The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires

Books like The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires

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September 15, 2022
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#1 American Dirt

The Oprah Book Club selection and number one New York Times bestseller American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, which has sold over two million copies, is now available in paperback. Living in Acapulco is Lydia. She is married to a lovely journalist and has a son named Luca who is her life’s love. Despite the fact that Acapulco is starting to exhibit signs of instability due to the cartels, Lydia’s life is often not too uncomfortable. But none of their lives will be the same again after her husband’s candid biography of the newest drug lord is published.

When forced to run, Lydia and Luca end up joining the numerous individuals making the journey to America. Lydia quickly realizes that everyone is evading something. But where are they really racing to?

#2 Split

Sharon Bolton is back in ‘The Split’, an exciting new solo thriller about just a woman on the run that is tense, riveting, and has a surprise you won’t see coming.

The last boat of the summer is ready to leave the isolated Antarctic island of South Georgia, signaling safety to the local glaciologist Felicity Lloyd. Felicity often worries that her ex-husband Freddie will locate her, even in this remote location. She got a job on this remote island to avoid him, but now that he’s out after serving a murder conviction sentence, she knows he won’t stop looking for her.

#3 Dark Places

When Libby Day’s evidence led to the imprisonment of her fifteen-year-old brother, she was only seven years old. She has been idling ever since. Libby begins to pose questions she had never ventured to before after being contacted by a group that believes Ben is innocent. Did she recognize her brother’s voice? Although Ben was an outcast in their little town, was he murderous in nature? At the family property, are there mysteries to be discovered, or is Libby just thinking things up because she needs her brother back?

She begins to believe everybody in her family—especially Ben—had something to conceal that day. Now, twenty-four years later, it will be much more difficult to uncover the truth. Who shot the Day family to death?

#4 The Gone World

Shannon Moss works with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s covert section. She is given the task of finding the missing teenage daughter of a Navy SEAL and solving the murder of his family in 1997 in western Pennsylvania. Moss learns that the missing SEAL was an astronaut onboard the spacecraft U.S.S. Libra, which was thought to have been lost to the Deep Time currents, but she is unable to alert conventional law enforcement of this information. Moss, who has personal experience with the psychological anguish of time travel, thinks that the SEALs’ encounter with the future is what has caused this brutality.

Moss travels across time to investigate potential futures in search of evidence to solve the current case. Moss is driven by her desire to discover the missing girl and a frightening link from her own history. To her dismay, the future reveals that not only the destiny of a family depends on her efforts, as she sees the Terminus—the frightening and cataclysmic end of humanity—rising over time’s horizon and speeding toward the present.

#5 The Banker’s Wife

A couple takes a private aircraft early in the morning in November with a destination of Geneva and flies into a storm. It just disappears from view shortly after that, and its debris is eventually found in the Alps. Matthew Werner, a financial insider at the significant offshore bank Swiss United, is one of the missing. Young widow Annabel, who discovered an encrypted laptop and a dubious client list, is left to deal with the mysteries he left behind. She realizes that Matthew’s death was not an accident and that she is now in the sights of his formidable foes as she starts a desperate search for answers.

Ambitious society journalist Marina Tourneau has at last reached the pinnacle. She will cease writing about wealthy families now that she is married to Grant Ellis and will actually belong to one. Although her ascent to the top of New York’s social scene is more alluring than any article could ever be, she decides to look into one more tale after the passing of her mentor. A few men who are too close to home are among the most influential men in the finance industry who are implicated in information Marina finds while investigating Swiss United. If Marina decides to publish the narrative, it might also include the solution to Annabel’s tragic search.

#6 The Chemist

An ex-agent on the road from her former employers must take one more case in this riveting page-turner if she wants to clear her name and save her life. Few people were aware that she once worked for the American government. She was a specialist in her profession and one of the most closely guarded secrets of a secretive organization that doesn’t even have a name. And when they came for her without warning after deciding she was a liability.

