15 Winter Horror Books For Chilly Nights

The Winter People (Jennifer McMahon)

West Hall, Vermont, has always been a town of strange disappearances and old legends. The most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who, in 1908, was found dead in the field behind her house just months after the tragic death of her daughter.

In present day, Ruthie lives in Sara’s farmhouse with her mother, Alice, and her younger sister. Alice has always insisted that they live off the grid until she vanished.

In her search for clues, Ruthie is startled to find a copy of Sara Harrison Shea’s diary. She discovers that she’s not the only person looking for someone that they’ve lost.

Dark Matter (Michelle Paver)

London, 1937. Jack is poor, lonely, and desperate to change his life, so when he’s offered the chance to join an Arctic expedition, he jumps at it. Spirits are high as the ship leaves Norway and at last, they reach the remote, uninhabited bay where they will camp for the next year.

But the Arctic summer is brief. As night returns to claim the land, Jack feels a creeping unease. One by one, his companions are forced to leave. Soon Jack will see the last of the sun, the sea will freeze, and escape will be impossible.

And Jack is not alone. Something walks there in the dark…

Dead of Winter (Kealan Patrick Burke)

Winter isn’t coming… it’s already here, and with it comes a horror no door can keep out.

It’s there in the yard, in the faces of the snowmen a young boy doesn’t remember building. It’s in the oddly empty streets below Santa Claus’s crumbling sleigh. It’s in the unnatural movement of the snow that suffocates a widower’s town, and in the cold eyes of a lonely man’s estranged children.

Featuring seven stories, an introduction by the author, and a list of recommended books for the winter season.

Bone White (Ronald Malfi)

Paul Gallo saw the report on the news: a mass murderer leading police to his victims’ graves in remote Dread’s Hand, Alaska. It’s the same bit of wilderness where his twin brother went missing a year ago. As the bodies are exhumed, Paul travels to Alaska to get closure and put his grief to rest.

But the mystery is only beginning. What Paul finds are superstitious locals who talk of the devil stealing souls, and a line of wooden crosses to keep what’s in the woods from coming out. The more he searches for answers, the more he finds himself becoming part of the mystery . . .

The Winter Ghosts (Kate Mosse)

In the winter of 1928, still seeking some kind of resolution to the horrors of World War I, Freddie is traveling through the beautiful but forbidding French Pyrenees. During a snowstorm, his car spins off the mountain road. Dazed, he stumbles through the woods, emerging in a tiny village, where he finds an inn to wait out the blizzard. There he meets Fabrissa, a lovely young woman also mourning a lost generation.

Over the course of one night, Fabrissa and Freddie share their stories. By the time dawn breaks, Freddie will have unearthed a tragic, centuries-old mystery, and discovered his own role in the life of this remote town. 

The Girl Who Died (Ragnar Jónasson)

Una is struggling to deal with her father’s sudden, tragic suicide. She spends her nights drinking alone in Reykjavik, stricken with dark thoughts. So when she sees an advert seeking a teacher in the tiny village of Skálar, she sees it as a chance to escape.

But once she arrives, Una quickly realises nothing in city life has prepared her for this. The villagers are unfriendly. The weather is bleak. And, from the creaky attic bedroom of the old house where she’s living, she’s convinced she hears the ghostly sound of singing.

Let The Right One In (John Ajvide Lindqvist)

It is autumn 1981 when the inconceivable comes to Blackeberg, a suburb in Sweden. The body of a teenage boy is found, emptied of blood, the murder rumored to be part of a ritual killing. Twelve-year-old Oskar is personally hoping that revenge has come at long last— for the bullying he endures at school, day after day.

But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind. A new girl has moved in next door—a girl who has never seen a Rubik’s Cube before, but who can solve it at once. There is something wrong with her, though, something odd. And she only comes out at night. . . .

Near The Bone (Christina Henry)

Mattie can’t remember a time before she and William lived alone on a mountain together. But when Mattie discovers the mutilated body of a fox in the woods, she realizes that they’re not alone after all. There’s something in the woods that wasn’t there before, something that makes strange cries in the night, something with sharp teeth and claws.

