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Horror

In this section you will find over 3.861 exciting and thrilling books about Horror. At Tales we have all types of good Horror books for each individual to enjoy, whether you want some of the classics, new or children’s horror books. We all need a little scare in our lives, to learn how to deal with the real world and acknowledge the fact that it is indeed okay to be scared. Scary stories also teach kids that Monsters are terrifying, but at the same time they’ll have an understanding of scary situations, and learn how to cope with them. Take a chance and let the mystery begin here.
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  • by Terrance Crawford
    £6.49

    Brave the terrifying world of PIGGY in this official illustrated novel based on the hit ROBLOX game!Diego was separated from his family in the early days of the Infection. Since then, he has moved from town to town and place to place -- getting by as best as he can.Recently, he has met and joined up with a motley crew of other survivors. After an encounter with a pack of the Infected, members of the group begin to disappear in mysterious and macabre ways.It's becomes clear that not everyone in the group is telling the whole truth.Can Diego and his new friends discover the traitor amongst them before it's too late?

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    by Jenni Howell
    £7.99

    WE WERE LIARS meets THE RAVEN BOYS in this steamy,mind-bending tale of revenge, sinister privilege and forbiddendesires set at an elite boarding school.

  • by Zohra Nabi
    £7.99

    The Cassia Thorne Mysteries follows a young Anglo-Indian girl as she uncovers supernatural secrets around her, fighting for justice in a series that combines Dickensian classic tales with a Gaimenesque dark twist.

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    by M.A. Bennett
    £7.99

    The monsters have come out to play. Join Eve, Griffin, Hal and Ren in the second Young Gothic book. Perfect for fans of Wednesday and Stranger Things, this is a gothic horror with a deadly mystery that will keep you guessing until the last page.

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    by Kate Howard
    £7.99

    Five Nights at Freddy's fans won't want to miss this pulse-poundingcollection of three novella-length tales that will keep even thebravest FNAF player up at night...

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    by Sara Lamerton
    £8.99

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    by Nadine Holland
    £8.99

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    £6.99

    Enjoy Every Cherry's new adaptation of Easier Classics' A Christmas Carol featuring a range of accessibility features to bring this story to as many people as possible.

  • by Colm Field
    £7.99

    Fourteen year old EVANGELINE knows she isn't good. She knows she might even be a bully to her quiet, studious classmate OLIVIA. But when her Dad returns home with a sinister looking Watching Elf, desperately hoping it will push her to behave, 'just in time for Christmas' , she's positive he's lost the plot. Just how old does he think she is?!But then footsteps scuttle past flickering fairy lights, when she's sneaking to places she shouldn't. A malevolent figure is reflected in her phone screen, when she's about to share malicious photographs. And, when a bullying teacher is brutally attacked during her detention, Evangeline starts to wonder: is this Watching Elf more than just a doll?And not to be forgotten, is Olivia. Always perfect Olivia. There's just something not right about her; she's got a part to play in this but Evangeline can't quite figure out what. All she knows is Olivia may not be as innocent or as perfect as she seems...The first in a brand new horror series, Blood Texts. Book 2 publishing 2nd September 2025. Cover illustration by Keith Robinson.

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    by Eva Frantz
    £8.99 - 13.49

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    by Eibhlis Carcione
    £7.99

    Welcome to Black Gables, the world's creepiest school with the creepiest Head Master who seems to be communicating with the lake ghouls. Even the pets are eerie.

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    by Eve McDonnell
    £7.99

    Brewster climbs chimneys risking his life as a sweep, but he has got a SECRET: he is a WIZARD with numbers and his numbers predict a TERRIFYING STORM OF STARS. Upon each star he'll cast a wish to be the last climbing boy ever. A powerful woman promises to make his wish come true, but challenges him to do the impossible in return: A WISH FOR A WISH.

