"What the hell is going on?" That's what you ask when reading through Iain Reid's disorienting psychological horror novel from 2016. In this list, I wanted to collect some books I have read recently that bring on those strange, eerie, dreamlike feelings, sometimes with a mind-blowing twist at the end.
If you enjoyed I'm Thinking of Ending Things, you need to give these ones a read. No spoilers!
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1.) Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
Published in: 2014
Page count: 183 pages
This book here is one of my all-time favourites because it does feel like a fever dream. The entire book is a conversation between Amanda, who is lying in a rural hospital and dying, and David, who is talking to her, asking questions. Together, they are trying to uncover what happened to Amanda and her daughter.
"They're like worms . . . We have to find the exact moment when the worms come into being."
Here is the Goodreads link to the book. I have also written about it here.
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2.) Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente
Published in: 2021
Sophia and her husband live in Arcadia Gardens, where everything is perfect—until it isn't. Sophia starts to question things. She develops dark thoughts. When his husband returns from his business trip, something about the look on his husband's face is not quite right. There's also the locked basement door she's not allowed to enter. Is he hiding something?
Honestly, you should go into this one blind. It's a hallucinatory and eerie story.
Here is the Goodreads link to the book. I have also written about it here.
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3.) We Spread by Iain Reid
Published in: 2022
If you liked I'm Thinking of Ending Things, you definitely need to give Reid's other works a go (honourable mention: Foe by him is also great).
The story follows Penny, an old artist, whose reality slowly starts to slip. Soon, against her will, she needs to leave her home and move into a unique long-term care residence, where things aren't as they seem.
This book is a meditation on art, and what it means to grow old.
Here is the Goodreads link to the book.
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4.) Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah
Published in: 2013
Page count: 160 pages
First of all, this is not a horror book; it's more like a strange and surreal literary fiction piece, but at the time I read it, it gave me the weirdest dreams at night.
The story follows the journey of a young woman, Ayami, through Seoul over the course of a night and a day, but everything seems to work in dream logic. Things blur, people change and merge, reality shifts, and it's a generally disorienting time to read through this one.
Here is the
Goodreads link to the book. I have also written about it
here.
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5.) The Gloom in the Corner by Chris Burton
Published in: 2025
Page count: 102 pages
This here is my latest psychological horror novella, inspired by both I'm Thinking of Ending Things and Fever Dream.
The story follows Marina, who is lying somewhere. She doesn't remember anything, only that her son, Levi, has been taken into a mental health facility after his disturbing mental breakdown. But someone is there with Marina, talking to her, asking questions. They need to find out what really happened.
If you're looking for a bleak, disorienting horror novella with a winter setting, please give this one a go and let me know what you think!
Here's the book on
Goodreads. It's available in paperback, ebook, and Amazon Kindle Unlimited!
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That's it for now, thank you so much for reading!
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