The Greatest Horror and Suspense 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
90 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 1890 British English
204 The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson 1959 American English
218 The Turn of the Screw Henry James 1898 American English
230 The Stand Stephen King 1978 American English
368 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
539 We Have Always Lived in the Castle Shirley Jackson 1962 American English
558 Uncle Silas Sheridan Le Fanu 1864 Irish English
655 Rosemary's Baby Ira Levin 1967 American English
752 Salem's Lot Stephen King 1975 American English
831 The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux 1909 French French
860 The Midwich Cuckoos John Wyndham 1957 British English
896 Misery Stephen King 1987 American English
898 Sandman Neil Gaiman 1989 British English
916 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
986 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
987 It Stephen King 1986 American English
1024 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks 1984 British English
1089 The Queen Of Spades Alexander Pushkin 1834 Russian Russian
1109 The Exorcist William Peter Blatty 1971 American English
1329 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1355 Psycho Robert Bloch 1959 American English
1478 And The Darkness Falls Boris Karloff 1943 British English
1512 The Pit and the Pendulum Edgar Allan Poe 1842 American English
1548 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
1587 The Sleeping And The Dead August Derleth 1947 American English
1690 Carrie Stephen King 1974 American English
1781 The Cadaver Of Gideon Wyck Alexander Laing 1934 American English
1799 The Land Of Laughs Jonathan Carroll 1980 American English
1822 The Collector John Fowles 1963 British English
1924 Night Has A Thousand Eyes George Hopley 1945 American English
1953 Ghost Story Peter Straub 1979 American English
1966 Swan Song Robert R. McCammon 1987 American English
2071 The Track Of The Cat Walter Van Tilburg Clark 1949 American English
2072 Invasion Of The Body Snatchers Jack Finney 1955 American English
2128 Pet Sematary Stephen King 1983 American English
2379 Carrion Comfort Dan Simmons 1989 American English
2509 Burnt Offerings Robert Marasco 1973 American English
2609 Quatermass And The Pit Nigel Kneale 1959 British English
2613 The Damnation Game Clive Barker 1985 British English
2736 Flicker Theodore Roszak 1991 American English
3007 Black Easter James Blish 1968 American English
3140 The Other Thomas Tryon 1971 American English
3223 House Of Flesh Bruno Fischer 1950 American English
3334 The Ceremonies T. E. D. Klein 1984 American English
3360 The Woman In Black Susan Hill 1983 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
3877 Lady Audley's Secret M. E. Braddon 1862 British English
3880 I Spit On Your Graves Boris Vian 1946 French French
3917 Sweetheart, Sweetheart Bernard Taylor 1977 British English
3955 Falling Angel William Hjortsberg 1978 American English
4013 The Wolfen Whitley Strieber 1978 American English
4101 The Totem David Morrell 1979 American English
4117 Harvest Home Thomas Tryon 1973 American English
4142 The Terror Dan Simmons 2007 American English
4294 The Cellar Richard Laymon 1980 American English
4403 A Rose for Emily William Faulkner 1930 American English
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 A Nest Of Nightmares Lisa Tuttle 1986 American English
5306 14 Peter Clines 2012 American English
5580 Mexican Gothic Silvia Moreno-Garcia 2020 Mexican English
5623 The Little Stranger Sarah Waters 2009 British English
5907 Lost Girls Andrew Pyper 2000 Canadian English
5941 The Elementals Michael McDowell 1981 American English
6366 Strangers Dean R. Koontz 1986 American English
6699 The Bad Place Dean R. Koontz 1990 American English
6766 The Girl Next Door Jack Ketchum 1989 American English
6845 Bag Of Bones Stephen King 1998 American English
6912 The House Next Door Anne Rivers Siddons 1978 American English
6946 The Green Mile Stephen King 1996 American English
7015 Incarnate Ramsey Campbell 1983 British English
7079 A Sight for Sore Eyes Ruth Rendell 1999 British English
7537 Nos4 A2 Joe Hill 2013 American English
7625 My Soul To Keep Tananarive Due 1997 American English
7662 Phantoms Dean R. Koontz 1983 American English
7696 Lost Boy Lost Girl Peter Straub 2003 American English
8054 The Passage Justin Cronin 2010 American English
8345 Gideon The Ninth Tamsyn Muir 2019 New Zealand English
8452 The Taking Dean R. Koontz 2004 American English
8587 Watchers Dean R. Koontz 1987 American English
9030 John Dies At The End David Wong 2007 American English
9100 The Imago Sequence And Other Stories Laird Barron 2007 American English
9177 The Influence Ramsey Campbell 1988 British English
9645 We Used To Live Here Marcus Kliewer 2024 Unknown Unknown
9653 A Head Full Of Ghosts Paul Tremblay 2015 American English
9980 Murder Road Simone St. James 2024 Canadian English
10232 Butcher Joyce Carol Oates 2024 American English
10438 Middle Of The Night Riley Sager 2024 American English
10682 Needful Things Stephen King 1991 American English
10718 The Devil All The Time Donald Ray Pollock 2011 American English
10739 Bird Box Josh Malerman 2014 American English
10743 Broken Monsters Lauren Beukes 2014 South African English
10766 The Cabin At The End Of The World Paul Tremblay 2018 American English
10822 Duma Key Stephen King 2008 American English
10906 Wizard And Glass Stephen King 1997 American English
10983 Dreamcatcher Stephen King 2001 American English
11097 Doctor Sleep Stephen King 2013 American English
11108 Alice Christina Henry 2015 American English
11796 Rage Steve Gerlach 2006 Australian English
12015 Lunar Park Bret Easton Ellis 2005 American English
12635 Later Stephen King 2021 American English
12660 Anita Blake Laurell K. Hamilton 1993 American English
12676 Authority Jeff VanderMeer 2014 American English
12707 Mine Robert R. McCammon 1990 American English
12707 Creepers David Morrell 2005 American English
12707 Ararat Christopher Golden 2017 American English
12936 The Ruins Scott Smith 2006 American English
13080 To Wake The Dead Ramsey Campbell 1980 British English
13080 Cujo Stephen King 1981 American English
13080 The Long Lost Ramsey Campbell 1993 British English
13080 The Ritual Adam Nevill 2011 British English
13080 Last Days Adam Nevill 2012 British English
13080 No One Gets Out Alive Adam Nevill 2014 British English
13080 Rawblood Catriona Ward 2015 British English
13080 Little Eve Catriona Ward 2018 British English
13080 The Reddening Adam Nevill 2019 British English
13080 The Last House On Needless Street Catriona Ward 2021 British English