Scary Stories For Adults

Wyatt Baldwin's senior year is not going well. His parents divorce, then his dad mysteriously dies. He's not exactly comfortable with his new stepfather, Carter White, either. An ongoing debate with his best friends Melvin and Howard Drucker over which monster is superior has gotten stale. But everything changes when Wyatt and his friends are invited to attend the grand opening of Monsterland, a groundbreaking theme park where guests can interact with vampires in Vampire Village, be chased by werewolves on the River Run, and walk among the dead in Zombieville.

Joining Omega Phi Delta is the best thing that’s ever happened to Maxie. Since she pledged with Salem University’s coolest sorority, she’s never had trouble finding a party to go to or a boy to date. Her new life is perfect - until death strikes Omega House. The terror starts when Maxie’s sorority sister Erica’s jewelry box goes missing, with all of her valuables - including her grandmother’s priceless ring - inside. Erica is tearing her room apart when she gets a package: the box, with all the jewelry safe inside.

For 13 years, Gracen Sullivan dreamed about a red-eyed demon named Hart Blackwell who tortured her every night. Her mother freaked when she found out about her daughter's "hallucinations" and forced Gracen to go to the doctor, who prescribed some very powerful medication, which kept Hart out of her head for five years. A week ago, Hart came back and brought a friend. But something has changed, and Gracen is seeing Hart when she's awake too. And the other "friends" in her dreams? They're dead.

In a heart-racing thriller described as Left Behind for the Hunger Games Generation, Jennie struggles to find a safe place for what’s left of her family. But it seems as though there is no place sacred, no place secure. First the aliens attacked the sun, making it dimmer, weaker, and half what it used to be. Then they attacked the water supply, killing one-third of Earth’s population with a bitter contaminate. And when they unleash a new terror on humankind, the victims will wish for death, but will not find it…

Reed Monroe chose Salem University for one reason: the opportunity to study with Victoria McCoy, writer-in-residence and best-selling author of horror fiction. When she learns that a lingering illness is preventing McCoy from teaching any classes, Reed starts a fan club for other McCoy obsessives. Although it only attracts a few members, the club is her passion until she hears about the opportunity of a lifetime: Victoria McCoy is hiring a new assistant. It’s a job that any horror fan would kill for.

There's something strange about Martin, and Tess can't work out what it is. He's a Switcher, with the same amazing powers that she has, but there's a sinister side to him. As Tess begins to unravel the awful secret Martin is hiding, she is dragged into the dark night-time world in which he lurks. And there she is faced with the most terrifying choice of her life.

The second volume in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading is chock-full of mystery, intrigue, and nefarious activity. Featuring some of the best writers around, and compiled by certified guy Jon Scieszka, Guys Read: Thriller is a pulse-pounding collection of brand-new short stories, each one guaranteed to keep you riveted until the final page.

When Daisy Fitzjohn's mother leaves their crumbling Gothic home early one morning and doesn't return, Daisy, with no one to help her but her imaginary friends, must fight to save her home and her life from a dangerous and mysterious stranger.

It all started as stories - playground tales handed down for generations, stories of plague graves, vanished children and hidden steps leading to a festering underworld. A world so real you could almost smell it.... But when another child goes missing, Fraser wonders if there's some truth in the tales.

Colby Blanchard is the popular cheerleader with the grades, the hunky boyfriend, and the homecoming crown in the bag. Then things go bad - like turning-into-a-vampire bad. And complicating things is the fact that her orthodontist father has removed her canine teeth to give her a perfect smile, so she can't even do the vampire thing properly. Luckily, he's fitting her with some new headgear so she can feed. (So now she's not just a vampire but a dork.)

Working at the mall is supposed to be fun. Trish’s job at Muffin-Mania is hardly intellectually challenging and her boss is a piece of work, but it’s worth it to have a job in the same building as her two best friends, the Hanson twins. And the hot guys who hang out there are an added bonus. But something isn’t right about this mall. It’s the oldest mall in the state, remodeled over a dozen times without rhyme or reason, and there are many strange nooks and secret passages behind the bright gleaming storefronts. Someone has been stealing housewares, furniture, and food, and now a mysterious man with ash-gray hair and a whisper-soft voice has started harassing Trish on the phone.

