Molka by Monika Kim

Monika Kim explored the dark depths of feminine rage in her debut novel The Eyes Are The Best Part. But in Molka, she dives even deeper. Molka is the South Korean term for hidden spy cameras often used to secretly film women against their will, stripping them of their agency. The book places us inside the mind of a man who hides molkas in women’s bathrooms. We also follow Dahye, a woman who becomes a victim of molkas and exacts her revenge with help from an unexpected source. Kim blends uncanny, dreamlike horror imagery with the very real atrocities modern women face to tell a deeply unsettling story you still somehow won’t want to put down. —Emily Martin

It Came from Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo

I’ve known Cynthia Pelayo’s horror game was strong since Loteria left me staring at a wall, wondering if I’d ever look at the card game I grew up playing the same way again. She’s the first Latina and first Puerto Rican to win the Bram Stoker Award and has a deep backlist of banger after chilling banger, but her name doesn’t come up in horror lists nearly as often as it should. If you’ve yet to venture into the Pelayoland, consider this twisted Peter Pan retelling set during WWI your official invitation. Pelayo’s prose is as gorgeous as the world she creates is lush and terrifying. If you’ve ever thought the idea of Neverland sounded kinda creepy, this might be your perfect read. —Vanessa Diaz

The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan

This is the demented buddy comedy you didn’t know you needed! It’s an action-packed adventure, full of blood, gore, and lots of laughs, and so, so queer. As soon as I heard Alix E. Harrow pitch this as “Venom in 18th-century France,” I knew I had to have it. And it did not disappoint. Sebastian Grave must return to a small town in France to kill the dreaded Beast of Gévaudan, who was not vanquished 20 years earlier as originally thought. Coming along (because he has no choice) is the demon Sarmodel, who lives inside Sebastian and feeds off the living essence of others. Trust me, historical fiction will never taste the same again. —Liberty Hardy

Muñeca by Cynthia Gómez

Cynthia Gómez’s debut horror novel packs a big punch in under 200 pages. This sapphic Gothic horror novel is set in 1968 and follows Natalia “Nati” Fuentes, a young woman who has learned all about witchcraft from her grandmother. So when she finds out the young and beautiful heiress Violeta Miramontes has been paralyzed by a mysterious illness, Nati suspects black magic, and she thinks she might have the cure. From the very first page, you know that Nati and Violeta will fall for each other, but the way their romance unfolds will surprise you.

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Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay

Horror fans are likely already familiar with Paul Tremblay’s works, but his latest is a surreal, genre-bending novel feels like new territory. Think dystopian, anti-AI, nightmare Weekend at Bernie’s. Former semi-professional gamer Julia Flang has been tasked with remote controlling a “mostly dead” man (she calls him “Bernie”) with an AI implant in his head. As they travel from California to the East Coast, what she doesn’t realize is what’s going on in Bernie’s mind. With no memory of who he is or how he got here, he is trapped in his own mind, surrounded by deeply unsettling imagery. And searching for someone. He just doesn’t know who.