The Greatest Horror Books Since 1980

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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.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
511 Perfume Patrick Suskind 1985 German German
578 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
607 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
981 It Stephen King 1986 American English
1001 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1086 Misery Stephen King 1987 American English
1210 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks 1984 British English
1348 Sandman Neil Gaiman 1989 British English
1531 Jurassic Park Michael Crichton 1990 American English
1757 Books of Blood Clive Barker 1984 British English
1813 Swan Song Robert R. McCammon 1987 American English
1931 The Witches Roald Dahl 1983 British English
1937 Geek Love Katherine Dunn 1989 American English
2646 Hurricane Season Fernanda Melchor 2017 Mexican Spanish
2688 The Ceremonies T. E. D. Klein 1984 American English
2694 Pet Sematary Stephen King 1983 American English
2731 Lost Souls Poppy Z. Brite 1992 American English
2821 The Damnation Game Clive Barker 1985 British English
2916 The Woman In Black Susan Hill 1983 British English
2934 Dolly City Orly Castel-Bloom 1992 Israeli Hebrew
2954 The Dark Country Dennis Etchison 1981 American English
2984 The Vampire Lestat Anne Rice 1985 American English
3048 Fever Dream Samanta Schweblin 2014 Argentinian Spanish
3082 Under the Skin Michel Faber 2000 British English
3137 The Keep F. Paul Wilson 1981 American English
3147 Carrion Comfort Dan Simmons 1989 American English
3153 Dark Forces Kirby McCauley 1980 American English
3160 Who Made Stevie Crye? Michael Bishop 1984 American English
3257 Goosebumps R. L. Stine 1992 American English
3384 The Plague-Sower Gesualdo Bufalino 1981 Italian Italian
3509 Song Of Kali Dan Simmons 1985 American English
3510 Alone With The Horrors Ramsey Campbell 1993 British English
3541 Her Body and Other Parties Carmen Maria Machado 2017 American English
3853 The Girl Next Door Jack Ketchum 1989 American English
3856 Closer Dennis Cooper 1989 American English
3883 The Cellar Richard Laymon 1980 American English
3886 Lunar Park Bret Easton Ellis 2005 American English
4146 The Dark Descent David Hartwell 1987 American English
4198 The Elementals Michael McDowell 1981 American English
4284 Boy's Life Robert R. McCammon 1991 American English
4458 The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman 2008 British English
4504 Different Seasons Stephen King 1982 American English
4517 When The Wind Blows Raymond Briggs 1982 British English
4533 Annihilation Jeff VanderMeer 2014 American English
4639 Prime Evil Douglas Winter 1988 American English
4654 Coraline Neil Gaiman 2002 British English
4932 The Terror Dan Simmons 2007 American English
4952 Songs Of A Dead Dreamer And Grimscribe Thomas Ligotti 1985 American English
4997 A Nest Of Nightmares Lisa Tuttle 1986 American English
4997 The Pet Charles L. Grant 1986 American English
5010 Zone One Colson Whitehead 2011 American English
5011 The Hungry Moon Ramsey Campbell 1986 British English
5112 Let The Right One In John Ajvide Lindqvist 2004 Swedish Swedish
5129 The Influence Ramsey Campbell 1988 British English
5153 Cursed Bunny Bora Chung 2021 Korean Korean
5231 Dark Feasts Ramsey Campbell 1987 British English
5234 Intensity Dean R. Koontz 1995 American English
5290 Revenge Yōko Ogawa 1998 Japanese Japanese
5315 The Vampire Tapestry Suzy McKee Charnas 1980 American English
5326 A Storm Of Wings M. John Harrison 1980 British English
5462 The Animals In That Country Laura Jean McKay 2020 Australian English
5517 Dolores Claiborne Stephen King 1992 American English
5594 World War Z Max Brooks 2006 American English
5618 Our Share of Night Mariana Enríquez 2019 Argentinian Spanish
5656 Soul Eater K. W. Jeter 1983 American English
5665 New Terrors Ramsey Campbell 1980 British English
5682 Frights Kirby McCauley 1980 American English
5692 Period Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
5757 Brown Girl In The Ring Nalo Hopkinson 1998 Canadian English
5769 The Businessman Thomas M. Disch 1984 American English
5811 John Dies At The End David Wong 2007 American English
5838 The Grotesque Patrick McGrath 1989 British English
5966 Incarnate Ramsey Campbell 1983 British English
5990 Bloodchild Octavia E. Butler 1984 American English
6000 The Cipher Kathe Koja 1991 American English
6123 Monster Naoki Urasawa 1994 Japanese Japanese
6146 The Historian Elizabeth Kostova 2005 American English
6156 The God Of The Woods Liz Moore 2024 Unknown English
6230 Shadowland Peter Straub 1980 American English
6245 Skeleton Crew Stephen King 1985 American English
6280 Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark Alvin Schwartz 1981 American English
6296 Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children Ransom Riggs 2011 American English
6404 Dark Prince Christine Feehan 1999 American English
6515 The Year's Best Fantasy And Horror Ellen Datlow 1988 American English
6609 Nos4 A2 Joe Hill 2013 American English
6610 The Collected Strange Stories Of Robert Aickman Robert Aickman 1999 British English
6646 Exquisite Corpse Poppy Z. Brite 1996 American English
6662 You Caroline Kepnes 2014 American English
6675 Uzumaki Junji Ito 1998 Japanese Japanese
6679 The Imago Sequence And Other Stories Laird Barron 2007 American English
6697 The Tattooist Of Auschwitz Heather Morris 2018 Australian English
6699 The Little Stranger Sarah Waters 2009 British English
6728 The Relic Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child 1995 American English
6801 Bird Box Josh Malerman 2014 American English
6808 The Queen Of The Damned Anne Rice 1988 American English
6818 Koko Peter Straub 1988 American English
6859 A Head Full Of Ghosts Paul Tremblay 2015 American English
6889 Frisk Dennis Cooper 1991 American English
6962 The Stress of Her Regard Tim Powers 1989 American English
7011 Ancestral Shadows Russell Kirk 2004 American English
7011 Green Tea Sheridan Le Fanu 2004 Irish English
7050 The Changeling Victor LaValle 2017 American English
7064 Creep To Death Joseph Payne Brennan 1981 American English
7086 There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbour’s Baby Ludmila Petrushevskaya 2009 Russian Russian
7103 Get In Trouble Kelly Link 2015 American English
7108 The Children Of The Dead Elfriede Jelinek 2024 Austrian German
7143 Black Hole Charles Burns 1995 American English
7159 Midnight Sun Ramsey Campbell 1990 British English
7581 Feed Seanan McGuire 2010 American English
7584 Verity Colleen Hoover 2018 American English
7594 The Reformatory Tananarive Due 2023 American English
7640 Lake Of The Devil Jessica Amanda Salmonson 1980 American English
7670 14 Peter Clines 2012 American English
7690 Dark Gods T. E. D. Klein 1985 American English
7697 The Ruins Scott Smith 2006 American English
7701 The Buffalo Hunter Hunter Stephen Graham Jones 2025 American English
7727 Cast A Cold Eye Alan Ryan 1984 American English
7727 Usher's Passing Robert R. McCammon 1984 American English
7734 Stag Dance Torrey Peters 2025 American English
7745 The Sending Geoffrey Household 1980 British English