I just recently finished We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer and really enjoyed it. That type of horror is right up my alley — where things just feel eerie and off, but you can’t place exactly what’s wrong… there’s just this underlying sense of dread and feeling of things not being quite “right”. Maybe weird things are happening around the house, etc…. often there’s something supernatural or paranormal going on, but this doesn’t have to be the case for me to enjoy it. Another book I enjoyed that felt similar was House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. That one had me thoroughly creeped out. Since I know it’s popular, I’ll mention that I have also read Incidents Around the House — that one wasn’t my fave by the ending, but I really liked the beginning half or so. Can anyone suggest similar types of horror books, especially to the first 2?
Also to add: I really like those stories where you’re supposed to follow certain rules or it’s implied something bad will happen, though you’re not sure what — i.e. “at 2 am a woman will enter the shop, it’s imperative that you do not make eye contact with her. After 10 minutes she will leave” etc., just real spooky to me. I generally just really enjoy those uncanny, backrooms type vibes, so very open to those elements as well.
by toxic_and_timeless
4 Comments
This is something that also interests me 🤔
Don’t have any recommendations though
I haven’t read the two you listed, but the entire time I was reading Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer something just felt off (but in a way that I couldn’t put the book down). It was one of my favorite reads last year!
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekuland – all is well until some drawings by a child start to show something they shouldn’t.
Another suggestion is The House in Needless Street by Catriona Ward. It’ll be clear something is off from the very beginning, and there sure are a lot of rules.