Dark Fantasy Mystery Thriller

Three months after life as she knows it was decimated, Megan Wolford has only one goal: protect her daughter, Caitlin, at any cost. When a mysterious illness strikes Caitlin down, Megan is forced to forage for medical supplies at a remote lodge. The last thing she wants is help from her fellow survivors when so many in her life have let her down - but soon she'll find herself with no other option.

A rash of brutal murders set God and the devil at odds, and it’s up to Frank to prove hell’s innocence. With his angelic cousin watching his every move, he quickly learns there’s more to the mission than he was told when he comes face to face with the legend of Jack the Ripper. With time running out, Frank and Scarlett must stop the killings and restore the balance of peace before it spirals out of control. In a battle of wits to determine the fate of heaven and hell, it’s a good thing Frank brought a gun.

As a child, Henry Cadmus lived on Catalina Island, a scenic vacationland off the Southern California coast. But Henry's experiences were far from idyllic. Today, even though Henry has seen firsthand the horrors of war, the ghastly images that haunt his dreams are ones he associates with his childhood... and the island: a snarling pig-man holding a cleaver; a jackal-headed woman on a high balcony, dripping blood; strange occult rituals... and worse. If it was up to Henry, he would avoid the island entirely.

Adria, wolf changeling and resilient soldier, has made a break with the past-one as unpredictable in love as it was in war. Now comes a new territory, and a devastating new complication: Riaz, a SnowDancer lieutenant already sworn to a desperate woman who belongs to another.For Riaz, the primal attraction he feels for Adria is a staggering betrayal. For Adria, his dangerous lone wolf appeal is beyond sexual. It consumes her. It terrifies her. It threatens to undermine everything she has built of her new life.

Ishmael Jones and his partner Penny have been dispatched to assist a group of scientists who are investigating a mysterious black hole which has appeared on a Somerset hillside. Could it really be a doorway to another dimension, an opening into another world? When one of the scientists disappears into the hole – with fatal consequences – Ishmael must prove whether it was an accident – or murder.

Magiere the dhampir thinks that her nights of hunting vampires are over. After settling down in her newly adopted village of Miiska - now vampire free, thanks to her and her half-elf partner, Leesil - she looks forward to quiet days tending to her tavern. But far away in the capital city of Bela, a prominent councilman's daughter has been found dead on her own doorstep...and all signs point to a vampire.

My new life at Otherworld Academy went from not-so-normal to downright-crazy fast. My best friend got turned into a shapeshifting beast, the Autumn Court tried to launch an assassination on the changelings, and I can somehow tap into the powers of all four courts. And that's not including my insanely attractive fae instructors who make me feel like the temperature has gone up a thousand degrees. But even though things were crazy before, it was nothing on how they are now. Danger lurks in every corner, new threats are closing in, and the storms are only growing larger.

In this thrilling installment in the John Wayne Cleaver series, Dan Wells brings his beloved antihero into a final confrontation with the Withered. Nothing Left to Lose is a conclusion that is both completely compelling and completely unexpected.

A group of mercenaries on an unsanctioned mission survives a plane crash in whiteout conditions in the Tian Shan mountains. The men are accustomed to danger. Now they’re growing accustomed to fear. Team leader Liev and his band of survivors are stranded in the bitter winds with little hope of rescue—or outlasting the wolves that have scented blood. In the distance is the apparent sanctuary of an abandoned stone fortress. That an ancient bulwark even exists on this forsaken summit is beyond comprehension. So is what lies on the other side of its walls.

When Kylie Galen entered Shadow Falls Camp, she left her old life behind forever and discovered a world more magical than she ever imagined. A place where you’re two best friends can be a witch and a vampire… and where love doesn’t happen the way you’d expect. When Kylie’s most powerful enemy returns to destroy her once and for all, there’s only one way to stop him - to step into her full powers and make a stunning transformation.

