungry, he's sick. Sick in a way they have never seen before.…


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Shadow of the Hidden

By Kev Harrison,

Book cover of Shadow of the Hidden

Kev Harrison Author Of Below

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Storyteller Traveller Horror addict Reader

Kev's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

It’s Seb’s last day working in Turkey, but his friend Oz has been cursed. Superstition turns to terror as the effects of the ancient malediction spill over, and the lives of Oz and his family hang in the balance. Can Seb find the answers to remove the hex before it’s too late?

Journey with Seb, Oz, and Deniz across ancient North African cities as they seek to banish the Shadow of the Hidden.

Shadow of the Hidden

By Kev Harrison,

What is this book about?

It’s Seb’s last day working in Turkey, but his friend Oz has been cursed. Superstition turns to terror as the effects of the ancient malediction spill over and the lives of Oz and his family hang in the balance. Can Seb find the answers to remove the hex before it’s too late?

From Kev Harrison, author of The Balance and Below, journey with Seb, Oz and Deniz across ancient North African cities as they seek to banish the Shadow of the Hidden.


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