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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 Steph Crowley
    £8.99

    In a remote Arctic research base, scientists find worms alive after thousands of years in the ice. Taylor and Miles, visiting science students, help with the scientists' work - until they discover something else that has survived the freeze. Something that could threaten the whole planet. They need to act fast - and a storm is moving in.

  • by Eve Bunting
    £7.99

    In this stunning collaboration of two exceptional talents, the striking charcoal illustrations and nimble text reveal what happens at night when the gargoyles come to life.

  • by H J Ralles
    £21.49

    Was that a g-g-ghost? No way! Alex didn't believe in such things! But when a ghost scares Alex half to death on the beach at Treasure Island, San Luis Pass, in Texas, he begins to change his mind. Why does the ghost keep wailing 'Malhado'? Why does he carry that revolting cow skull? And why does he whisper about buried treasure? Only Juliann believes Alex's ghostly tale of a Spanish Conquistador. As Alex and his friend discover the exciting history of Treasure Island, they learn that there just might be treasure to be found.

  • by Margaret Blythe
    £11.99

    A three-story house nestled in the hills outside of Portland, Maine, is the setting for House of Lies. The novel tells of a young woman coming out of her shell and standing up for what she believes in. Myra Webb is just such a person. But her story goes further than that.When Myra goes to work for Ned Granger, a famous industrialist, she gets caught up in intrigue and the supernatural. She also solves the mystery of a room on the third floor of the Grainger house.From the moment Myra asks the hesitant taxi driver to take her to the house for her job interview, she begins to have misgivings."My goodness," Myra said as she settled in the back seat. "You act as if the place were haunted."Margaret Blythe grew up in Lyerly, Georgia, a small town in the western part of the state. She now lives with her husband of 32 years in Fort Payne, Alabama.

  • - Terrorlands
    by Marco Kwan Ching Chu
    £10.49

  • by Clara Kensie
    £20.99

    Lily Summerhays remembers how she died in each of her past lives.Ever Abrams does too.Lily is reckless and fearless.Ever is cautious and follows the rules.Lily wants to leave boring, rural Ryland and explore the world.Ever wants to stay in quiet, safe Ryland for the rest of her life.Lily was killed eighteen years ago while trying to solve her friend's murder.Ever is Lily reborn, and now she will have to break every rule and face every fear to find Lily's killer-before he kills her twice.From Clara Kensie, author of the RITA® award-winning Deception So series and the critically-acclaimed Aftermath, comes KILL ME ONCE, KILL ME TWICE: a dual-timeline, dual-romance, dual-mystery/thriller with a touch of magical realism for fans of The Walls Around Us and Vanishing Girls.

  • by Manya Singh
    £13.49

    'Vacations aren't meant to be spent alone when it's a matter of ghosts' "A chill breeze came in. Suddenly, Clara felt as if someone was whispering to her, but to her surprise, Kate and Ariel were fast asleep."Clara, Kate and Ariel are off on a vacation to meet Uncle Steve Long. Before they could even seek comfort on the couch, strange sounds and sights from a villa started to haunt them. Spooky hills, haunted houses and talking spirits were never a part of their planned vacation. From baffling clues to creepy events everything seemed to be connected. The girls crave to unearth the truth before this ghostly maze entangles these sleuths.'A Haunted House on the Hills' is a thriller mystery book which will surely send shivers down your spine.

  • by Mikki Noble
    £16.99

    Marley has always been a girl who knows what she wants, and she wants nothing more than to save her father and to get her best friend back. Unfortunately, both of those jobs are out of her hands, and her powers have mysteriously stopped working. But Marley has never been able to sit around and do nothing. When a new voice pops up in her head, telling her to gain control of her powers, Marley intends to do just that. Only she doesn't know how. She doesn't even know why they've stopped working. What she does know is that more than one soul will be lost if she doesn't find a way to make her powers work. Follow the adventures of Marley and her friends in this magical follow-up to Piggybacker, book one in the Vessel of Lost Souls trilogy.

