A Literary Apothecary

This roastingly hot weather makes me want to stay curled up indoors with a nice book! Luckily for me, July has some excellent new releases coming out, so I’ll have plenty to read while I avoid melting into a puddle of sweat and sunburns. These are the horror books I’ll be adding to my TBR this July!

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Run to Beat the Devil

Synopsis

At seven years old, H can lure, kill, and gut a human being. Held captive by her mother, a pyromaniac serial killer, she’s learned fast. But when her mother locks her in a burning gas station and plays dumb, H knows: if she can’t outwit her mother or escape, she’ll die.
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Fifteen years later, adult H is waiting for her incarcerated mother to finally get the death penalty. She’s dragged her long-time boyfriend, Gooch, on a cross-country road trip where she’s reliving her past in the bloodiest way possible. As a stalker begins hunting H and Gooch down, and H begins sprouting teeth in the worst possible areas of her body, and the media frenzy drags her into a self-destructive spiral, H wonders:

Can you ever truly escape your past?

Why am I Interested?

There is almost too much going on in this description! We’ve got a serial killer mother who seemingly has trained a serial killer daughter, a betrayal, a road trip killing spree, and body horror on top of all that! It sounds like pure chaos, and I’m really hoping it will take some big swings. This seems like a very indie book, indie to the point where it was difficult to find anything about it online, which is both a good and a bad thing. It’s good because the author is not constrained in any way to make this book palatable or marketable. It’s bad because it means I likely can’t get my hands on it for a while as a library enjoyer.

H seems to be a very interesting character, especially for a horror book. Her level of competency makes me imagine her as being an “Erin” type, from the movie You’re Next. I do typically enjoy that type of character! I’m also exceedingly curious about this “sprouting teeth” part of the story. Does it have anything to do with her mother? Are there any other supernatural parts of the story? I just really love the explosion of ideas going on here, and I can’t wait to see where they go.

Fabulous Bodies

Synopsis

Fashion influencer by day and grave-robber by night, Poppy Stringer is on call when Eddie Michaels—a flamboyant, piano-slamming rockstar and queer icon—unexpectedly dies. All Poppy has to do is retrieve Eddie’s body from the medical examiner’s office, but what starts as a routine delivery quickly goes off course when Eddie wakes up.

Poppy must fight for her life in a blood-soaked night of carnage and fabulous entertainment all across Palm Springs.

Why am I Interested?

The timing of this release was very fortuitous for me! I just finished Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle in June, and I absolutely loved it. I think his writing style and pacing work very well for me, and while the premise of Fabulous Bodies seems less insane than Lucky Day, I’m on board based on the author alone. This main character is also already… so much, in the best possible way. I appreciate how Tingle is so willing to work with ideas that might seem absurd at first. I imagine the romance novels he’s written in the past would greatly help with that.

I’m also interested to see what kind of undead Eddie is going to end up being. There are so many possibilities from vampire to zombie, and each presents a unique path for hijinks to ensue. The draw for this one is the quirky characters, and I’m excited to have fun getting to know them.

Hide and Seek

Synopsis

Count to one, count to two . . . A strange voice from inside the woods, repeating a child’s counting rhyme.

Count to four, count to five . . . A body discovered in the water.

You’re trying to go home. Will you make it alive?

Thirty years later, a woman begins receiving a string of anonymous text messages, repeating that same rhyme.

Found you.

Then she disappears . . .

On Valentine’s Day, detectives Naia Thulin and Mark Hess are searching to find the missing woman. But when they uncover links to a decades-old cold case, their investigation takes a terrifying turn.

A violent killer is on the loose. Can Hess and Thulin catch them, before they strike again?

Why am I Interested?

I’m probably going to end up a bit disappointed in this one. Let me tell you a little bit about how these “new releases” articles work. I get newsletters from a bunch of publications, and they typically include a small amount of information. When the opportunity arises, I can grab more information from Goodreads to get a clearer idea of the synopsis. This book had a very small amount of information attached, small enough that I can paste the whole thing here without making this article much longer than it already is:

“The author of The Chestnut Man and creator of the hit television series The Killing returns with a twisty, breakneck psychological thriller that takes an innocent children’s game to its most terrifying and diabolical extreme.”

