The Top 30 Best Horror Books You Need to Read Before You Die

If you're in the UK, you can support local bookshops and the channel by buying one of the books mentioned in this video from my Bookshop. You pay the same price, I earn a small referral fee:

My pick of the 30 greatest horror novels or short story collections across 15 categories which I made up.
Books discussed:
The Books of Blood by Clive Barker
Complete Works of HP Lovecraft
Moon Dance by SP Somtow
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Let's Go Play at the Adams' by Mendal Johnson
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
By Reason of Insanity by Shane Stevens
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons
IT by Stephen King
The Stand by Stephen King
Swan Song by Robert R McCammon
Slugs by Shaun Hutson
The Rats by James Herbert
The Fog by James Herbert
One Rainy Night by Richard Laymon
The Cipher by Kathe Koja
House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski
The Shining by Stephen King
Ghost Story by Peter Straub
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Blackwater by Michael McDowell
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
The Case Against Satan by Ray Russell
Ring by Koji Suzuki
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
John Dies at the End by David Wong
The Coming Thing by Anne Billson
___
New videos every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at 5pm UK time, noon Eastern, 9am Pacific
___
___
___
If you'd like to support the channel you can donate via Ko-Fi or buy me a book from my Amazon wishlist.
___
Music: Who's Afraid of Halloween by Alfred Grupstra from Pixabay

[CriminOllyBlog]

I'm taking the unusual step of commenting on my own video.
For some reason lots of people seem to be upset by a comment I make near the start. I say that I am conscious that this list is made up largely of white male authors (which is true, it is). Apparently this is a controversial thing to say. "The author's colour shouldn't matter!" people type (interestingly, no one seems to care about the gender part of my statement).
Let me explain why I think the colour (and gender, and sexuality) of authors DOES matter. We live in a society where culture has been dominated by white male voice for centuries. Millions of our fellow citizens have struggled their entire lives to find voices in genres like horror who they felt represented their existence. The fact that such authors are now appearing is fantastic, both for the people who haven't been represented in the past, and for people like me. I read to experience and understand things I don't see in my everyday life. Much as I love many white male authors, I don't only want to read about an existence I'm already familiar with.
So from now on rather than individually replying to loudly offended people I will just direct them to this statement.
And if you're one of the people who does get why it matters, thank you for watching my videos and supporting my channel.

[Scrimosa]

No time to die with such a big and evergrowing TBR. Thanks for the recs!! I must say that the covers for these are astonishing. Pity they don't make them like that anymore.

[marywilson]

I happened to come across your video tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have read many of the books mentioned. Of course, being 71 I’ve had a lot of years to spend reading. I was glad to see Blackwater mentioned, as I don’t think many people are aware of this book.
I’ve subscribed and looking forward to catching up on your other videos.

[abbyvoss]

Usually my suggested videos are not great, but this is perfectly up my alley. Amazing video, have a ton of new books to buy and an awesome new YouTube channel to watch!!

[PrincessNicEssus]

Very late to the party. But can I recommend “Intensity” by Dean R Koontz - as a young woman when I read this it was so empowering. Having read nearly all of Stephen Kings earlier novels, my favorite of his is the short story “The Mist”. The theatrical version was actually pretty good, surprisingly enough.

Just ordered Moon Dance looking forward to reading it, unfortunately it wasn’t available as an audiobook on YouTube. Thank you for the referral!

[tlou_daryl]

I have been "beating the drum" of Summer of Night for years. Thank you for including it here. A masterpiece in my opinion!

[michaelk.vaughan]

Brilliant video! This was an ambitious one and it was really great. Of course, I’ve read many of these. The others I will definitely read before I die.

[donnaplaster]

I am 72 years old and have read all but 5 in your list. I just ordered Night Film. Looking forward to reading it.

[blacknwhitecookie]

Scott Smith's The Ruins is probably the creepiest I've read. I guess you could call this a type of Mother Nature Horror. Another great, classic horror is Richard Matheson's Hell House. I would bring my family for holiday at the Overlook before I'd take one foot in Hell House.

[johnbarton]

Great list - loved your video and explanation of each. Two books of horror short stories that I really enjoyed are: Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison, and The October Country by Ray Bradbury - - maybe more just unsettling than horror in some stories, but once you read them, they stay with you. That is the type of writing that I love.

[jimhaggard]

In case you’re wondering the order:

H.P. Lovecraft Complete Stories
Clive Barker Books of Blood

Dracula by Bram Stoker
Moon Dance by S.P Somtow

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
Let’s Go Play At The Adams’ by Mendal W. Johnson

Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
By Reason of Insanity by Shane Stevens

IT by Stephen King
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons

The Stand by Stephen King
Swan Song by Robert McCammon

The Rats by James Herbert
Slugs by Shaun Hutson

The Fog by James Herbert
One Rainy Night by Richard Laymon

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
The Cipher by Kathe Koja

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

The Shining by Stephen King
Ghost Story by Peter Straub

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Black Water Series by Michael McDowell

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
The Case Against Satan by Ray Russell

Ring by Koji Suzuki
Night Film by Marisha Pessl

John Dies at the End by Jason Pargin
The Coming Thing by Anne Billson

[treydomingue]

I’m sorry I’m so late to your channel, but I stumbled on your video and absolutely loved it. I’m a lifetime horror reader and thought I’d read everything of importance, but your video definitely gave me a couple that I’d slept on that I’m going to be picking up.

I also absolutely loved your Laymon breakdown. One Rainy Night was the first of his novels I read and you’re right, he’s a terrible writer, but I couldn’t put it down and have since collected everything he’s written. None of them are great, but they’re all somehow amazing at the same time. I can never explain that to people who haven’t read his work but if you have, you get it!

[AnneEWilliamson]

Gosh, what a great list! It's so hard to pick 30 best horror books! So many of these I love! Like Silence of the Lambs (whether it is more horror or thriller) is an incredibly and chilling book, with Hannibal Lector being one of the greatest fictional killers. The Haunting of Hill House is another truly disturbing one! Jackson creates this creepy atmosphere like no other author!

[stephenwalker]

I can't believe I've just found your channel. Really interesting and helpful stuff. Plus revolving watches, what's not to like? Keep up the good work and all that. 😀

[simuliid]

Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in a Castle. What an incredible writer she was.

[nathanfoung]

I always appreciate videos like this, especially in a genre that I've not had too much exposure to. Good stuff.

[Wendigosh]

Starting off with lovecraft and barker i immediately knew this would be a good list. Ty🙏

[francesmeyer]

My late father gave my son a beautiful copy of "Dracula". My son is now fifty-two and that book is still a much cherished posession. He rereads it periodically. It brings back fond memories of his grandfather.🇺🇸

[sehlordhorr]

I’ve read Dracul and My Best Friend’s Exorcism this spooky season. Both are so good! I’m really impressed by the quality and care that went into Dracul, it really surprised, and MBFE made me cry hehe. Grady Hendrix is probably my favorite modern horror author. I enjoyed this vid, thanks 👍🏻

[jackbedient]

Spectacular list! Read most of the old school ones back in the 80s as a teen swimming in the horror novel renaissance.