The Greatest Horror and Mystery Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 488 '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.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
66 Dracula Bram Stoker 1897 British English
94 The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe 1902 American English
218 The Turn of the Screw Henry James 1898 American English
368 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
515 The Castle of Otranto Horace Walpole 1764 British English
539 We Have Always Lived in the Castle Shirley Jackson 1962 American English
558 Uncle Silas Sheridan Le Fanu 1864 Irish English
609 At the Mountains of Madness H. P. Lovecraft 1936 American English
643 The Manuscript Found in Saragossa Jan Potocki 1805 Polish French
646 The Adventures of Caleb Williams William Godwin 1794 British English
655 Rosemary's Baby Ira Levin 1967 American English
672 The Man Who Was Thursday G. K. Chesterton 1908 British English
692 Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary M. R. James 1904 British English
728 Conjure Wife Fritz Leiber 1943 American English
779 The Mysteries of Udolpho Ann Radcliffe 1794 British English
831 The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux 1909 French French
896 Misery Stephen King 1987 American English
916 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
986 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
1053 The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym Edgar Allan Poe 1838 American English
1096 Darker Than You Think Jack Williamson 1948 American English
1156 Hawksmoor Peter Ackroyd 1985 British English
1228 The King In Yellow Robert W. Chambers 1895 American English
1262 Peace Gene Wolfe 1975 American English
1329 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1335 In a Glass Darkly Sheridan Le Fanu 1872 Irish English
1350 The House Of Souls Arthur Machen 1906 British English
1351 The Horror Horn And Other Stories E. F. Benson 1931 British English
1370 The Wandering Jew Eugène Sue 1844 French French
1412 The Last Bouquet Marjorie Bowen 1933 British English
1478 And The Darkness Falls Boris Karloff 1943 British English
1548 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
1587 The Sleeping And The Dead August Derleth 1947 American English
1660 The Complete John Silence Stories Algernon Blackwood 1908 British English
1777 Medusa E. H. Visiak 1929 British English
1781 The Jewel Of Seven Stars Bram Stoker 1903 British English
1781 The Cadaver Of Gideon Wyck Alexander Laing 1934 American English
1781 The Second Century Of Creepy Stories Hugh Walpole 1937 British English
1799 The Land Of Laughs Jonathan Carroll 1980 American English
1924 Night Has A Thousand Eyes George Hopley 1945 American English
1925 The Lurker At The Threshold August Derleth, H. P. Lovecraft 1945 American English
1953 Ghost Story Peter Straub 1979 American English
1982 Our Lady Of Darkness Fritz Leiber 1977 American English
2043 The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward H. P. Lovecraft 1941 American English
2071 The Track Of The Cat Walter Van Tilburg Clark 1949 American English
2074 Wieland Charles Brockden Brown 1798 American English
2255 The Mystery Of Edwin Drood Charles Dickens 1870 British English
2455 The Werewolf Aksel Sandemose 1958 Norwegian Norwegian
2545 Nine Horrors And A Dream Joseph Payne Brennan 1958 American English
2736 Flicker Theodore Roszak 1991 American English
2758 The Lurking Fear And Other Stories H. P. Lovecraft 1923 American English
2774 Sub Rosa Robert Aickman 1968 British English
2904 The Call Of Cthulhu H. P. Lovecraft 1928 American English
3000 The Keep F. Paul Wilson 1981 American English
3140 The Other Thomas Tryon 1971 American English
3144 The Great God Pan Arthur Machen 1894 British English
3166 Worse Things Waiting Manly Wade Wellman 1973 American English
3223 House Of Flesh Bruno Fischer 1950 American English
3235 The Compleat Werewolf And Other Stories Of Fantasy And Science Fiction Anthony Boucher 1969 American English
3284 Tales Of A Traveller Washington Irving 1824 American English
3297 Song Of Kali Dan Simmons 1985 American English
3334 The Ceremonies T. E. D. Klein 1984 American English
3357 The Arabian Nightmare Robert Irwin 1983 British English
3360 The Woman In Black Susan Hill 1983 British English
3551 Who Made Stevie Crye? Michael Bishop 1984 American English
3640 The Boarded Window Ambrose Bierce 1891 American English
3836 Nightshade Derek Marlowe 1968 British English
3859 Boy's Life Robert R. McCammon 1991 American English
3857 All Heads Turn When The Hunt Goes By John Farris 1977 American English
3857 In A Lonely Place Karl Edward Wagner 1977 American English
3868 Coraline Neil Gaiman 2002 British English
3877 Lady Audley's Secret M. E. Braddon 1862 British English
3917 Murgunstrumm And Others Hugh B. Cave 1977 American English
3917 Sweetheart, Sweetheart Bernard Taylor 1977 British English
3955 Falling Angel William Hjortsberg 1978 American English
4101 The Totem David Morrell 1979 American English
4117 The Night Stalker Jeff Rice 1973 American English
4134 Night's Black Agents Fritz Leiber 1961 American English
4403 A Rose for Emily William Faulkner 1930 American English
4406 Carmilla Sheridan Le Fanu 1872 Irish English
4472 The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman 2008 British English
4576 There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbour’s Baby Ludmila Petrushevskaya 2009 Russian Russian
4818 Annihilation Jeff VanderMeer 2014 American English
4893 The Complete Short Stories Of Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Bierce 1970 American English
5151 Koko Peter Straub 1988 American English
5260 The Pet Charles L. Grant 1986 American English
5276 The Devil's Elixir E. T. A. Hoffmann 1815 German German
5306 14 Peter Clines 2012 American English
5422 Alone With The Horrors Ramsey Campbell 1993 British English
5507 Dark Feasts Ramsey Campbell 1987 British English
5580 Mexican Gothic Silvia Moreno-Garcia 2020 Mexican English
5623 The Little Stranger Sarah Waters 2009 British English
5719 The Dark Tower And Other Stories C. S. Lewis 1977 British English
5875 From Hell Alan Moore 1991 British English
5907 Lost Girls Andrew Pyper 2000 Canadian English
5941 The Elementals Michael McDowell 1981 American English
6050 The Italian Ann Radcliffe 1797 British English
6050 Edgar Huntly Charles Brockden Brown 1799 American English
6050 The Mysterious Warning Eliza Parsons 1796 British English
6050 After Dark Wilkie Collins 1856 British English
6050 The Notting Hill Mystery Charles Felix 1862 British English
6050 The Mystery Of Choice Robert W. Chambers 1897 American English
6050 The Shining Pyramid Arthur Machen 1895 British English
6050 The Merry Men And Other Tales And Fables Robert Louis Stevenson 1887 British English
6050 Midnight Tales W. F. Harvey 1928 British English
6231 The Tomb F. Paul Wilson 1984 American English
6385 Goosebumps R. L. Stine 1992 American English
6622 The Gunslinger Stephen King 1982 American English
6701 The Cipher Kathe Koja 1991 American English
6699 The Bad Place Dean R. Koontz 1990 American English
6730 Someone In The Dark August Derleth 1941 American English
6845 Bag Of Bones Stephen King 1998 American English
7079 A Sight for Sore Eyes Ruth Rendell 1999 British English
7343 Reprisal Mitchell Smith 1999 American English
7503 Phantom Evil Heather Graham Pozzessere 2011 American English
7684 The Relic Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child 1995 American English
7696 Lost Boy Lost Girl Peter Straub 2003 American English
8345 Gideon The Ninth Tamsyn Muir 2019 New Zealand English
8559 The Surly Sullen Bell Russell Kirk 1962 American English
8587 Watchers Dean R. Koontz 1987 American English