April has arrived with a truly questionable collection of bad decisions.
People are going camping with ancient evils. Moving into haunted houses. Taking creepy Craigslist jobs. Getting followed by men in rowboats.
Here are the new horror books coming this month, for anyone who enjoys watching fictional people make choices we would never make ourselves. Or would we?
April 2
Monumental by Adam Nevill
A weekend of kayaking and camping goes spectacularly wrong when Marcus and his friends realize they've wandered onto private land. Their only way out is blocked until the tide changes, leaving them twelve hours to survive whatever is lurking in the valley. And apparently, an ancient evil hiding beneath some very bad local folklore wasn't on the itinerary.
Who doesn't like relaxing in nature?
April 7
The Boatman by Alex Grecian
The cruise ship Maria Calypso has a problem. A very elegant man in a white suit is following it in a rowboat. No matter how fast the ship goes, he keeps pace. And then the sinister stuff starts happening.
Bodies of Work by Clay McLeod Chapman
Winston Kemper is a lonely janitor with an unusual artistic hobby. He calls it the Butterfly Girls. Other people might call it murder. When the ghosts of his victims start whispering from beyond the grave, Winston's art project takes a very ugly turn.
April14
The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own by Gwendolyn Kiste
Sixteen stories filled with haunted houses, ghosts, body horror, strange women, queer antiheroines, and all sorts of supernatural nastiness. Basically, Gwendolyn Kiste looked at the phrase "home sweet home" and decided it needed more ghosts and considerably less sweetness.
Invasive Species by Ellery Adams
Cold Harbor has its share of monsters, but Mrs. Smith might be the worst. She's beautiful, mysterious, and has been feeding nine human sacrifices to herself in exchange for immortality. Meanwhile, Natalie is just trying to sell a house and prove she can have a career outside the home.
And her twelve-year-old daughter and the family's housekeeper are the ones who realize something is very, very wrong.
Morsel by Carter Keane
Lou heads into the rural hills of Ohio for a work assignment, hoping it'll help her escape generational poverty and finally get ahead. Instead, her truck is sabotaged, she's stranded in the Appalachian woods, and something out there wants to eat her.
These Familiar Walls by C.J. Dotson
Amber inherits her childhood home after her parents are murdered, so naturally she moves in with her husband and kids. Then her reflection stops blinking. A voice starts whispering from the shadows. And the house turns out to be hiding some very old family secrets.
Nothing says "fresh start" like moving into the house where your parents were murdered.
Wife Shaped Bodies by Laura Cranehill
Nicole has spent her entire life being taught that the mushrooms growing over the women's bodies in her village are dangerous and disgusting. After marriage, she's sent to live with her husband in a decaying mansion where controlling her changing body becomes harder and harder.
Then another rebellious wife shows up.
Their connection starts cracking open the secrets buried beneath generations of unhappy brides. And Nicole may finally decide that following the rules isn't worth it.
April 21
The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer
Three days of work. Competitive pay. A house in the Oregon wilderness.
Sure, what could go wrong?
Macy takes a Craigslist caretaking job because rent and groceries aren't going to pay themselves. But the house comes with strange rules, stranger rites, and something inside it that may be a threat to humanity itself.
...at least the job posting was honest about the pay.
Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker
Lee flees New York after killing his college roommate and heads to his father's mysterious house in Japan. The place has a few problems. No animals will go near it. The bedroom window isn't always a window. And a woman with a sword appears outside at night.
Meanwhile, in 1877, Sen is hiding from imperial soldiers in the very same house.
Two people. Two centuries. One haunted house. And one of them is a ghost.
April 28
Hex House by Amy Jane Stewart
Elly is pregnant, wearing a wedding dress, and running from the man she's supposed to marry. Luckily, there's a mysterious house in the woods where lost girls can find refuge.
What starts as a safe haven becomes something much darker, turning wounded women into vessels for revenge.
How to Survive Camping: The Lady in Chains by Bonnie Quinn
The campground rules are back, and this time things are getting even worse. Dormant monsters are waking up, the Lady in Chains has returned, and the harvesters are still busy sacrificing people.
Dahye's whirlwind romance turns into a nightmare when a spycam video of her and her boyfriend spreads across the internet. Then she discovers the creepy IT guy at work has been secretly filming women too.
Her humiliation turns to rage, and rage turns to revenge.
April is not messing around. We've got folk horror, haunted houses, supernatural revenge, gothic nightmares, body horror, murderous ghosts, creepy camping trips, and enough questionable life choices to keep horror readers very busy.
So fill up your coffee cup, pull up your TBR, and maybe avoid accepting any suspicious Craigslist jobs.