The Greatest Dark Books of All Time
Click to learn how this list is calculated.
This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.
| Rank | Book | Authors | Year | Country | Language | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13738 | Song Never to End | Nelson I. Wu | 1959 | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 13879 | Ravenshoe | Henry Kingsley | 1861 | British | English | |
| 14204 | High-Rise | J. G. Ballard | 1975 | British | English | |
| 14232 | The Lies Of Locke Lamora | Scott Lynch | 2006 | American | English | |
| 14371 | Allegro Pastell | Leif Randt | 2020 | German | German | |
| 14371 | Vom Aufstehen | Helga Schubert | 2020 | German | German | |
| 14731 | How To Save Your Own Life | Erica Jong | 1977 | American | English | |
| 14955 | 334 | Thomas M. Disch | 1972 | American | English | |
| 14977 | The Soft Machine | William S. Burroughs | 1961 | American | English | |
| 14976 | The Complete Poetry of César Vallejo | César Vallejo | 1968 | Peruvian | Spanish | |
| 14985 | Lab Girl | Hope Jahren | 2016 | American | English | |
| 14985 | Zombie | Joyce Carol Oates | 1995 | American | English | |
| 14985 | Memory Piece | Lisa Ko | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 14985 | Sandwich | Catherine Newman | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 14985 | Bury Your Gays | Chuck Tingle | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 14985 | Death In Spring | Merce Rodoreda | 1986 | Spanish | Catalan | |
| 14985 | Normal Women | Philippa Gregory | 2023 | British | English | |
| 15686 | The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over The Hills | Charles Bukowski | American | English | ||
| 15882 | Tomb For 500,000 Soldiers | Pierre Guyotat | 1967 | French | French | |
| 15916 | Bestiario | Juan José Arreola | 1938 | Mexican | Spanish | |
| 15916 | The Naked Woman | Armonía Somers | 1950 | Uruguayan | Spanish | |
| 16582 | The Fall Of The King | Johannes V. Jensen | 1900 | Danish | Danish | |
| 16611 | Schopenhauer As Educator | Friedrich Nietzsche | 1874 | German | German | |
| 17162 | Go in Beauty | William Eastlake | 1956 | American | English | |
| 17162 | On Such A Full Sea | Chang-rae Lee | 2014 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Woodworm | Layla Martínez | 2024 | Spanish | Unknown | |
| 17162 | Dark Dance | Tanith Lee | 1992 | British | English | |
| 17162 | Sineater | Elizabeth Massie | 1992 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Vampire Junction | S.P. Somtow | 1984 | American | English | |
| 17162 | The Best Horror Of The Year | Ellen Datlow | 2009 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Inferno | Ellen Datlow | 2007 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Nightmare Seasons | Charles L. Grant | 1982 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Savage Season | Joe R. Lansdale | 1990 | American | English | |
| 17162 | North Dallas Forty | Peter Gent | 1973 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Anita De Monte Laughs Last | Xóchitl González | 2024 | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 17162 | Mountain Language | Harold Pinter | 1988 | British | English | |
| 17162 | American Rapture | C.J. Leede | 2024 | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 17162 | Sacrificial Animals | Kailee Pedersen | 2024 | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 17162 | Cold Crematorium | József Debreczeni | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Choice | Neel Mukherjee | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Vows | Cheryl Mendelson | 2024 | American | English | |
| 17162 | The Anthropologists | Ayşegül Savas | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Victim | Andrew Boryga | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Sirens Of The City | Joanne Starer | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | An Academy For Liars | Alexis Henderson | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Midnight Rooms | Donyae Coles | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | No Son Of Mine | Jonathan Corcoran | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Queen Of Dreams | Kit Rocha | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Ours | Phillip B. Williams | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | The Glutton | A. K. Blakemore | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Honey | Victor Lodato | 2024 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Hard By A Great Forest | Leo Vardiashvili | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | The Wildes | Louis Bayard | 2024 | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 17162 | Sweetness In The Skin | Ishi Robinson | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Familiaris | David Wroblewski | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Pony Confidential | Christina Lynch | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | The Murderess | Laurie Notaro | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | So Thirsty | Rachel Harrison | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Exit Opera | Kim Addonizio | 