# The best horror novels of all time

From 19th-century Gothic to Stephen King: the scary novels that appear on every must-read list.

- 2 votes · 18 items
- Sep 27, 2026 · Teresa Fernández
- https://even.best/en/l/2378/the-best-horror-novels-of-all-time

## Top 18

1. **Dracula** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Bram Stoker, 1897. The vampire told through letters and diaries.
2. **The Shining** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Stephen King, 1977. An isolated hotel in winter.
3. **Frankenstein** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Mary Shelley, 1818. The creature and its creator.
4. **It** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Stephen King, 1986. A clown and the town of Derry.
5. **The Haunting of Hill House** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Shirley Jackson, 1959. For many, the best ghost story ever.
6. **Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Robert Louis Stevenson, 1886. The double within us all.
7. **The Exorcist** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — William Peter Blatty, 1971. A possessed girl in Washington.
8. **The Turn of the Screw** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Henry James, 1898. A governess and two very strange children.
9. **Carrie** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Stephen King, 1974. His debut: revenge at the prom.
10. **Misery** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Stephen King, 1987. A writer at the mercy of his number one fan.
11. **Rosemary's Baby** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Ira Levin, 1967. A pregnancy in a New York building with strange neighbours.
12. **I Am Legend** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Richard Matheson, 1954. The last man in a world of vampires.
13. **At the Mountains of Madness** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — H. P. Lovecraft, 1936. An Antarctic expedition and ancient horrors.
14. **Pet Sematary** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Stephen King, 1983. What's buried there doesn't come back the same.
15. **Interview with the Vampire** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Anne Rice, 1976. A vampire tells his life story to a reporter.
16. **The Picture of Dorian Gray** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Oscar Wilde, 1890. A portrait that ages in its owner's place.
17. **'Salem's Lot** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Stephen King, 1975. Vampires in a small Maine town.
18. **The Silence of the Lambs** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Thomas Harris, 1988. Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.