3 Horror Novels For Readers Who Enjoy Scary Stories Around the Campfire

by MK French

The sun might be shining brightly, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy a great horror novel. If you loved telling scary stories around the campfire as a kid (or still do as an adult), be sure to check out these books.

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Their Monstrous Hearts by Yigit Turhan

April 2025; MIRA; 978-0778368274
audio, ebook, print (320 pages); horror

Riccardo's grandmother Perihan died, leaving him her estate in Milan. It's a villa with her famed butterfly collection, but they're not as grand as he remembers them. In fact, the pinned butterflies seem more ominous. As a struggling writer, Riccardo doesn't have too many options. After finding Perihan's diary, he hopes to make sense of her death and maybe use it as inspiration for a novel. This assumes he lives long enough to write it...

We first meet Riccardo in his Paris apartment, where he hasn't submitted anything to his agent or editor, he's behind on rent, the fridge is empty, and then the electricity is turned off. The invitation to his grandmother's villa comes at an opportune time, and finding Perihan's manuscript helps him feel closer to her. There are butterflies everywhere in the house, the gardens, and the manuscript. He at first thinks he can cannibalize the manuscript into his own novel, especially after its contents grow more fantastic and feel less like reality. As he reaches this part of the manuscript, the people around him seem less and less friendly. 

While we get long excerpts from the manuscript itself, I didn't enjoy them. The passages were descriptive and relayed parts of Perihan's early life, but they meandered, and I didn't like the younger version of Perihan presented there. I wanted to know more about what was happening in the present day, when the household staff seemed off and mentioned a ritual. It isn't until the halfway point of the novel that we start to get an idea of why the manuscript is so important. This is where the tension in the novel increases, both in the manuscript and around Riccardo. The final quarter reveals the ultimate plan and the real reason for Riccardo to be in Milan. It comes together in a chilling manner and truly takes on the aspects of a horror story. 

The line "Even monsters endured their suffering in their monstrous hearts" had stuck out to me around the halfway point, and it's definitely a driving theme for the book.

Buy Their Monstrous Hearts at Amazon

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig

April 2025; Del Rey; 978-0593156568
audio, ebook, print (400 pages); horror

Five high school friends swore to protect each other no matter what. When they find a staircase in the woods while camping, one climbs it to explore and never comes back, the staircase disappearing. Thirty years later, the staircase is back. Now it's time to find their lost friend, and whatever else might be hiding in the woods.

We begin in the present day, with some talk about the past. Owen is a nervous wreck, biting his nails and consumed by his OCD thoughts and repetitive behaviors. Lore is a game designer who is currently stuck in her project. Hamish is now overly healthy and works as a mortgage broker. Nick draws them all back together after years of silence, saying he's dying and wants to see them before he dies. Of course, this guilts them into returning to his side, but it isn't the hotel he promised. Instead, it's the forest where he had found another staircase like the one they saw in the woods when they were teenagers.

Chapters are short and serve to increase the tension. We see how the friendships had gone in the past, and the day their friend Matt had disappeared up the staircase. None of them had gone up at the time, but now they climb the stairs, hoping to find him. Their lives have changed drastically since the first trip in the woods, and they aren't close now. It's another layer of tension as the story progresses, and they explore their new horror-inducing surroundings. Each door leads somewhere else, and there are horrors in every room. Some of the horrors resonate with a particular person, some of them echo Matt.

The horrors in the house amplify the horrors of the lives they had before Matt disappeared, ripping into the softer and vulnerable portions of their psyches. It's not just a blood and gore horror, but the horror of lives unlived and the loss of friendship when growing up, and they needed it most. This probably hints at how the novel ties it all together at the end, but it's very well done and was so utterly spellbinding, I had to continue to see how it ended. The horror is still there, lingering after the last page is done, and the mark of an excellent book.

Buy The Staircase in the Woods at Amazon

Bat Eater and Other Names For Cora Zeng by Kylie Baker

April 2025; MIRA; 978-0778368458
audio, ebook, print (304 pages); horror

Cora Zeng cleans up crime scenes in Chinatown and finds it far less horrible than when she had witnessed her sister getting pushed in front of a train while being called "bat eater." She is more concerned by germs, viruses, and the bare hands of strangers. Reality has also been a little off since her sister's death. As she ignores the upcoming Hungry Ghost Festival, she tries not to focus on the fact that the latest crime scenes she's been cleaning up are all of East Asian women with bats left behind. It's never a good idea to ignore hungry ghosts...

Cora's anxiety and OCD worsened with the pandemic, much like it did for many in that time period when no one knew what was happening. As a half-Chinese woman, she was also subject to the incredibly harmful racism that increased in larger cities. She witnessed her sister’s murder in the subway and tried to avoid thinking about it or acknowledging it. For those steeped in Chinese folklore, this is exactly how hungry ghosts are born. The ghost month means the veil between worlds is thinner, and the hungry ghosts seek fulfillment in any way they can.

My heart went out to Cora in the beginning. She thinks so much and fears her own thoughts and perception. She feels unwanted by both halves of her heritage, but the way she was shuffled between households means she's not exactly wrong, either. She wants so much to belong, yet never felt part of anything. Even with her unconventional profession, she doesn't quite bond with her coworkers at first. As the story progresses and she trusts them more, there's still a reserve due to her own anxiety. 

Buy Bat Eater and Other Names For Cora Zeng at Amazon

Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and a golden retriever.

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