The Best Gothic Horror Books Of All-Time
“What are the best Gothic books?” We looked at 185 of the top books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
Last year, in the run-up to Halloween, we looked at the Scariest Books Of All-Time. This year we decided to look at individual genres that make up the horror genera.
The top 34 books, all appearing on 2 or more, “Best Gothic” book lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The books include images, descriptions, and links. The remaining 100+ books, as well as the lists we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.
For more Best Horror and Scary Book lists, see below!
- The Best Books About Or Featuring An Alien Invasion
- The Best Ever Vampire Books
- The Best Zombie Books Of All-Time
- The Best Slasher Horror Books (Check back on 9/25/17)
- The Best YA Horror Books (Check back on 10/2/17)
- The Best Psychological Thriller Books Of All-Time (Check back on 10/9/17)
- The Best Haunted House & Ghost Books Of All-Time (Check back on 10/16/17)
- The Best Books About Or Featuring Witches (Check back on 10/23/17)
- The Best Home Invasion Horror Books(Check back on 10/30/17)
Happy Scrolling!
Top 34 Gothic Horror Books
34 .) Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Lists It Appears On:
- Goodreads
- BBC
Carmilla is one of the early works of vampire fiction, predating Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) by 26 years. The story is narrated by a young woman preyed upon by a female vampire named Carmilla, later revealed to be Mircalla, Countess Karnstein.
33 .) House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Horror Novels
- BBC
“Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth — musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, environmentalists, and adrenaline junkies — the book eventually made its way into the hands of older generations, who not only found themselves in those strangely arranged pages but also discovered a way back into the lives of their estranged children.
Now, for the first time, this astonishing novel is made available in book form, complete with the original colored words, vertical footnotes, and newly added second and third appendices.
The story remains unchanged, focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.”
32 .) In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Horror Novels
- Horror Novel Reviews
This remarkable collection of stories, first published in 1872, includes Green Tea, The Familiar, Mr. Justice Harbottle, The Room in the Dragon Volant, and Carmilla. The five stories are purported to be cases by Dr. Hesselius, a ‘metaphysical’ doctor, who is willing to consider the ghosts both as real and as hallucinatory obsessions. The reader’s doubtful anxiety mimics that of the protagonist, and each story thus creates that atmosphere of mystery which is the supernatural experience.
31 .) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Lists It Appears On:
- Bustle
- Goodreads
A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre has dazzled generations of readers with its depiction of a woman’s quest for freedom. Having grown up an orphan in the home of her cruel aunt and at a harsh charity school, Jane Eyre becomes an independent and spirited survivor-qualities that serve her well as governess at Thornfield Hall. But when she finds love with her sardonic employer, Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice. Should she stay with him whatever the consequences or follow her convictions, even if it means leaving her beloved?
30 .) Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin
Lists It Appears On:
- The Guardian
- Goodreads
Created by an Irish clergyman, Melmoth is one of the most fiendish characters in literature. In a satanic bargain, Melmoth exchanges his soul for immortality. The story of his tortured wanderings through the centuries is pieced together through those who have been implored by Melmoth to take over his pact with the devil. Influenced by the Gothic romances of the late 18th century, Maturin’s diabolic tale raised the genre to a new and macabre pitch. Its many admirers include Poe, Balzac, Oscar Wilde and Baudelaire.
29 .) Tales of Terror and Mystery by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Lists It Appears On:
- The Guardian 2
- The Guardian 2
Tales of Terror and Mystery is a volume collecting 12 short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle and first published in 1922 by John Murray.
28 .) The Devil’s Elixirs by E.T.A. Hoffmann
Lists It Appears On:
- Horror Novel Reviews
- The Guardian 2
The charismatic monk Medardus becomes implicated in a deadly mystery against his will. As he travels towards Rome he wrestles with the enigma of his own identity while pursued by his murderous doppelganger. The monk’s only hope for salvation lies with the beautiful Aurelie; but in order to escape the curse which lies over his family, he must evade the sinister powers of the living and the dead. In this lively and disturbing gothic tale, Hoffmann combines elements of the fantastic and the sublime to analyse the seductive ambiguities of art and the deeply divided nature of the human imagination.
27 .) The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Horror Novels
- Goodreads
First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.
