Scary Thriller Suspense

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.

So what happens when Bigfoot, the Trickster Coyote, the ghost of Sam Steele and the long-lost spirit of The Prophet, brother to the mighty Tecumseh and reincarnated in the form of a giant pink flying Winnebago go toe-to-toe with dark supernatural forces in a cross-Canada battle ranging from Cape Breton to Labrador to Thunder Bay? I'm not saying that it is going to be pretty...

Tune in, turn on, and drop in to the rock 'n' roll rabbit hole! Along Comes Scary is set in an alternate spooky ’60s where vampires play screaming guitars, hell-bound hotrodders start a new trend on AM radio, and there are groupies who will do anything for a piece of their favorite band. Stories include "Papa’s Got a Brand-New Body Bag", "Hell-A Woman", and "She’s Got a Ticket to Die".

Wren, Shrike, and Lark are three, very special siblings with one unusual calling. Raised by a father gifted with the ability to sense impending death, his visions allowed them to save people’s lives. But they never imagined meddling with fate would have horrific consequences. Now their beloved father is dead, murdered by one of the people they saved. And the Rose siblings have unearthed a terrifying secret: those who were meant to die have become hosts for demonic spirits from beyond. Ghostly apparitions who feed on misery and pain. And who delight in torturing their human victims.

Benton Bertrand is a banshee, a supernatural harbinger of doom. Each night he is plagued by terrifying dreams, prophecies of death seen through the eye of killers. And this time, the face he sees in his nightmare is his own… After countless brushes with the paranormal, Benton returns home and struggles to reconnect with his parents. But his efforts to build a relationship with his estranged family are quickly overshadowed by another premonition of death. Something evil is stalking him. He can feel it watching, waiting, closing in.

Dean Lockwood learned a terrifying truth at a very young age…that ghosts were real! The Lockwoods weren’t your typical family. For decades, beginning with Dean’s grandparents, they traveled around the country helping others get answers to the unexplainable and horrifying supernatural occurrences they were going through. Dean went through life dealing with ridicule over his family’s history in the paranormal field. One day, he finally hit his breaking point and called out his bullies.

Grace Divine, daughter of the local pastor, always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared--the night she found her brother Jude collapsed on the porch, covered in his own blood--but she has no idea what a truly monstrous secret that night held.

There’s a certain kind of silence when you wake in the deep of night, in a strange bed, knowing that someone else is in the room. And seventeen-year-old May has just awoken to...what? A ghost girl. A girl with May’s face, hair, and complexion. A ghostly twin named Cristofana. And this twin wants a favor of May: Come to Old Florence; come to the year 1348. In modern-day Florence for the summer, May is soon seduced into saying yes. And when she encounters a brooding medieval painter, her curiosity about the past explodes into desire.

When Gilda lands a summer internship at Washington, D.C.'s International Spy Museum, she finds herself embroiled in both a museum haunting and a real case of espionage. While investigating a cemetery where Abraham Lincoln's son was once buried, Gilda stumbles upon a spy's "dead drop" of classified information. Gilda's efforts to decode the cryptic message lead to further intrigues: Is she on the trail of a mole operating inside the U.S. intelligence community?

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby is a teenage grim reaper with the bizarre ability to Damn souls. That makes her pretty scary, even to fellow Grims. But after inadvertently transferring her ability to Zara, a murderous outlaw, Lex is a pariah in Croak, the little town she calls home. To escape the townspeople’s wrath, she and her friends embark on a wild road trip to DeMyse. Though this sparkling desert oasis is full of luxuries and amusements, it feels like a prison to Lex.

From the author of the Chicagoland Vampires novels, a new series about a boarding school filled with something worse than homework. Lily's parents have sent her to a fancy boarding school in Chicago filled with the ultra-rich. If that wasn't bad enough, she's hearing and seeing bizarre things on St. Sophie's creepy campus. Her roommate, Scout, keeps her sane, but keeps disappearing at night. When one day Lily finds Scout running from real-life monsters, she learns the hard way that Scout is involved in a splinter group of rebel teens.They protect Chicago from demons, vamps, and dark magic users....

After years of being away, Mihail Vaduva has long forgotten about his grandmother and his ancestral home. That is, until he comes across an exciting opportunity to reconnect with his family’s history. Enticed by his newfound escape from boarding school, Mihail decides to spend his last year of high school in Castle Vaduva. But he never could have expected the horror hidden within the ancient walls.

Mihail Vaduva didn’t know that returning to his ancestral home would throw him into a battleground between the living and the dead. His only defense against the madness was his friend and medium, Abe Claymont. Together, they bought themselves a few months of peace. And yet, the combined rage of hundreds of lost souls cannot be contained for long.

Signed over 200 years ago, the Blood Contract ensured the sanctity of the Blood lands. In return, the Blood family dedicated their lives, and their deaths to the protection of the town of Thorne. For many years, the town of Thorne was nothing more than a picturesque New England village. But in modern day, the town is enjoying a boom in real estate development. To satisfy the developers with enough land, the town has decided to break the Blood Contract...and the people of Thorne are going to learn that there is a price for ignorance.

For nearly three and a half centuries, the Boylan House has stood at the end of Meeting House Road. And something in that house has been killing boys for centuries. The town of Monson is a quaint and quiet New England town. Yet the house is terrifying and has been for as long as anyone can remember. Adults put the thing out of mind and ignore the fears of their children, admonishing them to stay away.

At 16, Ronald Earl is no longer the boy-wonder preacher known to the faithful as Little Texas. But on the tent-revival circuit, his adoring followers still roar and praise his name. Another small town, another revival, and the same girl appears in that same blue dress. A day later, on the fringe of the believers - a flash of blue. Is she just another of the grateful and devoted? Or is she something else? And is she not following but haunting him?

This sequel plunges Ravenwood into a darker, more terrifying nightmare, where the line between life and death, reality and nightmare, is blurred. The eternal night brings forth a new level of horror as Bewrath's true nature is revealed, along with the ancient entity that controls him. The story is filled with suspense, terror, and a lingering sense of doom, perfect for Halloween.

In the sprawling urban labyrinth of Hollow City, Halloween night is no longer a time of joy and candy-filled streets. It’s a night of fear, where parents lock their doors, and children dare not venture out in costume. For years, a shadow has loomed over the city, a figure known only as "The Reaper." He is a serial killer who targets trick-or-treaters, leaving behind nothing but eerie messages and grisly scenes. The police are helpless, taunted by his chilling clues and unable to stop his reign of terror.

After the death of his Army comrade, William Engberg moves into a simple New Hampshire home against the backdrop of the turbulent foam-crested waves of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s the ideal place to write and get on with his post-military life, except for one thing. He has unwanted house guests - ghosts - and he wants them gone.

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.