Horror book series in reading order

by R.L. Stine

by R.L. Stine

by Christopher Pike

by Darren Shan

by R.L. Stine

by Darren Shan

by R.L. Stine

by Mark Tufo

by Stephen King

by Alexander Gordon Smith

by Scott Cawthon

by Robert Beatty

by Richard Kadrey

by David Wong

by Jonathan Stroud

by L.J. Smith

by Charles Stross

by Greig Beck

by D.J. Molles

by Louise Cooper

by Scott Cawthon

by Tamsyn Muir

by Douglas Preston

by Stephen King

by Guillermo Del Toro

by Junji Ito

R.L. Stine

589 books• 64 series

Robert Lawrence Stine, born October 8, 1943, is an American novelist who writes horror fiction for children. Goosebumps, the series Stine created, sold more than 400 million copies in 35 languages and grew into a franchise of two television series, video games, comics and two feature films. Fear Street, Stine's horror sequence for teenagers, passed 80 million copies and was adapted for film. Stine has been called the Stephen King of children's literature. The listing runs to 590 titles, from How to Be Funny (1978), published as Jovial Bob Stine, to How to Train Your Dummy, scheduled for 2027.

Stephen King

223 books• 25 series

Horror fiction is the field most closely tied to Stephen King, an American author born on September 21, 1947, and nicknamed the "King of Horror". King's work also reaches into suspense, crime, science fiction, fantasy and mystery, and includes roughly 200 short stories, most later gathered in collections. Carrie (1974) was the debut that set King in horror; Different Seasons (1982), four novellas in one volume, marked the first major step outside it. The catalogue lists 223 books from 1971 to 2026, starting with The Blue Air Compressor, a short story, and reaching Other Worlds Than These (2026). Series on file include Holly Gibney, the Bill Hodges Trilogy, Green Mile, Shining and Talisman.

Christopher Pike is the pseudonym of Kevin Christopher McFadden, an American author born on November 12, 1955. Pike writes mystery-thrillers, supernatural horror and children's fiction, mostly for young adults, with some adult fiction too. The catalogue lists 86 books from Getting Even and Slumber Party (both 1985) to Strange Girl (2015), with Chain Letter (1986), The Tachyon Web (1986) and Spellbound (1988) among the early titles. Series include Spooksville, Last Vampire, Remember Me, Final Friends, Alosha, Chain Letter and Witch World, and vampires, monsters and witches all appear among the subjects.

Darren Shan

67 books• 7 series

Darren Shan is the pseudonym of Darren O'Shaughnessy, an Irish writer born on 2 July 1972. The Saga of Darren Shan, The Demonata and Zom-B are the young adult series O'Shaughnessy is best known for. The Saga of Darren Shan became a manga from 2006 to 2009 and a live-action film in 2009, and a prequel, The Saga of Larten Crepsley, followed from 2010 to 2012. Koyasan and The Thin Executioner are other children's books under the Shan name, and Archibald Lox was self-published from 2020 to 2022. The catalogue lists 67 books from 1999 to 2022, with vampires, demonology, zombies and horror among the subjects.

Dean Koontz, born on July 9, 1945, is an American novelist of suspense thrillers that mix in horror, fantasy, science fiction, mystery and satire. Koontz published early work under pen names including Deanna Dwyer, K. R. Dwyer, Leigh Nichols, David Axton and Brian Coffey. The catalogue holds 164 books, from Star Quest / Doom of the Green Planet (1968) to The Friend of the Family (2026), with A Storm So Bright and Beautiful set for 2027. Jane Hawk, Nameless and Dean Koontz's Frankenstein are Koontz series, and Odd Thomas appears among the characters. Fourteen Koontz hardcovers and sixteen paperbacks reached number one on The New York Times list, and sales top 500 million copies.

Brian Lumley

67 books• 9 series

Brian Lumley wrote horror fiction in English. Lumley's early work entered the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft but brought in a new figure, Titus Crow; the Necroscope books, centred on Harry Keogh and his contact with the dead, reached a far wider readership in the 1980s. Sixty-seven books are catalogued between The Caller of the Black (1971) and Brian Lumley's The Best of the Rest (2023), across series including Titus Crow, Dreamlands, Psychomech, Tales of the Primal Land and House Of Doors. Vampires, human-alien encounters and short story collections recur throughout.

Graham Masterton

157 books• 11 series

Graham Masterton is a British author, born in Edinburgh in 1946 and known primarily for horror fiction. Masterton edited Mayfair and the British edition of Penthouse before his first novel, The Manitou, appeared in 1976 and was filmed in 1978. Charnel House (1978) took a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America, and Tengu (1983) a silver medal from the West Coast Review of Books. The catalogue holds 157 books from 1971 onward, with the Katie Maguire, Jim Rook, Harry Erskine and Night Warriors series inside it, and runs to House of Flies (2025).