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    by R.M. Gray
    £8.99

    It's been six hundred years since humanity was chased from the land to the ocean by Nightweavers, mystical beings cursed with untamed power over the elements. Humans, like seventeen-year-old pirate Aster and her family, were left to sail the seas, scavenging and looting what they could, eking out a meagre life.But after an epic battle where her eldest brother is killed by a new kind of monster, Aster soon learns that this world holds beings more terrible than Nightweavers. And when she and her family are captured at last, taken into the employ of a handsome Nightweaver lord named William Castor, she understands that his kind might just hold the key to avenging her brother's death.Alongside the brooding Will, a reckless mask-wearing pirate named Captain Shade, and a myriad of morally grey characters, Aster embarks on a thrilling quest to undo the wrongs against her family and her kind. But as blood is spilled and magical alliances are broken, dark secrets and illicit romance threaten to unravel everything Aster's ever known, loved and fought for...NIGHTWEAVER is an exhilarating YA mixture of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and modern fantasy romances like Sarah J. Maas's THRONE OF GLASS, Leigh Bardugo's SHADOW AND BONE, and Lauren Knowles' POWERLESS.

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    by Trang Thanh Tran
    £7.99

    Ever since a hurricane devastated the small town of Mercy, Louisiana, a red algae bloom has taken over. Mutated wildlife lurks in the water that rises by the day, but Mercy has always been a place where monsters walk in plain sight. Especially at its heart: the Cove, where Noon's life was upended long before the storm at a party her older boyfriend insisted on. Now, Noon is stuck navigating the submerged town with her mom, who believes their family have been reincarnated as sea creatures. Alone with the pain of what happened that night at the cove, Noon buries the truth: she is not the right shape. When Mercy's predatory leader demands Noon and her mum capture the creature drowning residents, she reluctantly finds an ally in his deadly hunter of a daughter and friends old and new. As the next storm approaches, Noon must confront the past and decide if it's time to answer the monster itching at her skin.

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    by Susan Cahill
    £7.99

    Marina has vanished to a world of gods and demons just when her family need her most. Will she be back in time to save them? There is a world between the ever falling rain. A world like no other.

  • by Alice Nuttall
    £7.99

    When the bees die out, a new pollinator arrives. Laying their eggsin people, deathflies turn people into dangerous zombies when theydie. But the world must adapt or there won't be enough to eat. Can Merian and her scientist mum convince others to save the zombies?And just what does it mean when a docile zombie shows up?

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    by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
    £7.99 - 8.99

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    by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
    £8.99

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    - Book 1
    by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
    £8.99

    Pack life is about order, but Bryn is about to push all the limits, with hair-raising results. At the age of four, Bryn watched a rabid werewolf brutally murder her parents. Alone in the world, she was rescued and taken in by Callum, the alpha of his pack. Now fifteen, Bryn's been as a human among werewolves, adhering to pack rule. Little fazes her. But the pack's been keeping a secret, and when Bryn goes exploring against Callum's orders, she finds Chase, a newly turned teen Were locked in a cage. Terrifying memories of the attack on her parents come flooding back. Bryn needs answers, and she needs Chase to get them. Suddenly, all allegiances to the pack no longer matter. It's Bryn and Chase against the werewolf world, whatever the consequences. A thrilling new YA adventure, with an electrifying link between a tough heroine and an exciting boy-were at its heart, Raised by Wolves will leave you howling for more.

  • by Yvonne Banham
    £7.99

    Paranormal students Delores and Prudence are being hounded by inquisitors after they broke the rules. As Delores tries save her friends, she attracts the attention of a murderous Boçain, or evil spirit. Can she defeat her enemies, and maybe her own family too, to save everyone she loves at the Tolbooth?

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    £6.99

    Enjoy Every Cherry's new adaptation of our Symbolised Classics' A Christmas Carol, featuring illustrations, sensory features and symbols to accompany the text to aid in reading comprehension and accessibility. Accompanied by a free signed and animated video of the story, this book strives to provide tools into reading in as many ways as possible.

  • by Claire Freedman
    £7.99

    A zany,new edition of Claire Freedman and Ben Cort's bestselling, riotous monster adventure, full of pantastic fun!

  • by Halogen Jones
    £6.99

    Weird and Creepy Tales of Whitby. Toby is visiting his cousin Keisha in Whitby. Her scientist dad has found a fossil crocodile in Saltwick Bay. But there's more than fossils in the cave. In no time they are chasing living dinosaurs in the heart of Whitby.

  • by Halogen Jones
    £6.99

    Weird and Creepy Tales of Whitby. It's half term and the kids have nothing to do until they spot an advert to model vampire costumes. But there is something creepy about the shop and those Goth keyring charms looks weirdly real ...

  • by Halogen Jones
    £6.99

    Weird and Creepy Tales of Whitby. The girls are on a boat ride out of Whitby harbour to see the dolphins. But they sail straight into a thick fog. What is the wooden wall that appears by the boat and where does the sword that smashes down onto the deck come from?

