Despite the early snow, fog and bitter cold that already befell Berlin in November this year, winter is only just beginning, folks. So, I said to myself, it would be unfair to winter if I didn't make any "best winter horror books" list, since I already made a list of best summer reads some months ago.
It's no secret: I hate winter. I grew up in warm, hot weather under a blue sky and that's what I'm used to; not sticky wet snow, no icy winds, no darkness that stretches for months, no gray skies - all conditions which constitute a perfectly claustrophobic, gloomy horror setting not just for me. Accordingly there is a vast number of horror books in which the winter setting plays an important role, sometimes even a character of its own - a ruthless, merciless, cruel character.I have found 21 horror books that I'll be discussing here, some of them I have read, some of them I still intend to read and some of them I'll steer clear of. Putting this selection together it stroke me how covers depicting nice or wild winter landscapes went absolutely off the charts, it's amazing... So, besides choosing your next winter reads, you can also admire their nice covers from a distance while enjoying the warmth and safety of your house - two birds!
Even though I don't like being outside in winter time there are advantages to it too, like, I welcome the opportunity to read more books. That being said, let's choose which books we will read when we're hiding in the warm indoors the upcoming couple of months - enjoy!
(So I'm starting with books I haven't read myself either in order to compile a mini winter tbr for myself, later on I'll just review books I have read, some of which I can recommend. Some of the reviews are recycled, sorry!)
Who Goes There by John W. Campbell
Who Goes There? The perfect combination of locked room whodunit, science fiction and cosmic horror packed in a small novella with big impact. Taking the torch from HP Lovecraft's At The Mountains of Madness and passing it to John Carpenter who went on to create the timeless classic horror movie "The Thing" (which is embarrassingly even more prominently featured on this cover than the title of the book itself), John W. Campbell wrote one of the quintessential Antarctic research camp stories discovering something evil, in this case a frozen alien. They revive it, but it is a shapeshifter and a paranoia and fright filled race against time begins to find out who among them is presently snatched by the alien. In the fullness of time, it is humanity that's at stake.
I guess it is a must-have-read for every SF fan as well as horror enthusiast but I somehow never did. I watched the Carpenter movie countless times (and still turn to it when I can't decide what else to watch) and even some years ago, saw the 50s version "The Thing From Another World" which puts a wild twist in the plot, but wasn't really mine in the end - but I haven't read the source material, which is unacceptable and will soon change. Promise.
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Here's a book I have started reading many times over but never finished. I have a sort of love-hate (well, not exactly love but something like appreciation of sorts) relationship to Dan Simmons, since he's one hell of a writer, but he can come across racially insensitive in his writing, to put it mildly. I remember reading his 2011 novel Flashback and returning it to the bookstore because his descriptions of Asian people were insufferable. On the other hand, Hyperion is one of the books that I think are unparalleled, a true masterpiece which was one of the first works that got me hooked on science fiction.
I'm not really sure in which category The Terror will be, the only thing I unanimously heard from friends is that it is a slow burn but really good. We're following the crew on board HMS Terror, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage for the 1845 Franklin Expedition, which in real life got lost during said exhibition. When they end up being stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness, they find themselves fighting cold, diminishing rations, and something far more terrifying. Will they be able to escape? Sounds like nightmare fuel!
The Hunger by Alma Katsu
Another often started but never finished book of mine, but I'm determined to finish this winter definitely!
We're talking Donner Party, people!!! A group of pioneers taking a rumored shortcut on their way west and passing from desert heat to arctic conditions where all their cattle freeze, they run out of food and need to find ways to feed themselves. Inner group conflicts, fights, disappearing children, natural elements and something more primal and deadly...
This is an earlier work of Alma Katsu, who meanwhile is an established writer of historical novels with a supernatural twist. I am, immediately, taking this out of my regular shelf and placing it in my "Pre-TBR TBR" shelf, a small shelf I invented to read books that I need to read more immediately than the usual mountain of pain I need to finish reading some day. I am placing this there and I am making sure my fridge is full because it's snowing mad right now.
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindquist
I like reading about all kinds of terror but it is somehow hard for me to face some topics even in literature and being bullied as a child is one of them. I know that in this snowy Swedish masterpiece the real horror in the life of a twelve-year-old boy are his tormentors rather than the supernatural monster that enters his life in the shape of a little girl who moves in next door and changes everything for him. It is still hard to pick up this book.
Ghost Story by Peter Straub
What was the worst thing you’ve ever done?
What a catch phrase, right? The worst thing done by four old men, who gathered in a sleepy US-town to tell each other scary stories, is probably a little more extreme than what most of us could answer to this question.
One of the stories of something they did long ago keeps coming back to haunt them and their small town.
2022 was the year that horror lost one of its masters, Peter Straub. And Straub's indisputable masterpiece is Ghost Story. That's reason enough to grab this book and finally read it to honor its creator, if not for anything else.