She no longer regularly uses the same name or residence for an extended period of time. Even though they killed the only other person she could have trusted, she is still concerned about something. They want her to die quickly. She thinks it’s her only chance to remove the massive bullseye on her back when her former handler gives her a way out. But it requires accepting one final position with her former bosses. To her horror, the knowledge she gathers only makes things riskier for her.

#7 The Number 23

Walter Sparrow gets an antique book named “The Number 23” for his birthday. He begins to think that the book is based on his life. Walter begins to act like the main character, Fingerling, as his preoccupation with attempting to figure out the mysterious number 23 grows. Walter gradually learns the truth about “The number 23” with the aid of his family.

#8 Dark Matter Blake Crouch

From the creator of the best-selling Wayward Pines trilogy comes a mind-bending, never-ending astonishing thriller. Jason Dessen is looking forward to a calm evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their kid, Charlie, when his reality is shattered as he makes his way home through the frigid streets of Chicago.

“Are you happy with your life?”

#9 Insignificant Events In The Life Of A Cactus

The truth is that Aven Green was born without arms, despite how much she enjoys telling people she lost them in an alligator wrestling fight or a wildfire in Tanzania. Aven moves across the country with her parents when they accept a position managing Stagecoach Pass, a dilapidated western theme park in Arizona, knowing that she will be asked the same question repeatedly.

When she unites with Connor, a classmate who also feels alienated due to his own disability, and they learn of a room at Stagecoach Pass that contains more mysteries than Aven could have ever imagined, her new life takes an unexpected turn. To resolve a mystery, assist a buddy, and confront your deepest fears are difficult tasks. Aven is soon to realize that, even without arms, she is capable of doing it all.

#10 Defending Jacob

The best novel about a troubled family in crisis has been written by award-winning author William Landay. It is a gripping, character-driven mystery that also tells a riveting story about guilt, treachery, and the horrifying speed at which life can spiral out of control.

For more than twenty years, Andy Barber has served as an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county. He enjoys spending time at home with his wife Laurie and son Jacob. He is well-liked in his town. However, Andy is taken by surprise when a startling crime rocked their New England community and his fourteen-year-old son was accused of killing a classmate.

#11 The One

All that is required is a quick DNA test. With just a brief mouth swab, you can be genetically matched with the ideal companion in no time. Match Your DNA makes that commitment. The business claimed to have discovered the gene that matches each of us with our soul mate ten years ago. Since then, millions of individuals have been linked globally. However, the discovery has some drawbacks: test results have destroyed numerous relationships and challenged conventional notions of dating, romance, and love.

Five very different persons have now each received a “Matched” notification. Each of them is about to find their true love. But not everyone gets to live happily ever after because secrets exist even amongst soulmates. Additionally, some are more stunning than others… The One is a fascinating book that demonstrates how even the most straightforward findings can have complex repercussions. It was a word-of-mouth sensation in the UK.

#12 The Sanatorium

Le Sommet has long been a dark spot, partially concealed by woodland and shrouded by menacing peaks. The previously abandoned sanatorium has recently been transformed into a five-star minimalist hotel, ending years of troublesome rumors.

The last place Elin Warner wishes to be is a towering, remote retreat in the Swiss Alps. However, Elin has taken a break from her work as a detective, so she really has no excuse not to accept her estranged brother Isaac’s and his fiancée Laure’s invitation to commemorate their engagement at the hotel.

#13 They Wish They Were Us

A murder mystery with the Long Island setting of a prestigious prep school. Everything on Gold Coast, Long Island, including the upscale downtown shops, the well-kept beaches, and Jill Newman and her friends’ perfectly pressed uniforms, looks flawless. But nothing is as it seems, as Jill discovered three years ago.

Shaila Arnold, a clever and captivating friend of Jill’s from her freshman year, was murdered by her boyfriend. Graham confessed after that gloomy night on the beach, the case was resolved, and Jill tried to go on. Jill is currently in her senior year and she plans to make it the finest one yet. She is a senior and a Player, a member of the exclusive, not-so-hidden secret society at Gold Coast Prep.

