Manderley and More: Gothic and Unnerving Reads

Desire and obsession are at the center of Rebecca, and often make for unsettling stories. The Safekeep is set in a secluded house on the Dutch countryside, and this story of infatuation and yearning makes for a great addition to a gothic #TBR pile.

A pillar of the gothic genre is isolation, and Winter in Sokcho explores a town on the border of North and South Korea, frozen in its off-season. A young woman gets swept up in the life of a cartoonist that comes into town and rooms in the guesthouse she runs with her mother. Alienation, identity and the persistently looming political conflict make this picturesque seaside inn feel distinctly off-kilter.

Like Manderley, High Place is a big, bad, creaky mansion, housing equally sinister secrets, lies and guests. Noemí Taboada travels there in hopes of finding her estranged cousin and unearths perilous truths that lead to deadly consequences. 

Something wicked lies within this home — prepare to feel the prickle of raised hair on the back of your neck. A home so steeped in tragic history and family mythology it even overpowers the narrator’s voice at times to tell portions of the story. A modern classic of literary horror, White is for Witching will give you an appetite for ghost stories — and chalk…

The unsettling story of Nella, the only Black employee at a major publishing house. This unconventional tale of being truly alone, targeted and threatened all while under the careful watch of others will keep you guessing until the very end.

Another house that isn’t quite right — explore Hacienda San Isidro, a menacing estate on the Mexican countryside just after the Mexican War of Independence. A woman torn between uncovering a terrible truth or embracing a life of blissful ignorance, this story is required reading for fans of Rebecca. 

A black hole serves as a companion to a new college grad whose dream job quickly turns into a corporate nightmare. Disquieting, dark and devious, Ripe is unnerving from the start, pulling readers in with the glitz of Silicon Valley and leaving us filled with dread.

Razor sharp and disconcerting, Mystery Lights is a collection of speculative short stories with a bite. From the supernatural to the otherworldly and beyond, these ten stories range from the terrifying to the ugly, suspenseful to quietly disquieting. Valencia will make you stare at the sky in wonder and awe. 

A game gone wrong, leaving one little girl dead and the other haunted by the namesake of the novel. This is a story about facing the truth that is at times devastating and at times hopeful, but at all times sharp and inventive.

So creepy it screamed to be adapted into a movie on Netflix (starring Jesse Plemmons, Toni Collete and Jessie Buckey, to name a few), this is a short, propulsive literary thriller of a relationship gone awry — and a narrator’s slipping sanity.