Road of Bones by Christopher Golden
Kolyma Highway, aka the Road of Bones, is a stretch of Siberian road where absolutely hellish winter temperatures prevail. Documentary producer Teig knows there's untapped potential here and together with his staff and a local guide he sets off to Oymyakon, the coldest settlement on Earth. When they arrive, they discover that the village was mysteriously abandoned except for one nine-year-old girl.
An evil shaman, forest spirits and then the infernal cold... How will they get out of there or will they even be able to?
Ummm... If you scroll a couple of books down you will find a book with the title Ararat also written by Golden and if you take the time to read its plot description you will see that there's a pattern here? This is a book I keep on borrowing from my local library, but return it unread because there's always some other book that I find more interesting. And to be honest, if Golden keeps on writing the same story set in different parts of the world, I don't necessarily feel enthusiastic about reading it, especially because I wasn't much infatuated with Ararat to begin with. Still, this can reside somewhere in the dark corners of my TBR, just in case I have nothing interesting to read anymore.
A snow storm of the century has a little village in the English Peak District in its grip and Constable Ellie Cheetham finds the body of a man who seemingly drank too much and froze
to death. There's something off, though, he's holding a
knife in his hands and was seemingly hiding from someone. And then there are odd marks drawn
on a stone beside his body.
This is just the first kill and as the murderer draws nearer the town has an additional problem - a power outage.
I keep on hearing about this book from friends on Good Reads and it has piqued my interest, I'm just not sure it's interesting enough. Nevertheless I'll keep an eye on it, maybe there'll be some group read that I can join.
The Ascent by Ronald Malfi
Alright - I have read only one book by Ronald Malfi and despite all the hype and buzz surrounding him right now, I wasn't very impressed, even though I very much think there was some potential in his writing. The story I read felt a little watered down and neither horror nor mystery and was, to my discontent, addressed to a second person singular which I hate in a book. So he's on my list of authors I won't go out of my way to read his newest books, but I think I want to give him a second chance with some other book.
So I think I'll give that second chance with The Ascent, which is about a widowed sculptor who joins a climbing expedition in Godesh Ridge in Nepal. The experience was supposed to get him over the death of his spouse, but the journey based in Tibetan mysticism turns into an experience of horror.
So let's see how my second Malfi experience goes.
Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Two mountain climbers suffer a terrible accident on the reportedly haunted Alpine mountain Maudit that only one survives. His account of what happened is incoherent and incredible and it is up to his partner to get to the bottom of the curse of the mountain, its soul-possesed Birds of Death and the legends of human sacrifice.
I extremely enjoyed reading Olde Heuvelt's previous novel Hex, there is something riveting and enthralling in his writing and his stories seem pretty original, even though familiar at the same time.
So I'm really excited about this one, I only haven't purchased it yet because it was a little pricey and I was waiting for some kind of discount. I should go on a hunt before the winter gets worse!
Christmas Horror Volume 1
I want to end the part of this list consisting of books I haven't yet read with a Christmas anthology, because I will start the part consisting of books I have already read with one. For the sake of mirror imaging, I guess. We all know by now that anthologies can blow hot or cold and it's much a matter of chance to catch a good one, even if the contributors are names you usually enjoy. So here we have Joe R. Lansdale, John
Skipp, Cody Goodfellow, Jeff Strand, J. F. Gonzalez, Stephen Mark
Rainey, Nate Southard, Shane McKenzie, which, admittedly, sound like a very homogeneous list of mostly white male perspectives and I'm looking for a more varied reading experience. But still, I will try this one as I didn't find any other Christmas horror anthology.
The Shining by Stephen King
I feel like there's nothing to say about King's The Shining any more since the ones who haven't read it yet certainly saw the movie at some point in their lives. Most people will probably have heard the problem of Kubrick's directing ... methods too, and King's hate for this adaptation due to a very valid diverging point between the two works. Kubrick's adaptation certainly is a masterwork mainly due to exaggeration and caricaturization of certain character traits, like Torrance's insanity incorporated by a very furious Nicholson or Wendy's hysteria squeezed out of poor Shelley Duvall (you can read about the whole story of Duvall being brutalized by Kubrick here). But King's point was the complete lack of that contrast, of those strict edges; this is supposed to be the story of one of us and his descent into madness and Wendy is actually a strong, emancipated and non-hysterical woman.
However the plot is being changed and manipulated, though, the Overlook Hotel, its ghosts, its icy prison and labyrinthine hedge mazes will always stay one of the most terrorizing settings in history.Ararat by Christopher Golden
A group of people go on an expedition on the mountain Ararat, where remnants of Noah's Ark are supposed to rest. What they find instead, though, is a coffin with a horned demon in it and oops, they should have left that one alone, for sure. Especially with a snow blizzard going on which keeps them from running away.
I
loved how genuinely scary that demon was! We all complain that recent
horror books aren't that scary anymore, but Christopher Golden certainly
can
give a good scare! On the other hand, I didn't like most of the
characters and wasn't really interested in what happens to them.
Honestly, I
didn't even understand what many of them were even doing up there and
why they were sent. Ararat has won the Bram Stoker Award
in 2017 and although there have been better books to win that award,
there have been worse too, so I'd place it somewhere in the middle.