#14 The Butterfly Garden

A lovely garden is located close to a remote mansion. This garden is home to lush flowers and shady trees. As well as a group of priceless “butterflies,” young girls who have been abducted and beautifully tattooed to match their namesake. The Gardener, a cruel, depraved man who is obsessed with collecting and keeping his beautiful specimens, is in charge of everything.

One of the survivors is brought in for interrogation once the garden is found. One of the most nauseating cases of FBI agents Victor Hanoverian and Brandon Eddison’s careers must be pieced together. However, the unnamed girl, Maya, turns out to be a mystery in and of herself. Maya exposes ancient resentments, new saviors, and horrifying tales of a man who would do anything to hold beauty hostage as her story swings and turns, gradually illuminating life in the Butterfly Garden. But as she divulges more, the agents are left to wonder what more she might be keeping secret.

#15 Firekeeper’s Daughter

Daunis Fontaine, who is biracial, not enrolled in the tribe, and the subject of a scandal, has never quite fit in, either in her hometown or on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis puts her goals on waiting to care for her frail mother when tragedy strikes her family. Meeting Jamie, the charming new player on her brother’s hockey team, is one positive development.

Daunis decides to go undercover after witnessing a shocking murder that draws her into a police investigation. However, the lies—and fatalities—keep coming, and eventually, the threat comes too close to home. Will she go to any lengths to safeguard her village, even if it means shattering the only world she has ever known?

#16 The Shack

Missy, the youngest daughter of Mackenzie Allen Philips, is kidnapped while on a family vacation, and evidence suggesting that she may have been brutally killed is discovered in an abandoned shack in the middle of the Oregon woods. Mack receives a strange note urging him back to that cabin for a weekend four years later while he is experiencing his Great Sadness. The note seems to have come from God. On a winter afternoon, against his better judgment, he makes his way to the hut and enters his worst nightmare. The things he discovers there will alter Mack’s life forever.

The answers Mack receives to the age-old question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unfathomable pain?” will astonish you and possibly transform you as much as it did him in a time when religion seems to become less and less relevant. You’ll want to recommend this book to everyone you know!

#17 Tales From The Gas Station

It can be difficult to work at a retail job in a remote, dead-end location. The lengthy hours, the defenseless clients. The monstrous eldritch horror lurking beneath the structure… Jack works as the sole full-time employee at the 24-hour gas station on the outskirts of town, and he has essentially seen it all. But when he makes the decision to start an online blog to record the strange things that happen on a daily basis, he unintentionally draws the attention of a lot more conspiracy theorists than just a handful. Jack will exert every effort to remain out of the way and mind his own business despite the fact that the death toll is constantly rising and that everyone around him is experiencing the effects of a dark, ancient force in their dreams.

He is only a gas station employee, after all. It’s not like he’s getting paid enough to fight the nightmare aberrations that plague his neighborhood. Additionally, he is already working hard to control the mystifying lawn gnomes, mutant raccoons, and the endearing phantom cowboy who resides in the restroom. Tales from the Gas Station: Volume One is a love letter to the forefathers of classic horror written for a generation that grew up in the era of cell phones and WiFi. It is based on the award-winning creepypasta by GasStationJack.

#18 The Mummy

In opulent Edwardian London, Ramses the Great has awoken once more. He became Ramses the Damned after consuming the elixir of life, destined to wander the earth forever while frantically trying to sate his unquenchable hunger. He becomes good friends with Julie Stratford, a wealthy heiress, but his cursed past drives him once more down the wrong path. Searing memories of his previous reawakening, which was ordered by his favorite Egyptian queen, Cleopatra, to torture him. And his unwavering love for her over the ages will drive him to do something that will put everyone around him in great peril.

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#19 Joyland

Devin Jones, a college student, decided to work at Joyland for the summer in the hopes of forgetting the girl who broke his heart. But he ultimately had to deal with many worse things, such as the consequences of a savage murder, the fate of a dying kid, and unsettling facts about life and death that would alter his perspective on the world forever.

A compelling tale about both love and loss, about maturing up and getting older, and about those who aren’t able to experience any of those things because they pass away before their time. It is a mystery, a horror story, and a sad coming-of-age novel all rolled into one, and it will pull even the most jaded reader to tears.

