“Suppressing a smile isn’t easy. The happiness always creeps out somehow. But sadness can be stashed under the skin like a dark secret.”
The Watchers is a 2021 horror book by A.M. Shine. The story centres on a dense uncharted forest, and a woman named Mina who finds herself stranded in it. After encountering a woman screaming at her, Mina is forced to run for shelter in a bunker. As the door slams behind her, the building is besieged by screams. Trapped, terrified and with only strangers for company, Mina is desperate for answers. The Watchers, the creatures who roam the forest and observe their human captives, emerge at nightfall and do terrible things to those unfortunate enough to be outside the bunker. Whether you loved venturing into the unknown and psychological suspense of the novel by A.M. Shine or the eerie atmosphere in the Netflix adaptation, join us today here at What We Reading for the best books like The Watchers!
The Hollows – Daniel Church
First up on our list of books like The Watchers is Daniel Church’s The Hollows. In a lonely village in England’s Peak District, during the onset of a once-in-a-generation snowstorm, Constable Ellie Cheetham discovers a body. The man, a local, appears to have died in a tragic accident by drinking too much and freezing in the icy temperatures. Only, the facts don’t quite add up. There’s evidence he had been hiding from someone. What’s more, a strange mark has been etched onto a stone by his body.
The next victims are two families living on the outskirts of town. As the storm rises and the body count continues to balloon, Ellie realises she has a horrifying problem on her hands. Someone – or something – is killing indiscriminately, circling the village and using the storm as cover.
Diavola – Jennifer Marie Thorne
Anna has two rules ahead of the annual Pace family vacation: tread lightly, and survive. These aren’t easy rules to follow when you’re the only one who doesn’t fit in. Benny, her twin brother, goes with the flow so much he’s practically dissolved; whereas her elder sister, Nicole, hasn’t gotten so used to everyone doing as they’re told Anna is often reprimanded for simply asking a question. Her mother questions all of Anna’s life choices, whilst her father is just looking for an easy life.
The gorgeous remote villa in Monteperso appears to be the ideal place for so much familial discomfort. That is, until things start to go off the rails – the strange noises at night, ominous warnings from the locals and the dark, bloody past of the building itself. Like The Watchers, Jennifer Marie Thorne’s Diavola is the perfect horror read full of slow-building dread.
Nestlings – Nat Cassidy
Ana and Reid are in desperate need of a break. The horrifically complicated birth of their first child has left Ana paralysed, resentful and struggling with everything from mobility, her relationship with Reid and the bitterness toward her baby. Reid dismisses disturbing events and Ana’s rising sense of unease and paranoia, but he cannot explain the strange needle-like bite marks on their child.
In Nestlings, Nat Cassidy blends Salem’s Lot with Rosemary’s Baby for a razor-sharp horror story like The Watchers that more than delivers a rising sense of paranoia that any fan of A.M. Shine is sure to appreciate.
Hex – Thomas Olde Heuvelt
In Hex, readers are whisked to the pleasant small town of Black Spring in Hudson Valley. Only, this town is haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a seventeenth-century woman whose eyes and mouth have been sewn shut. Still muzzled, she spends her days wandering through the town, breaking into the houses of the residents but otherwise contained to the town’s perimeter.
Bored of their small-town life and eager to go viral with evidence of the haunting, a number of the Black Spring teenagers set out to make a film on the witch. What starts out as a harmless bit of fun soon descends into a hellish assortment of dark, medieval practices and gruesome supernatural occurrences. Similar to The Watchers, Thomas Olde Heuvelt’s acclaimed story utilises its isolated woodland settings as a way of ramping up the terror.
Check Out The Best Books Like Hex
The Creeper – A.M. Shine
Another one of the best horror books by A.M. Shine, The Creeper is another story like The Watchers built on a creeping sense of dread and suspense. Renowned academic Dr Sparling seeks help with his project on a remote Irish village. Researchers Ben and Chloe are initially overjoyed to have been selected. That is until they arrive.
The village in question is isolated and forgotten. There are no records of its history, its stories. The locals are less than friendly, only offering up wary looks and whispers amongst themselves. What’s more, they all lock their doors every evening at sundown. The only one who will talk is a little girl. She tells the researchers that you see him three times. Every night, he comes closer. That night, Ben and Chloe spot a sinister figure watching them; he is the nameless fear that stalks the village, and nothing will keep him away.
Stolen Tongues – Felix Blackwell
High up on the windswept cliffs of Pale Peak, Faye and Felix are celebrating their recent engagement. But, soon a chorus of ghastly noises erupts. The screams of animals, cries of children and the mad babble of a hundred mournful voices all envelop the cabin the couple are staying in.
A dark figure looms near the windows. It spends the darkest hours of the night whispering to Faye. And, as the weather takes a turn for the worse, Felix discovers that his petrified wife-to-be isn’t just mumbling in her sleep – she’s whispering back. Felix Blackwell’s Stolen Tongues was originally a contest-winning horror story on Reddit’s infamous NoSleep community thread and is one of the best books like The Watchers for anyone looking for another terrifying locked-in tale where the weather and atmosphere are just as terrifying as the evil lurking in it.
Check Out The Best Small Town Horror Books
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