Stranded by Bracken MacLeod
"The Thing" the blurb said... "Jacob's Ladder" the blurb said... Terrifying, icebound
thriller, the blurb said... Was it right? NO.
After a major storm
the crew of the Arctic Promise find themselves stuck in unfamiliar
(ice) waters and a thick fog. As if that's not enough, they all fall
sick from a mysterious illness, except for deckhand Noah Cabot. The ship
also happens to be under Noah's father-in-law Brewster's captainship,
who not only hates Noah, but also tries everything in his might to turn
his life into hell. And so he does. But when the fog clears the men face
different challenges than family disputes. Challenges of a completely
different nature...
Stranded was a slog through the Arctic that even a witty twist couldn’t save. Although setup and premise are appealing, ultimately, the book is neither captivating nor interesting. I quickly lost interest in the plot and except for MC, his best friend and his father in law, all the characters felt interchangeable. Not mine unfortunately.
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
A little late in life did I learn that apparently Alice Feeney is the unabashed queen of the killer twist and after reading Rock Paper Scissors, all I can say is; the title is well deserved!
Adam and Amelia win a snowy weekend away to Scotland and hope that it's the chance to save their marriage. They are not alone though, and especially for Adam, a screenwriter who has lived with face blindness his whole life, this trip will turn into a serious mind trip.
I thought this was GREAT!I hate books written in the form of letters addressed to the second person singular - you were so blablabla and you did blablabla-, because it just tires me to read. And it only adds to my frustration when it is a woman writing letters to her husband or boyfriend, because it almost always turns out to be a "she is so clingy while he doesn't care" cliche.
What I hate just as much are thrillers that solely revolve around relationship drama as if there's no interesting motive left in this whole wide world.
Miraculously, Rock Paper Scissors takes these elements that I abhor and combines them in a way that makes sense and that is clever. Even though by the end of the book I had had one twist too many, I didn't see much of it coming and I really enjoyed listening to it.
At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
More than Old Howard's tedious and sciency recount of an Antartic expedition discovering the Old Ones, I love this cover. It gives me serenity with the virgin snow and creepy head-like looking giant ice mountains... Looking like they will crucially destroy us if we disturb their aeon-long beings.
I also own this very edition at home and even more than Old Howard's included long essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature." I enjoyed China Miéville's foreword trying his best to show us ways to read and enjoy Lovecraft's work despite his blatant racism and extract the vision behind it all. Good thing this might be his least racist piece of writing and it is a little easier to ignore his usual hate babble.
But anyway, ice, snow, ancient beings, quintessential winter horror, less racism than usual, Old Ones we can relate to - what more can we want?
I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
Back in the olden days, I was perplexed to hear that of all the great horror novels that are available, THIS one would be filmed! Don't get me wrong, I'm convinced that Iain Reid does an exceptionally good job in I'm Thinking of Ending Things: it is well written, very meticulously structured, thoroughly creepy and will chill you to the bone. But talking about stories that are sheer impossible to film, this one is the first one that comes to mind. Having now seen the netflix movie I have come to the conclusion that netflix fucked up properly and the film is awful. So please do rather read the book and don't watch the movie.
One man and one woman are driving on the highway in the Canadian winter (I have been to Canada in December once and it was the first time I experienced the wheather actively hurting me, mere existence was pain) to have dinner at his parents' place. That's all I will say about this. I
won't give any more information as to what happens in this book at all, because
this is one of those cases where the better it is, the less you know
when starting to read. The initial cover warning "You will be scared. But you won't know why..." is probably the scariest sentence in the book as it at least gives the promise of terror. But even though it might not be a scarefest, it is unsettling and maybe even disturbing to a certain point, so there's that.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
Here we go with my best novel winner of last year! I admit, Stephen Graham Jones books don't work for everyone, but for those people they do, they are precious. And for those people, this is the book to read: social critique, a past crime, a charismatic monster with a relatable motive, a final girl with a passion, life the Reservation, a message with heart...
Ever since I have read this I have been recommending it to everyone I meet. Seriously, it's all I ever talk about. And you need to read it to make me shut up about it, worked on many people.
Stolen Tongues by Felix Blackwell
The Ancestor by Danielle Trussoni
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
The
subtitle to Michelle Paver's enthralling Dark Matter states that it is a
ghost story, and it indeed is. But the horrors Jack Miller endured
during a 1937 arctic expedition to Gruhuken, the most haunted
(fictional) place in the Arctic, are also in big part due to his
isolation, his being cut-off from the civilization he loathed so much
under normal circumstances. And that aspect, so timely and insightful
these days, is what interested me the most here.
No need to remark
that Paver, as a real connaisseur of the big ice, does great at
describing the polar landscapes and the awe-inspiring impressions they
make on us. The character development was very plausible, making it easy
to feel with and root for Jack and, on a last note, I really liked the
tragic story of the ghost itself too.
So it was an all around
delightful experience to read Dark Matter.
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