Underrated Horror Reads for this Autumn

Autumn is a season that seems to invite reading. As the weather gets colder and the world gets darker, it is the perfect time to settle down in a cosy café, a dark corner in the library, or under the covers with a good book. And what better genre of books to read in autumn than horror? Whether you like grizzly tales of ghosts and murder, or the feeling of terror from the gradual build of unnerving suspense, horror has something to offer everyone. So here are five underrated horror books to read this season.

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield

A monstrous puberty, feral fan girls, a dangerously close bond to a wolf, the ideal man made from dead body parts, and a city haunted by their own sleep, Salt Slow is a collection of nine hauntingly beautiful stories. From the author of Our Wives Under the Sea, Salt Snow explores the gruesome and grotesque elements of girlhood through the body. Armfield masterfully combines abject terror with gothic elements to show how despite the prevalence of monsters and magic, sometimes the scariest thing is simply being a woman, carving a space for feminist, queer tales within the genre of horror.

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

Vampires are icons within horror, and with 2024 seeing a revitalisation of vampire stories seen in popular media such as, What We Do in the Shadows, Interview with a Vampire and Abigail, it is the perfect time to return to a forgotten classic within the genre. Carmilla written in 1872, has been overshadowed and overlooked by Bram Stoker’s Dracula published in 1897, but Carmilla deserves the same acclaim as Dracula. The story of a lesbian vampire, the novel explores themes of love, lust, and the repression of women within with the Victorian era, whilst also offering biting criticism on class structure and how the aristocracy feed on the poor. Carmilla deserves iconography treatment yet remains woefully unnoticed within the genre.

Monstrillo by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

How far would you go for love? Gerardo Sámano Córdova asks this question in his debut novel Monstrillo. The novel is a poignant exposé on grief and loss, and how one copes with the death of their child. The story follows a grieving family in the wake of their child’s death, and the mother in desperation saves her son’s lung in hopes that her child will regrow from it. Instead, what grows from it is a monstrous being, hungry for blood. Córdova’s blended use of folklore, horror, and magic realism allows the novel to explore what is means to be human in a subversive way that reality would not have allowed, making the book an emotional powerhouse.

The Hole by Pyun Hye-Young

Oghi lives a relatively successful and happy life with his wife, until a tragic accident leaves him completely paralysed and his wife dead. The only person left to care for him is his mother-in-law, who Oghi is completely dependent on, but as more and more things go wrong, and secrets about his wife and his marriage slowly come to light. Oghi grows more and more untrusting of his mother-in-law, particularly as she now spends her time digging holes in his wife’s once beloved garden for an unknown reason. The Hole by Pyun Hye-Young grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let you go until the final page, filled with constant twists and turns that leave you unsettled and deeply disturbed. An absolute must-read for those who love a fast-paced horror book that draws fear from the suspense of the unknown, and the brutality of being a prisoner in one’s own body.

Let the Right Ones In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Let the Right Ones In is a gory Swedish vampire book, and whilst it received great acclaim from other parts of the world, it remains underappreciated in England. The story follows a twelve-year-old boy named Oskar, who is socially ostracised due to bullying. As a result, Oskar spends his day fantasizing about ways to brutally murder his attackers, until one day he strikes up an unlikely friendship with a strange girl called Eli. The book gives a voice to the horrors of growing up and finding a place for yourself within the world, through unflinchingly looking at the worst humanity has to offer!