 Since it is only something like five or six weeks until Christmas it seemed only right to start our round up of the novels, short stories, anthologies, novellas and basically everything else that we felt really stood out this year. These lists will hopefully give you some ideas for presents for your loved ones, or even just for yourself. I'm going to cheat and rather than having a best of list for each category I'm just going to list what I thought were the highlights over the whole horror genre this year. A s always if anything takes your fancy please consider purchasing the items through the associated links as doing so helps to keep Ginger Nuts of Horror afloat, as all income that is generated is put back into the site via advertising and promos which helps to bring the reviews of your favourite horror makers to an even wider audience. BEST HORROR FICTION 2015 Last year Adam Nevill chilled us to the bone with one of the most claustrophobic horror novels of the recent times. This year Adam gave a truly chilling vision of a possible near future. Lost Girl is a masterpiece of personal horror within a world gone to hell. It is a brutal unrelenting story that will leave you feeling as bleak as the future of the world written about within its pages. Purchase a copy here  Neil Spring, much like Adam Nevill is in my opinion an author who just gets better and better with each new publication. The Watchers is a perfect slice of X-Files type paranoia set in 1970's England with government conspiracies, Aliens, mysterious cults and isolated villages, The Watchers is an exhilarating read that brings something new and special to the table with it's unique take on the close encounters of the spooky kind. Purchase a copy here  If you are looking for a cracking no holds barred love letter to the horror films of 1970s then you can do no better than Slaughter Beach from Ben Jones. This is a riotous mix of non stop thrills and bloody kills Slaughter Beach packs in more fun and excitement in its novella length than you could ever think possible. Purchase a copy here  William Meikle has published many great stories this year, however after a long deliberation my pick of the year from the Meikle has to go to his novella Tormentor. A chilling ghost story that set on the Island of Skye, Meikle perfectly captures the sense of the island with a few choice passages. With the cold and bleakness of the north coat of the island perfectly mimicking the cold and bleakness of the protagonists plight. Tormentor is a prime example of how to write a truly chilling ghost story. Purchase a copy here  I like stories with emotional depth, I prefer my horror to come from the emotions of the story's protagonists rather than from some poorly written scene of carnage and death. The Bureau of Them, Cate Gardner's beautiful tale of loss, separation and isolation is a perfect example of this, a deeply emotional story of a woman coming to terms with the death of her partner, and her frantic quest to be reunited with him, this is a power story that draws its horror from the her sense of loss and loss of control. Purchase a copy here  Simon Kurt Unsworth's The Devil's Detective is an intriguing novel. As the title suggests it's a detective story set in Hell. Thomas Fool is one of Hell's information men, a pawn a pure bureaucratic hell, where the bodies of sinners are "born" into bodies with no sense or memory of their past lives. He must find he killer of body on the shore before all hell really does break out. Unsworth's book is a glorious mix of horror, fantasy and neo noir all set against a backdrop of a uniwue vision of hell. Purchase a copy here  This is the story of Scott, Paul, and Mark, and the dynamics of their friendship is a thing of beauty. Their interactions with each other and the peripheral characters reads so true that you begin to wonder if this is an autobiography masquerading as fiction. They live and breath on the page, with their hopes, dreams and even their fears laid bare before us. The characters are so strong that you cannot help but be drawn to them and even be reminded of some of your own past friends. Dead Leaves is a bittersweet coming of age story, full of emotionally charged writing that manages to present a sentimental look at a bygone age without ever becoming schmaltzy. Deeply moving and perfectly realized it cements Andrew David Barker's reputation as a top flight writer. Purchase a copy here  Hell’s Ditch is a deeply complex novel that forces the reader to face up to many truths about the horrors of war. The grimy and dirty narrative perfectly captures the horrible nature of a resistance war of attrition. Bestwick’s descriptive passages of the ruined landscape are truly evocative the sights, smells and screams of the narrative and it’s setting will imprint in your subconscious, with images of trench warfare from World War One coming to fore with a ruined no man’s land feel to the world. It is a living and breathing landscape that serves as the perfect canvas for Bestwick to paint his wonderfully complex characters onto. Available from Snow Books on December 1st. Stay tuned for more entries in our round up of the year including my round up of horror films of the year Each of Ginger Nuts wonderful contributors will be providing their own list of their top reads, will there be any cross overs or will we all have a unique list? If you happen to purchase any of these books on Amazon please scroll down to our reviews and give them a "yes" vote on the "was this review helpful" at the end of the review. THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR REVIEWSComments are closed.
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