Teenager Murray Keifer just doesn't fit in at school. And it doesn't help that his mother is too busy entertaining male friends to be involved in his life. His only friends are "Dearly" and "Beloved": dead people buried in the local cemetery. That's right, Murray talks to the dead. But Murray's peaceful and unusual world is torn asunder when he hears the voice of missing teen Nikki Parker, buried in someone else's grave.

Josh is by far the best zombie Torcher around - at least, he is in his virtual-reality zombie-hunting game. Josh has quickly risen through the player ranks, relying on the skill, cunning, and agility of a real Torcher. Charlie is the top-ranked player in the game. Since all the players are shrouded in anonymity, Josh never expects Charlie to be a girl - and he never expects the offer she makes him: to join the underground gaming league that takes the virtual-reality game off the screen and into the streets.

The Capulets and the Montagues have some deep and essential differences. Blood differences. Of course, the Capulets can escape their vampire fate, and the Montagues can try not to kill their undead enemies. But at the end of the day, their blood feud is unstoppable. So it's really quite a problem when Juliet, a vampire-to-be, and Romeo, the human who should be hunting her, fall desperately in love. What they don't realize is how deadly their love will turn out to be - or what it will mean for their afterlives....

Jack is spending the summer on a private island far from modern conveniences. No Wi-Fi, no cell service, no one else on the island but a housekeeper and the two very peculiar children in his care. The first time Jack sees the huge black mansion atop a windswept hill, he senses something cold, something more sinister than even the dark house itself. Soon, he feels terribly isolated and alone. Yet he is not alone. The house has visitors - peering in the windows, staring from across the shore. But why doesn't anyone else see them...? And what do they want?

It's just another long, hot summer - until Derek Cliver and his friends join an exciting new mail-order club. The Terror Club allows Derek and his friends to create their own monsters. And it gives them the opportunity to "dispose" of those they despise most. But the game turns terrifyingly real when the monsters they create come to life - and actually murder their rivals. Now, as the body count rises, Derek and his friends must somehow undo what they've done ... before they become the next victims!

In Ghostgirl: Homecoming, Hurley continues the story of Charlotte Usher, who finds herself dead but unable to rest in peace…yet. Before she can cross over, Charlotte must help other teens through problems of their own. When Petula, a popular cheerleader, and her sister, Scarlet, end up in comas, Charlotte aims to save them—but her helping hand may do more harm than good.

Three years after her father was killed, 16-year-old Peyton Delaney; her mother, Melody; and her new stepfather, Vance McIntyre, relocate to Shadow Bay, Minnesota, and move into an old Victorian. They are unaware of the house's dark history: 50 years ago, a jealous husband snapped, murdering his wife, her lover, and 16-year-old daughter, before killing himself. But when Peyton begins to have nightmares about the crime and is haunted by a ghostly girl named Caitlyn, she begins to investigate.

Though Carolyn’s mother never expected to inherit Glanton House from long-lost Aunt Hazel, she wants to make the most of the opportunity. Planning to turn the creaky waterfront mansion into a hotel, she moves Carolyn down to the seashore. But this house has a nightmarish history. As the story goes, Captain Glanton spent so long at sea that his wife, believing him dead, took a new lover. When her husband finally returned, her new love - a mysterious drifter - brutally murdered him, and she went mad with grief.

When 17-year-old Dharma Moore moves to Bayou country so her scam-artist mother can work as a Paranormal Investigator, she discovers that more than ghosts haunt the abandoned plantation they now call home. Centuries ago, a voodoo curse was placed on the swamp waters surrounding the old plantation by a murdered slave. This terrible curse ensnares Dharma with its deadly effects. To save herself, she must face the terror of the haunted waters, find the dead woman's skull, and convince the slave's soul to release her from its torments.