Ho Ho Ho!

A season of goodwill and kindness also needs some dark to remind us why we should be on best behaviour and your kind Santa this year has a host of good chillers for you on a cold wintry night

Such A Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester — Runalong The Shelves - This story really impressed me with mothers and daughters and the harsh world they live in being explored in a beautifully told nightmare. A writer I’ll be looking out for.

How To Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix — Runalong The Shelves - Evil puppets are always fun but this story has also a brilliantly depicted sibling relationship and a touching exploration of grief. Hendrix continues to be an author that fascinates me.

The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell — Runalong The Shelves - a victorian theatre oozes with gothic horror but this novel has one of the best head turning wince moments in a book that I’ve ever read!

Don't Fear The Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones — Runalong The Shelves - Jade Daniels returns and this tale with its love of slasher films also delivers a fascinating mystery and one of horror’s best new lead characters. I await the final book i the series with interest!

A House With Good Bones by T KIngfisher — Runalong The Shelves - Spooky family reunions await in another tale of Kingfisher’s trademark joyful yet creepy horror.

The Other Lives of Miss Emily White by AJ Ellwood — Runalong The Shelves - another fantastic gothic tale using the concept of the doppleganager and belief in a wonderfully dark story.

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw — Runalong The Shelves - an immortal plague doctor and a vicious mermaid are our heroes which should tell you this tale isn’t your standard tale and its beautifully strange eerie and yes a touch bloody

The Hurricane Caged Inside Of Her by Erik Hofstatter — Runalong The Shelves - an unusual lyrical dark tale with a dangerous lead character

The After-Death of Caroline Rand by Catherine Cavendish — Runalong The Shelves - A lovely eerie biot of time travel exploring fame, time travel and curses

The Others of Edenwell by Verity M Holloway — Runalong The Shelves - a very refreshing take of a WW1 ghost story using a hospital for the wounded as the location. Loved this story a lot.

Boys In the Valley by Philip Fracassi — Runalong The Shelves - a strict orphanage gets visited by a demon - its a long nightmarish night for all left in the dark. Nasty in all the right ways

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward — Runalong The Shelves - a story using the darker power of stories to create something magnificently unsettling for the unwary reader

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia — Runalong The Shelves - then to the 1990s of Mexico for a secret history and a cursed object wrapped in the wonderful world of cinema from one of the genre’s best writers - also some delightful character work

A Light Most Hateful by Hailey Piper — Runalong The Shelves - a rollercoaster of unexpected revelations about a small US town terrified by powerful magical beings. Beautiful and surprising!

The Haunting of Alejandra by V Castro — Runalong The Shelves - we tend to think horror is always bleak but while this story explore dark subject there is ultimately for the lead character some daylight to face instead.