Genre

Horror Books

Horror fiction aims to frighten — through monsters, the supernatural, or what people do to each other. This collection leans toward gothic and supernatural horror, from Poe and Shelley to the Bram Stoker Award winners.

This list collects 3,566 books tagged Horror by 1,624 authors, published between 1605 and 2026. 227 are free to read and 369 have a free audiobook. Books are ranked by how many readers have shelved, rated or downloaded them.

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Common tropes in Horror

From Wikipedia

Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length ... which shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing". Horror intends to create an eerie and frightening atmosphere for the reader. The threats present in horror fiction often reflect broader cultural anxieties.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

3,566 Horror books · page 1 of 75

Top Horror authors

Related genres

Frequently asked questions

What are the most popular Horror books?

By reader shelving on Open Library and downloads, the most popular include It (1986), Haunting Adeline (2021), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), Dracula (1897) and The Lightning Thief (2005).

Are there free Horror books?

Yes — 227 horror titles are in the public domain and free to read, including The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), Dracula (1897) and Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818).