  • - A Paranormal Urban Fantasy Anthology
    by Heather Hayden
    £12.49

    The real world and imagination collide in this international collection of paranormal urban fantasies.Some cities are inhabited by lycanthropes: a werewolf-turned-private-eye takes on a kidnapping case that upsets his plans for a simple life; a vegetarian werewolf must join forces with a local pack to save their city; and a twenty-something lycan thinks she's the scariest monster in town until she meets a necromancer.Children are often the center of paranormal activity: a troop of Mountain Gals on a camping trip runs afoul of a witch; a high school outcast pairs up with an angel to guide ghosts to their final rests; a young fae intelligence agent is placed on his first undercover assignment at a high school; and a little girl rattles a zombie-run pub for supernatural clientele when she accidentally begins haunting it.These young urbanites are more than they seem: a kindhearted girl changes her life forever when she offers shelter to an injured hellhound; a runty dragon dwells in the sewers plotting revenge while dreaming of reliable takeout; and an ordinary detective must team up with a young hotshot magician to solve a mysterious disappearance.Step across the paranormal divide with these ten short stories, and you'll never look at your hometown the same way again.

  • - A Horror Anthology
    by Heather Hayden
    £11.49

    Even when we think we're safe, our biggest fears can be revealed, our worst nightmares brought to life.For some, death is inevitable: a suspended detective and killer play a bloody game of cat and mouse; a girl risks her life to save her friends from an urban legend; a doctor's daughter works to uncover the curse on their wayward ship; and an old lady's cats are hungry…very hungry.For others, death would have been an easier fate: a reflection isn't meant to talk, let alone free itself; a priestess must renew her people's magic, but that ritual carries a terrible price; and a famous boy rejects a lovesick girl…and lives to regret it.Through life and death, the only constant is our fear of the unknown: bloody footprints continue to walk around a lighthouse; Grandma's warnings of the Autumn People are finally heard loud and clear; and a girl moves into a new house to find a bloodstained carpet…that no one else can see.Keep the lights on and brace yourself for ten creepy tales of horror and misfortune.

  • - Help Your Children Overcome Fears
    by Ingo Blum
    £12.99

  • by Zykov Nathaniel
    £18.49

    Mina is a girl who is going through her high school years without many adventures. Suddenly, she is plagued by a mysterious dream just before she decides to travel with her friends on a seemingly uneventful trip. Her life takes a twist as she finds out that her friend is the last living descendant of an ancient organization known as the magic repellers-sworn to rid the world of all traces of dark magic. With their absence, another group has risen to power with the goal of creating a perfect elite society of immortals, with all of humanity beneath their heels. Accidentally discovering a lost experiment that is the last step in total domination, Mina and her friends are thrown on a path to stop the rogue magic users and hopefully get out alive. On the way, Mina meets new allies, battles monsters and other unearthly creatures of the night, faces mistrust and heartbreak. All with the fate of the world riding on her success.

  • - A Ghost Story
    by John Paulits
    £12.99

    Can Dougie and Gwen find out who pushed Curly to his death from a second floor porch? With Curly's ghostly help, they plan to try.Dougie's best friend Curly dies in an accident. Yet, Dougie keeps hearing Curly's voice coming from the strangest places. When Dougie's mom sees him talking to… nothing, she gets very worried. When Curly's voice tells Dougie it wasn't an accident that sent him off the second floor porch, Dougie promises to do what he can to bring the two men responsible to Justice-if only Curly's twin sister didn't have to be involved.

