Summer is almost here even though it already feels like it’s here. At least it feels like it does here in the South. With the weather getting up to almost ninety degrees it is HOT!! So, why not go ahead and create a summer horror books list? These are some of the best summer horror books to read by the pool or on the beach.

I can’t help but be happy that summer horror books are a thing. Horror is one of my favorite genres, but I don’t always want to read the ones that revolve around Halloween and fall. I’m sure some of you guys are the same way too.

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Summer Horror books

Reading summer horror books is such a good way to get you ready for Halloween and Fall. We need to get ready for Halloween and fall. But if you love horror then Halloween is pretty much year-round. Hopefully, you find some new books you can add to your TBR. Here are some of the best summer horror books that you should add to your TBR.

Summer Slasher Horror Anthology

Adding Summer Slasher Horror Anthology to the summer horror books list was easy because it has it in the title.

This is the first time I’ve heard about Summer Slasher Horror Anthology. I’m glad that I found out about it though.

Anthologies are usually hit or miss for me mostly because a lot of the ones I have read are a bit confusing and just don’t seem to have a story at all.

Then again I haven’t read many when it comes to horror so I need to change that a bit.

Here is what Summer Slasher Horror Anthology is about.

You hold in your hand stories of horror, mayhem, and the macabre. Springer Mountain Press presents the Summer Slasher Horror Anthology, which offers sixteen frightening stories from some of the freshest voices in horror writing. You’ll find unspeakable evil lurking deep within a mineshaft, a television broadcasting your worst nightmares, a knife-wielding killer stalking a summer camp, and many more terrifying tales. Read at your own risk, for what you’ll find on these pages is sure to haunt you long after summertime is over.

If you’re interested in this book you can find it through the link below.

Amazon

Till We Become Monsters

Till We Become Monsters is my type of book. For one I love the cover and two the synopsis of it has caught my attention. It would be a scary thing to find out that monsters are real and that your brother actually may be one of them.

Hopefully, I can check this one out this year!

Here is what Monsters Exist is about.

Monsters exist and Korin Perrin knew this as truth because his grandmother told him so. Korin, raised in the shadow of his older brother Davis, is an imaginative child who believes his brother is a monster. After the death of their grandmother, seven-year-old Korin, blaming Davis for her demise, tries to kill him. Sixteen years following the attempt on Davis’ life, racked with guilt, Korin comes to terms with the fact that Davis may not be the one who is the monster after all.

Past wrongs needing to be righted, Korin agrees to a hunting trip with his brother and father. But they, along with two friends, never make it to their destination. An accident along the way separates the hunters in the dark forests of Minnesota during the threat of an oncoming blizzard. As the stranded hunters search for each other and safety, an ancient evil wakes

If you want to check out Monsters Exist you can find it in the links below.

Amazon | Bookshop

The Retreat

The Retreat is a summer horror book that would actually kind of scare me a little bit. I couldn’t imagine losing my husband and kid all in an instant.

It’s even crazier that they couldn’t even find the daughter’s body. It makes me wonder how exactly the body could get far or go missing within the time frame.

Here is what The Retreat is about.

Two years ago, Julia lost her family in a tragic accident. Her husband drowned trying to save their daughter, Lily, in the river near their rural home. But the little girl’s body was never found—and Julia believes Lily is somehow still alive.

Alone and broke, Julia opens her house as a writers’ retreat. One of the first guests is Lucas, a horror novelist, who becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Lily. But within days of his arrival, the peace of the retreat is shattered by a series of eerie events.

When Lucas’s investigation leads him and Julia into the woods, they discover a dark secret—a secret that someone will do anything to protect…

What really happened that day by the river? Why was Lily never found? And who, or what, is haunting the retreat?

If you want to check out The Retreat you can find it through the links below.

Amazon | Bookshop

And the Trees Crept in

I honestly keep forgetting about And the Trees Crept in. This is one of the summer horror books that I really do want to try and read though. I love books where the house may seem a bit haunted.

I guess it’s all about the atmosphere of the book that always grabs my attention pretty quickly.

Here is what And the Trees Crept In is about.

When Silla and Nori arrive at their aunt’s home, it’s immediately clear that the manor is cursed. The endless creaking of the house at night and the eerie stillness of the woods surrounding them would be enough of a sign, but there are secrets too—questions that Silla can’t ignore: Why does it seem that, ever since they arrived, the trees have been creeping closer? Who is the beautiful boy who’s appeared from the woods? And who is the tall man with no eyes who Nori plays with in the basement at night… a man no one else can see?

If you want to check out And The Trees Crept in then make sure to check them out through the link below.

Amazon | Bookshop

The Night Will Find Us

The Night Will Find Us is one of those summer horror books that kind of reminds me of a movie where the characters are outright dumb. Growing up that is something that I loved about horror movies.

Now as an adult, I do kind of wish that the characters were a little smarter. Don’t get me wrong though, I do enjoy books like this every once in a while where you can pretty much yell at the characters.

Here’s what The Night Will Find US is about.