26 .) The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Lists It Appears On:
- Bustle
- Goodreads
The story of a man named Erik, an eccentric, physically deformed genius who terrorizes the Opera Garnier in Paris. He builds his home beneath it and takes the love of his life, a beautiful soprano, under his wing.
25 .) The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe
Lists It Appears On:
- American Literature
- Goodreads
Edgar Allan Poe was a great American writer during the early 19th century. Poe was one of the earliest authors of detective fiction and short stories.
24 .) The Shining by Stephen King
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Horror Novels
- Goodreads
Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.
23 .) The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Horror Novels
- Goodreads
Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate lives for herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret is mesmerized by the author’s tale of gothic strangeness—featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Together, Margaret and Vida confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.
22 .) The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Horror Novels
- Goodreads
Demonstrating once again her gift for spellbinding stoyrtelling, Anne Rice makes real a family of witches–a family given to poetry and incest, to murder and philsophy, a family that is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous and seductive being.
21 .) The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Lists It Appears On:
- Bustle
- Goodreads
The story is sometimes considered an early example of detective fiction with the hero, Walter Hartright, employing many of the sleuthing techniques of later private detectives. The use of multiple narrators draws on Collins’s legal training, and as he points out in his Preamble: “the story here presented will be told by more than one pen, as the story of an offence against the laws is told in Court by more than one witness”.
20 .) Vathek by William Beckford
Lists It Appears On:
- Goodreads
- Interesting Literature
One of the strangest and most unforgettable eighteenth-century novels, Vathek is a wild Gothic fantasy whose sensuous imagination and grotesque comedy have inspired writers from Byron to Lovecraft. The Caliph Vathek is dissolute and debauched, and hungry for knowledge. When the mysterious Giaour offers him boundless treasure and unrivalled power he is willing to sacrifice his god, the lives of innocent children, and his own soul to satisfy his obsession. Vathek’s extraordinary journey to the subterranean palace of Eblis, and the terrifying fate that there awaits him, is a captivating tale of magic and oriental fantasy, sudden violence and corrupted love, whose mix of moral fable, grotesque comedy, and evocative beauty defies classification.
19 .) We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Lists It Appears On:
- Goodreads
- Vulture
Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is perhaps the crowning achievement of Shirley Jackson’s brilliant career: a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the dramatic struggle that ensues when an unexpected visitor interrupts their unusual way of life.
18 .) White Is for Witching by Helen Oyelemi
Lists It Appears On:
- Vulture
- Quirk Books
There’s something strange about the Silver family house in the closed-off town of Dover, England. Grand and cavernous with hidden passages and buried secrets, it’s been home to four generations of Silver women—Anna, Jennifer, Lily, and now Miranda, who has lived in the house with her twin brother, Eliot, ever since their father converted it to a bed-and-breakfast. The Silver women have always had a strong connection, a pull over one another that reaches across time and space, and when Lily, Miranda’s mother, passes away suddenly while on a trip abroad, Miranda begins suffering strange ailments. An eating disorder starves her. She begins hearing voices. When she brings a friend home, Dover’s hostility toward outsiders physically manifests within the four walls of the Silver house, and the lives of everyone inside are irrevocably changed. At once an unforgettable mystery and a meditation on race, nationality, and family legacies, White is for Witching is a boldly original, terrifying, and elegant novel by a prodigious talent.
17 .) Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Lists It Appears On:
- Goodreads
- Vulture
- BBC
During an eventful season at Bath, young, naïve Catherine Morland experiences the joys of fashionable society for the first time. She is delighted with her new acquaintances: flirtatious Isabella, who shares Catherine’s love of Gothic romance and horror, and sophisticated Henry and Eleanor Tilney, who invite her to their father’s mysterious house, Northanger Abbey. There, her imagination influenced by novels of sensation and intrigue, Catherine imagines terrible crimes committed by General Tilney. With its broad comedy and irrepressible heroine, this is the most youthful and and optimistic of Jane Austen’s works.
16 .) Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind
Lists It Appears On:
- BuzzFeed
- Goodreads
- Quirk Books
In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift—an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille’s genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the “ultimate perfume”—the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brilliance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.
15 .) The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Horror Novels
- Horror Novel Reviews
- Goodreads
Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic tale of the crumbling Usher mansion — and its ghastly inhabitants — comes to life as never before in this one of a kind graphic novel adaptation.
