Three Horror novels that did NOT give me nightmares
I am brave enough to perform in a play, give a speech, or introduce myself to a hundred people, but I am gonna have to pass on seeing the latest horror movie. Jump scares? No, thank you. Lurching men in masks? Absolutely not. Stabbing? Oozing? Spewing? Hell no.
I will make a few exceptions for horror if it comes highly recommended by a trusted source who assures me it isn’t too scary. Like when both Knox and Jamie of The Popcast tell me to watch Widow’s Bay, the best show of the year. Okay, I’m down. Widow’s Bay had tense moments and a few scenes I watched through my fingers, but its lighter comedic moments balanced it out. As I viewed each episode, I reminded myself Horror is a genre of allegory, tropes, and social commentary, and as I intellectualized the scary bits, my heart rate slowed down.
Most Horror can be read as allegory, meaning that the monsters, boogeymen, serial killers, or supernatural weather events represent a real social horror, like racism, mental illness, grief, bullying, or sexual violence. While this doesn’t make the texts less terrifying, it does help me to compartmentalize the scary bits into symbolism, and as a former English teacher, the Horror novels I can stomach are always full of symbolism.
There is, however, one book that scarred me for life. To this day, I think about a disembodied hand crawling out from under my bed or up the stairs in the dark. Jade Green by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor somehow landed on the shelf of my little Lutheran grade school, and I read it in 6th or 7th grade. Published in 2001, this YA novel follows Judith Sparrow, a young girl sent to live with her uncle in 1800s South Carolina after her mother died in a mental institution. There is only one rule she need follow: do not bring anything green into the house. So she brings her green framed portrait of her mother, awakens a ghost, and uncovers the mystery of Jade Green, a girl who died after cutting off her hand with a meat cleaver. The ghost hand creeps around the house to communicate with Judith, and I have never forgotten it. For years, I was scared to leave my bed in the middle of the night, sure that a ghost hand would grab my ankle.
Now I know how to approach a Horror novel: in the daylight, with my English major brain turned on, preferably sitting next to my husband while he reads, too. Here are three books in the Horror genre that did not scar me like Jade Green, thanks to their short page count, meta-narratives, and social allegories.
Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House to care for the Pound children, ready to be the picture perfect “angel in the home” governess. But as she interacts with the disgustingly wealthy Pound family, her taste for violence becomes impossible to ignore. Told with wry humor and disturbing detail, this horror novel is sure to pop on film (coming September 2026)—but while I had no problem reading the frightful book, I doubt I’ll be able to stomach the screen adaptation. Feito uses Winifred’s violent streak to contrast the more subtle violence the upper classes enact on the poor in Victorian England, crafting class commentary from cannibalistic chaos.
Lone Women by Victor Lavalle
Lavalle mixes Southern Gothic, classic Western, and magical suspense to great effect while exploring the impacts of Western expansion and women’s history. The book opens as Adelaide Henry flees her burning California home where her dead parents remain inside, for the cold, harsh land of Montana. She carries with her a heavy, locked steamer trunk that emits an occasional rumble, but what’s in the trunk may prove to be even tamer than the demons she finds in her new home town.
Final Girls by Riley Sager
I read Sager’s debut in one night, in a cabin in the woods, which says a lot about its scare factor! It might even fit better in the mystery/thriller genre, but because it plays with a classic Horror trope, let’s go with it. Quincy is a member of an exclusive club no one wants to be a part of. As survivors of stabbings, massacres, and serial killers, she and her fellow “Final Girls” live with lingering dread and suppressed memories. When one of the Final Girls winds up dead and another visits Quincy at her home, the past races to catch up with Quincy and her hazy memories of what happened at Pine Cottage all those years ago.
Do you dabble in the Horror genre? Share your favorites in the comments!
P.S. All of my genre lists are now collected in one place! To view previous editions in this series, check out my Genre Lists page.
