This Month in New Horror Books: April 2021

This Month in New Horror Books: April 2021

This Month in New Horror Books: April 2021 - 545

Ah, spring! While the change of seasons brings its own horror (allergies) along for the ride, it’s undeniably good for the mood. Treat yourself with some of the brilliant new horror out in April, including new books from Clay McLeod Chapman, Jennifer McMahon, June Hur, Steve Toase, and more.

Also, a note: we’re continuously updating release dates and newly announced books both here and on our 2021 horror releases master post.


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April’s new horror titles:

  • The Silence That Binds, Paul Jessup (Apr 1): The world is cursed. A monstrous fog consumes and remakes all things infected with the black fog. A community of Seers push back against the curse. These seers are all women who have been orphaned. They live and train together in an ancient temple past the bone labyrinth. They perform elaborate and beautiful rituals to appease the ghosts of the world, and hold back the tide of the curse.
  • Eyes in the Dust and Other Stories, David Peak (Apr 2): Phantom limbs, porous realities, and strange reflections shifting in black glass. The thirteen stories included in David Peak’s decade-spanning collection explore how memory affects place and place memory, the traumas that haunt bodies like ghosts, and the desperation of needing to be seen and understood by others. Only in pulling back the bloody veil of this world may we be so blessed to see things as they really are—and not as we wish them to be.
  • Blessed Monsters, Emily A. Duncan (Apr 6): The startling conclusion to the bestselling Something Dark and Holy trilogy. The girl, the monster, the prince, the queen must unite once more to fight the dark chaos they’ve unleashed – but is it already too late?
  • The Drowning Kind, Jennifer McMahon (Apr 6): From the New York Times bestselling author of The Invited and The Winter People comes a chilling new novel about a woman who returns to the old family home after her sister mysteriously drowns in its swimming pool… but she’s not the pool’s only victim.
  • House of Hollow, Krystal Sutherland (Apr 6): A dark, twisty modern fairytale where three sisters discover they are not exactly all that they seem and evil things really do go bump in the night.
  • Poison Priestess, Lana Popovic (Apr 6): Book 2 in the Lady Slayers series, about French murderess and fortune teller Catherine Monvoisin. This entry, full of Black Masses and grisly murders follows Catherine’s ascent to notoriety as sorceress to the elite of Louis XIV’s royal court and her growing rivalry with an ambitious young magician.
  • Whisper Down the Lane, Clay McLeod Chapman (Apr 6): Inspired by the McMartin preschool trials and the Satanic Panic of the ‘80s, Clay McLeod Chapman, author of the critically acclaimed The Remaking, delivers another pulse pounding, true-crime-based horror novel.
  • Composite Creatures, Caroline Hardaker (Apr 13): In a society where self-preservation is as much an art as a science, Norah and Arthur are learning how to co-exist in their new little world. But survival in this world is a tricky thing, the air is thicker every day and illness creeps fast through the body. And the earth is becoming increasingly hostile to live in. Fortunately, Easton Grove is here for that in the form of a perfect little bundle to take home and harvest. You can live for as long as you keep it – or her – close.
  • The Helm of Midnight, Marina Lostetter (Apr 13): A legendary serial killer stalks the streets of a fantastical city in The Helm of Midnight, the stunning first novel in a new trilogy from acclaimed author Marina Lostetter.
  • The Mary Shelley Club, Goldy Moldavsky (Apr 13): New York Times-bestselling author Goldy Moldavsky delivers a deliciously twisty YA thriller that’s Scream meets Karen McManus about a mysterious club with an obsession for horror.
  • Near the Bone, Christina Henry (Apr 13): A woman trapped on a mountain attempts to survive more than one kind of monster, in a dread-inducing horror novel from national bestselling author Christina Henry.
  • The Forest of Stolen Girls, June Hur (Apr 20): Suspenseful and richly atmospheric, The Forest of Stolen Girls is a haunting historical mystery set on the Korean island of Jeju that is sure to keep readers guessing until the last page.
  • The Last Thing to Burn, Will Dean (Apr 20): On an isolated farm in the United Kingdom, a woman is trapped by the monster who kidnapped her seven years ago. When she discovers she is pregnant, she resolves to protect her child, no matter the cost, and starts to meticulously plot her escape. But when another woman is brought into the fold on the farm, her plans go awry. Can she save herself, her child, and this innocent woman at the same time? Or is she doomed to spend the remainder of her life as a captive? Intense, dark, and utterly gripping, The Last Thing to Burn “explores the resilience of the human spirit, even in the face of unfathomable evil. This harrowing journey is one worth taking” (Publishers Weekly).
  • Mirrorland, Carole Johnstone (Apr 20): With the startling twists of Gone Girl and the haunting emotional power of Room, Mirrorland is a thrilling work of psychological suspense about twin sisters, the man they both love, and the dark childhood they can’t leave behind.
  • Other Worlds: Peasants, Pilgrims, Spirits, Saints, Teffi (Apr 20): Stories about the occult, folk religions, superstition, and spiritual customs in Russia by one of the most essential twentieth-century writers of short fiction and essays.
  • A Still and Awful Red, Michael Howarth (Apr 23): Hungary, 1609. Maria, a young peasant girl, is an accomplished seamstress who dreams of a more prosperous life, away from the constant threat of war, famine and disease. Then an old woman arrives at her cottage, and informs Maria that she has been chosen by Countess Elizabeth Báthory to sew a series of elaborate gowns. But upon arriving at the castle, she suspects she is in terrible danger. Servants are beaten and then disappear, the Countess herself is prone to fits of rage, and there are screams in the middle of the night. As Maria explores the castle and unravels its inner secrets, she finds herself a prisoner, as well as an unwilling pawn in Countess Báthory’s murderous plot to retain both her power and beauty.
  • The Between, Ryan Leslie (Apr 27): While landscaping his backyard, Paul discovers an iron door buried in the soil. His childhood friend, Jay, pushes them to explore what’s beneath, but when the door slams shut above them, Paul and Jay are trapped in a between-worlds place of Escher-like rooms and horror story monsters, all with a mysterious connection to a command-line, dungeon explorer computer game from the early ‘80s called The Between.
  • A Natural History of Transition, Callum Angus (Apr 27): A collection of short stories that disrupts the notion that trans people can only have one transformation. Like the landscape studied over eons, change does not have an expiration date for these trans characters, who grow as tall as buildings, turn into mountains, unravel hometown mysteries, and give birth to cocoons. Portland-based author Callum Angus infuses his work with a mix of alternative history, horror, and a reality heavily dosed with magic.
  • To Drown in Dark Water, Steve Toase (Apr 27): The debut short story collection from Steve Toase heralds the arrival of a transcendent visionary of modern horror, a melding of the beauty and terror of Clive Barker and Tanith Lee, with Steve’s distinctive visceral and vibrant voice. Containing 6 new dark visions and a curated selection of reprints, To Drown in Dark Water is a veritable feast of gruesome delights.

As always, if we missed anything, let us know in the comments!

View our 2021 new horror release masterlist here, and view previous monthly new releases posts here.



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