14 .) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Lists It Appears On:
- Bustle
- Goodreads
- Horror Novel Reviews
In this celebrated work, his only novel, Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde’s most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.
13 .) The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
Lists It Appears On:
- American Literature
- Goodreads
- Goodreads
Edgar Allan Poe remains the unsurpassed master of works of mystery and madness in this outstanding collection of Poe’s prose and poetry are sixteen of his finest tales, including “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “William Wilson,” “The Black Cat,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “Eleonora”.
12 .) The Vampyre by John Polidori
Lists It Appears On:
- BBC
- Horror Novel Reviews
- The Guardian 2
Aubrey, a young Englishman, meets Lord Ruthven, a man of mysterious origins who has entered London society. Aubrey accompanies Ruthven to Rome, but leaves him after Ruthven seduces the daughter of a mutual acquaintance. Aubrey travels to Greece, where he becomes attracted to Ianthe, an innkeeper’s daughter. Ianthe tells Aubrey about the legends of the vampire. Ruthven arrives at the scene and shortly thereafter Ianthe is killed by a vampire. Aubrey does not connect Ruthven with the murder and rejoins him in his travels. The pair is attacked by bandits and Ruthven is mortally wounded. Before he dies, Ruthven makes Aubrey swear an oath that he will not mention his death or anything else he knows about Ruthven for a year and a day. Looking back, Aubrey realizes that everyone whom Ruthven met ended up suffering. Aubrey returns to London and is amazed when Ruthven appears shortly thereafter, alive and well
11 .) The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Horror Novels
- BuzzFeed
- Goodreads
Arthur Kipps is an up-and-coming London solicitor who is sent to Crythin Gifford—a faraway town in the windswept salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway—to attend the funeral and settle the affairs of a client, Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. Mrs. Drablow’s house stands at the end of the causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but Kipps is unaware of the tragic secrets that lie hidden behind its sheltered windows. The routine business trip he anticipated quickly takes a horrifying turn when he finds himself haunted by a series of mysterious sounds and images—a rocking chair in a deserted nursery, the eerie sound of a pony and trap, a child’s scream in the fog, and, most terrifying of all, a ghostly woman dressed all in black. Psychologically terrifying and deliciously eerie, The Woman in Black is a remarkable thriller of the first rate.
10 .) Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Horror Novels
- Bustle
- Goodreads
- Vulture
With these words, the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten—a past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house’s current occupants. With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walked in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim’s first wife—the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.
9 .) The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Lists It Appears On:
- American Literature
- Best Horror Novels
- Goodreads
- Horror Novel Reviews
Whether viewed as a subtle, self-conscious exploration of the haunted house of Victorian culture, filled with echoes of sexual and social unease, or simply as “the most hopelessly evil story we have ever read,” The Turn of the Screw is probably the most famous of ghostly tales and certainly the most eerily equivocal.
8 .) The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Horror Novels
- Goodreads
- Interesting Literature
- The Guardian
- BBC
The Castle of Otranto (1764) is the first supernatural English novel and one of the most influential works of Gothic fiction. It inaugurated a literary genre that will be forever associated with the effects that Walpole pioneered. Professing to be a translation of a mysterious Italian tale from the darkest Middle Ages, the novel tells of Manfred, prince of Otranto, whose fear of an ancient prophecy sets him on a course of destruction. After the grotesque death of his only son, Conrad, on his wedding day, Manfred determines to marry the bride-to-be. The virgin Isabella flees through a castle riddled with secret passages. Chilling coincidences, ghostly visitations, arcane revelations, and violent combat combine in a heady mix that is both chilling and terrifying.
7 .) The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Horror Novels
- Bustle
- Goodreads
- The Guardian
- BBC
A best-seller in its day and a potent influence on Sade, Poe, and other purveyors of eighteenth and nineteenth-century Gothic horror, The Mysteries of Udolpho remains one of the most important works in the history of European fiction. After Emily St. Aubuert is imprisoned by her evil guardian, Count Montoni, in his gloomy medieval fortress in the Appenines, terror becomes the order of the day. With its dream-like plot and hallucinatory rendering of its characters’ psychological states, The Mysteries of Udolpho is a fascinating challenge to contemporary readers.