H.P. Lovecraft

173 books• 7 series

H.P. Lovecraft, born Howard Phillips Lovecraft in Providence, Rhode Island, on August 20, 1890, was an American writer of weird fiction, horror, fantasy and science fiction who died on March 15, 1937. Lovecraft created the Cthulhu Mythos, and the phrase Lovecraftian horror carries the name. Most of Lovecraft's life was spent in New England; Lovecraft's father was institutionalized in 1893, family wealth dwindled after a grandfather died, and Lovecraft's mother was institutionalized in 1919. The catalogue counts 173 books from The Alchemist (1916) to The Essential Tales of H.P. Lovecraft (2025), including Dagon (1919), The White Ship (1919) and Nyarlathotep (1920). Series include Dream Cycle and Randolph Carter.

Lisa Jane Smith (1958-2025), writing as L.J. Smith, produced young adult horror and fantasy about vampires, witches and the supernatural. The Vampire Diaries is her best known series and was adapted for television; Night World, the Secret Circle and Dark Visions sit beside it. Both The Vampire Diaries and Night World reached the New York Times bestseller list, and Smith's books took five award nominations. Fifty-four titles run from The Night of the Solstice (1987) to Paradise Lost (2014).

John Saul wrote horror and suspense. Thirty-six catalogued books run from Suffer the Children (1977) to House of Reckoning (2009), taking in Punish the Sinners (1978), Cry for the Strangers (1979) and Comes the Blind Fury (1980). The Blackstone Chronicles is the one linked series. Supernatural events and serial murder recur as subjects. No new Saul title has appeared since 2009.

Clive Barker

80 books• 19 series

Clive Barker, born 5 October 1952, is a British writer, filmmaker and visual artist. The Books of Blood, a series of short stories from the 1980s, made Barker a leading horror author, and the catalogue opens with those volumes in 1984 and 1985, along with Dread and Rawhead Rex. Films adapted from Barker's work include the Hellraiser series, whose first installment Barker also wrote and directed, and the Candyman series. Barker's paintings and illustrations have hung in US galleries and appear in the books. Imajica and Abarat are among the listed series, and Spook City (2024) is the newest title.

Christopher Golden is an American writer, born in 1967, with 139 catalogued books published between 1994 and 2026. Horror, fantasy and science fiction run through the work, alongside vampires, the supernatural and murder. Of Saints and Shadows (1994) opens the catalogue and Carry Me to My Grave (2026) is the newest entry. Golden's series include the Shadow Saga, Baltimore, Joe Golem, Body of Evidence, Prowlers, Hollow, Hidden Cities and the Secret Journeys of Jack London, and the listing also carries Buffy the Vampire Slayer and X-Men titles. Mike Mignola is credited alongside Golden on 4 books.

Ramsey Campbell

96 books• 6 series

Ramsey Campbell, born 4 January 1946, is an English horror writer, editor and critic with more than sixty years of published work behind him. Campbell has written over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them award winners, and three of the novels have been adapted into films. T.E.D. Klein placed Campbell at the head of the field, writing that Campbell reigns supreme in it today. The listing holds 96 titles from The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants (1964) to An Echo of Children (2025), and it includes anthology volumes Campbell edited as well as titles published under the name Carl Dreadstone.

Richard Carl Laymon (14 January 1947 to 14 February 2001) was an American writer of suspense and horror fiction, particularly splatterpunk. The Cellar (1980) opens the Laymon catalogue, and The Woods Are Dark (1981) follows; Your Secret Admirer (1980) appeared under the name Carl Laymon. The Beast House Chronicles is among the series on record, with standalone novels and short fiction also listed. The newest title is Short Stories: The Mystery and Men's Magazines (2014). Subjects include haunted houses, vampires, stalkers, serial murders and California.

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

101 books• 21 series

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, September 15, 1942 to August 31, 2025, was an American writer known for a sequence of historical horror novels about Count Saint-Germain, the one character the catalogue attaches to the run. The catalogue records 101 books, from 1976, when Ogilvie, Tallant and Moon and Time of the Fourth Horseman appeared, to Siren Song in 2025. Other groupings under the Yarbro name include Charlie Moon Mysteries, Atta Olivia Clemens, Madelaine de Montalia, Vildecaz Talents, Messages From Michael and Sisters Of The Night.