Blasphemy is a victimless crime...Callie Penrose has taken over Castle Dracula all for herself, finally feeling like she has time to take a breath and relax. But the forces of Heaven and Hell have other plans. Callie quickly learns that removing her mother’s protection of binding Excalibur to her soul had very serious consequences. Namely, that it unleashed the Seven Deadly Sins on Kansas City. But they aren’t in town for mayhem - not directly. They came for a wedding. And a very dark prophecy that could bring the age-old Angel War to the streets of the City of Fountains.

Once a city of enormous wealth and culture, Prague was home to emperors, alchemists, astronomers, and, as it’s whispered, hell portals. When music student Sarah Weston lands a summer job at Prague Castle cataloging Beethoven’s manuscripts, she has no idea how dangerous her life is about to become. Prague is a threshold, Sarah is warned, and it is steeped in blood. Soon after Sarah arrives, strange things begin to happen.

Between life and death, there's magic. Our secrets have been exposed and now we have to deal with the consequences: Friends of the Midwest Pack are missing. Alliances are forming between enemies whose sole intent is to destroy the pack. And a mysterious group is trying to make a power grab using any means possible. With my pack and our allies in danger, I don't think things can possibly get any worse. I'm wrong.

Upon returning to the city of Khelathra-Ven after five years fighting a war in another universe, Captain John Wyndham finds himself looking for somewhere to live, and expediency forces him to take lodgings at 221b Martyrs Walk. His new housemate is Miss Shaharazad Haas, a consulting sorceress of mercurial temperament and dark reputation.

All David Flinch ever wanted was a normal life. But when you're a member of the Flinch family, normal has never been easy. For hundreds of years, the eldest-born male of each generation of the Flinch family has been servant and guardian to the vampire, Lord Underwood. While the Flinches have changed through the generations, Underwood has remained eternal. David had hoped to be spared the horror of serving his family's lord and master, but when he is summoned to the Flinch home in Spain by his dying older brother, he knows his luck has run out.

As Molly Dark knows all too well, the problem with being able to see ghosts is that they never tell you what you wish to know. For instance, how a proper young lady like Miss Dark is supposed to support an impoverished family after her father has died a ruined man. Or how she is going to impersonate a missing princess long enough to steal a fortune out from under the collective noses of a whole family of royal monsters. Or exactly why the charming imposter claims to be none other than Grand Duke Vasily Nikolaevich, when he certainly isn’t a prince…or a vampire.

After thwarting the man behind the gruesome ironborn murders—and breaking several fae laws to do so—all Arlo wants is a quiet summer. As the deity of luck’s Hollow Star, capable of bringing about endless possibilities, this shouldn’t be too much to ask, right? But someone is still trying to summon the mythical Seven Deadly Sins. All signs point to immortal meddling, and if this is the gods’ attempt at returning to the Mortal Realm, it’s Arlo they’re going to use to do it.

The Pageant is almost over, and Gwyneth West knows she can win - except the prince is a vampire, and some of the other contestants are turning out to be quite beastly. What do you do when the person you love might want to eat you alive? Struggling to hold onto her position in the palace, Gwyn knows her vampire prince could slip through her fingers in an instant. And when human rebels threaten to storm the vampire royals once more, Gwyn finds herself caught between two worlds: her people and the vampire she loves.

In an England on the brink of war, Lily is plagued by psychic visions of the cataclysmic destruction of London. An ancient prophecy is coming to fruition, and it starts with the gruesome discovery of a corpse in the sewers. To save her city, Lily must untangle a web of conspiracy and violence. She'll need the help of all of her fellow Charismatics—the men and women who know "the impossible things". That includes the enigmatic Lord Strangford, whose ability to see into the darkest corners of Lily's soul threatens to tear their relationship apart.

For more than 30 years, Ellen Datlow has been at the center of horror. Bringing you the most frightening and terrifying stories, Datlow always has her finger on the pulse of what horror fans crave. Now, with the 11th volume of the series, Daltow's back again to bring you the stories that will keep you up at night. With each passing year, science, technology, and the march of time shine light into the craggy corners of the universe, making the fears of an earlier generation seem quaint. This light creates its own shadows. The Best Horror of the Year chronicles these shifting shadows.