Fear
Tom Becker
Nighttrap
(Darkside)
Disappear into another world. The Darkside is ruled by the Jack the Ripper's children, it's a dark and deadly dangerous secret side of London, an evil place. Nightmares prowl the streets in Darkside, bounty hunters, werewolves and vampires are everywhere and Jonathan stumbles upon it by accident. In this third book Jonathan has to break into the house of one of Darkside's most terrifying residents in order to bring the kidnapped Mrs Elwood to safety. A darkly gothic supernatural thriller to leave you holding your breath as you read.
Scholastic · 9781407102870
Malorie Blackman
The Stuff of Nightmares
A school trip train journey turns into a true nightmare for Kyle when Death enters his train and Kyle finds he can tune into his friends worst fears and deepest, darkest terrors, some real, some surreal and some imagined.
Discovering their fears and demons helps Kyle face his own but will Death ever release him so he can live again? Every kind of truly terrifying nightmare imaginable tumbles across the pages, making this one of those absolutely brilliant books you're powerless to put down. Just don't read it in the dark!
Random House · 9780552554633
Charlotte Brontë and John M Burns (illus.)
Jane Eyre
(Simplified text version: 9781906332082)
A glossy, superb-quality graphic novel version of the Brontë classic which puts all the gothic horror back in with genuinely creepy illustrations which inject atmosphere, emotion and irresistible reader appeal. The series covers an ever increasing range of classics, including Shakespeare, all available in original and simplified text for a quicker or easier read.
Classical Comics · 9781906332068
Alex Duval
Hunted
(Vampire Beach)
In this sixth instalment, some of Jason's friends in the glamorous Malibu vampire set have gone missing then reappear with no memory of what has happened to them, hunted out as part of a sinister experiment.
Try these for a fun and interesting twist on vampire literature, each episode in the series is more eagerly awaited than the last.
Red Fox · 9781862304338
Neil Gaiman
Coraline: The Graphic Novel
Teenager with attitude Coraline is bored to tears with her mundane existence until one day she finds a secret corridor behind a locked door, a corridor that takes her into a house very similar to her own with similar but much more sinister parents. Soon she is drawn into a fight to ensure her very survival. This is an up to the minute interpretation of the Alice in Wonderland story, stunningly reinterpreted here in graphic novel format to heighten the chilling fear factor, the kind of book where you turn the last page then start reading all over again.
Bloomsbury · 9780747594062
Neil Gaiman
The Graveyard Book
Baby Bod escapes from the murderer desperate to kill his whole family and toddles into the graveyard where he is adopted by ghosts. This is the story of his growing up and learning about living among spooks and spirits, witches and werewolves, each chapter cleverly narrating every other year of his life.
Simply stunning storytelling, surreal characters, breathtaking imagination and a genuinely creepy gothic atmosphere make this another absolutely not-to-be-missed winner from Gaiman. Riddell's classic, spiky illustrations bring the characters off the page perfectly. An equally stunning adult version illustrated by Dave McKean is also available. (9780747596837)
Bloomsbury · 9780747594802
Alan Gibbons
Scared to Death
(Hell's Underground)
Paul is implicated in not one but three sudden and unexplained deaths. In setting out to discover the truth behind the death spree he must explore his own demons and break a family curse. Set in the sinister Jack the Ripper territory of London's East End, this is a pageturning combination of tough, urban realism, horror and unpredictable fantasy as Paul revisits history to explain the present. A stunning and unpredictable fantasy peopled with demons, it catches the reader and constantly surprises with plot twists, turns and sudden deaths. Definitely the stuff nightmares are made of, from one of the best suspense authors around.
Orion · 9781842556665
Anthony Horowitz
Necropolis
(Power of Five)
The fourth book in the supernatural series sees evil rampant in the world and Hong Kong transformed into Necropolis, city of the dead, running with blood and stalked by all manner of vividly described demons, ghosts and monstrous creatures. Only five children have the power to save it. The trapped gatekeeper is their only hope.
Horowitz excels at getting inside the minds of his teenage characters and testing them to the limits. Girls will be desperate to get their hands on these thrillers too thanks to the realistically drawn female protagonist who makes an appearance in this episode.