2024 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Slow Burn | Robert Jisung Park | 2024 | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 17162 | Praisesong For The Kitchen Ghosts | Crystal Wilkinson | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Ripcord | Nate Lippens | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Sugar, Baby | Celine Saintclare | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Mother Doll | Katya Apekina | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Butcher | Joyce Carol Oates | 2024 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Women And Children First | Alina Grabowski | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Wives Like Us | Plum Sykes | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | The Memo | Rachel Dodes, Lauren Mechling | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Whoever You Are, Honey | Olivia Gatwood | 2024 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Borderland | Graham Akhurst | 2023 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Bright Crockery Days | Robert Gray | 2024 | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 17162 | Safe Haven | Shankari Chandran | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Fury | Clyo Mendoza | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Boy Parts | Eliza Clark | 2020 | British | English | |
| 17162 | Piercing | Ryū Murakami | 1994 | Japanese | Japanese | |
| 17162 | The Amendments | Niamh Mulvey | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Your Own Dark Shadow | Jack Fennell | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | All The Good Things You Deserve | Elaine Feeney | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Crooked Seeds | Karen Jennings | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | The Glass Girl | Kathleen Glasgow | 2024 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Woman Of Winter | Vona Groarke | 2024 | Irish | English | |
| 17162 | Cherrywood | Jock Serong | 2024 | Australian | English | |
| 17162 | Children In Tactical Gear | Peter Mishler | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | House Of Lilies | Juliet Firnhaber-Baker | 2024 | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 17162 | The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond Of Matches | Gaétan Soucy | 1998 | Canadian | French | |
| 17087 | The Double And The Gambler | Fyodor Dostoevsky | 1846 | Russian | Russian | |
| 17162 | Stay With Me | Ayobami Adebayo | 2017 | Nigerian | English | |
| 17162 | Incendiary | Chris Cleave | 2005 | British | English | |
| 17162 | Plastic | Scott Guild | 2024 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Mary Toft; Or, The Rabbit Queen | Dexter Palmer | 2019 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Jedenie | Ivan Medeši | 2018 | Slovak | Slovak | |
| 17162 | Paradais | Fernanda Melchor | 2022 | Mexican | Spanish | |
| 17162 | Ankomst | Gøhril Gabrielsen | 2017 | Norwegian | Norwegian | |
| 17162 | Hansen’s Children | Ognjen Spahić | 2004 | Montenegrin | Montenegrin | |
| 17162 | Tūla | Jurgis Kunčinas | 1993 | Lithuanian | Lithuanian | |
| 17162 | Gallant | V. E. Schwab | 2022 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Bronze Age Mindset | Bronze Age Pervert | 2018 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Angry Candy | Harlan Ellison | 1988 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Masters Of Death | Olivie Blake | 2023 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Inventario Di Alcune Cose Perdute | Judith Schalansky | 2018 | German | German | |
| 17162 | Threshold | Rob Doyle | 2020 | Irish | English | |
| 17162 | Kafka | Gilles Deleuze | 1975 | French | French | |
| 17055 | Tujec / Kuga | Albert Camus | 1942 | French | French | |
| 17162 | Monica | Daniel Clowes | 2023 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Some Unfinished Chaos | Arthur Krystal | 2023 | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 17162 | Owlish | Dorothy Tse | 2023 | Unknown | Chinese | |
| 17162 | Dayswork | Chris Bachelder, Jennifer Habel | 2023 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Was It For This | Hannah Sullivan | 2023 | British | English | |
| 17162 | I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times | Taylor Byas | 2023 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Hurricane Girl | Marcy Dermansky | 2022 | American | English | |
| 17162 | A Drop Of Corruption | Robert Jackson Bennett | Unknown | Unknown | ||
| 17162 | Beware Of Chicken 3 | CasualFarmer | 2023 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Tentacle | Rita Indiana | 2015 | Dominican | Spanish | |
| 17162 | Lancelot | Walker Percy | 1977 | American | English | |
| 17162 | Verdigris | Michele Mari | 2007 | Unknown | Italian | |
| 17162 | The Butcher's Masquerade | Matt Dinniman | 2022 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Smell | Nagabe | Unknown | Unknown | ||
| 17162 | Twisted Hate | Ana Huang | 2022 | Unknown | English | |
| 17162 | Weirdo | Sara Pascoe | 2023 | British | English | |
| 17162 | The Seventh Son | Sebastian Faulks | 2023 | British | English |