“Death is a mystery, and burial is a secret.”
There’s nothing quite like curling up with a terrifying book whilst the rain lashes the windows and thunder rolls in the distance. If you’re looking for the best horror books to read on a stormy night, you’ve come to the right place. Whether you’re craving a spine-chilling psychological thriller, a gothic horror novel, or a creepy story in an isolated house during a thunderstorm, these atmospheric horror novels are ideal for stormy weather. Here at What We Reading, you’ll find scary books to read in the dark, haunting horror novels with stormy settings, and chilling reads that pair perfectly with a rainy night inside. From classic scares to unsettling modern tales, these spooky books are guaranteed to make the storm outside feel even more intense. So, grab a blanket, dim the lights, and prepare to be fully immersed – these are the horror books that were made for rainy nights.
The Haunting Of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
First stop on our list of the best horror books for stormy nights is Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. This atmospheric horror tale follows Dr. Montague, a scholar of the supernatural, who invites a small group of strangers to stay at Hill House, an old, isolated estate with a sinister history. Among the group is Eleanor Vance, a sensitive and emotionally fragile woman who soon becomes entwined with the house’s dark presence.
As the days pass and thunderstorms rage, unsettling events escalate: mysterious writing appears on the walls, icy cold spots, and an eerie sense of being watched. But, is this house really haunted, or are the guests slowly losing themselves under the weight of their own fears and paranoia? Blending psychological tension and creeping unease, The Haunting of Hill House is a chilling horror book that delivers eerie vibes and slow-burning terror.
Check Out The Best Books Like The Haunting Of Hill House
Dark Matter – Michelle Paver
January 1937. Clouds of war are gathering over a fog-covered London. Twenty-eight-year-old Jack is poor, lonely, and desperate to change his life. So, when he’s presented with the opportunity to join an Arctic expedition, he jumps at it. As the ship departs Norway with five men and eight huskies crossing the Barents Sea by the light of the midnight sun, spirits couldn’t be higher. They finally arrive at the remote, uninhabited bay where they will camp for the next year, Gruhuken. But the Arctic summer is a brief one.
As night returns to claim the land, Jack begins to feel a creeping sense of unease. One by one, his companions are all forced to leave. He is, in turn, confronted with a stark choice: remain, or go. Soon, he will see the last of the sun, the sea will freeze, and escape will be impossible. Yet, Gruhuken is not uninhabited. Something walks there, in the dark.
The Grip Of It – Jac Jemc
Julie and James settle into a small home outside the city where they met. Both of them are happy to leave their pasts behind and start afresh. But this house, nestled between the ocean and forest, has plans for the unsuspecting couple. As Julie and James attempt to settle into their new surroundings, the house and surrounding terrain become the locus of increasingly bizarre and disturbing happenings.
Together, the couple embark on a panicked search for what soon spirals into a shared torment, a journey that mires them in the history of their peculiar neighbours and mysterious residents who lived in the house before them. Written in creepy, potent prose, The Grip of It is one of the best horror novels for anyone looking for an enthralling, psychologically intense tale that deals in questions of home: how we make it and how, in turn, it makes us.
The Drowning Kind – Jennifer McMahon
Set in a small town overshadowed by mysterious drownings and dark family secrets, The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon is a water-based horror story perfect for a stormy night read. When social worker Jax receives nine missed calls from her older sister, Lexie, she assumes it is just another case of her sister’s manic episodes. But the next day, Lexie is dead: drowned in her grandmother’s pool. When Jax arrives at the property, she discovers that her sister had been researching the history of their family and the property. And, as she delves deeper into the research herself, she discovers that the land holds a far darker past than she ever realised.
In 1929, Ethel Monroe hopes desperately for a baby. To try and distract his wife, her husband whisks her on a trip to Vermont. There, a natural spring is showcased at the most modern hotel in the state. Once there, Ethel learns that the water is supposed to grant wishes, never suspecting that the spring takes in equal measure to what it grants.
Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic is a lush and eerie gothic horror novel that’s perfect for a night under the covers. Set in 1950s Mexico, the story follows glamorous socialite Noemi Taboada, who is sent to a crumbling mansion in the remote countryside after receiving a disturbing letter from her newly married cousin. High Place, the family’s decaying estate, is full of mold, secrets, and sinister whispers that seem to seep out of the walls.
As Noemi investigates further, she encounters unsettling dreams, toxic family dynamics, and an ancient evil that could be rooted in the very foundations of the house. Moreno-Garcia deflty blends atmospheric horror with gothic tropes – fog-covered hills, forbidden rooms, and strange behaviours – for one of the best horror books that is as beautiful as it is unnerving.
