17 Sci-Fi Horror Novels from 2024 That Will Make You Sleep with the Lights On- Because who needs restful nights anyway?
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Welcome To Booked and Bewitched
Welcome, brave reader, to the ultimate list of 2024’s sci-fi horror novels—the books that will have you questioning your reality, your sanity, and perhaps your life choices. If you’re tired of peaceful slumber and crave the adrenaline rush that only a good scare can provide, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s dive into the abyss, shall we?
What is Sci-Fi Horror?
Sci-fi horror is the spine-chilling love child of science fiction and horror, blending futuristic technology, extraterrestrial threats, and dystopian settings with the pure, unrelenting dread of the unknown. It’s where space exploration meets existential terror, where robots don’t just vacuum but possibly plan your demise, and where every alien encounter is more likely to end with screaming than a friendly handshake.
This genre thrives on the “what if” scenarios of science fiction but takes them to dark and terrifying extremes. What if our experiments with artificial intelligence go horribly wrong? What if the utopian future we dreamed of is actually a waking nightmare? Sci-fi horror leans into these questions, wrapping them in suspense, terror, and just enough plausible science to make the hair on your neck stand up.
So without further ado, let’s get into these Sci-Hi Horror Novels! And if you need more horror-themed entertainment choices. Go check out-
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Sci-Fi Horror Novels That We Love
1. “Extinction” by Douglas Preston
Prehistoric nightmares unleashed in the Colorado wilderness.
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Erebus Resort, occupying a magnificent, hundred-thousand acre valley deep in the Colorado Rockies, offers guests the experience of viewing woolly mammoths, Irish Elk, and giant ground sloths in their native habitat, brought back from extinction through the magic of genetic manipulation. When a billionaire’s son and his new wife are kidnapped and murdered in the Erebus back country by what is assumed to be a gang of eco-terrorists, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances Cash partners with county sheriff James Colcord to track down the perpetrators.
As killings mount and the valley is evacuated, Cash and Colcord must confront an ancient, intelligent, and malevolent presence at Erebus, bent not on resurrection—but extinction.
2. “The Psychographist” by Carson Winter
Anti-capitalist horror with a side of suburban decay.
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The Hoyers are an American family. Two parents, two kids, a house they can’t afford, and a deep desire for more. When the black-clad, seemingly omniscient Mr. Cormorant comes to town, it seems that they might finally be able to cash in on their American Dream.
You see, Mr. Cormorant is a psychographist—an expert in consumer personas. And Mr. Cormorant is testing a Product. And Mr. Cormorant has selected the Hoyers for a simple task—test the Product. Live with it. Breathe it in. Abide by its demands.
In return? Riches. The cost? Immeasurable
3. “The Gathering” by C.J. Tudor
Vampires and murder mysteries—because why not?
Detective Barbara Atkins, a specialist in vampyr killings, is called in to officially determine if this is a Colony killing—and authorize a cull. Old suspicions die hard in a town like Deadhart, but Barbara isn’t so sure. Determined to find the truth, she enlists the help of a former Deadhart sheriff, Jenson Tucker, whose investigation into the previous murder almost cost him his life. Since then, Tucker has become a recluse. But he knows the Colony better than almost anyone.
As the pair delve into the town’s history, they uncover secrets darker than they could have imagined. And then another body is found. While the snow thickens and the nights grow longer, a killer stalks Deadhart, and two disparate communities circle each other for blood. Time is running out for Atkins and Tucker to find the truth: Are they hunting a bloodthirsty monster . . . or a twisted psychopath? And which is more dangerous?
4. “No One Is Safe!” by Philip Fracassi
Haunted houses, aliens, flesh eating vacation spots and vengeful revenants—home sweet home.
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No One Is Safe! presents fourteen stories of macabre, pulpy terror; a book filled with futuristic noir mysteries, science fiction thrillers, alien invasions, and old-school horror tales that will keep you up late into the night. Inside these covers, you’ll discover haunted dream journals and evil houses, birthday wishes gone wrong, a neighborhood cat that cures any disease, a flesh-eating beach, and mysterious skeletons on a hidden moon base. You’ll meet wise-cracking detectives, suburban vampires, murdered movie stars, and monsters of the deep. And remember—don’t get too attached to the characters you’ll meet on these pages because there’s no holding back in this book. Anything can happen, and no one is safe. Featuring an introduction by Ronald Malfi.