  • by Joan Aiken
    £6.49

    Book Band: Dark Blue - Ideal for ages 9+A brilliant collection of spine-chilling tales by Joan Aiken, author of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. From a mysterious traveller who leaves an injured horse with a stranger, to a garden plant that slowly creeps into a house during a thunderstorm and a man who comes across two angry forces in the middle of a forest, this chilling collection of stories will have readers jumping at bumps in the night.Much-loved author Joan Aiken is best known for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and the Arabel and Mortimer books. This brilliant collection has spooky black-and-white illustrations by Masha Ukhova and is perfect for children who are developing as readers. The Bloomsbury Readers series is packed with book-banded stories to get children reading independently in Key Stage 2 by award-winning authors like double Carnegie Medal winner Geraldine McCaughrean and Waterstones Prize winner Patrice Lawrence. With engaging illustrations and online guided reading notes written by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), this series is ideal for home and school. For more information visit www.bloomsburyreaders.com.'Any list that brings together such a quality line up of authors is going to be welcomed . Bloomsbury Readers are aimed squarely at children in Key Stage 2 and designed to support them as they start reading independently and while they continue to gain confidence and understanding.' Books for Keeps

  • by Ashley McLeo
    £16.99

    A mysterious fae-shifter. A battle royale. A discovery of a lifetime.I've always been different. Awkward. Horrible at magic. A square peg shoved into a round hole.But after I'm sucked into Faerie, I have a chance to start over, to find love, and discover my lost bloodline.Crazily enough, my magic is finally cooperating too.And yet, there's one hitch. Because there's always a hitch, isn't there?To get what I want most, I have to fight gladiator style-and I must win.The competition is infinitely more powerful than me, cunning, and a thousand times more charming. Still, when I really want something, I don't give up.And I won't start now.If you like the atmosphere of Holly Black's The Cruel Prince and the action of Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse, you'll love Ashley McLeo's twisted Bonegates Series.Discover a unique take on Faerie and magic today.

  • by Caroline Flarity
    £9.99

    "Supernatural meets Mean Girls" in this dark, YA paranormal mystery for older teens.Sixteen-year-old Anna sees things from another world, the spiritual world, a skill that isn't exactly useful in high school. It's bad enough that her mother, possessed by a demon, took her own life when Anna was a child, a loss she remains tortured by. Now her father makes his living "clearing" haunted objects, and Anna's job as his assistant makes her a social misfit. Most kids in her suburban New Jersey town refer to her just as "Goblin Girl."Only Freddy and Dor remain loyal friends. But Anna's so focused on her own problems, she's missed that her connection with Freddy is moving beyond the friend zone and that Dor is in crisis.As junior year approaches, a rare solar storm lights up the night skies and the citizens of Bloomtown begin to act strangely: Anna's teachers lash out, her best friends withdraw, and the school bullies go from mean to murderous. When Anna realizes she can harness this evil power, she sets out to save Bloomtown and the only family she has left.But to do so, she must keep her own increasingly dark urges at bay.

  • by Parham Williams
    £9.49

    Quest for the One Perfect Diamond:Many centuries ago, King Arthur sent forth his knights to find the one perfect diamond as a gift for his queen. Sir Grenvell succeeded. He found the diamond embedded as the eye of a stone idol called Orac. Drumgargs, evil, black-robed priests who worshipped Orac, attacked Sir Grenvell. He killed them and took the diamond. A dying priest whispered a curse: "She who wears the idol's eye will surely wither, age and die." King Arthur ordered a golden necklace crafted to display the diamond. When the queen first wore the necklace, the curse proved true. She quickly grew old and collapsed, overturning a lamp and starting a raging fire. Alfie, the court jester, rescued the necklace and escaped through a concealed door into the Underworld.Fast-forward 1000 years: While on a tour of King Arthur's castle, three children - Lucas, Claira and Andy - find a hidden door and unwisely enter. The door closes behind them and they are trapped in the Underworld. Following the sound of chanting, they stumble upon Drumgargs worshipping Orac. The priests almost capture the children but Alfie rescues them and hides them in his secret cave. The little jester can never leave the Underworld. He can, however, guide the children to the hidden door where they can escape. On the journey, Claira is captured by Drumgargs who plan to sacrifice her to Orac. Using the diamond necklace as a lure, Alfie draws the priests away from the idol, hoping the children can escape.Do they escape?

