“The basis of all human fears, he thought. A closed door, slightly ajar.”
One of the most popular settings for horror stories to take place in are small towns, usually nestled somewhere within the heart of the United States. These settlements are normally the types of places where leaves dance across the sidewalk, everyone knows everyone and advertises it as being a ‘safe and friendly’ place to live. Yet, there’s still something incredibly eerie about these locales that makes them perfect for building suspense and ramping up tension. From local folklore, salacious rumours, and burned-out buildings to haunted houses, there are sinister things lurking underneath the surface of these quaint spots on the map. Join us at What We Reading as we look through some of our favourite small town horror books!
The Last House On Needless Street – Catriona Ward
We begin our trek through the scariest small town horror books with Catriona Ward’s 2021 story, The Last House on Needless Street. The story centres on Ted, a recluse living in a ramshackle house at the edge of a forest. Ted’s life is marred by a series of disturbing events, including the disappearance of a little game named Lulu.
Non-linear and told through multiple different perspectives including Ted himself, a young girl named Dee living with him and looking for her lost sister and Ted’s cat Olivia, Ward’s psychological story is multilayered, haunting and thought-provoking from the first secret to the last.
American Elsewhere – Robert Jackson Bennett
Under a pink moon, there is a perfect little town that isn’t found on any map. That town boasts quiet streets lined with pretty houses, houses that hide the strange things. After a couple of years of hard travelling, ex-cop Mona Bright inherits her long-departed mother’s home in Wink, New Mexico. But, the closer she comes to her mother’s past, the more she begins to discover that the residents in Wink are very, very different from what she’s used to.
Nominated for Best Horror in the Goodreads Choice Awards, American Elsewhere is one of the best small town horror books for readers looking for a delicious slow-burning eldritch tale.
‘Salem’s Lot – Stephen King
No list of small town horror books would be complete without mentioning Stephen King’s second novel, ‘Salem’s Lot. First published back in 1975, the book is the story of a mundane town finding itself under siege from the forces of darkness. Set within the borders of Jerusalem’s Lot in Maine, readers follow novelist Ben Mears as he returns to the small town to write about the eerie Marsten House, which has haunted him since his childhood.
Through his investigations, Ben discovers that ‘Salem’s Lot is being overrun by vampires, led by the ancient and powerful Kurt Barlow, who has taken up residence in the Marsten House. As more and more people begin to disappear and succumb to vampirism, Ben teams up with the remaining locals to face the threat head-on. One of the all-time classic vampire stories, ‘Salem’s Lot features suspenseful storytelling, well-rounded characters and all the dynamics that make small towns so uniquely disturbing.
Those Across The River – Christopher Buehlman
Failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife, Eudora, have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow. Frank is hoping to write a history of his family’s old estate – the Savoyard Plantation – and the horrors that occurred there. And, at first, the quaint rural ways of their new neighbours appear to be everything they have ever wanted.
But, there is an unspeakable dread that the local townsfolk have harboured for generations. A presence that demands a terrible sacrifice. It comes from the shadowy woods across the river, where the ruins of the Savoyard still sit. Where a longstanding debt of blood has never been forgotten. A debt that has been patiently waiting for Frank Nichols’ homecoming.
The Other – Thomas Tryon
Set in the midsts of Connecticut in the 1930s, Thomas Tryon’s small town horror classic story The Other follows the lives of twin brothers, Niles and Holland Perry. The novel begins with the pair living with their family on their sprawling farm. Holland is domineering and malevolent, whereas Niles is kind and sensitive. They are both, however, deeply scarred by their father’s recent death and the fragile mental state their mother has entered into.
Guided by his grandmother, Niles begins to play a mental game which involves him imagining himself in the lives of other people. But, whilst Ada believes this game is helping Niles with the tragedies and challenges he is facing, a series of disturbing and violent sequences start to suggest that something is deeply wrong. Another classic horror tale, Tryon’s depiction of small town life makes The Other both enthralling and terrifying.
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Darkness On The Edge Of Town – Brian Keene
One morning the residents of Walden, Virginia, woke up to find the rest of the world gone. Just gone. Surrounding their small town was a wall of inky darkness, plummeting Walden and its residents into permanent night. Nothing can get in. Not light, not people, not even electricity, internet, television, food or water.
However, for some, the unending darkness isn’t even the worst of their fears. Driven to madness by hunger and thirst, each and every one of Walden’s residents is ready to blow their top. In Brian Keene’s Darkness on the Edge of Town, the few members of the community holding onto their sanity prepare to make their final stand against their neighbours, themselves and something even worse in the darkness.
The Stepford Wives – Ira Levin
One of the most famous feminist horror stories, Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives follows Joanna Eberhart and her husband, Walter, as they move from the dangers of the crime-ridden city to the quaint and quiet suburb town of Stepford.
Then, little by little, dark suspicions begin to replace their feelings of safety. Stepford wasn’t just another quaint community. Not at all. There is an evil secret lurking in Stepford, a secret that Joanna is almost too afraid to guess. Through Levin’s devilishly dark tale, Stepford has become one of the most iconic small towns in horror history, and Stepford wives some of the most famous sorts of women in the genre.
The Burning Girls – C.J. Tudor
Five hundred years ago, in the idyllic village of Chapel Croft in the English countryside, eight protestant martyrs were burned at the stake. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace. And two years ago, the local vicar hung himself inside his own chapel. Reverend Jack Brooks arrives as the vicar’s replacement as a single parent to a fourteen-year-old daughter, Flo, and with a heavy conscience.
Instead of finding a fresh start and some peace, however, the more Jack and Flo get acquainted with this sleepy village and its inhabitants, the deeper they are drawn into their rifts, mysteries and suspicions. And, when Flo, is troubled by a series of strange sightings from within the chapel, it becomes clear that there are ghosts across Chapel Croft that refuse to be laid to rest.
Check Out Our The Burning Girls Book Review
Summer Of Night (Seasons Of Horror #1) – Dan Simmons
It’s the summer of 1960 in Elm Haven, Illinois. Five twelve-year-old boys are forming bonds that a lifetime’s worth of changes can’t erase. But then a dark cloud threatens to upend the perfect summer holiday: on the last day of term, their classmate, Tubby Cooke, vanishes.
The group soon discovers stories of other children who once disappeared from Elm Haven. And there are other strange things happening across their town. Unexplained holes in the ground. A stranger dressed as a soldier from World War One. A rendering plant truck seems to be following the five of them wherever they go. The friends realise there is a terrible evil lurking in Elm Haven, and they have to be the ones to stop it in Dan Simmons’ small town horror story, Summer of Night.
The Whisper Man – Alex North
After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes a fresh start will help him and his young son, Jake, begin to heal. A new beginning, a new house, a new town. Featherbank. But this small town has a dark past. Twenty years ago, a serial killer abducted and murdered five of its residents. Until Frank Carer was finally caught, he had been dubbed ‘The Whisper Man’ for how he lured his victims out by whispering at their windows at night.
Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home, a young boy vanishes. His disappearance strikes an unnerving resemblance to the crimes of The Whisper Man, reigniting rumours that he struck with an accomplice. Detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis must find the boy before it is too late, even if it means Pete revisiting his greatest foe in prison. And then Jake begins acting strangely. He hears a whispering at his window…
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).