Check Out The Best Books Like Mexican Gothic
The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters
One postwar summer in the home of rural Warwickshire, Dr. Faraday is summoned to a patient at the decaying Hundreds Hall. The Ayres have lived at the estate for the past two centuries, but this once proud and impressive building is now firmly in decline. Its masonry is falling apart, its gardens strangled by weeds, and even the clock in its stable yard is permanently stuck at twenty to nine.
Hundreds Hall’s owners – a mother, son, and daughter – are struggling to keep pace with a society rapidly moving on without them, and have plenty of issues within their home to contend with. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than just their archaic way of life? As he arrives at the estate, Dr Faraday is about to discover how terrifyingly intertwined their tale is about to become his own in Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger, one of the best historical horror books that is far scarier when coupled with a stormy background soundtrack.
Check Out The Best Horror Books To Read After Dark
The Only Good Indians – Stephen Graham Jones
The Only Good Indians is a tense and haunting psychological horror novel that blends supernatural horror with incisive social commentary for a read that is perfect for a stormy night. The story centres around four Native American friends haunted by a disturbing event from their youth – an elk hunt that went terribly wrong. Now, years on, something vengeful is stalking them. Something that is tied both to the past and their cultural identity.
As each man grapples with eerie visions, increasing paranoia, and violent confrontation, the story unfolds with a creeping sense of dread. Jones expertly crafts an atmospheric horror book that weaves together themes of survival, guilt, and generational trauma. The end result is one of the most chilling horror books that is deeply unsettling, emotionally resonant, and definitely not one to be read with the lights out.
The Between – Tananarive Due
When Hilton was just a boy, his aged grandmother saved him from drowning by pulling him out of a treacherous ocean current, saving his life at the expense of her own. Now, three decades on, Hilton begins to believe that his borrowed time is running out. His wife, the only elected African-American judge in Dade County, Florida, has started to receive racist hate mail from a man she once prosecuted. Hilton’s own sleep has also begun to be plagued by nightmares, more horrible than any he has ever experienced.
As he battles both the psychotic stalking of his family and the unseen enemy that haunts his sleep, Hilton’s sense of reality slowly starts to slip away entirely. The Between by Tananarive Due is one of the best horror books that blurs the lines between reality and nightmare, making for a gripping read perfect for stormy nights.
Hell House – Richard Matheson
Hell House by Richard Matheson is a truly terrifying haunted house horror novel that has well-earned its spot as one of the best scary books to read on a stormy night. The story orbits around a group of four investigators – each with their own motives and methods – who are hired to spend a week in the infamous Belasco House, often dubbed “Hell House,” to determine the truth behind its deadly, supernatural infamy.
As the group settles in, the mansion’s dark forces begin to reveal themselves. Paranormal activity escalates quickly – violent poltergeists, psychological manipulation, and inexplicable phenomena tear at the investigators’ minds and bodies. The atmosphere is claustrophobic and charged with dread, making this a bone-chilling horror classic.
Pet Sematary – Stephen King
Another one of the best horror books of all time, Stephen King’s Pet Sematary follows the Creed family as they move into a beautiful old house in rural Maine. From the outside, it all looks too good to be true: a successful husband, a beautiful wife, a sharp little daughter, and an adorable infant son. But, hidden in the deep, dark woods surrounding the family home is an old pet cemetery that holds an incredible power to bring beings back to life, though not quite as they were.
Similar to other books by King, Pet Sematary is a blend of creeping dread and atmospheric surroundings that delves into themes of grief, loss, guilt, and the nature of evil.
The Fisherman – John Langan
John Langan’s The Fisherman is a slow-burning, richly layered cosmic horror novel that’s perfect for fans of atmospheric horror and unsettling stormy night reads. The story opens with two grieving widowers, Abe and Dan, who bond over their shared passion for fishing. When they set their sights on an isolated upstate New York spot called Dutchman’s Creek, they discover a dark legend involving forbidden rituals, grief-fuelled madness, and a mysterious individual only known as “Der Fischer.”
Told in a nested, story-within-a-story structure, the novel blurs the line between myth and reality as the men are drawn deeper into a world where the water conceals unimaginable horrors. Langan’s writing is lyrical and meditative, making the descent into the terror all the more devastating. If you’re looking for chilling horror novels that combine emotional depth with eldritch terror, The Fisherman delivers haunting experiences perfect for rainy nights by the bucketload.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
