Happy New Year! I hope this post finds you and your family well. For this holiday week, I thought that we’d take a break from our look at different Gothic styles and instead talk about some Gothic books. In specific, here are some of the Gothic books I’m planning on reading in 2022.
Some of these are older Gothic works, some are contemporary, but hopefully they give you some great ideas!
- Child of God by Cormac McCarthy
This is a chilling story of a man, Lester Ballad, who is falsely accused of rape. After he is released from jail, he becomes a recluse, living underground in caves and haunting the people of Sevier County, Tennessee. According to one reviewer,
“Lester Ballard becomes a sick, twisted child, a fiend dwelling in caves and haunting the townsfolk. Who among us would stoop to this? Precious few, thank God. But there still is the theme: it could be you, but for the grace of God. Yes, there are moments throughout this novel of cruelty and barbarity and psychopathy/sociopathy; but there are also heart-rending moments of tender clarity–yes, I mean for Ballard. A broken vessel can cry to the heavens; McCarthy makes this monster human, all too human, like us, and that’s the real horror.” (Robert Jacoby)
2. Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy
In this story, deep in the Appalachian mountains, a woman bears her brother’s child. He takes the baby and leaves it in the woods to die, telling her that the boy died of natural causes. But when she discovers his lie, she goes in pursuit of the child with her brother and a band of evil men on their trail.
This is a highly symbolic story. It’s acclaimed as being deeply impactful and thought-provoking. However, it’s also very dark. Reader beware.
3. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Within the depths of the Paris Opera House, a dark figure resides, a masked figure who hides his true face from the world. This is a story of obsession but also so much more. According to one reviewer:
“It is more than a love story, it is a study in psychology. Leroux makes us search the depths of his creations’ souls. Who is really wearing the masks? Is there a single, universal definition for evil or is it based upon our perspective? And as we search for these answers, we begin to ask questions about ourselves. What would we do for love? How do we define evil? Are we hiding behind a mask so that our true character can’t be seen?” (DyingAnubis)
4. The Hunger by Alma Katsu
I’m not sure that everyone would classify this as Gothic. Amazon calls it a supernatural thriller or supernatural suspense. However, I suspect that this may have a very Gothic theme.
Katsu blends the historical account of the Donner party with the supernatural. “As members of the group begin to disappear, the survivors start to wonder if there really is something disturbing, and hungry, waiting for them in the mountains…and whether the evil that has unfolded around them may have in fact been growing within them all along.
Effortlessly combining the supernatural and the historical, The Hunger is an eerie, thrilling look at the volatility of human nature, pushed to its breaking point.” – Amazon
5. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
On an October night, two young boys witness a carnival as it rolls into a small town in Illinois. Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show offers a plethora of disturbing entertainment. But the grand feature is that the show offers the townspeople their deepest desires…for a price of course. When the two boys discover this, the evil comes for them.
It’s a book about the importance of father figures, resisting temptation and the loss of innocence. This is a classic that has impacted many other writers including Stephen King. (In many ways, the story sounds like a carnival version of Needful Things.)
6. The Haunting of Brynn Wilder by Wendy Webb
“After a devastating loss, Brynn Wilder escapes to Wharton, a tourist town on Lake Superior, to reset. Checking into a quaint boardinghouse for the summer, she hopes to put her life into perspective. In her fellow lodgers, she finds a friendly company of strangers: the frail Alice, cared for by a married couple with a heartbreaking story of their own; LuAnn, the eccentric and lovable owner of the inn; and Dominic, an unsettlingly handsome man inked from head to toe in mesmerizing tattoos.
But in this inviting refuge, where a century of souls has passed, a mystery begins to swirl. Alice knows things about Brynn, about all of them, that she shouldn’t. Bad dreams and night whispers lure Brynn to a shuttered room at the end of the hall, a room still heavy with a recent death. And now she’s become irresistibly drawn to Dominic―even in the shadow of rumors that wherever he goes, suspicious death follows.
In this chilling season of love, transformation, and fear, something is calling for Brynn. To settle her past, she may have no choice but to answer.” – Amazon
7. The Bloody Chamber: And Other Stories by Angela Carter
In this collection of stories, Carter rewrites classic fairy tales such as “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Bluebeard,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Beauty and the Beast,” in Gothic fashion, imbuing them with dark sensuality.
8. The House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
“Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls’ lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last–the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge–and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.
Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that her sister’s deaths were no accidents. The girls have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn’t sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who–or what–are they really dancing with?
When Annaleigh’s involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it’s a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family–before it claims her next. House of Salt and Sorrows is a spellbinding novel filled with magic and the rustle of gossamer skirts down long, dark hallways. Get ready to be swept away.” – Amazon
9. The Shining by Stephen King
I have seen the movie and I’ve been a Stephen King fan since childhood, but for some reason, I’ve never read this book. It’s time to make up for lost time!
When Jack Torrance, a writer with a violent history takes an off-season job as a caretaker for a hotel, he believes that he’ll finally be able to bury the past and focus on his novel. But it’s there in that isolated hotel, snowbound from the rest of the world, that his demons rise to the surface. Soon Jack loses control of himself and his gifted young son Danny must fight to survive his father’s true self.
10. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
It’s non-fiction. It’s a novel. And yet…it’s categorized as Gothic. This is Truman Capote’s account of the strange happenings in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, in 1959 when four family members were gunned down, shot in the face with a shotgun.
As Capote recounts the brutal murder and subsequent investigation, he peppers the story with wisdom and insight about the trend in American violence.
I hope to share my thoughts on many of these along with some of the Gothic books I’ve enjoyed throughout 2021. Let me know what you’re reading and loving. I wish you all the best in the coming year!
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A good, solid list! I look forward to checking them out and would love to send you my book too, if you might be interested!
Thank you Julie! I’d love to read your book. Where can I purchase it?
What a great list. I’ve seen The House of Salt and Sorrow all over Tiktok, and now that you’ve recommended it, I’ve decided to read it!