Supernatural Fiction Readers discussion

I'm reading "It" now by Stephen King and it's excellent, but I'm wondering if there's another modern novel by a different author that creates an atmosphere of dread and foreboding in the same way. I've read some of Paul Tremblay's short stories and I'm not a big fan of his style. Can anyone recommend me some good, modern, dread-inducing existential horror?

Hello James.

My recommendation would be to read John Langan’s 2016 novel, “The Fisherman.” It’s a beautifully written novel wrapped around a horror story. The prose is spooky, and the story itself is haunting. I couldn’t put it down. It won the 2016 Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association so I prioritized it on my lengthy Kindle list last Spring. I’m happy I did.

James wrote: "I'm wondering if there's another modern novel by a different author that creates an atmosphere of dread and foreboding... Can anyone recommend me some good, modern, dread-inducing existential horror?"

A book that jumps to mind is Engines of the Broken World (2013). It doesn’t have a very good star rating on GR but I think it’s because it’s such a bleak story, and rather disturbing in a creepy way. I only gave it 3 stars myself because of that.

A little less modern (1981) and a very different atmosphere is The Elementals - creepy horror at a sunny beach house! I read it a couple of years ago at Halloween-time because I wanted something scary and got more than I bargained for.

Even less modern (1957) and not “horror” like a Stephen King novel is On the Beach about people in the aftermath of a nuclear war, just waiting for the radiation to drift down to their latitudes. A definite 5 star read for me, with a slow-building dread that I found quite effective. But again: it’s not what you would call “horror.”

Anyway, happy reading!

The Face that Must Die by Ramsey Campbell