Bag of Bones

By Stephen King,

Book cover of Bag of Bones

Book description

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…

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Why read it?

3 authors picked Bag of Bones as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I chose my Stephen King books wisely. Reading his novels is an investment of time. Bag of Bones was worth it! It is a strange story about how the past and the present will always be interrelated and interactive.

I loved the way King used the hauntings of the past to explain the present. Excellent book!

As with most King novels, this book is more horror than romance. But the haunting at the main character’s house on Dark Score Lake sent shivers up my spine in a way not many novels have. 

The premise of the ghost mystery has a thrilling twist, and without giving away spoilers, it inspired me to create barriers to communication between the living and the dead in my own novels. After all, it doesn’t make much sense for a spirit to just simply drop hints until the mystery is solved.

If there were that easy, any fictional (or real!) ghost could…

From Kathryn's list on romantic ghost stories.

A widowed writer in a haunted lake house in Maine. It’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 was—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.  

From Chris' list on dread-inducing homes.

Dead Hand

By Valerie Nieman,

Book cover of Dead Hand

Valerie Nieman Author Of In the Lonely Backwater

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Writer Curiosity Traveler Nemophilist Perseverance

Valerie's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

Lourana and Darrick took down the dreaded coal barons in To the Bones, but it seems that the Kavanaghs aren’t done yet. The college-age son of Eamon Kavanagh has unexpectedly inherited not only the family’s business empire but the family itself: generations of Kavanagh men whose spirits persist and who have now taken up residence in Rory’s mind and body.

As Lourana and Darrick try to shape a life together, they are attacked by Eamon through Rory, and flee the life-sucking Kavanaghs across Appalachia and then, in desperation and hope, to Ireland. The reluctant Rory is urged onward in the…

Dead Hand

By Valerie Nieman,

What is this book about?

In this sequel to To the Bones, Lourana and Darrick have taken down Eamon Kavanagh, patriarch of the dreaded coal barons of Redbird, WV, but it seems that the family isn’t done yet. The college-age son Rory has unexpectedly inherited not only the family’s empire but the family itself: generations of Kavanagh men whose spirits persist and who have now taken up residence in Rory’s mind and body.
As Lourana and Darrick try to shape a life together, they are attacked by Eamon through Rory, and flee the life-sucking Kavanaghs across Appalachia and then, in desperation and hope, to Ireland.…


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