#20 Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds

A weird laboratory. A nefarious scientist. A hidden past. If you believe you know what happened to Eleven’s mother, get ready to have your world flipped around in this fascinating prequel to the smash program Stranger Things. It’s the summer of 1969, and the shock of war reverberates through America’s young, both at home and abroad. Terry Ives, a student at a tranquil college campus in Indiana’s heartland, couldn’t be further from the front lines of Vietnam or the explosive rallies in Washington. But the world is shifting and Terry isn’t willing to stand by and observe.

When word spreads of an important federal experiment in Hawkins, she agrees to be a test subject for the study, called MKUltra. Unmarked vans, an isolated lab in the woods, mind-altering chemicals supplied by tight-lipped researchers… and a mystery that Terry, the young and restless protagonist, is desperate to solve.

#21 Scream

Mark Stone is on the phone with a friend when he is shocked by a chorus of strange screaming. A horrible accident takes his friend’s life seconds later. When this occurs multiple times in a row—screams followed by an early death—he feels forced to act.

Mark embarks on a mission to figure out what is behind the screams and possibly prevent death from calling on its next victim, despite his failure as a husband and his own wounded faith. When his estranged wife is abducted and he hears her screams from her cell phone, his hunt becomes more personal and urgent.

#22 I’m Thinking Of Ending Things

Iain Reid delves into the depths of the human psyche in this brilliant and dramatic literary suspense book, examining consciousness, free choice, the value of relationships, terror, and the constraints of solitude. “Your dread and unease will rise with every passing page” (Entertainment Weekly) of this edgy, disturbing debut, reminiscent of Jose Saramago’s early work, Michel Faber’s cult masterpiece Under the Skin, and Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin. I’m Thinking of Ending Things is a tense, riveting, and atmospheric novel that draws you in from the first page…and never lets you go.

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#23 My Sweet Audrina

In this chilling tale of love and betrayal, naivety and treachery, and the smothering force of parental love, Dollanganger series author V.C. Andrews has developed an intriguing new group of characters. To be just as good as her sister, Audrina Adare aspired. She was aware that her father also couldn’t love her as much as he did her sister. Her sibling was very unique and perfect, yet she passed away. She will now have to confront the perilous, scary secret that everyone is aware of. everybody but…

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#24 Books Like Amelia Bedelia

Amelia Bedelia follows every instruction given to her by Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, even dressing the chicken and dusting the furniture. However, nothing ever quite works out as planned.

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#25 Books Like Crimson Peak

A young woman has whisked away to a house on top of a mountain of blood-red clay when her heart is captivated by a beguiling stranger. This is a place full of mysteries that will torment her forever.

The truth about Crimson Peak lies between desire and evil, between mystery and madness. from the renowned filmmaker Guillermo del Toro.

#26 Books Like Mexican Gothic

Noem Taboada travels to High Place, a remote house in the Mexican countryside, after receiving a desperate letter from her recently married cousin pleading for help to save her from an unknown fate. She is unsure of what she will discover because Noem knows little about the area and her cousin’s husband, a charming Englishman, is a stranger.

The gorgeous debutante Noem is another unlikely hero; her elegant clothes and flawless red lipstick are more appropriate for cocktail parties than for an amateur detective. She is fearless, yet she is also strong, intelligent, and willpower: Not even in the house, which starts to haunt Noem’s dreams with sights of blood and doom. Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both scary and intriguing; not of his father, the old patriarch who seems to be charmed by Noem; and not even of her cousin.

#27 Something Wicked This Way Comes

Something Wicked This Way Comes, one of Ray Bradbury’s best-known and most widely read books, now has a new preface and information about its extensive cultural and genre impact.

Step inside for those who still have dreams and memories and for those who haven’t yet felt the captivating power of its dark poetry. The program is about to start. Every life touched by Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show will be destroyed when it arrives in Green Town, Illinois. A little after midnight, the carnival arrives, bringing a week early Halloween. All are drawn in by the enticing prospect of fantasies and youth reclaimed by the harsh siren voice of the calliope.