In this supernatural thriller, six teenagers attempt to survive the horrors – both human and supernatural – that haunt them as they try to escape a seemingly infinite forest where far older, crueler things wait for them with plans of their own.

Rocked by violent tragedy during an end-of-school-year camping trip, six teenage friends – Parker, Chloe, Adam, Nicky, Josh and Nate – find themselves lost and running for their lives through the darkest depths of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a million-acre forest in the heart of the state. Banding together to survive, they soon discover that there is something far older and far crueler waiting for them in the woods – something that doesn’t want them to escape.

As they plumb the depths of this forest that has seemingly swallowed them whole, haunted by ghosts figurative and literal, they come to understand the nature of the ancient cosmic horror that lies dead and dreaming in a lake in the center of the woods. As one among them is transformed through his desperation into an agent of this dread, formless horror, the ones that remain must fight back to survive as they explore the dead towns and endless sprawls of trees, rivers, and campgrounds deep in the Barrens.

Steadily picked off one by one by this malevolent force and their turned friend, hope finally comes for the survivors in the form of their respective bonds to the forest itself – one a long-buried secret, the other an uninvited connection that allows one of the friends to see further than she ever could before. Together, their fight to finally escape twill take them to the heart of the woods and the secrets buried there, but only one of them will make it out alive.

If you want to check out The Night Will Find Us then you can find it in the links below.

Amazon | Bookshop

Closed for the Season

Closed for the Season would have been the perfect book for me growing up. I always loved these types of books and wished that I could go on these types of “adventures”.

Where I’m at these sorts of things would have been considered weird in our community though.

I love how the story leads them to an amusement park though. I would have loved that growing up even though it probably would have freaked me out a little.

Here is what Closed for the Season is about.

Two 13-year-old boys, Arthur and Logan, set out to solve the mystery of a murder that took place some years ago in the old house Logan’s family has just moved into. The boys’ quest takes them to the highest and lowest levels of society in their small Maryland town, and eventually to a derelict amusement park that is supposedly closed for the season.

If you want to check out Closed for the Season you can find it through the links below.

Amazon | Bookshop

The Deep

Nick Cutter is an author I have been meaning to read for about a year now. I keep hearing about his books through most of the horror community.

I hear about his books being super creepy and worth reading!

Here is what The Deep is about.

A strange plague called the ’Gets is decimating humanity on a global scale. It causes people to forget—small things at first, like where they left their keys…then the not-so-small things like how to drive, or the letters of the alphabet. Then their bodies forget how to function involuntarily…and there is no cure.

But now, far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, deep in the Marianas Trench, an unknown substance hailed as “ambrosia” has been discovered—a universal healer, from initial reports. It may just be the key to a universal cure. To study this phenomenon, a special research lab, the Trieste, has been built eight miles under the sea’s surface. But now the station is incommunicado, and it’s up to a brave few to descend through the lightless fathoms in hopes of unraveling the mysteries lurking at those crushing depths…and perhaps encountering an evil blacker than anything one could imagine.

If you want to check out The Deep you can find it through the links below.

Amazon | Bookshop

Unspeakable Things

The fact that Unspeakable Things is inspired by the author’s hometown and some events that happened in this area.

Unspeakable Things is one I’m going to have to borrow from the library (if they have it) and see if I really enjoy it.

Here is what Unspeakable Things is about.

Inspired by a terrifying true story from the author’s hometown, a heart-pounding novel of suspense about a small Minnesota community where nothing is as quiet—or as safe—as it seems.

Cassie McDowell’s life in 1980s Minnesota seems perfectly wholesome. She lives on a farm, loves school, and has a crush on the nicest boy in class. Yes, there are her parents’ strange parties and their parade of deviant guests, but she’s grown accustomed to them.

All that changes when someone comes hunting in Lilydale.

One by one, local boys go missing. One by one, they return changed—violent, moody, and withdrawn. What happened to them becomes the stuff of shocking rumors. The accusations of who’s responsible grow just as wild, and dangerous town secrets start to surface. Then Cassie’s own sister undergoes the dark change. If she is to survive, Cassie must find her way into an adult world where every sin is justified, and only the truth is unforgivable.

If you want to check out Unspeakable Things you can find them through the links below.

Amazon

The Lake

So, I read The Lake a while ago and loved it. Natasha Preston is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

I love how she ends her books in a way that makes you a bit mad.

Here is what The Lake is about.

Esme and Kayla once were campers at Camp Pine Lake. They’re excited to be back this year as CITs (counselors in training). Esme loves the little girls in her cabin and thinks it’s funny how scared they are of everything–spiders, the surly head counselor, the dark, boys . . . even swimming in the lake! It reminds her a little of how she and Kayla used to be, once. Before . . . it happened.

Because Esme and Kayla did something bad when they were campers. Afterward, the girls agreed to keep it secret. They’ve moved on–or so they say–and this summer is going to be great. Two months of sun, s’mores, and flirting with the cute boy counselors. But then they get a note. THE LAKE NEVER FORGETS. And the secret they’ve kept buried for so many years is about to resurface.

If you want to check out The Lake then you can find it through the links below.