6 .) Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Lists It Appears On:
- Vulture
- Bustle
- Goodreads
- Horror Novel Reviews
- BBC
Emily Brontë’s only novel, a work of tremendous and far-reaching influence, the Penguin Classics edition of Wuthering Heights is the definitive edition of the text, edited with an introduction by Pauline Nestor. Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange, situated on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before; of the intense relationship between the gypsy foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw; and how Catherine, forced to choose between passionate, tortured Heathcliff and gentle, well-bred Edgar Linton, surrendered to the expectations of her class. As Heathcliff’s bitterness and vengeance at his betrayal is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past. In this edition, a new preface by Lucasta Miller, author of The Brontë Myth, looks at the ways in which the novel has been interpreted, from Charlotte Brontë onwards. This complements Pauline Nestor’s introduction, which discusses changing critical receptions of the novel, as well as Emily Brontë’s influences and background. Emily Brontë (1818-48), along with her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, was one of the most significant literary figures of the 19th century. She wrote just one strikingly innovative novel, Wuthering Heights, but was also a gifted and intense poet. If you enjoyed Wuthering Heights, you may like Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, also available in Penguin Classics. ‘Wuthering Heights is commonly thought of as “romantic”, but try rereading it without being astonished by the comfortableness with which Brontë’s characters subject one another to extremes of physical and psychological violence’ Jeanette Winterson ‘As a first novel, there is very little that can compare to it. Even Shakespeare took over a decade to reach the clifftop extremities of King Lear’ Sarah Waters
5 .) Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Science Fiction Books
- Best Horror Novels
- BuzzFeed
- Goodreads
- Horror Novel Reviews 2
- BBC
Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force—a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write.
4 .) The Monk by Matthew Lewis
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Horror Novels
- Goodreads
- Interesting Literature
- The Guardian
- The Guardian 2
- BBC
Savaged by critics for its supposed profanity and obscenity, and bought in large numbers by readers eager to see whether it lived up to its lurid reputation, The Monk became a succès de scandale when it was published in 1796 – not least because its author was a member of parliament and only twenty years old. It recounts the diabolical decline of Ambrosio, a Capuchin superior, who succumbs first to temptations offered by a young girl who has entered his monastery disguised as a boy, and continues his descent with increasingly depraved acts of sorcery, murder, incest and torture. Combining sensationalism with acute psychological insight, this masterpiece of Gothic fiction is a powerful exploration of how violent and erotic impulses can break through the barriers of social and moral restraint.
3 .) Dracula by Bram Stoker
Lists It Appears On:
- American Literature
- Best Horror Novels
- Goodreads
- Horror Novel Reviews
- Interesting Literature
- The Guardian
- BBC
During a business visit to Count Dracula’s castle in Transylvania, a young English solicitor finds himself at the center of a series of horrifying incidents. Jonathan Harker is attacked by three phantom women, observes the Count’s transformation from human to bat form, and discovers puncture wounds on his own neck that seem to have been made by teeth. Harker returns home upon his escape from Dracula’s grim fortress, but a friend’s strange malady — involving sleepwalking, inexplicable blood loss, and mysterious throat wounds — initiates a frantic vampire hunt. The popularity of Bram Stoker’s 1897 horror romance is as deathless as any vampire. Its supernatural appeal has spawned a host of film and stage adaptations, and more than a century after its initial publication, it continues to hold readers spellbound.
2 .) The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Lists It Appears On:
- Interesting Literature
- American Literature
- The Guardian
- Best Horror Novels
- Goodreads
- Goodreads
- BBC
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of the best known works of the renowned 19th century author Robert Louis Stevenson. This early foray into science fiction delves into the battle between good and evil in its most ubiquitous form. Dr. Jekyll, like every human being, struggles with good and evil within his own personality. He seeks to purify his soul through scientific means, concocting potions intended to refine his loftier qualities by separating them from his base impulses.
1 .) Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Horror Novels
- Horror Novel Reviews
- Interesting Literature
- The Guardian
- Best Science Fiction Books
- Goodreads
- American Literature
- BBC
“Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only eighteen. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering “”the cause of generation and life”” and “”bestowing animation upon lifeless matter,”” Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature?s hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein.
Frankenstein, an instant bestseller and an important ancestor of both the horror and science fiction genres, not only tells a terrifying story, but also raises rofound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? How far can we go in tampering with Nature? In our age, filled with news of organ donation genetic engineering, and bio-terrorism, these questions are more relevant than ever.”
