12 New Horror Books Being Published Throughout 2025

A young girl draws a self-portrait after killing her mother. A father shares pictures his wife drew during the pregnancy that would ultimately lead to her death. A mother is shown the disturbing picture her son drew in class. Separately—concerning. Together? Sinister. Each picture offers clues for a spine-tingling mystery that simmers beneath the surface of these nine seemingly disconnected stories.

Calla wants to focus on her job—proving that she’s more than a diversity hire at a marketing firm. Instead, she’s spending less time at work and more time taking care of her sixteen-year-old brother Jamie. Sure, their brother Dre, the middle child in their family unit, is supposed to be helping. Too bad “supposed to” is doing a lot of heavy lifting these days.

After Jamie ends up in an altercation with a cop at a protest, the siblings are forced to flee to an Airbnb straight out of a horror movie. In the isolated forest, Calla’s anxiety and nightmares about her brothers dying start bleeding into her waking life. She tries to warn them, but they wave her off. They really should have listened to their sister…

A devastating hurricane has left Mercy, Louisiana, half submerged and drowning in red algae. Now residents are going missing—falling victim to a so-called monster haunting the town's waters. But Noon knows better than anyone that Mercy’s monsters prefer hiding in plain sight.

When town leadership demands that Noon and her mother go out to hunt the creature plaguing Mercy’s waters, Noon is forced to confront the truth that she hasn’t been okay. Before the storm had the chance to change everything in her hometown, Noon had already changed. Something itches beneath her skin, and it might be more dangerous than Mercy.

Skipping mass isn’t a sin. But when Catherine decides that everything will be fine if she misses just once (after all, she is an adult now!)—she learns that her mother's nagging about keeping the Sabbath was motivated by something bigger than faith.

The guilt of missing a church service is quickly surmounted by the fact that the prince of hell is now in Catherine’s head. Isn’t demonic possession supposed to be instigated by something more... sinister? Catherine sets out to exorcise demons both paranormal and emotional as she grapples with what it means to be a good person. If such a thing even exists.

The Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived at Aymar Castle to offer assistance amid a siege. Food supplies are running low, and the survivors are dwindling in numbers. All the Constant Lady and her Saints request in return for their help is adoration.

Soon, the castle is filled with luxurious feasts of questionable origin, and most inhabitants of the castle are happy to offer allegiance to the Constant Lady. Phosyne, Treila, and Ser Voyne are the only three women in the castle who can see through the illusion of their new benefactors, though they’re not immune to the temptations of what the Constant Lady has to offer. To save the castle, these women are going to have to reimagine their understanding of who they are and how the world operates.

It’s a miracle that Flora Braddock Paz is alive right now. Both a creative soul and a scaredy-cat, Flora has never put herself on the top of the list of “people likely to survive a zombie attack.” Except she’s alive with her older brother Cain in their ravaged LA suburb. Their mom is dead, and their dad is AWOL. Safe to say that nothing is as expected after a rabies mutation sweeps through the country.

Out of options, Flora and Cain start venturing to Northern California, where they hope to find a safe haven in a secluded cabin where they used to vacation. But this journey is haunted by more than zombies. Turns out the memories are just as complicated as surviving the apocalypse.

Willie knows that trying to escape the plantation where he and his wife are enslaved means death. He’s ready to give up hope when Rafazi offers him a new, darker shade of hope. Rafazi is the lone survivor of the Ramanga, an African vampire tribe from Ghana, who’s been waiting for the opportunity to revive the power that his tribe once held.

Desperate to protect his wife and unborn child, Willie agrees to help stage a revolt to free his people from slavery. Willie’s wife, Gertie, is unsure that violence is the way to break free, but Willie’s already in too deep. Blood will spill one way or another, and he’d much rather it be slave owners than his.

Brigid thought cutting out her extremist Catholic family was going to be the fresh start she and her daughter Dylan needed. But when Dylan’s “fresh start” starts to look like fits of violence, Brigid can’t help remembering the last time she saw someone behave this way. A girl in Brigid’s childhood had once acted like Dylan. The solution? An exorcism.

Terrified that Dylan might be possessed, Brigid packs their bags and runs home back to the same person who saved that little girl years ago—Father Angus. Exorcisms have a funny way of regurgitating family trauma, and now Brigid’s on a quest to uncover the secrets behind that first exorcism from her childhood. Is she saving her daughter, or did she drag Dylan to a fate worse than possession?

Noah comes home from Bible camp to discover that Alex, his secret boyfriend, has disappeared. Alex may have been troubled, but he wouldn’t have left without telling anyone—especially not his friends.

Desperate to find Alex, Noah, and his friends work together to uncover the mystery of his disappearance... Even if it means delving into the world of the paranormal to save him. These teens are going to have to work through heartbreak, shame, and anger if they’re going to save Alex from his demons.

Nowhere used to be the Rocky Mountain Ranch where movie star Leaf Winham lived until he was exposed as a murderer. Years later, teenagers squat in the burned carcass of the estate ravaged by fire. The teens are a fierce group quick to defend their turf and their clan at any cost.

When Riley and Oliver run away with the intent of escaping the monsters at home, they set their sights on Nowhere. Their hopes of finding a new family in Nowhere are dashed when Riley realizes that she underestimated the ferocity of Nowhere’s children. They soon discover that there's a terrible price for sanctuary in Nowhere. Riley and Oliver thought they knew evil, but Nowhere may be worse than their greatest fears.

Singer-songwriter Tian is known online for her hypnotic vocals and ethereal looks. But being famous doesn’t solve all of life’s problems—especially not when several fans die while watching Tian’s newest livestream. ...Oops? Following this incident, her team sends her on a spiritual “healing” retreat in the South China Sea to help Tian recuperate.

She’s joined by Shenyu, one of her collaborators, and Liya, her best friend (and bodyguard). A remote island should be enough to relax, except 24/7 surveillance and bizarre rituals make it clear that this retreat is more than this trio bargained for. Add in something not quite human lurking in the forest, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster… or human sacrifice. If Tian wants to make it out alive with her loved ones, she’s going to have to figure out why they were sent there in the first place, before their names join a list of celebrities gone too soon. 

1750 : Before she can be persecuted for witchcraft as a healer, Anne Bolton runs away with her daughter. She makes a deal with a dark entity to protect herself—and her loved ones—for the next three hundred years.

1953 : Mary Shepard is a member of The Path—a faith community centered around piety on family values. As a new mother and “perfect” wife, Mary takes up a part-time job to escape the lofty expectations weighing her down. But when she falls for a woman, Mary discovers the extremes The Path will go through to protect its beliefs.

2007 : The women in The Path are dying of a rare disease, but that won’t stop Camilla Burson from pushing her father too far. When she’s sent to The Retreat as punishment, Camilla uncovers an old power waiting for her if she’s willing to risk everything for a bit of comeuppance.