5. “Extremophile” by Ian Green
Eco-activism taken to terrifying extremes.
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They pay for the beer they don’t steal with money from their sketchy astronomy site Zodiac Code, while Charlie’s bio-bespoke augments equip the criminals, punks, and eco-warriors of London. They have to deal with disgruntled clients, scene kids who don’t dig their band, and a city that’s run by corporates and criminals. Their world is split into three factions: Green – who are still trying to save the world; Blue – who try to profit while they can, and Black – who see no hope left.
When a group of extremist Green activists hire them for a series of jobs ranging from robbery to murder, Charlie – who struggles to feel anything except Black – wants to walk away. But Parker still believes they can make a difference, and urges her to accept.
As they enter an escalating biological arms race against faceless corporations, amoral biohackers, and criminal cyberpunks, Charlie will have to choose what she believes in. Is there still hope, and does she have a right to grab it?
6. “The Great When” by Alan Moore
Magic-infused postwar London—mind the gap.
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The year is 1949, the city London. Amidst the smog of the capital stumbles Dennis Knuckleyard, a hapless eighteen year-old employed by a second-hand bookshop. One day, on an errand to acquire books for sale, Dennis discovers a novel that simply does not exist. It is a fictitious book, a figment from another novel. Yet it is physically there in his hands. How?
Dennis has stumbled on a book from the Great When, a magical version of London beyond time and space, where reality blurs with fiction and concepts such as Crime and Poetry are incarnated as wondrous, terrible beings. But this other, magical London must remain a secret: if Dennis cannot find a way to return this book to where it belongs, he risks repercussions, such as his body being turned inside out (or worse).
So begins a journey delving deep into the city’s occult underbelly and tarrying with an eccentric cast of sorcerers, gangsters, and murderers – some from legend, some all too real, and all with plans of their own. Soon Dennis finds himself at the centre of an explosive series of events that may alter and endanger both Londons forever…
7. “The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands” by Sarah Brooks
Steampunk fantasy on the Trans-Siberian Express.
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There is only one way to travel across the Wastelands: on the Trans-Siberian Express, a train as famous for its luxury as for its danger. The train is never short of passengers, eager to catch sight of Wastelands creatures more miraculous and terrifying than anything they could imagine. But on the train’s last journey, something went horribly wrong, though no one seems to remember what exactly happened. Not even Zhang Weiwei, who has spent her life onboard and thought she knew all of the train’s secrets.
Now, the train is about to embark again, with a new set of passengers. Among them are Marya Petrovna, a grieving woman with a borrowed name; Henry Grey, a disgraced naturalist looking for redemption; and Elena, a beguiling stowaway with a powerful connection to the Wastelands itself. Weiwei knows she should report Elena, but she can’t help but be drawn to her. As the girls begin a forbidden friendship, there are warning signs that the rules of the Wastelands are changing and the train might once again be imperiled. Can the passengers trust each other, as the wildness outside threatens to consume them all?
8. “The Switch” by Justina Robson
When the lights go out, the horror begins.
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A model society demonstrates perfection, even in those it chooses to make defective. For engineered humans Nico and Twostar this means a life of degeneracy, crime and punishment. But a rogue agent put an extra dose of survival in their mix, so when they’re offered a dangerous technology to escape from gang life, they take it. No matter the price. But the stakes are higher than advertised. Murder. Betrayal. Madness. Resurrection. If they’re lucky.
9. “The Familiar” by Leigh Bardugo
Dark fantasy set during Spain’s Golden Age.
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What begins as simple amusement for the nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain’s king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England’s heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king’s favor.
Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the lines between magic, science, and fraud are never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition’s wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santángel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.
10. “Don’t Let the Forest In” by C.G. Drews
When the forest isn’t just alive—it’s watching.
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High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality—Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more.
But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won’t say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork—whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew’s wicked stories.