Walker · 9781406321081
Peter Lancett
Dying for the Dark
(Dark Man)
Dark Man lives in the shadows of society and is called upon to fight against the Shadow Masters in the struggle between good and evil. In this latest title in the series he is called to help a girl who has been badly hurt and confront those responsible. Attention-grabbing plotlines, sophisticated and sinister line drawings, a text made up of only one thousand frequently found words and a reading age of seven years make these accessible and attractive to older readers still grappling with the basics of reading.
Ransom · 9781841676043
Derek Landy
Playing with Fire
(Skulduggery Pleasant)
Stephanie's Uncle Gordon is famous for his horror fiction, but when he dies and leaves his house to
12-year-old Stephanie she soon discovers that his works of fiction were, in fact, based on all the creepy goings-on in the house. With evil forces threatening her, Stephanie finds help against the vampires and villains in the unlikely form of Skulduggery, the witty, wisecracking, singing, dancing, snappy-dressing skeleton of a dead wizard. Even dead skeletons like Skulduggery can't escape torture in this house though and that's when the battle against evil really has to begin. In this second outing everyone is out to get Valkyrie, the bungling detectives take on Baron Vengeous following his prisonbreak and investigate the outbreak of dead bodies and vampires all over Ireland. With its brilliantly drawn bad guys, dark Horowitz style humour and thrill a page plot, boys will never have read anything like this before.
HarperCollins · 9780007257058
Cliff McNish
Breathe
When Jack's dad dies he moves to an isolated old house with his mum and immediately senses spirits reaching out to him. The most malevolent of these is the Ghost Mother, a spirit torn apart with guilt at the death of her daughter. She draws her supernatural powers from the souls of the children she stops in their passing from the real world to the afterlife and this prevents her from falling into the Nightmare Passage of hell. Will Jack be next?
This is a tautly-written, psychological thriller. A genuinely spooky story; the kind you read at arm's length, neck prickling and with the lights on.
Orion · 9781842555590
Stephenie Meyer
Breaking Dawn
(Twilight Saga)
A mesmerizing new twist on the vampire romance genre which has taken the world by storm, starring Bella and her love for the good-looking vampire Edward Cullen. This final book in the bestselling series, of which the first has now been released on film, sees Bella having to decide once and for all where her fate lies; whether she has a future in the world of the immortals or is destined to remain fully human.
Atom · 9781905654284
Chris Priestley and David Roberts
Tales of Terror from the Black Ship
Perched perilously on a stormy clifftop stands the Old Inn. Two poorly children, left home alone there while their father goes out to fetch the doctor, receive a visitor seeking shelter from the extreme weather who occupies the children by telling them stories. But these are no ordinary stories, each is more menacing and more macabre, more gruesome and more gory than the last. In the cold light of dawn the next day real life is even more grisly. Roberts' detailed illustrations add immensely to the creepy atmosphere of this gripping gothic horror story but Tales of Terror, like its predecessor, Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror (9780747589211), also reads perfectly aloud.
Bloomsbury · 9780747589860
Bram Stoker and Fiona MacDonald
Dracula
Part of the Graffex series which retell the classics in highly visual form, this is an exciting new interpretation which keeps closely to the original. The full colour artwork and speech bubbles add an extra layer to the narrative. A comprehensive appendix offers information about the Eastern European vampire legends which inspired Stoker, a timeline of important events and influences on the author to help younger readers make sense of the story and a listing of screen versions to look out for.
The Man in the Iron Mask is also available. (9781905638536)
Book House · 9781905638529
Daniel Waters
Generation Dead
Imagine if teenagers you knew started dying then coming back to life as the 'living impaired' or 'differently biotic'. On their return the living impaired are different though and aren't always easily accepted again by their friends which leads to all kinds of occasionally violent tensions. Brilliantly mixing paranormal fiction with comedy and romance, Waters creates an uncomfortable and chilling read to make you think again about prejudice and difference. Perfect for fans of Meyer's Twilight series.
Simon & Schuster · 9781847383273
Sarah Wray
The Trap
An American summer camp for clever kids hides a sinister secret as 15-year-old Luke finds out to his cost. The camp instructor dismisses the rumours of the disappearance of three of the campers but when coded messages start appearing in the dormitory and his friend is attacked Luke realizes he too has fallen into the trap. A genuinely creepy, occasionally shocking whodunnit to read at a sitting.
Faber · 9780571239214