I have 3 horror reviews in the October 2025 issue of Booklist. As always, these are my draft reviews with some extra appeal info, my three words, and extra readalikes.
This means I have added 11 horror books to your "to be read" pile in the last two days. (Sorry not sorry.) But good news, you don't have to read them all, just put them on order, and promote them as a good read all year long, so that each book can be found by its best reader.
I am going to post them here in the order in which I wrote them.
By Victor Manibo
Nov. 2025. 400p. Kensington/Erewhon, $28 (9781645661382).
First published October 1, 2025 (Booklist).
The patriarch of the Sepulveda family is dead, but as readers see, it is not from natural causes. As the family makes their way to the coconut plantation, above an isolated village, where the family’s grand Spanish Colonial Manor home sits, a typhoon is raging. Soon, a landslide traps them all. Readers enter this atmospheric, immersive, slow burn Filipino Gothic through the eyes of Sophie, a Filipino-American adoptee of white parents, attending the funeral with her boyfriend, the oldest grandchild. Amidst jet lag and an unfamiliar culture, Sophie learns that the “bad luck” tied to the family is grounded in a very real curse, one for which the various family members hold a collective responsibility. No longer beloved, the Sepulveda’s must all face the consequences of their evil political and personal choices. Another great example of how voices from all over the world are injecting a centuries old trope with their culture, history, and folk horror, both honoring and refreshing the Gothic itself while giving readers a slew of new terrifying tales to enjoy.
Three Words That Describe This Book: cursed family, Filipino Gothic, isolation horror
Further Appeal: The title adds just the right amount of tension to the story as readers go in-- the "once beloved" adds a layer of unease. And then the book opens with a death that in the first chapter is shown to be not "natural." Great dread filled atmosphere from the start.
It needs to be said that this book would not have gotten published without Silvia Moreno-Garcia writing
Mexican Gothic; however, it is more than just "Filipino Gothic." I love that SMG has allowed so many people to explore their cultures and folklore through a trope that has been very white for 200 years. And because these books use a known and beloved trope but inject something new, readers are flocking to them in droves-- rightfully so.
In this case, Manibo has given readers a Gothic about a cursed family-- the Sepulveda's-- and their Spanish Colonial villa which has been part of their family for generations. The history of this fictional family is intertwined with very real history of the Philippines, especially the well known and horrific Marcos family.
There are a few narrators (and one that comes towards the end and is key to bringing the story all together) but readers mostly follow Sophie. She is a Filipino adoptee from Nebraska. Raised very blandly midwestern, aware of her heritage but never given the chance to engage with it, until at Stanford when she met Adrian, the oldest grandchild in the Sepulveda family, as they all travel to the Philippines to have the funeral for Adrian's grandfather. Sophie is a great narrator for us because she knows very little about the family and their history. She also knows very little about the supernatural folklore and monsters of the culture. As a result, things are explained to her (and us) but, she also becomes a conduit for the supernatural beings who visit her and increase the fear.
Readers know this family is rich and that in getting that power and money they probably did bad things, but as the book goes on, just how bad all of them are is revealed. And they have been literally cursed. This is referred to from the start, but the book does great job revealing the details. Consequences are coming from the curse that was placed on them and the plagues set upon them for very serious wrongs against the people of their community. Wrongs they tried to hide. Wrongs they have no remorse for-- all of them. And the monsters from their own folklore who will mark their end.
This entire story is told over the week just before Easter, during a typhoon. The group gets completely isolated from everyone else due to a landslide. No phone service, no road, no help. I appreciated how well the author built up a complex family, giving all of the family members a distinct identity and allowing each of them to reveal themselves fully as the danger and stress builds.
The political issues and history were also woven in without sacrificing the pace. This is a slow and steady build on purpose. As the isolation and danger increase, the pacing does as well. Sophie is our canary in this coal mine here-- as she gets more uneasy and unsettled and then terrified, so do we. This book would not work if it was told at a flat out pace. Readers need to see the story build and the days pass by-- labelled at the top-- and feel Easter coming. There is a reason this is told mostly over Holy Week. Religion and folklore overlap quite a bit.
Readalikes: As I mentioned above,
Mexican Gothic by SMG but also so many others since.
Dark SistersBy Kristi DeMeester.
Dec. 2025. 336p. St. Martin’s, $29 (9781250286819).
First published October 1, 2025 (Booklist).
The residents of Hawthorne Springs, all members of The Path (a mega church), have seen unprecedented and ubiquitous prosperity since the late 1700s, except for a strange illness that indiscriminately and seriously sickens the women. Even more troubling, that sickness seems to be tied to those who have reported seeing the “ Dark Sisters,” two grotesque female spirits, tied together by their braids, living in a large tree on the outskirts of town. Told by three women, alternating in order beginning with Anne in 1750, Camilla in 2007, and finally Mary in 1953, each timeline enhances the others, keeping readers turning the pages, watching it all come together like a jigsaw puzzle, albeit one with a nightmarish final piece. A deadly serious, witchy story, propelled by rage against both the extraordinary and everyday violence men perpetrate against women, Dark Sisters reaches out across the centuries with a terror that is all too timely. For fans of anything by Rachel Harrison and Gwendolyn Kiste as well as The Year of the Witching by Henderson.