This is going to make me sound like a bit of a psychopath, but I was mostly interested in this book if the victims were children. It’s a pretty major taboo in a lot of the horror genre to kill or injure a kid, but it’s always fascinating to me because of how differently children function mentally than adults. They have much less experience with pain and with consequences. They’re often selfish in a way that adults repress. It could’ve been compelling!

After additional research, it does seem like the characters are adults, so unfortunately my interest has dropped a bit. We’ve seen this particular story a couple of times before, most prominently in the movie Ready or Not, but I might still pick it up.

The Red Sacrament

Synopsis

Paris, 1869. The Théâtre Saint-Siméon is the place to be, if you can get in. The black slips of paper that guarantee entry are rare and highly desired, and given only to certain persons. The actors on stage are magnetic and ageless, performing only at midnight and never seen during the day…

Arnault and his clan of vampires have survived for as long as they have by observing a rigid set of rules. At night, they perform on stage at the Théâtre Saint-Siméon, picking off just enough people in the audience to survive. But they understand the city, and how to live in it without being noticed.

Their peace is shattered first with a visit from Béatrice, a witch who forms a strange connection to Arnault; then with the arrival of Victor de Rouvray and his sister Françoise, vampires from a very different world. And, as Arnault grows closer and closer to the beautiful, enigmatic Victor, he risks becoming distracted from the constant bickering of his immortal friends, from the daily running of the theatre, and worse, from the premonitions of blood, death and starvation that he receives at night.

For a terrible change is on the horizon, revolt and revolution are brewing in the streets and soon, the city, and Arnault will never be the same again.

Why am I Interested?

I end up liking historical horror quite often because the authors are able to avoid so many of the common pitfalls that technology ends up causing. How often has an author had to explain away ambulances with a washed-out road or phone calls with a vicious storm? Historical horror doesn’t need to make all of these caveats, and it presents dynamics that can make situations even more difficult for certain demographics. The woman can’t leave the haunted house because she would be destitute! I’ve just always enjoyed those aspects of historical fiction in general. This book also takes place in Paris, and I’ve developed a greater interest in books that take place in France. I’m moving there before the end of the year!

I also used to hate the idea of comp titles. For those who might not know, a comp title, or comparison title, is something publishers require authors to provide for their book to give the audience a familiar jumping-off point. It’s like if I said, “This book is The Hunger Games meets Alien!” You’d have a pretty good idea of where the story is going. I think I just got burned by comps way too many times! I’ve read both of the comps for this book: The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell and Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I enjoyed both of them, especially The Silent Companions, so if this author manages to capture a similar atmosphere, this will be excellent.

Home Sick

Synopsis

“The symmetry should have tipped me off.”

After a violent incident at work, Tamsin goes looking for a fresh start in a remote cottage far away from her old life. Here she could make real friends, find a job she loves, become a whole new person, even.

But the solitary cottage is actually a semi-detached, with only a thin wall separating her from a total stranger. Her neighbour is an enigma. Dowdy one moment, vivacious the next, but always wearing an unnerving smile. Tamsin can’t shake the feeling that there’s something wrong with her, especially when she starts experiencing disturbances in her own home.

As the locals share strange stories about her house, and her barely contained paranoia spirals out of control, Tamsin begins to suspect that the past she was so desperate to escape might never let her go.

Why am I Interested?

This is another book that I had much less information about going inbefore I looked at Goodreads. For example, I had no idea that the “neighbor” in question was a woman. Immediately, I’ve got my ears perked up for a Sapphic story now. I also quite like the setting. The Scottish countryside sounds like it could create such a lovely atmosphere in the novel. My initial thought for what’s going on with the neighbor is leaning toward a werewolf story.

The comp titles were the main draw for this one, as well! This book is comped to We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer, and I really did not enjoy that book. If I’m remembering properly, I gave it around a two-star rating, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it was closer to a one-and-a-half-star rating. However, I adored The Lamb by Lucy Rose! Somehow, Home Sick is supposed to exist in the middle of these two extremes of my personal taste. That’s extremely intriguing to me.

The Sea Hides Its Dead

Synopsis

The Descent meets The Ritual in a cult aquatic horror about a group of academics trapped in a sea cave who must reckon with eldritch horrors as they are forced to atone for their greatest sins.

ATONE OR DIE.

Grad student Caro has no idea what she wants to do with her life, but when an opportunity arises to act as a research assistant on an anthropological expedition for her professor and lover, Edward Beck, she doesn’t hesitate.

