93 books like 'Salem's Lot

I can’t get enough of this supernatural classic, which is made all the more vivid by the way its story unfolds through letters, telegrams, diary entries, and newspaper clippings. It is the found-footage horror story of its era.

Like Frankenstein, it has been adapted hundreds of times, officially and unofficially, into nearly every medium, yet the original novel is unparalleled for holding the reader in its icy grip. Stoker brought his own fears to the page, and I am always surprised at how, in just a few pages, they become my fears, as well.

Legends are made of powerful stuff, and nothing has greater power than a total flip in perspective. I still recall the gut-punch end to this book, though it’s been decades since I read it. 

Robert Neville is a vampire hunter by day and a tormented man by night. As seemingly the only living human in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, Robert faces depression, isolation, alcoholism, and his undead neighbor, Ben Cortman, who appears outside Robert’s front door each night chanting, "Come out, Neville."

But when Robert is finally captured, and the truth of his situation is revealed, he gets a good look at the world through the eyes of the undead and is forced to ask himself, who am I? What have I become? 

I appreciate that this may be quite random but I had to read it to obtain multiple references as the wider plot grew into that of the Gabriel Sect – when the original killer develops a ‘fan club’.

I am now an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church – but I am not Christian. I believe in both freedom of and freedom from religion.

I certainly do not set out to offend anyone and welcome all faiths and alternate beliefs, but this I would say. If the Holy Bible were to be published today, given the huge doses of incest, sodomy, and extreme violence it contains, it would be considered - unsuitable for children.

I wanted to understand how specific biblical and ancient texts could be exploited by cults, I naturally chose the worst. I appreciate that this is counteracted by equal doses of kindness and goodness within the… show more.

Interview with the Vampire is rather dark yet mesmerizing at the same time.

I love stories that take your mind to another world, and this one is at the top of the list. To be perfectly honest, I never really had any interest in learning about the mysterious world of immortal vampires until I read this book. Just remember that this book is intended for mature audiences due to its dark and mature themes.

I recommend this book because it touches upon many exciting subjects, including the desire for immortality and it takes an interesting perspective about humanity through a supernatural lens. This book is an absolute must-read that will leave you chilled to the bone and spellbound.

While True Blood saw this series come to life on the small screen, the books are a lighter and deeper option for anyone who loved the show but wants to get more background info. 

I read this series before the show came out and thoroughly enjoyed all the funny bits that weren’t as prevalent in the HBO version. Sookie was funny and fierce as I recall, which is an excellent combo for a leading lady to be.

I liked this book, not just because I’m a fan of detective stories, whodunnits, and the like, but more so for the deep dive into the understanding of why the antagonist, Francis, became what he became.

It’s hard to make a character believable when that character does things that, to most of us, are unthinkable, but the author here succeeds and wraps it up into a decent read.

If I had to use one word to describe The Rats it would be brutal.

I say this not simply because of the savage depictions of gore and other intense imagery conjured by Herbert throughout, but also the blunt and grim depictions of working-class 1970s London.

This book is so much more than a tale of man-eating monsters. I found it to be a scathing critique of social decay and the prerequisite neglect that gives rise to such conditions. To be honest, I didn’t know what I was walking into and that is why it has stayed with me. Consider yourself warned. I wish I had been.

This is one book where, by the end, I was absolutely convinced that Abraham Lincoln actually hunted and killed vampires, on the side. It’s cleverly written, and the photographs (actual photos) were photo-shopped, to give the story an authentic feel to it. Gifted with his legendary height, and axe (of course!) Abraham sets out, hell-bent on revenge, after discovering that his beloved mother had actually been killed by a vampire when he was a boy. The book is full of facts, giving us a history lesson on Abe Lincoln’s life, from when he was a boy until his assassination, in 1865. It also tells us of his campaign to stamp out slavery and his rise to become the sixteenth—and one of the most influential—president of the United States of America. Thoroughly enjoyable, and believable! 

Of the many ghost stories in my collection, this must be my favorite and the one I recommend most to both newcomers and veterans of Gothic literature. (With nary a ghost in sight!) Once again, none of the adaptations can fully capture the dark magic at the novel’s heart.

Building on the emotional and psychological elements first touched on in Henry James’s, The Turn of the Screw, Jackson reinvented the haunted house genre and gave us an instant classic to which all other such tales must inevitably be compared. Cherished by horror writers and readers everywhere, this book captivates from its celebrated first paragraph to its very last line. Hill House, not sane, is waiting for you.

This book is an absolute classic, and spawned an equally classic movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The reason why I love Psycho so much is that it brought horror away from the traditional Gothic haunted house and castle settings right into the modern world. And if you add the aspect of mental illness in the chilling form of the Norman Bates character, then you have a horror story that becomes all too real, all too unsettling. We are not dealing with ghoulies and ghosties here, but with a deranged killer harbouring a split personality, whose warped mentality has often been mirrored in real-life crime cases. For example, Bloch based Norman Bates on an actual killer, Ed Gein. Psycho is a novel that every horror fan must read.