Three Words That Describe This Book: witches, linked time lines, feminist rage
Further Appeal: more "words" I considered-- unsettling, nightmarish, 3 narrators, short chapters that rotate time lines/narrators in this order (1750, 2007, 1953) as a result the story flows quickly without sacrificing the necessary details and clues that help bring it all together. And even though readers "figure out" a few things fairly early, they really have no idea what is coming. I think this is on purpose. DeMeester is leading us to where she wants us to go with the knowledge, in her back pocket, that she has more
This is a well constructed story of a community in Hawthorne Springs somewhere below the Mason-Dixon Line in America-- the town is purposefully not placed within a state. A church called The Path has long been in control since the 1750s. People who live in the town are all unusually prosperous-- like absurdly so. DeMeester fills the story with mentions of high end brand names that everyone has all the time. It was jarring and odd from the start which signaled to me that I should be paying attention to why. And there was a great why at the end.
The narrators are Ann Bolton in 1750 told in "interludes" as readers see the founding of Hawthorne Springs. Then we meet Camilla in 2007. She is the pastor's daughter. Then we meet Mary in 1953. They live in Hawthorne Springs. The timelines and narration alternate (as mentioned above) in that order-- 1750, 2007, 1953-- over and over. Each time line enhances the others. Each reveals something about the entire story. The book comes together like a jigsaw puzzle. It is very satisfying. But as I said above, the final pieces still are jarring and shocking.
The book moves quickly because of the narrative style choices which is great because this is an angry book. The entire story is propelled by anger and rage against the everyday violence men perpetrate against women. From wanting them to be thin and pretty to physically assaulting them. All of it is there. And it is interspersed well. Without the short chapters and shifting timelines to provide a bit of a buffer, it would be too much. So kudos to her for sticking by her vision but working to make sure it flowed for the reader.
This book is deadly serious. There is no room for humor. It is fueled by anger and it can be overwhelming at times. This was written (purposefully I believe because it is well executed throughout) with a heavy hand-- Like The Power by Alderman. That is not to say it is not enjoyable to read. As a horror novel it is. But just be ready.
Readalikes: Besides the ones in the review and the mention of The Power just above, I also suggest Hag by Kaufman. For fans of the church that is actually controlled by darker magic/spirits and have controlled a town for centuries- try Crafting for Sinners by Kiefer. Kiefer's story has more dark humor though. This one is deadly serious.
Yeehaw JunctionBy Kayli Scholz
Nov. 2025. 181p. Moonstruck, paper, $19 (9798988815440).
First published October 1, 2025 (Booklist).
Welcome to Yeehaw Junction, smack dab in the middle of Florida, where the land is poisoned with DDT. It is June 1999 and the narrator Skeet tells readers, “... I’m gonna be a school shooter when I grow up.” Leading readers through a few fateful weeks that summer, when a young girl goes missing, and Skeet’s precarious home situation goes from bad to worse, readers sympathize with Skeet even as he and his “family” make awful choices. Scholz adds depth to the story by letting readers see things outside of Skeet’s limited experience in the form of ephemera (police documents, articles, transcripts, etc), from before and after 1999. Straddling the line between intensely discomfiting psychological suspense and extreme horror without ever sacrificing the heartbreaking humanity at its core, readers will be forced to confront the terrifying reality of the America that is hiding in plain sight, just off the interstate, on their way to the amusement parks. For fans of the movie,
The Florida Project and novels by
CJ Leede,
Eric LaRocca, and
Gabino Iglesias.
Three Words That Describe This Book: discomfiting, thought provoking, sympathetic but awful narrator
Further Appeal: I put “family” in quotes because it is a found family but being raised by a foster parent. And how they became a family is part of the story told in the ephemera– and it is NOT GOOD.
Readalikes: This is a book for the space where psychological suspense and horror overlap. In your face horrors with plenty of humanity-- like in the work of Gabino Iglesias, Eric LaRocca, and CJ Leede. Especially great for fans of
The Devil Takes You Home or
Coyote Songs by Iglesias.
The present of this book is set in 1999 and it is mostly told by Skeet, a young man who tells us in the first sentence that he is a school shooter in training. But throughout he use of ephemera-- police documents, transcripts of true crime videos, 911 transcripts, newspaper articles and more-- all clearly dates-- readers get a sense of what happened before we meet Skeet and way after he leaves us.
The use of dates is key because info is giving to the reader throughout the present storyline and some is set before and some after. It all adds to the extreme unease of this story.
The world building here is excellent. Readers get a sense of this hopeless place-- Yeehaw Junction-- right in the middle of nowhere FL. A place literally poisoned-- the DDT remnants are still leaving a mark on the people who live there-- including Skeet.
The less you know about this book going in the better. It is a full body experience to read it. You will feel disgust, anger, and terror but also sadness, hope for better for Skeet even though you know the odds are impossibly against him. You will also be forced to take a hard look at the America that is just off the interstate on your way to the amusement park.