The 100+ Additional Gothic Novels
| # | Book | Author | Lists |
| (Titles Appear On 1 List Each) | |||
| 35 | A Dream Within a Dream | Edgar Allan Poe | American Literature |
| 36 | A Great and Terrible Beauty | Emily Carroll | Vulture |
| 37 | A Sicilian Romance | Ann Radcliffe | Interesting Literature |
| 38 | All the Truth That’s In Me | Julie Berry | Yalsa |
| 39 | Amber Chronicles | Roger Zelazny | Best Science Fiction Books |
| 40 | Amity | Micol Ostow | Yalsa |
| 41 | Anya’s Ghost | Vera Brosgol | Vulture |
| 42 | Ashes on the Waves | Mary Lindsay | Yalsa |
| 43 | At the Mountains of Madness | H. P. Lovecraft | American Literature |
| 44 | Bellefleur | Joyce Carol Oates | Horror Novel Reviews 2 |
| 45 | Beloved | Toni Morrison | Vulture |
| 46 | Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea | April Genevieve Tucholke | Yalsa |
| 47 | Beware the Cat | William Baldwin | Interesting Literature |
| 48 | Beware the Wild | Natalie Parker | Yalsa |
| 49 | Candles Burning | Tabitha King and Michael McDowell | Best Horror Novels |
| 50 | Carrie | Stephen King | Interesting Literature |
| 51 | Child of God | Cormac McCarthy | Publishers Weekly |
| 52 | Citrus County | John Brandon | Publishers Weekly |
| 53 | Coraline | Neil Gaiman | Goodreads |
| 54 | Count Magnus | M.R. (Montague Rhodes) James | American Literature |
| 55 | Creed | Trisha Leaver and Lindsay Currie | Yalsa |
| 56 | Criminal | Terra Elan McVoy | Yalsa |
| 57 | Cthulhu Mythos | H.P. Lovecraft | Best Science Fiction Books |
| 58 | Dark Roads | Bruce Boston | Horror Novel Reviews 2 |
| 59 | Darkling | K.M. Rice | Goodreads |
| 60 | Ex Oblivione | H. P. Lovecraft | American Literature |
| 61 | Far Far Away | Tom McNeal | Yalsa |
| 62 | Fevre Dream | George R.R. Martin | Best Science Fiction Books |
| 63 | Fiendish | Brenna Yovanoff | Yalsa |
| 64 | Fight Club | Chuck Palahniuk | BuzzFeed |
| 65 | Flowers in the Attic | V.C. Andrews | Goodreads |
| 66 | Get in Trouble | Vulture | |
| 67 | Ghost Stories of an Antiquary | MR James | The Guardian 2 |
| 68 | Ghost Story | Peter Straub | Horror Novel Reviews 2 |
| 69 | Good Omens | Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman | BuzzFeed |
| 70 | Gormenghast trilogy | BBC | |
| 71 | Great Expectations | Charles Dickens | Bustle |
| 72 | Great Stories of Mystery and Imagination, selected | Bryan Douglas | The Guardian 2 |
| 73 | Halloween Stories | American Literature | |
| 74 | History of the Caliph Vathek | William Beckford | The Guardian |
| 75 | House of Prayer No | Mark Richard | Publishers Weekly |
| 76 | How to Lead a Life of Crime | Kirsten Miller | Yalsa |
| 77 | Hyde | Daniel Levine | Quirk Books |
| 78 | I Am Legend | Richard Matheson | Best Science Fiction Books |
| 79 | If There Be Thorns | V.C. Andrews | Goodreads |
| 80 | Ketchup Clouds | Annabel Pitcher | Yalsa |
| 81 | Let the Right One In | John Ajvide Lindqvist | Goodreads |
| 82 | Lois the Witch | Elizabeth Gaskell | American Literature |
| 83 | Lost Hearts | M.R. (Montague Rhodes) James | American Literature |
| 84 | Lost Souls | Poppy Z Brite | BuzzFeed |
| 85 | Magic for Beginners | Vulture | |
| 86 | Mary Barton | Elizabeth Gaskell | American Literature |
| 87 | Mary: The Summoning | Hilary Monahan | Yalsa |
| 88 | Memnoch the Devil | Anne Rice | Goodreads |
| 89 | Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children | Ransom Riggs | Goodreads |
| 90 | My Sweet Audrina | V.C. Andrews | Goodreads |
| 91 | Nevermore | Kelly Creagh | Yalsa |