Desperate to figure out what’s wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster—Thomas’s drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator…
11. “Lady Macbeth” by Ava Reid
Witchcraft and power games—Shakespeare would approve.
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The Lady knows the stories: how her eyes induce madness in men.
The Lady knows she will be wed to the Scottish brute, who does not leave his warrior ways behind when he comes to the marriage bed.
The Lady knows his hostile, suspicious court will be a game of strategy, requiring all of her wiles and hidden witchcraft to survive.
But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armor. She does not know that her magic is greater and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world.
She does not know this yet. But she will.
12. “Floating Hotel” by Grace Curtis
Interstellar hospitality with a side of mystery.
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Welcome to the Grand Abeona Hotel: home of the finest food, the sweetest service, and the very best views the galaxy has to offer. All year round it moves from planet to planet, system to system, pampering guests across the furthest reaches of the milky way. The last word in sub-orbital luxury—and an absolute magnet for intrigue. Intrigues such as: Why are there love poems in the lobby inbox? How many Imperial spies are currently on board? What is the true purpose of the Problem Solver’s conference? And perhaps most pertinently—who is driving the ship?
Each guest has a secret, every member of staff a universe unto themselves. At the center of these interweaving lives and interlocking mysteries stands Carl, one time stowaway, longtime manager, devoted caretaker to the hotel. It’s the love of his life and the only place he’s ever called home. But as forces beyond Carl’s comprehension converge on the Abeona, he has to face one final question: when is it time to let go?
13. “Service Model” by Adrian Tchaikovsky
When your Roomba develops a murderous streak.
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When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: They can run away.
Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose.
Sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming.
14. “The Rig” by Roger Levy
Isolation, technology, and existential terror—what could go wrong?
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Welcome to the System. Here the concept of a god has been abandoned, and a new faith pervades: AfterLife, a social media platform that allows subscribers a chance at resurrection, based on the votes of other users.
So many Lives, forever interlinked, and one structure at the centre of it all: the rig.
15. “The Cavern” by Alister Hodge
Deep underground, no one can hear you scream.
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When a sink hole opens up near the Australian outback town of Pintalba, it uncovers a pristine cave system. Sam joins an expedition to explore the subterranean passages as paramedic support, hoping to remain unneeded at base camp. But, when one of the cavers is injured, he must overcome paralysing claustrophobia to dive pitch-black waters and squeeze through the bowels of the earth.
Soon he will find there are fates worse than being buried alive, for in the abandoned mines and caves beneath Pintalba, there are ravenous teeth in the dark.
As a savage predator targets the group with hideous ferocity, Sam and his friends must fight for their lives if they are ever to see the sun again.
16. “Parasite” by Darcy Coates
Space survival meets parasitic horror.
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When hell isn’t just a metaphor.
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Seeing the morning is no blessing. The handful of scattered survivors are confronted by blood-red skies and an infestation of predatory horrors that never originated on earth. An occupying force intent on erasing the remnants of animal life from the planet.
Across the deserted landscapes of England, bereft of infrastructure and society, the overlooked can either hide or try to outrun the infernal hunting terrors. Until a rumour emerges claiming that the sea may offer an escape.
Ordinary, unexceptional, directionless Karl, is one of the few who made it through the first night. In the company of two orphans, he flees south. But only into horrifying revelations and greater peril, where a transformed world and expanding race of ravening creatures await. Driven to the end of the country and himself, he must overcome alien and human malevolence and act in ways that were unthinkable mere days before.
To The Moon & Back
And there you have it—17 must-read sci-fi horror novels of 2024 that will leave you clutching your blanket tighter than a zero-gravity harness. Whether you’re terrified of what’s lurking in the vastness of space, the depths of the earth, or even your own backyard, this year’s offerings are here to ensure your imagination runs wild—and possibly keeps you from sleeping ever again.
From whispering forests to parasitic invasions, these books remind us that the scariest horrors are often born from our fascination with the unknown. So grab your flashlight (and maybe a flamethrower), settle into your coziest reading nook, and prepare to question your life choices with every spine-chilling page. Just remember: in sci-fi horror, there’s no such thing as “too prepared.” Happy nightmares, brave readers!
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