Amazon | Bookshop

Summer of Night

So the cover of Summer of Night reminds me of Children of the Corn. If that isn’t any reason to try and read it then the synopsis is.

Lately, I have been stuck with reading a lot of middle-grade and young-adult horror and thriller books. That’s okay though because they are really good!

Here is what Summer of Night is about!

It’s the summer of 1960 in Elm Haven, Illinois, and five 12-year-old boys are forming the bonds that a lifetime of changes will never erase. But then a dark cloud threatens the bright promise of summer vacation: on the last day of school, their classmate Tubby Cooke vanishes.

Soon, the group discovers stories of other children who once disappeared from Elm Haven. Other strange things are happening in town: unexplained holes in the ground, a stranger dressed as a World War I soldier, and a rendering plant truck that seems to be following the five boys. The friends realize that there is a terrible evil lurking in Elm Haven…and they must be the ones to stop it.

If you want to check out Summer of Night then you can find them through the links below.

Amazon | Bookshop

Summer Horror

So, I’m a huge fan of R. L. Stine but this is probably one of the few books of his that I don’t think I have actually read.

After finding out about it I really want to try and read it now! Hopefully, our local library has it.

Here is what Summer House is about.

They say that weird things always happen on that dark and twisting road. They say it’s a place to be frightened of – that those who go there never return the same. And some never return at all…

They say it’s a place where dark and evil things happen…even under the bright summer sun. Discover how dangerous summer vacation can be in the three FEAR STREET books of this special Collector’s Edition!

Contains “Sunburn” “The Dead Lifeguard” and “One Evil Summer”.

If you want to check out Summer Horror then you can find it through the links below.

Amazon

Satanic Summer

This book was another easy one to add to the summer horror books list just off of the title alone.

Satanic Summer is another one that caught my attention but I highly doubt that our library is going to have it.

Finding out that pretty much everything is wrong is probably one of the scariest things for some people. Why? Because most of us like to know that a good chunk of our lives is pretty much figured out. So, I would not want Doug’s life.

Here is what Satanic Summer is about.

Doug Backus is a normal young man trying to lead a clean Christian life but when mysterious and gruesome deaths begin occurring in his town of Clover, Kentucky, he learns that his life can never be as wholesome as he wants. Along with his heathen friend Crank and pariah neighbor Whitney, he becomes involved in an exploration of the town’s secrets that will either lead them to their doom or answer all the questions Doug has about almost everything. Only one thing becomes certain: Salvation is not an option. From Andersen Prunty, author of Fuckness and Hi I’m a Social Disease comes a sleazy horror comedy about friendship, religion, and satanic orgies.

If you want to check out Satanic Summer then you can find it through the links below.

Amazon | Bookshop

Camp Murderface

Camp Murderace is another middle-grade horror book. This one keeps popping up for me so I guess that means I should probably read it.

What makes a great addition to the summer horror books list other than a book about a bunch of kids at a summer camp?

Here is what Camp Murderface is about!

Summer camp turns sinister in Camp Murderface, a spooky middle grade read perfect for fans of scare masters like R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike.

The year: 1983. The place: Ohio. The camp: Scary as heck.

Camp Sweetwater is finally reopening, three decades after it mysteriously shut down. Campers Corryn Quinn and Tez Jones have each had more than enough of their regular lives – they’re so ready to take their summer at Sweetwater by storm.

But before they can so much as toast one marshmallow, strange happenings start… happening. Can they survive the summer? Or will Camp Sweetwater shut down for good this time – with them inside? 

If you want to check out Camp Murderface then make sure to check them out through the links below.

Amazon | Bookshop

Night of the Mannequins

Stephen Graham Jones isn’t an author for me. That’s mostly because his style of writing is a bit slow and hard for me to get into.

However, I do know that a lot of people like his books and I wanted to make sure to include his book in case any new readers will want to read his books!

He has become a very popular author over the past two years and if you have read any of his books, then at least try them out!

Here is what Night of the Mannequins is about.

Night of the Mannequins is a short horror novel where a prank goes wrong and all hell breaks loose. Is this a supernatural case? Or is a psychopath on the loose?

Amazon | Bookshop

In Nightfall

I read In Nightfall not that long ago and enjoyed it. The story reminds me a lot of The Lost Boys. If that’s not reason enough to add this to summer horror books TBR then I don’t know what it is.

Here is what In Nightfall is about.

Theo and her brother, Marcus, threw a huge end-of-the-year party and got caught. Their punishment is instead of staying home in Arizona they now have to travel to Nightfall, Oregon. They are going to visit a grandmother they have never met before and the city population doesn’t even reach 1,000.

The town is cute when it’s not raining but that’s all it seems to do there. Their grandmother is superstitious and very antisocial. As soon as they get there she lays down the rules and ensures they know to be back home before it’s dark.

On their first day exploring they meet Minnow and her friends. She’s beautiful and charismatic. Her and her brother feel a pull to them that they can’t explain.

It doesn’t take her long to realize that she should have listened to her grandma.

Amazon | Bookshop

I hope you enjoyed this list of summer horror books. Are there any that I may have missed?