James Herbert

25 books• 3 series

James Herbert (1943-2013) was an English horror writer. The Rats (1974) opened the catalogue and gave its name to a series about mutated rats, continued in Lair (1979) and Domain (1983). The Fog (1975), The Survivor (1976), Fluke (1977), The Spear (1978) and The Dark (1980) followed in quick succession. Haunted houses and ghosts run through the later work, where David Ash is Herbert's recurring character. Twenty-five titles are catalogued, closing with Ash in 2012. Herbert designed his own covers and publicity, and the books have sold 54 million copies in 34 languages.

F. Paul Wilson

102 books• 26 series

F. Paul Wilson (Francis Paul Wilson, born May 17, 1946) is an American author of horror, adventure, medical thrillers and science fiction, based in Wall, New Jersey. Repairman Jack is the recurring character of novels such as Ground Zero, The Tomb and Fatal Error, and a young adult series follows Jack as a teenager. The Adversary Cycle includes The Keep (1981). Healer (1976) is the first catalogued title. Wilson has won the Prometheus Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the Inkpot Award and the Horror Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bentley Little writes horror. Thirty-nine catalogued books run from The Revelation (1989) to City Hall (2025), taking in The Mailman (1991), The Summoning (1993) and Night School, also published as University (1994). Most of the list is standalone. Haunted houses, Arizona settings and the struggle of good against evil recur as subjects, at a median length of 389 pages.

Anne Rice

50 books• 14 series

Born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien in New Orleans on October 4, 1941, Anne Rice was an American author of Gothic fiction, erotic literature and Bible fiction who died on December 11, 2021. The Vampire Chronicles are Rice's best-known work, and the first volume became the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire, adapted by Rice. Interview with the Vampire (1976) opens a catalogue of 50 books that closes with The Reign of Osiris in 2022. Other series include Lives of the Mayfair Witches, Sleeping Beauty, Ramses the Damned, Wolf Gift Chronicles and Life of Christ. Exit to Eden (1985) and Belinda (1986) carry the name Anne Rampling.

V.C. Andrews was the name used by Cleo Virginia Andrews (June 6, 1923 to December 19, 1986), an American novelist best known for Flowers in the Attic (1979). That novel led to four sequels and two film adaptations. The publisher never classed the books as Young Adult, yet their young protagonists have drawn teenage readers for decades. After Andrews died in 1986, a ghostwriter first hired to finish two incomplete manuscripts went on publishing new books under the V.C. Andrews name. The catalogue carries 108 books under that name from 1979 to 2025, across series such as Dollanganger, Casteel, Cutler, Landry, Logan and De Beers.

Laurell K. Hamilton

60 books• 11 series

Laurell K. Hamilton is an American writer of fantasy and romance, born February 19, 1963, and the author of two main series. Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, a New York Times bestseller, features Anita Blake, a zombie raiser, vampire executioner and supernatural consultant to the police; the series spans novels, story collections and comics, with six million copies in print. The Merry Gentry series follows Meredith Gentry, a princess of the Unseelie court of Faerie who works as a private detective and faces repeated assassination attempts. The catalogue holds 60 titles from Nightseer (1992) to A Glimmer of Death (2026), with Guilty Pleasures dated 1993. The Zaniel Havelock series is also listed.

Jonathan Maberry

146 books• 35 series

Jonathan Maberry, born May 18, 1958, is an American suspense author who also works as an anthology editor, comic book writer, magazine feature writer, playwright and writing teacher. Horror Novel Reviews named Maberry one of Today's Top Ten Horror Writers. The catalogue holds 147 books from The Black Road (2002) to Bewilderness (2026), with Avalon Station due in 2027. Listed series include Pine Deep, V-Wars, Rogue Team International, Rot & Ruin Graphic Novels and Kagen The Damned, and Joe Ledger and Benny Imura are among the tagged characters. Subjects include horror, zombies, vampires, terrorism and superhero comics.

Joseph Delaney

33 books• 6 series

Joseph Delaney was an English author of dark fantasy for children, and the Spook's books, listed also as the Last Apprentice or Wardstone Chronicles, are the work he is known for. The Spook's Apprentice (2004) began that series, which draws on the folklore, history and landscape of Lancashire and has sold more than 4.5 million copies across 30 countries. Delaney taught before publishing, and his earliest fiction appeared under the pen name J.K. Haderack, starting with Mercer's Whore (1997). 33 catalogued titles end with Wulf's War (2023). Delaney lived from 1945 to 2022.

Horror and crime share Christopher Fowler's catalogue, most of it set in London. Arthur Bryant and his partner in the Peculiar Crimes Unit head the main series of police procedurals, with short story collections, graphic novels, non-fiction and the Best Horror of the Year anthologies beside it. Eighty-four catalogued titles run from The Bureau of Lost Souls (1984) through Roofworld (1988) to a Best Horror of the Year volume dated 2026.