  • by Halogen Jones
    £6.99

    Weird and creepy tales of Whitby. Jack is on holiday with his friend Violet and her annoying little brother Tom when they see a strange shadow of a dog playing on the 199 Steps. The dog's owner is a girl called Lucy who lives with her grandfather, who seems suspiciously like a vampire ...

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    by Xan Kaur
    £7.99

    In rural southern Georgia, a periodical cicada brood returns after 13 years underground, and with their deafening scream comes the Cicada Song, a competition hosted in the gated, wealthy enclave of Lake Clearwater to find the best musician in the state. For Neera Singh, this competition is a lifeline, a way to save her family's future from the financial debt they've been battling since her uncle Ajay's death three years ago. Winning could ensure the survival of their motel ? their home and their livelihood.When Dawson Sumter, a guest at the motel, disappears, Neera is drawn into an amateur investigation with Isaiah Johnson ? her estranged childhood friend and the son of a prominent judge. They start to suspect the town's wealth, their family's debts, and the strange disappearances are entwined with supernatural forces rooted in a creepy local legend.Teaming up with two other local teens?Sam, the daughter of the motel's loathsome handyman, and Reid, the son of the wealthiest man in town?they set out to figure out how deep the rot of this town goes, and to find a way to escape its reach. The call of this summer's brood of cicadas is growing...and beneath their deafening scream, something awakens, ready for its next meal.

  • by Robert Louis Stevenson
    £7.99

    Dr Jekyll faces awful consequences when he lets his dark side run wild with a potion that changes him into the disgustingly evil Mr Hyde.

  • by Alex Bell
    £7.99

    All aboard for The Train of Dark Wonders! The second book in the magical must-read middle-grade series.

The Horror Genre
Horror is a cultural genre that is meant to scare, shock and repulse its audience. An important thing to remember about this type of genre is that it elicits a dreadful sense in the reader through frightening and terrifying themes, situations and descriptive images. When we read a horror book, everything is important, such as the storyline, characters and the whole atmosphere. It is meant to provoke and shock the reader with its exploration of the unknown. The depreciating value that horror has, will help us understand why something is indeed scary. Look at it this way, once you see the monster come into the light, and you see it for what it truly is, it will help you to be less afraid. This genre also has several sub-genres, some of them consist of; Gothic, Science fiction, Survival, Occult, Dark fantasy, Paranormal, etc. Each has its own distinct characteristics. 

Classic Horror books
If we think about some of the popular classic horror books, the first author that will pop up is most likely the gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe. The gothic novel is a subgenre under horror that specifically has a focus on death, originated in the 18th century and is mastered by him. In the 19th and 20th century the horror writers focused on something completely different, such as tales involving occult ideas, and the popular books Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Dracula by Bram Stoker came into the picture and still kept their relevance today. Frankenstein is a classic story about a scientist who accidentally creates a monster when his experiment goes horribly wrong. And Dracula is a gothic novel about a vampyre who has a desire to spread the undead curse to as many mortal humans as possible. These two popular stories are well known worldwide and they will never lose their relevance, no matter how old they get. That is the magic of being a classic.  

New Horror books
As for the newer horror books, 2019-2021 had been some epic years for horror fiction. It is an ever-evolving genre and so many new voices blossomed. Most of the popular horror stories today involve crime writing, especially serial killers, slashers, and the ghost of the past. Something about newly written gothic stories that take place in the Victorian-era is so thrilling to read about, here we find books like the Stalking Jack the Ripper series by Kerri Maniscalo. The author incorporates themes of equality and social justice which takes the mystery of the infamous murderer to a whole new level. The main character Audrey Rose, eschews polite society for the very scandalous pastime of learning burgeoning science of forensic medicine. While she spends her time being captivated by science, there’s a serial killer on the loose. There’s nothing more thrilling and entertaining than reading about an inspiring heroine who solves mystery crimes. 
Children’s horror books are also important to address. Here we find Nightmares by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller, where the younger audience can explore dark territory but at the same time be comforted. It is a book that’ll reassure you how to overcome the power of fear. The main character Charlie’s and his friends’ adventure in the Netherworld is harrowing, because they’re in constant danger, but together they try to face their fears and conquer their nightmares. 

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