  • by Bram Stoker
    £8.99

    This classic of English literature tells the story of Count Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so that he may find new blood and spread the undead curse, and of the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing. The tale begins with Jonathan Harker, a newly qualified English solicitor, visiting Count Dracula in the Carpathian Mountains on the border of Transylvania, to provide legal support for a real estate transaction. At first enticed by Dracula's gracious manners, Harker soon realizes that he is a prisoner in Dracula's castle. After the preparations are made, Dracula leaves Transylvania for England and abandons Harker to three female vampires, called the sisters. Harker barely escapes from the castle with his life, and after returning to England, he and his fiancée Mina join the campaign against Dracula.

  • by Mikki Noble
    £13.49

    TOO LATE TO SAVE HIS LIFE. NOT TOO LATE TO BRING HIM BACK. Everyone thinks Marley tried to take her own life, that is, except Marley. After her mother sends her to a youth center for troubled teens, she starts hearing the voice of a boy who claims he was murdered and begins questioning her own sanity. The voice is Gavin, a seventeen-year-old boy who promises Marley he can help her find the truth about what happened the day she supposedly tried to kill herself-if she completes a resurrection spell in the next four days. Upon discovering Gavin's death in the newspaper, Marley realizes she's not hallucinating, and that she has a chance to save Gavin's soul and clear her name. The task seems simple: complete the spell, then she and Gavin are free, right? But a powerful, unseen force is determined to stop her, and soon Marley finds herself following clues from the universe to find ingredients for the ritual to save herself and her newfound friend, and most of all, to find the truth about what really happened that day. Piggybacker is the first in Mikki Noble's spell-binding Vessel of Lost Souls trilogy, and promises a thrilling mystery with powerful enemies, broken relationships, captivating magic, and two souls both caught up in a plot beyond any they could ever imagine.

  • by Jessica Ruddick
    £12.99

    Losing control could mean losing everything.The Elemental Assembly has suffered a devastating blow, but no one feels it more keenly than Sophie. The authorities' attempts to set things right are going nowhere fast. Lost in his own guilt and grief, her guardian Aidan pushes her away just when they’ve finally given in to the attraction between them. To prevent the unthinkable, Sophie must take matters into her own hands, which means betraying her family to ask for help from the person who least deserves her trust. Compounding the problem is Sophie’s out-of-control powers that are threatening to consume her.With everything she loves hanging in the balance, Sophie sets out on a solo mission to reclaim what she lost. The stakes are high, and success is uncertain. The only thing Sophie is sure of is that she’ll never be the same again.

  • by Jessica Ruddick
    £12.99

    The truth about her past may define her future.Sophie loves being an elemental. Being able to bend the natural world to her will is thrilling, even if the need for secrecy is putting a cramp in her dating life. Lately, though, her powers have been growing, making it difficult to resist the heady temptation to use her gifts.Trying to balance the elemental world with having a normal life is tough enough without her overbearing, way-too-perfect, and way-too-good-looking guardian Aidan watching—and judging—her every move. The trouble is she’s not sure where she fits in and she’s sure as heck not ready to conform to stringent elemental rules.But when secrets about her life are revealed and outside forces threaten everything Sophie holds dear, she must embrace who she is or risk losing it all.

  • by Mel Gilden
    £12.49

    M IS FOR MONSTER  MONSTERS HAVE TAKEN OVER  THE FIFTH GRADE!Danny Keegan wants his fifth grade class to be different and, well, exciting.  But when he meets four new kids who give new meaning to the term “weird” he realizes he’s in for more excitement than he bargained for!! There’s C.D. Bitesky, who has sharp little fangs and a pet bat named Spike .  .  .  Howie Wolfner who gets pretty hairy whenever it rains .  .  . and Elisa and Frankie Stein, sister and brother, who insist the metal shafts sticking out of their necks are just braces—the result of an auto accident. Danny’s sister Barbara says his new friends should go back to whatever nightmare they came from. But Danny thinks he’s in for a frighteningly good time. He just hopes fifth grade won’t be his last! WELCOME TO P.S. 13!

