JIM MCLEOD'S TOP HORROR BOOKS OF 2018

2018 has been a bumper year for horror, the range and diversity of horror on the physical and virtual bookshelves, probably hasn't been in such a strong place for as long as I can remember.  

As the year draws to a close here are some of the books that I think you should all go out and purchase, if you would like to purchase one, please click on the cover image of the books as that will take you your region specific Amazon store, purchasing a book in this manner not only helps to keep the site going, it also helps to fund The Scottish Springer Spaniel Rescue Foundation, which is my Amazon Smile nominated charity.

As always not all of the books may have been published this year, it just so happens that i have read them this year.  

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NOVELS / NOVELLAS 

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The LAST TEMPTATION OF DR VALENTINE
​BY JOHN LLEWELLYN PROBERT 

The Last Temptation of Dr Valentine is the most outlandish and fun-filled outing of this most excellent series of novellas and novels.  When an American film crew decides to come to Bristol to make a film of the book which chronicled the murders he committed against those who he felt were responsible for the deaths of wife, Dr Valentine takes this as a slight upon himself forcing him out of retirement to deliver his own unique brand of revenge and restitution to the utter delight to the reader.  

The Last Temptation of Dr Valentine combines a thrilling narrative, with a warm and witty look at the history of British horror, to deliver an exuberant and triumphant story that will put a smile on the face of even the most indifferent of horror fans.  

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WINWARD BY CHAD A. CLARK

When Wendy and Rubin decide to take a weekend trip to Winward Colorado to visit some old friends, they would never have imagined that they would be thrown headlong into a nightmare trip that will see them fighting for their very survival in a disturbing journey into the hellish dark heart of Colorado

Chad A. Clark's novella is a whirlwind tale that refuses to let up.  Clark wastes no time in dropping Wendy, Rubin and the reader into the action, and your feet will barely touch the floor during the course of this taut tale of terror. 

​Winward is a brutal tale, but Clark never pushes it so far that the narrative becomes over the top or unbelievable, with a spectacular final set piece Clark ensures that Winward is an unyielding thriller that packs one hell of a hell of a punch.  

Taught, Thrilling and disturbing Winward does for Colorado what Deliverance did for Georgia.

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THE HOLLOW TREE BY JAMES BROGDEN

There is a power in stories, a power to root themselves into a nation's subconscious and an ability to take on a life of their own.  James Brogden's  The Hollow Tree uses one such story as the basis for his latest novel from Titan Books.  Based on the true story of infamous Bella in the Wych Elm, The Hollow Tree uses this fascinating legend as the foundation for a chilling folk horror ghost story about the compelling nature of story and belief. 

The Hollow Tree is a gripping supernatural thriller, filled with great ideas, a fresh take on the tried and trusted ghost story, and a genuinely unique Big Bad Monster.  A sympathetic and fitting extension to the myths surrounding Bella in the Wych Elm.  ​

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The Children at the Bottom of the Gardden
​BY JONATHAN BUTCHER 

Jonathan Butcher seems to be carving out his unique brand of hardcore but thoughtful horror.  The Children at the Bottom of the Gardden, may not be as intense or emotionally brutal as his psychologically damaging What Good Girls Do, but it does share the same full on no holds barred brand of personal real-life horror as his exceptional novella.  

This multi-stranded novel is a work of genius, the intertwining of the individual character narratives into one mind-blowing story is a work of genius.  The use of different fonts for each character may seem odd at first; however, it adds a wonderful layer to bring forth the unique voices and character arcs in the story.  

A brutal crime story with a pinch of folk horror The Children at the Bottom of the Gardden is unlike any other book you have read. 

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Out Behind the Barn  by Chad Lutzke and  John Boden  

​Out Behind the Barn is a sad and poignant tale of backwoods horror, Maggie's farm seems like an idyllic place, the perfect place to raise a family, but something isn't right here, something hides behind the tightly bound buttons of the shirts that the children wear.  

Boden and Lutzke have created a novella that oozes with mounting dread and sense of wrongness, carefully plotted they slowly reveal what is wrong with what seems like a perfect family situation, a dark and brooding piece that will get you in the feels.  Out Behind the Barn is reminiscent  of the best of Ray Bradbury, lyrical, elegant prose that drives a spellbinding slow-burning narrative to a heartbreaking conclusion.

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HELL SHIP BY BENEDICT J JONES 

Hell Ship is a gutsy steamroller of a novella, Jones kicks off with a deeply disturbing prologue, usually I'm not a fan of prologues, in a  lot of cases a prologue just feels like the author doesn't know how to start the main thrust of the story, however with hell Ship Jones has created one that perfectly sets the tone for the rest of story.  He captures the claustrophobic horrific plight of the captured allied soldiers perfectly, with a strong sense of narrative speed and the excellent way in which he underplays the level of blood and guts. 

Hell Ship is a fast-paced self-contained story that delivers on all counts, great characters, a brilliantly nasty villain, and a story that doesn't ration the scares, they say worse things happen at sea, but if they are half as much fun as this book, you should gladly  take a punt on this. ​

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DEMON THINGY BY JONATHAN BUTCHER AND MATTHEW CASH

If you are looking for intelligent discourse on the dangers of dabbling with demons dangly bits then you have come to the wrong book, and you should back away very slowly, but if you are looking for a book that will make you wish you hadn't eaten just before reading it. Or a book that will make wish you had never google granny porn then this is the book for you, yes it will make you feel somewhat dirty at times, but you will have a hell of a time reading it. ​

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WITNESSES BY ANTHONY WATSON

There are times when an author attempts to try something different with simple narrative structure if a story, and a lot of the time they end falling on their flat on their face, with a story that just ends up being confused, convoluted or even worse just annoying. 
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Witnesses is one of those books that will infuriate you at the start but once you become invested in it, and the brilliance of the novel  clicks in you will be rewarded with a novel that dares to break away from the mundane methods of storytelling and stand out from the rest of the pack.  