| 92 | Night Film | Marisha Pessl | Quirk Books |
| 93 | Of Metal and Wishes | Sarah Fine | Yalsa |
| 94 | Of Monsters and Madness | Jessica Verday | Yalsa |
| 95 | Penpal | Dathan Auerbach | Quirk Books |
| 96 | Petals on the Wind | V.C. Andrews | Goodreads |
| 97 | Pretty Little Liars | Sara Shepard | Vulture |
| 98 | Pretty Monsters | Vulture | |
| 99 | Project Gutenberg | BBC | |
| 100 | Revenants | Geoffrey Farrington | Best Horror Novels |
| 101 | Rogue Moon | Silver James | Best Science Fiction Books |
| 102 | Rosemary’s Baby | Ira Levin | BuzzFeed |
| 103 | Rustication | Charles Pallister | Quirk Books |
| 104 | Salathiel the Immortal | George Croly | The Guardian |
| 105 | Salem’s Lot | BBC | |
| 106 | Salvation on Sand Mountain | Dennis Covington | Publishers Weekly |
| 107 | Sanctuary | William Faulkner | Publishers Weekly |
| 108 | Seeds of Yesterday | V.C. Andrews | Goodreads |
| 109 | Servants of the Storm | Delilah S. Dawson | Yalsa |
| 110 | Smonk | Tom Franklin | Publishers Weekly |
| 111 | Something Wicked This Way Comes | Ray Bradbury | Goodreads |
| 112 | Stranger Things Happen | Vulture | |
| 113 | Sweet Unrest | Lisa Maxwell | Yalsa |
| 114 | Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque | BBC | |
| 115 | The Auld Mither | William Meikle | Horror Novel Reviews 2 |
| 116 | The Beetle | Richard Marsh | Interesting Literature |
| 117 | The Best of Saki | The Guardian 2 | |
| 118 | The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe | American Literature |
| 119 | The Bloody Chamber | BBC | |
| 120 | The Body | Stephen King | Horror Novel Reviews 2 |
| 121 | The Call of Cthulhu | H. P. Lovecraft | American Literature |
| 122 | The Canterville Ghost | Oscar Wilde | American Literature |
| 123 | The Cask of Amontillado | Edgar Allan Poe | American Literature |
| 124 | The Cats of Ulthar | H. P. Lovecraft | American Literature |
| 125 | The Coldfire Trilogy | C.S. Friedman | Best Science Fiction Books |
| 126 | The Coming Race. | Bulwer Lytton Ed… | Best Science Fiction Books |
| 127 | The Complete Stories and Poems | Edgar Allan Poe | Goodreads |
| 128 | The Cure for Dreaming | Cat Winters | Yalsa |
| 129 | The Darkest Part of the Woods | Ramsey Campbell | Best Horror Novels |
| 130 | The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red | Ridley Pearson | Best Horror Novels |
| 131 | The Fall | Bethany Griffin | Yalsa |
| 132 | The Family of the Vourdalak | Alexei Tolstoy | American Literature |
| 133 | The Floating Staircase | Ronald Malfi | Horror Novel Reviews 2 |
| 134 | The Graveyard Book | Neil Gaiman | Best Horror Novels |
| 135 | The Great God Pan | Edgar Allan Poe | American Literature |
| 136 | The Grey Woman | Elizabeth Gaskell | American Literature |
| 137 | The Hanging Stranger | Philip K. Dick | American Literature |
| 138 | The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray | Chris Wooding | Best Horror Novels |
| 139 | The Heaven of Mercury | Brad Watson | Publishers Weekly |
| 140 | The Historian | Elizabeth Kostova | Goodreads |
| 141 | The Hunger | Whitley Strieber | Best Science Fiction Books |
| 142 | The King in Yellow | Robert W. Chambers | American Literature |
| 143 | The Legend of Sleepy Hollow | Washington Irving | Goodreads |
| 144 | The Madman’s Daughter | Megan Shepherd | Goodreads |
| 145 | The Magic Toyshop | Angela Carter | BuzzFeed |
| 146 | The Masque of the Red Death | Bethany Griffin | Yalsa |
| 147 | The Mists of Avalo | BuzzFeed | |
| 148 | The Monkey’s Paw | WW Jacobs | The Guardian 2 |