#28 Mr Mercedes

Hundreds of unemployed men and women queue up in the early hours of the morning in a struggling American city to enter a job fair. They are drained, chilly, and in need. A lone driver in a stolen Mercedes speeds through the crowd after emerging from the fog, invisible until it’s too late. The driver runs over innocent people before reversing and accelerating again. There are eight fatalities and fifteen injuries. The murderer gets away.

Bill Hodges, an ex-cop who is still troubled by the unsolved crime, muses of suicide months later. Hodges awakens from his miserable and empty retirement when he receives a crazy letter from “the perk” accusing him of being responsible for the deaths. He is determined to stop the attack and fears an even more evil one.

#29 Books Like The Outsider

A terrible crime. An unclear investigation. King has written one of his most frightening and compulsively readable stories at a time when his brand has never been stronger.

The dismembered body of an eleven-year-old kid is discovered in a town park. Fingerprints and eyewitness account definitely identify one of Flint City’s most well-liked residents. Terry Maitland is a spouse, father of two kids, Little League coach, English teacher, and English teacher. Maitland previously coached Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son made the arrest. Maitland has a plausible explanation, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to the fingerprints, witnesses, and other available proof. Their argument looks unbeatable. King’s compelling narrative picks up speed as the investigation deepens and frightening revelations start to surface, creating intense tension and nearly intolerable suspense. Although Terry Maitland appears like a kind guy, is there another side to him? You’ll be shocked by the response in the way that only Stephen King can.

#30 Jaws

A man-eating terror classic that inspired a Steven Spielberg film and terrified millions of beachgoers into staying out of the water. Relive the thrill of utter helplessness—or experience it for the first time!

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#31 Annihilation

For many years, Area X was cut off from the outside world. The final remains of human civilization have been reclaimed by nature. The first expedition reported a pure, Edenic landscape; the second resulted in mass suicide, and the third ended in a hail of gunfire as its participants turned on one another. The eleventh expedition’s participants responded as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, every single one of them had passed away from cancer. We join the twelfth expedition in Annihilation, the first book in Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy.

Four women make up the group: our narrator, a biologist; an anthropologist; a surveyor; and the psychologist who serves as de facto leader. Their goals are to map the area, keep a journal of all they see about one another and their surroundings, and, most importantly, stay out of Area X itself. They expect the unexpected when they arrive, and Area X does not disappoint. However, the shocks they brought with them and the mysteries the voyage members are holding from one another are what ultimately changes everything.

#32 Deep And Dark And Dangerous

Ali, age 13, discovers a strange picture in the attic just before summer officially starts. She is aware that it contains her mother Claire and her aunt Dulcie’s two children. But who is the third individual, the one who has been erased from the scene?

While on vacation in Maine with Dulcie and Emma, 4, in the home where Ali’s mother’s family used to spend the summer, Ali assumes she’ll learn the truth. Thoughts of leisure are quickly dashed when the girls encounter Sissy, an ugly and spiteful youngster who has a negative impression of Emma.

#33 The Institute

Intruders discreetly murder Luke Ellis’s parents in the middle of the night in a home on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis before putting him in a black SUV. Less than two minutes are needed for the procedure. Luke will awaken at The Institute in a room that is virtually identical to his own, save for the absence of a window. Other children with exceptional abilities—telekinesis and telepathy—who arrived at this location similarly to Luke can be found behind other doors outside of his door, including Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and ten-year-old Avery Dixon. Everybody is in the front half. Luke discovers that some people advanced to Back Half, “like the roach motel,” as Kalisha puts it. You don’t check out; you just check-in.

The director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are brutally committed to drawing out of these kids the power of their extraordinary abilities in this most evil of institutions. This place has no morals. You receive tokens for the vending machines if you comply. If you don’t, the penalty is severe. Luke grows more and more frantic to leave and obtain assistance as each fresh victim vanishes into Back Half. However, nobody has ever managed to leave the Institute.