Beck assembles a team of academics and professionals to study the ancient sea-based Cult of the Leviathan, and the expedition descends into the sea caves where the cult are said to have dwelt.

But when the cave entrance collapses, trapping them inside, the expedition will find they are not alone in the darkness. Surrounded by strange artefacts and scattered bones, an ancient trial has been set in motion. One by one, the members of the expedition will be tested and forced to atone for their greatest sin. . . or die.

Why am I Interested?

The scenario in this book is my literal worst nightmare. I think caving and cave-diving are truly, deeply terrifying, and the description of this book alone gave me a sinking feeling in my stomach. I am so excited about this book. I have to read it now! It’s already scaring me, and I haven’t even cracked open the cover. I also like the idea of these “trails” mentioned in the description. It’s not listed as one of the comps, but the premise reminds me a bit of As Above, So Below (2014). In that movie, a group of people exploring the catacombs have to face the darkest parts of their past or be doomed forever.

I also really tend to enjoy cult stories, so I’m intrigued by the Leviathan cult. It sounds like there’s a bit of a dark academia vibe going on, and I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve read something in that subgenre, even though it’s one of my favorites.

Thorns

Synopsis

A deadly contagion spreads throughout the world, while scientists grapple to find a cure before it’s too late…

Dr. Monica Cucinotta works on the front lines of a hospital in Cassino, Italy, dealing with a deadly contagion that causes thorns to erupt along the surface of the body. When Monica becomes infected with the virus and must leave the hospital, she begins a journey across the dark landscape of a pandemic world where she meets the best and worst of humanity that tests her belief in science and faith as she struggles to return home to her loved ones.

Why am I Interested?

I’m not sure exactly why, but I love books about plagues or pandemics. Perhaps it’s because of COVID-19, but that seems like a bit of an odd response to living through a pandemic. It was terrifying and life-altering, but maybe reading about fictional pandemics makes it feel a bit less intense. One of my favorite books of all time is The Plague by Albert Camus, too, so maybe that has something to do with it. Even better, this is a road trip book about a pandemic, which immediately brings to mind The Stand by Stephen King. That hyperspecific subgenre is always ripe ground for building some compelling themes.

Body horror is also one of my favorite subgenres of horror. Exploring the way that we relate to our bodies and how those bodies can become foreign to us is always interesting. I do think that this might end up being a slower-paced book, but I’m curious to see where it goes nonetheless. I also like that this is set in Italy! Not sure I’ve ever read a book set there before, so that’s very exciting.

NOTE: The publication of this book has been altered! As of the publication of this article, Thorns by Gregory Bastianelli is releasing on August 11th, 2026

Ripped Up the Middle in Two

Synopsis

A mother is the ultimate feral creature…

New mom Sadie is struggling with the reality of caring for her three-month-old daughter-the loss of identity, autonomy, and selfhood are grinding her down. When a casual stroll with the baby leads to the discovery of a secret trail leading to a miniature door hidden deep in the woods, Sadie’s world unravels even further. Who put the door there? Why does the trail only appear when Sadie is alone? Why is the door surrounded by a clearing full of tiny bones?

And, most terrifying of What lives behind that door, and what will it do to her baby?

Claustrophobic, rage-filled, and brimming with the chaos of new parenthood, Ripped Up the Middle in Two is the dark fairy tale you’ve been craving.

Why am I Interested?

When I was initially going through my newsletters, I passed on Ripped Up the Middle in Two. It’s not that it didn’t have some good ideas; it’s just that nothing unique really grabbed my attention. I would say that’s still the case. Something about it feels a bit generic. However, I’ve read a decent number of horror books about pregnancy and motherhood at this point, and I have a few more on my list. I’m thinking about writing an article, or even making a video on my YouTube channel, about pregnancy and motherhood in horror.

While this book might not interest me on an individual level, I am fascinated by the expanding genre of “the horror of motherhood.” I want to see what this book might do to expand that genre, and I sincerely hope that it doesn’t read as generic.

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Another eight books added to the TBR! It’s growing exponentially, but that isn’t a bad thing at all. I can’t wait to read these books and review them for you! I hope you have also been reading some excellent books. It’s hard to believe we’re already at the halfway point of the year! I better get moving on my reading goals.

Are you interested in any of these books? Let me know!