| 149 | The Murders in the Rue Morgue | Edgar Allan Poe | American Literature |
| 150 | The Mystery of Marie Roget | Edgar Allan Poe | American Literature |
| 151 | The Night Circus | Erin Morgenstern | BuzzFeed |
| 152 | The Old Nurse’s Story | Elizabeth Gaskell | American Literature |
| 153 | The Phantom Coach | Amelia B. Edwards | American Literature |
| 154 | The Picture in the House | H. P. Lovecraft | American Literature |
| 155 | The Prestige | Christopher Priest | BuzzFeed |
| 156 | The Purloined Letter | Edgar Allan Poe | American Literature |
| 157 | The Queen of the Damned | Anne Rice | Goodreads |
| 158 | The Raven | Edgar Allan Poe | American Literature |
| 159 | The Repairer of Reputations | Robert W. Chambers | American Literature |
| 160 | The Shadow Out of Time | H. P. Lovecraft | American Literature |
| 161 | The Stolen Body | H.G. Wells | American Literature |
| 162 | The Tale of the Body Thief | Anne Rice | Goodreads |
| 163 | The Tommyknockers | Stephen King | Best Science Fiction Books |
| 164 | The Vampire Lestat | Anne Rice | Goodreads |
| 165 | The Wasp Factory | Iain Banks | BuzzFeed |
| 166 | The Wendigo | Algernon Blackwood | American Literature |
| 167 | The Willows | Algernon Blackwood | American Literature |
| 168 | The Yellow Wallpaper | Charlotte Perkins Gilman | Vulture |
| 169 | Three Gothic Novels edited | Peter Fairclough | The Guardian 2 |
| 170 | Through the Woods | Vulture | |
| 171 | Thurnley Abbey | Perceval Landon | American Literature |
| 172 | Tokyo | Mo Hayder | BuzzFeed |
| 173 | Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives | Sarah Weinman | Vulture |
| 174 | Twilight | William Gay | Publishers Weekly |
| 175 | Uncle Silas | J. Sheridan Le Fanu | Goodreads |
| 176 | Varney the Vampire or The Feast of Blood | James Malcolm Rymer or Thomas Pecket Prest | The Guardian |
| 177 | Verland | B.E. Scully | Horror Novel Reviews 2 |
| 178 | Warhammer 40k Novels | Aaron Dembsk… | Best Science Fiction Books |
| 179 | Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? | Henry Farrell | Horror Novel Reviews 2 |
| 180 | White Crow | Marcus Sedgwick | Best Horror Novels |
| 181 | Wieland | Charles Brockden Brown | Best Horror Novels |
| 182 | William Wilson | Edgar Allan Poe | American Literature |
| 183 | Willy | Robert Dunbar | Horror Novel Reviews 2 |
| 184 | Wise Blood | Flannery O’Connor | Publishers Weekly |
| 185 | Yonder Stands Your Orphan | Barry Hannah | Publishers Weekly |
16 Best Gothic Book Sources/Lists
| Source | Article |
| American Literature | The Gothic, Ghost, Horror & Weird Library |
| BBC | Spine-chillers and suspense: A timeline of Gothic fiction |
| Best Horror Novels | Best Gothic Horror Books |
| Best Science Fiction Books | Gothic Science Fiction |
| Bustle | 9 Classic Gothic Novels That Will Get You Into The Halloween Spirit |
| BuzzFeed | 13 Great Modern Gothic Novels |
| Goodreads | Popular Gothic Horror Books |
| Horror Novel Reviews | Top Ten Gothic Novels from the 1800s |
| Horror Novel Reviews 2 | Top Ten Modern Gothic Novels |
| Interesting Literature | 10 Classic Gothic Novels Everyone Should Read |
| Publishers Weekly | 10 Best Southern Gothic Books |
| Quirk Books | OH MY GOTH: A ROUNDUP OF MODERN DAY GOTHIC LITERATURE |
| The Guardian | Paul Murray’s top 10 gothic novels |
| The Guardian 2 | Lynne Truss’s top 10 gothic novels |
| Vulture | 15 Essential Gothic Horror Works: A Crimson Peak Pregame |
| Yalsa | Gothic, Horror, and Mysteries: YA Fiction for Fans of Edgar Allan Poe |
