The Greatest Horror 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 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.

View: Default Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
39 Frankenstein Mary Shelley 1818 British English
66 Dracula Bram Stoker 1897 British English
90 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 1890 British English
94 The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe 1902 American English
156 Macbeth William Shakespeare 1606 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
265 The Shining Stephen King 1977 American English
286 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson 1886 British English
292 The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner James Hogg 1824 Scottish English
368 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
373 Gormenghast Mervyn Peake 1950 British English
433 Melmoth the Wanderer Charles Robert Maturin 1820 British English
473 The Blind Owl Ṣādiq Hidāyat 1937 Iranian Persian
474 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
495 Perfume Patrick Suskind 1985 German German
504 Interview with the Vampire Anne Rice 1976 American English
515 The Castle of Otranto Horace Walpole 1764 British English
527 The Outsider And Others H. P. Lovecraft 1939 American English
538 The Monk Matthew Lewis 1796 British English
539 We Have Always Lived in the Castle Shirley Jackson 1962 American English
558 Uncle Silas Sheridan Le Fanu 1864 Irish English
600 The Island of Doctor Moreau H. G. Wells 1896 British English
609 At the Mountains of Madness H. P. Lovecraft 1936 American English
629 I Am Legend Richard Matheson 1954 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
675 The House On The Borderland And Other Novels William Hope Hodgson 1908 British English
692 Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary M. R. James 1904 British English
728 Conjure Wife Fritz Leiber 1943 American English
749 Vathek William Beckford 1786 British French
752 Salem's Lot Stephen King 1975 American English
779 The Mysteries of Udolpho Ann Radcliffe 1794 British English
782 Something Wicked This Way Comes Ray Bradbury 1962 American English
788 The Lottery and Other Stories Shirley Jackson 1948 American English
805 The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham 1951 British English
831 The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux 1909 French French
836 Northanger Abbey Jane Austen 1817 British English
852 Kindred Octavia E. Butler 1979 American English
860 The Midwich Cuckoos John Wyndham 1957 British English
896 Misery Stephen King 1987 American English
898 Sandman Neil Gaiman 1989 British English
901 Justine Marquis de Sade 1791 French French
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
1017 Twice-Told Tales Nathaniel Hawthorne 1837 American English
1024 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks 1984 British English
1053 The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym Edgar Allan Poe 1838 American English
1087 The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allan Poe 1839 American English
1089 The Queen Of Spades Alexander Pushkin 1834 Russian Russian
1092 Tales Of Horror And The Supernatural Arthur Machen 1948 British English
1096 Darker Than You Think Jack Williamson 1948 American English
1109 The Exorcist William Peter Blatty 1971 American English
1143 Johnny Got His Gun Dalton Trumbo 1939 American English
1156 Hawksmoor Peter Ackroyd 1985 British English
1197 Widdershins G. Oliver Onions 1911 British English
1201 The Sound Of His Horn Sarban 1952 British English
1220 The Man of Feeling Henry Mackenzie 1771 British English
1228 The King In Yellow Robert W. Chambers 1895 American English
1260 Story of the Eye Georges Bataille 1928 French French
1262 Peace Gene Wolfe 1975 American English
1329 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1331 The October Country Ray Bradbury 1955 American English
1335 The Nun Denis Diderot 1796 French French
1335 In a Glass Darkly Sheridan Le Fanu 1872 Irish English
1344 The 120 Days of Sodom Marquis de Sade 1904 French French
1350 The House Of Souls Arthur Machen 1906 British English
1351 The Horror Horn And Other Stories E. F. Benson 1931 British English
1353 Books of Blood Clive Barker 1984 British English
1355 Psycho Robert Bloch 1959 American English
1361 A Voyage To Arcturus David Lindsay 1920 Scottish English
1362 The Painted Bird Jerzy Kosinski 1965 Polish English
1363 She H. Rider Haggard 1887 British English
1370 The Wandering Jew Eugène Sue 1844 French French
1412 The Last Bouquet Marjorie Bowen 1933 British English
1463 Out Of Space And Time Clark Ashton Smith 1942 American English
1478 And The Darkness Falls Boris Karloff 1943 British English
1494 The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus Christopher Marlowe 1604 British English
1497 The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch Philip K. Dick 1965 American English
1512 The Pit and the Pendulum Edgar Allan Poe 1842 American English
1525 The Black Spider Jeremias Gotthelf 1842 Swiss German
1548 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
1566 Great Tales Of Terror And The Supernatural Herbert A. Wise 1944 American English
1587 The Sleeping And The Dead August Derleth 1947 American English
1608 Fancies And Goodnights John Collier 1951 British English
1609 American Gods Neil Gaiman 2001 British English
1624 The Werewolf Of Paris Guy Endore 1933 American English
1632 Something About Eve James Branch Cabell 1927 American English
1660 The Complete John Silence Stories Algernon Blackwood 1908 British English
1688 The Cement Garden Ian McEwan 1978 British English
1690 Carrie Stephen King 1974 American English
1697 The White Devil John Webster 1612 British English
1771 The Confidence Man Herman Melville 1857 American 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
1822 The Collector John Fowles 1963 British English
1852 Good Omens Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman 1990 British English
1863 The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories Angela Carter 1979 British 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
1957 The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen Alan Garner 1960 British English
1966 Swan Song Robert R. McCammon 1987 American English
1973 They Return At Evening H. Russell Wakefield 1928 British English
1982 Our Lady Of Darkness Fritz Leiber 1977 American English
1990 The Haunted Omnibus Alexander Laing 1937 American English
1991 The Green Man Kingsley Amis 1969 British English
2043 The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward H. P. Lovecraft 1941 American English
2056 Best Ghost Stories Of Algernon Blackwood Algernon Blackwood 1907 British English
2068 Some Of Your Blood Theodore Sturgeon 1961 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
2073 The Anubis Gates Tim Powers 1983 American English