Books like The Incubations — picked by fans

I recommend this book because of its evident understanding of the psychology of fear. 

From the very first, there is an ominous atmosphere—evil characters, and above all, misunderstanding. Everything in this novel is pointed toward a ambience of fright. The characters are, aside from Rebecca, who is quite innocent, mysterious and dark.

Everything in the novel, the house, the furnishings therein, the weather, everything is portrayed as sinister. This is a tour de force of maintaining a consistent and frightening atmosphere.

Whenever people think of Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House springs to mind, and, for many years, I stopped right there. I was wrong.

In my opinion, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is actually a much better book – better in terms of plot and characterization. In telling the story of the decidedly disturbed and disturbing Blackwood family and their sinister home, Shirley Jackson explores small-town prejudice as well as the creeping impression that, while something awful has already happened, there is much worse to follow.

Merricat is a character I identified with. She is strong, determined, and a fighter. With the odds stacked so firmly against her, she needs to be. Jackson’s last novel is, for me at least, her greatest.

 This is Daniel Church’s first novel, and he grabbed me from the first page.

The Hollows is isolated, and the book is depicting its raw bleakness in the dead of winter. I could almost feel the biting cold, the snow falling, soaking me through. Once I had encountered the family at the heart of this story, the true essence of the book really came alive for me. 

This is real horror because for me, certainly, I could imagine it happening. All of it. The murders, the increasing fear of the local people, the menace of the place itself, and the fear that the evil might never stop.

Hunter Shea has provided me with many hours of creepy, scary enjoyment, but Creature, for me, is his best work to date.

The story rang true and authentic to me. The wife with a range of autoimmune illnesses, who needs a place to rest, and get mentally and physically well again. The close relationship she has with her husband and the gallows humour that helps to bond them and see them through the many daily crises of their lives together – all of this happening while, outside, in the woods, something frightening is lurking, biding its time.

Just out of sight. I love the tension and fear you can feel and almost taste. This one scared, thrilled, and captivated me. It also did something no other horror novel has ever done. It made me cry.

Like meat, this book was hard to digest. It made me feel anxiety, turmoil, and pain despite my uncertainty as to what exactly triggered these responses. The isolated experience of a woman believing herself to be a tree, attempting to achieve spiritual happiness while others overstepped their boundaries, felt so very violating and personal.

I love it when stories slice me down raw, revealing wounds I did not know existed beneath my skin.

When I first read this book, I fell instantly in love with the story, the characters, and the wonderful pencil and watercolor artwork, and I knew that this graphic novel was something different, something new, and totally amazing!

This story of a little tiger girl and her nighttime monster friend, who keeps her nightmares away, is told with such humor, heart, and imagination that all I could say was, "Wow," as I went from page to page.

I ended up thinking that this is how you do an early reader graphic novel. A perfect book that will appeal to all ages. 

When it comes to dark fantasy books, The Sandman must be included. Even though it is a comic book series later compiled into ten graphic novels, I had to include it in this list. It inspired me not only to improve my creative writing skills but also taught me about the captivations of mythology. How myths impact generations and still touch others to this day. The combination of dark fantasy and mythology enriches a tale to be told. No matter the setting or the format.

While reading The Sandman, I became attached to Dream of the Endless and his stories. What I took away from it was the fact that dreams never die; they only grow into something more. Something… endless. 

I love this book because even though it’s fictional, it delves into phenomena that actually happen to people in real life. There is such a thing as having repeated nightmares that are linked to a real-life incident and/or person, mainly when it directly happens to someone. Still, it also happens to people who either witnessed something and/or have an item with energy attached to it.

A lot of people refuse to believe in stuff like this. It’s like having a dream of a ghost or an entity one night, just to later figure out it was the thing haunting your house or it’s something that attached itself to you.

This book by Kimberley O’Malley has Addie as one of my favorite characters! With her spunk and her sass, she gets the job done, even when the journey is seriously rough!

I love the premise and the pets in this one as much as I love Addie. Make sure you’re prepared to be unable to put it down as we run from one thing to the next to a satisfying conclusion that I did not see coming because my eyes were squinted in laughter!

Eastport is the most cursed city in the US and the residents are darn proud of it!

Unfortunately, Mallory hasn’t quite adapted to her new home and finds her parents’ spooky stories to their restaurant customers and the constant Halloween in the town embarrassing. None of this stuff is real, after all! But when Mallory sees the girl in white, things start happening that she can’t explain. Worse yet, she’s doing things she can’t explain. Dangerous things.

I loved this new take on the Lady in White urban legend, and as a huge fan of towns like Salem, where the Halloween vibe is year-round, I loved visiting Eastport, even if Mallory’s not a fan. This one has some truly scary scenes, but the story itself has a base that any kid will relate to, the struggle of fitting in.