#34 11 22 63

Three shots were fired in Dallas on November 22, 1963, killing President Kennedy and altering the course of history. What if you could reverse the change? A man goes back in time to thwart the JFK assassination in Stephen King’s new, heart-stoppingly dramatic novel, which is a thousand-page masterpiece. Following the phenomenal success of Under the Dome, King transports readers to another instance—a period in actual history—when everything goes awry: the JFK assassination. Additionally, he provides an introduction to a figure with the ability to alter the course of history.

Jake Epping, a 35-year-old English teacher at Lisbon Falls High School in Maine, also works as a GED instructor for adults. One of the students gives him an essay, a grisly, terrifying account of the night fifty years ago when Harry Dunning’s father returned home and murdered his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry survived with a broken leg, as was evident from his awkward gait. The owner of the neighborhood diner, Jake’s friend Al, reveals a secret shortly after that: his cellar is a doorway to 1958. In an insane—and absurdly possible—mission to try to stop the Kennedy assassination, he enlists Jake. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson, a life that defies all the laws of time and is filled with Elvis and JFK, big American cars and sock hops, a disturbed loner named Lee Harvey Oswald, and a stunning high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who ends up being Jake’s love.

#35 Stranger Things

A shadowy laboratory, a malicious scientist, and a hidden past. In this gripping prequel to the popular television series Stranger Things, if you believe you know the real story behind Eleven’s mother, get ready to have your world turned inside out. The horror of war is still fresh in the minds of American youth both at home and abroad in the summer of 1969. Terry Ives is a student at a peaceful college in the middle of Indiana, far from the front lines of the Vietnam War and the explosive demonstrations in Washington.

But Terry isn’t willing to stand by and observe as the world changes. She agrees to be a test subject for the MKUltra project after hearing about an important government experiment in the little town of Hawkins. Unmarked vans, a secret laboratory tucked away in the woods, drugs that affect perception given by covert researchers, and a mystery Terry, a young and restless Terry, is anxious to solve.

#36 Bird Box

There is a horrible force outside that should not be seen. One look at that is all it takes to inspire terrible violence. Nobody is aware of its nature or origin. A few dispersed survivors are still alive five years after it started, including Malorie and her two young children. She had fantasized about escaping to a location where they might be secure while residing in an abandoned house next to the river. It’s time to leave now that the boy and girl are four, but the trip will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat while blindfolded, with nothing but her wits and the kids’ trained hearing as a guide.

They are doomed to one poor decision. They are constantly being followed, but is it a person, an animal, or a monster? Bird Box, which weaves together the past and present, is a glimpse of a world in disarray that will have you turning the pages quickly.

#37 Intensity

Chyna Shepard, 26, can’t sleep on her first night in her best friend’s family’s Napa Valley home as she stares out a starry window into midnight. The gut instinct works well. Edgler Foreman Vess, a vicious sociopath, has invaded the home with the intention of killing everyone there. Vess, a self-described “homicidal adventurer,” claims that his primary goals in life are to sate all of his cravings as they come, to lose himself in sensation, to live without regret or boundaries, and to live with “intensity.” In his lethal orbit, Chyna is imprisoned.

Chyna is a survivor who has become tougher after a lifetime of fighting for safety and self-respect. She will now be put to the ultimate test. Her initial goal is only to survive, but by coincidence, she discovers the identity of the nearby innocent Vess’s next target, a person only she can save. Chyna mobilizes all of her inner resources to save a girl in jeopardy as the frightening threat posed by Edgler Foreman Vess grows ever more imminent, driven by a recently discovered yearning for significance beyond simple self-preservation.

#38 Odd Thomas

He’s weird. Actually, Odd Thomas. Brilliant fry-cook at Pico Mundo Grill; lover of Stormy Llewellyn, a stunning woman; and perhaps the only one with a chance of halting one of the darkest crimes in the brutal history of murder…

Odd and Stormy’s desert village is now home to something sinister. It manifests as a shadowy figure with a morbid appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world’s worst murderers, and odd shadows that follow him around like hyenas. Odd is anxious. He has knowledge and insight into the living, the dead, and the imminently deceased. Things that require action from him. He is now scared for Pico Mundo, Stormy, and himself. Because he is aware that the town would be destroyed on Wednesday, August 15, by a ferocious, bloody cyclone of violence and murder…

#39 I Am Not A Serial Killer

John Wayne Cleaver is risky, and he is aware of this. He has worked hard his entire life to fall short of his potential. Despite his obsession with serial killers, he is not genuinely interested in becoming one. He, therefore, adheres to strict standards he has established for himself in order to protect himself and the people around him, living his everyday life as though it were a form of personal religion that could deliver him from eternal punishment.