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​THE HOUSE OF FROZEN SCREAMS BY THANA NIVEAU

Gothic haunted house stories are a dime a dozen, but when they are of the quality of Thana Niveau's novel, you can be forgiven for forgetting about all of the others.  

Thana's debut novel is a blinder, deeply disturbing, poetic and constantly wrong-footing the reader The House of Frozen Screams is a modern gothic masterpiece.  

Unsettling and unnerving mixing psychological horror with some nasty body horror The House of Frozen Screams is as much about the gothic haunted house as it is about the haunting of relationships. 

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HALCYON BY RIO YOUERS  

Opening with my favourite line of 2018 

"she saw the man with no hands first." 

Rio Youers halcyon hits the ground running and doesn't let up over its 500 pages.  Cults in all forms have always freaked me out, and this book does nothing to elevate that feeling.  

With a powerful and compelling narrative that layers on tension page after page, with some of the most detailed and fully formed characters ever to appear on the page, this modern day metaphor for America and Western civilisation is thought-provoking and upsetting read.  Youers explores a central theme of only being able to find salvation and safety by intelligently paying with pain and heartache.  

If you only read one novel of this list, Halcyon has to be that book.  Exceptional 

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COLLECTIONS / ANTHOLOGIES 

BOOK REVIEW: BROKEN ON THE INSIDE BY PHIL SLOMAN

Broken on the Inside​, is a magnificent collection of stories, writing about mental health issues is never easy, it can result in some clumsy, heavy-handed writing that does nothing to address the issues that the writer is trying to address, but to attempt this within a genre story, that demands the inclusion of certain aspects and themes makes this task even more daunting.  Sloman has more than risen to the challenge, all of the five stories transcend the trappings of the genre to deliver a set of intelligent, heartfelt, and haunting incursions into the broken minds that so many of us suffer from.  If this book doesn't win awards this year then there is something seriously wrong with the world.

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DOORBELLS AT DUSK EDITED BY EVANS LIGHT

​Doorbells at Dusk is  an excellent anthology, when the stories work they work spectacularly.  When you have an anthology where authors such as Mallerman, Evan's Light, Chad Lutzke, Jason Parent and Adam Light are firing on all cylinders, then you have a winner in your hands.  And who knows perhaps you will find that the few tales that didn't work for this reviewer will work for you.  Doorbells at Dusk captures the essence of Halloween, it is fun, scary, and will leave with a rush that only an overdose of candy corn can match.  

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BLACK ROOM MANUSCRIPTS EDITED
​BY J.R. PARK AND TRACY FAHEY 

To be open about this I was honoured beyond belief to be asked to write the introduction for the first volume in this series of anthologies and to write the afterword for the final volume. However, that doesn't take away from how important this anthology series has been, and the final volume builds on the success of the previous entries to produce one of the best anthologies you will read this year.  

Justin Park and Tracy Fahey, have collected a diverse range of stories that prove that horror is more than a one trick pony, taking in the full variety of styles from quiet horror, to the more full-on horror that too many people think is what horror is, The Black Room Manuscripts is as close to being the  perfect anthology you are likely to get.  

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THE UNHEIMLICH MANOEUVRE BY TRACY FAHEY 

Sometimes the most horrific things can be found in the mundane world, while Tracy Fahey's exceptional collection is deeply rooted in the mundane these tales are as far from the mundane as you could get.  

Fahey writes with I like to call a fractured beauty, she looks at the world and what makes us human with a keen sense of beauty but when you look closer and let the stories take you over you realise that the beauty is broken, like a porcelain doll with its face cracked it make look nice at a distance, but when you get up close, you notice that the beauty is just a veneer.  

The stories within this collection have just that a veneer of normality, from a someone revisiting their childhood home, to a coma patient waking up and feeling dislocated from the world around them, to a strange drawing on the wall that causes ruptures in a marriage, this is a collection of engaging modern gothic tales is a subtle exercise in creating distributing fiction from the imply rather than the show and tell. 

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All the Fabulous Beasts by Priya Sharma 

If you ever have the pleasure of meeting Priya in the flesh, you'll be blessed with an all-encompassing sensation of serenity; she indeed is one of the nicest people you will ever meet.  

And it shows in her fiction; she underpins every one of these beautiful horror tales with a deep sense of humanity and heart.  That's not to say that these stories aren't disturbing or are fluffy, far from it, Priya has created a collection of stories filled with tragedy, and an intimate horror that has the power to move you as much as it will unsettle you.  

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THE FIENDS IN THE FURROWS
​ EDITED BY DAVID T. NEAL AND CHRISTINE M. SCOTT 

Folk horror is quickly becoming the in thing, and it is easy to see why, the roots of it have been ingrained into psyche for generations, from the campfire tales to the fairy tales your granny you used to tell you, it's a genre that is perfect for these times.  

The Fiends in the Furrows, takes the bustling in the hedgerows and turns them into your darkest nightmares, from Stephen Toase's delightfully macabre  The Jaws of Ouroboros, mixes drug lords with an almost Quatermass weirdness, to the almost sensual terror of Lindsay King-Miller's The Fruit, and The First Order of Whaleyville's Divine Basilisk Handlers by Eric J. Guignard which sees old feuds stirred up by religious fervour, this is an anthology that will stir up those primal fears that are ingrained in all of us. ​

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