  • by Eli Celata
    £16.49

    Death has come to Rochester. Saving the the lost children of Hamelin unleashes the most ruthless enemy Jon has ever faced. Blood saturates his nights, and demons stalk his every step. He might've gotten the children out of Shiloh's void, but he put them in the cross-hairs of an old grudge.When a trio of Daughters brings their kill list into the Grith, magic users turn against one another. Allies become enemies. Safety counterbalances freedom, and everyone wants a piece of Jon.Killing Gerhard, one of the Daughters sends Wilhelm running to Jon and Jordan for sanctuary, they must decide who to trust. The mage Jon pulled from the void, or a community of hunters prepared to slaughter children and level cities in the name of Greater Good.

  • by Patricia Komar
    £20.49

    Join Faith and the Hollow Hills Explorers as they solve the mystery of the strangest happenings occurring right in their very own neighborhood. Marbles fall from the sky as the explorers observe bizarre goings-on at the neighbor's house on garbage day. There's a garbage can stuffed with hundreds of marbles. Then a discovery is made of a very large footprint. Of course, the Hollow Hills Explorers take off with their dogs, Spirit and Keeper, at their sides, tracking this new discovery through forests into the unknown and even other dimensions, where they witness mysterious paranormal happenings, secretive beings, and another meteor shower. These explorers have been through past adventures together, survived teen bullying, enjoyed friendship, and even learned how to track with their dogs helping them to sniff out the trail of a teen runaway. I dare you to come along and enjoy the adventure with the HHEs.

  • by Sammi Leigh Melville
    £12.99

    They all came from the mud. The people of the Southern Village fulfill their duty to the field of mud at the village's center, helping unearth people just like someone once unearthed them. But Mukisa is not mud-born, and for that she is scorned. Her sister has fallen under the mud, and the tension is rising between neighboring villages. When a threat is discovered under the mud, Mukisa must rally the villagers to defend themselves and save her sister -- and the village.

  • by Kristy Tate
    £12.49

    Lizbet and Declan are on the brink of their lives. After graduation, Declan plans to leave for college on the East Coast, but his world is turned upside down when his grandfather is attacked by wolves. Lizbet draws upon her ability to communicate with animals to try and find the wolves responsible, but she soon discovers the wolves have terrifying abilities of their own, capable of destroying not only Lizbet and Declan's plans for their future but also their hearts.

  • by Sandra Engler
    £9.49

  • by Christopher G Matton
    £14.99

    BLACKTHORNE VALLEY is far from your average town. The people are strange, the history is morbid, and everything is shrouded in mystery and secrets. When Jessica, a mute orphan, moves into town with her new family, this becomes all too evident. After stumbling upon a gruesome crime scene that shakes her to the core, she discovers a conspiracy infecting the highest local offices, and even learns that she was in this town before. Even worse, she's become the focus of a war between two underground cults. With the help of her new friends, her talking reflection, and her particularly violent guardian angel, she must quickly uncover the truth about this mysterious town and retrieve years of repressed memories before she ends up dead...or worse.

  • - An Eva Thorne Prequel Novella
    by Lorel Clayton
    £10.49

    We choose our future, not our past.Before Eva Thorne can accept her destiny, she must learn to accept herself. Eva leaves her family behind for boarding school (that’s a good thing when your family includes necromancers and crime lords), but the foreign city of Gernwold has its own dangers. An intruder, a teacher injured, a stolen necklace left in her room… Either someone is trying to frame her, or they know what Eva really is.In this prequel novella to the Eva Thorne series, enjoy mystery and magic melded with technology, as you explore the Three Kingdoms and meet all the friends who will one day help Eva become the famous (or notorious) detective we know and love her to be.

  • - Terrorlands
    by Marco Kwan Ching Chu
    £10.49

    Twilight Station has a long history of paranormal activities, but Jenny has no choice other than to catch the train to school from its platform every weekday. For real. Jenny doesn't believe in ghosts until she starts seeing things... Who is that girl clinging at the edge of Platform 24? Hasn't the train just gone past Twilight Station? Why are trains and people constantly reported missing? Soon, Jenny will uncover the disturbing truth of the station... Something she is not supposed to know... Just another urban legend, right?

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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