John is accustomed to seeing dead bodies. Actually, he enjoys them. They do not ask for or anticipate the empathy he is unable to provide. Perhaps this is what gives him the objectivity to see that the body the police have just discovered behind the Wash-n-Dry Laundromat is different and to understand what that difference signifies.

#40 John Dies At The End

STOP. You shouldn’t have used your bare hands to touch this flier. Don’t put it down, please. Too late now. They keep an eye on you. David Wong is my name. John is my best friend. Those are made-up names. You should consider changing yours. The information on these pages, including that on the sauce, Korrok, the invasion, and the future, may not be information you want to be aware of. It’s too late, though. You gave the book a touch. In the game you are. You have under-eye bags. Knowledge is the only defense. You must finish reading this book. everything, even the bratwurst portion. Why? Just have faith in me. The crucial fact is that the substance, called Soy Sauce, allows users to peer through a window into a different reality. I never got the chance to refuse on behalf of John. You continue to. I truly apologize for including you in this. But it is important that you remember one thing when you read about these dreadful things and the extremely dark era the world is about to enter: None of this was my fault.

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#41 Stalking Jack The Ripper

This fantastically spooky horror book, published by James Patterson’s brand-new children’s imprint, with a plot motivated by the Jack the Ripper murders and a shocking, terrifying ending. Audrey Rose Wadsworth, age 17, was born a lord’s daughter and had a life of wealth and pleasure ahead of her. She does, however, conduct a clandestine secret life in between the social teas and silk dress fittings.

Audrey frequently eludes her strict father’s orders and defies social norms to visit her uncle’s lab to learn about the horrific field of forensic medicine. When Audrey is drawn into the investigation of a serial killer while working on a spate of brutally murdered corpses, she is forced to confront her safe haven. This breathtaking, #1 New York Times bestselling debut from author Kerri Maniscalco will be tough to forget due to the story’s stunning turns and turns, which are complemented by actual, ominous vintage images.

#42 Uzumaki

This town is filled with spirals, it seems. The small Japanese coastal village of Kurouzu-cho, which is shrouded in fog, is cursed. Teenager Kirie Goshima’s withdrawn boyfriend Shuichi Saito claims that their town is not haunted by an individual or being but rather by a pattern called uzumaki, the spiral, which is the hypnotic hidden shape of the universe. This peculiar horror manga masterpiece is now available in a single volume. Embark on a terrifying downward spiral!

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#43 Monday’s Not Coming

Monday It appears that only Claudia is aware that Charles is missing. More like sisters than pals, Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable. Claudia is concerned when Monday doesn’t show up for the first day of school. Claudia recognizes a problem when she doesn’t show up for the second day or the second week. She wouldn’t be left alone on Monday to deal with tests and bullies. Not with her grades on the line and the rumors from last year. More than ever, Claudia needed her best friend—and only friend. Monday’s sister April is even less helpful, and Monday’s mother won’t give Claudia a straight answer. Claudia learns that no one can recall when they last saw Monday as she continues to investigate the disappearance of her friend. How is it possible for a teenage girl to simply go without anyone noticing?

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#44 Battle Royale

A junior high school class is sent to a barren island where, as part of a brutal authoritarian program, they are issued with weapons and forced to murder one another until just one survives. This is the basis for Koushun Takami’s infamous high-octane thriller. Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the twenty-first century and a strong allegory of what it meant to be youthful and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog society. It was first criticized as violent exploitation when it was published in Japan, where it went on to become an instant hit. Battle Royale, a current Japanese pulp classic that was adapted into the contentious blockbuster film of the same name, is now available in English for the first time.

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