When three strangers appear on the mountaintop looking for the creature in the woods, Mattie knows their presence will anger William. Terrible things happen when William is angry.

Ararat (Christopher Golden)

When a couple climbs Mount Ararat in Turkey, an avalanche forces them to seek shelter inside a massive cave uncovered by the snowfall. The cave is actually an ancient, buried ship that many quickly come to believe is really Noah’s Ark.

When a team of scholars, archaeologists, and filmmakers make it inside the ark for the first time, they discover an elaborate coffin in its recesses. Inside, they find an ugly, misshapen cadaver—not the holy man that they expected. A massive blizzard blows in, trapping them thousands of meters up the side of a remote mountain… but they are not alone.

The Shuddering (Ania Ahlborn)

A group of close friends gathers at a secluded cabin in the wintry mountains of Colorado for a final holiday hurrah. Instead, it may be their last stand. First, a massive blizzard leaves them marooned. Then the more chilling realization: something is lurking in the woods, watching them, waiting…

The only hope for those huddled inside is to fight—tooth and nail, bullet and blade—for their lives. Otherwise, they’ll end up like the monsters’ other victims: bright pools of blood on glittering snow, screams lost in the vast mountains.

A House of Ghosts (W.C. Ryan)

Winter 1917. As the First World War enters its most brutal phase, back home in England, everyone is seeking answers to the darkness that has seeped into their lives.

At Blackwater Abbey, Lord Highmount has arranged a spiritualist gathering to contact his two sons who were lost in the conflict. But as his guests begin to arrive, it becomes clear that each has something they would rather keep hidden. Then, when a storm descends on the island, the guests will find themselves trapped. Soon one of their number will die.

Moon of the Crusted Snow (Waubgeshig Rice)

With winter looming, a small northern Anishinaabe community goes dark. Cut off, panic builds as the food supply dwindles. While the band council and a pocket of community members struggle to maintain order, an unexpected visitor arrives. Soon after, others follow.

The community leadership loses its grip as the visitors manipulate the tired and hungry to take control of the reserve. Frustrated by the building chaos, a group of young friends and their families turn to the land and Anishinaabe tradition. Guided by an unlikely leader named Evan Whitesky, they endeavor to restore order while grappling with a grave decision.

The White Road (Sarah Lotz)

Desperate to attract subscribers to his fledgling website, Simon Newman hires someone to guide him through the notorious Cwm Pot caves. Unfortunately for Simon, the guide he’s hired is as unpredictable as the watery caverns. Simon barely escapes with his life, but the gruesome footage he managed to collect goes viral.

Eager to capitalize on his new internet fame, Simon latches onto another escapade – a trip to Everest. But up above 8000 feet, he’ll need more than his dubious morals to guide him, especially when he uncovers the truth behind a decade-old tragedy. A truth that will change him – and anyone who views the footage he captures – forever. 

Stranded (Bracken MacLeod)

Badly battered by an apocalyptic storm, the crew of the Arctic Promise find themselves in increasingly dire circumstances. Without functioning navigation or communication equipment, they are lost and completely alone.

One by one, the men fall prey to a mysterious illness. Deckhand Noah Cabot is the only person unaffected. Dismissing Noah’s warnings of worsening conditions, the captain of the ship presses on until the sea freezes into ice. Noah leads the last crew on a journey across the ice where they must fight for their lives against the elements, the ghosts of the past, and, ultimately, themselves.

Dead of Winter (Darcy Coates)

When Christa joins a tour group heading deep into the snowy expanse of the Rocky Mountains, she’s hopeful this will be her chance to put the ghosts of her past to rest. But when a bitterly cold snowstorm sweeps the region, the small group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin.

Deep in the night, their tour guide goes missing…only to be discovered the following morning, his severed head impaled on a tree outside the cabin. Terrified, Christa finds herself trapped with eight total strangers. As the number of survivors dwindles one by one, Christa must decide who she can trust before this frozen mountain becomes her tomb.