By Andrew Buckner

*The inclusion of the books in this list are done so based on the criteria of an original publication date of 2023.*

25. Ghost Riders in the Sky and Other Lines

by Laughton J. Collins, Jr.

24. Don’t Fear the Reaper

by Stephen Graham Jones

23. Holly 

by Stephen King

22. Dead Mountain: A Nora Kelly Novel

by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

21. Making Nothing at the Age of 20

by Rolfe Kanefsky

20. The House at the End of the World

by Dean Koontz

19. The Lost Tomb: And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder

by Douglas Preston

18. 40 Cult Movies: From Alice, Sweet Alice to Zombies of Mora Tau

by Jon Towlson

17. The Beast You Are: Stories

by Paul G. Tremblay

16. Mothered

by Zoje Stage

15. The Shards

by Bret Easton Ellis

14. The Donut Legion 

by Joe R. Lansdale

13. Feast

by Ina Carino

12. All That’s Grotesque & Fancy Like 

by Jennifer J. Prescott

11. Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World

by Naomi Klein

10. Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will

by Robert M. Sapolsky

9. Not Forever, But For Now 

by Chuck Palahniuk

8. Looking Glass Sound

by Catriona Ward

7. Becoming the Boogeyman

by Richard Chizmar

6. How to Sell a Haunted House

by Grady Hendrix

5. Still Life at Eighty: The Next Interesting Thing

by Abigail Thomas

4. 50 Movies Made: Lessons Learned on a Filmmaker’s Journey

by Jared Cohn

3. The Creative Act: A Way of Being

by Rick Rubin 

2. Poverty, by America

by Matthew Desmond 

1. The Curse of the Marquis de Sade: A Notorious Scoundrel, a Mythical Manuscript, and the Biggest Scandal in Literary History 

by Joel Warner

Runner-up:

After Death

by Dean Koontz

Bridge

by Lauren Beukes

The Only One Left: A Novel

by Riley Sager