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Road journeys are sometimes the topic of uplifting or heart-tugging tales — tales of pals bonding as they journey throughout the nation, {couples} rediscovering why they love one another, or members of the family hashing out outdated arguments and ending the journey with a deeper understanding of one another. But typically, highway journeys can take a darkish flip. You can break down and find yourself stranded in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by hostile folks. You can find yourself preventing to outlive harsh climate or hostile landscapes, risking freezing to dying within the snow or being swept away by tornadoes. And let’s not even get into the terrifying prospects that might happen after choosing up a seemingly-pleasant hitchhiker.
A highway journey all the time has the potential to show right into a horror story, and lots of writers have picked up on this. Horror highway journeys are a small however enjoyable area of interest in horror, and so they give the author numerous scope to construction their story in an attention-grabbing method. Horror highway journey tales could be wide-ranging, utilizing the scope of an extended journey to construct the horror; conversely, if the creator decides to make use of the “we’ve broken down” trope, they’ll use the small house of the automobile or van to create a good, claustrophobic story that ramps up the stress. However they play out, horror highway journeys could make for terrifying reads — so decide one up, settle in for the experience, and ensure to not cease the automobile for any strangers.
Five Survive by Holly Jackson
In this standalone horror novel by the creator of the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trilogy, a bunch of pals is heading out on a spring break highway journey in an outdated RV. When their automobile breaks down in the midst of nowhere, they’re caught with no cellphone sign and no information of the way to get out. Then, a sniper begins taking pictures at them. Five Survive is a chilling, claustrophobic thriller that can make you rethink your subsequent highway journey.
The Hunger by Alma Katsu
Has a highway journey ever gone extra spectacularly flawed than the Donner Party expedition? Going towards recommendation to take safer routes to the West after which to attend out the winter as an alternative of urgent forwards, this wagon prepare of travellers received trapped in a snowy mountain cross and needed to resort to cannibalism to be able to survive. Katsu places a supernatural spin on this tragic story, bringing in a malevolent drive that lurks across the stranded travellers and pushes them into horrific violence.
Demon Road by Derek Landy
Fans of Landy’s Skulduggery Pleasant collection will love this horror highway journey trilogy, which follows Amber, a demon teenage woman. Amber is on the run throughout the U.S., travelling alongside the interstates, dodging monsters, serial killers, and different risks as she goes. As Amber’s journey goes from dangerous to worse, she finds herself in more and more horrifying eventualities that can preserve the reader’s pulse racing.
The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw
I like the lyrical, poetic nature of Cassandra Khaw’s horror tales, and their newest, The Salt Grows Heavy, is perhaps my favorite to date. In this retelling of The Little Mermaid, a mermaid taken from the ocean by a king has destroyed his kingdom together with her carnivorous brood of youngsters. Now she and a plague physician, one of many solely survivors of her spawn’s rampage, journey from the dominion into the woods and discover one thing much more sinister on their journey.
Clementine by Tillie Walden
Based on the Telltale Games Walking Dead story, Clementine follows the titular character as she continues her journey throughout the post-apocalyptic U.S. She travels to the mountains after studying a few group run by different teenagers and makes new pals and companions alongside the best way — however the risks posed by zombies and different people isn’t far behind.
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
After escaping from a cult, pregnant teenager Vern begins a spartan however free life within the woods. She provides delivery to twins, Howling and Feral, however is quickly threatened by malevolent forces within the forest, some supernatural and a few frighteningly human. This prompts Venn to depart the familiarity of the forest and set out on a highway journey throughout a United States she has by no means encountered earlier than, together with her youngsters and a few new pals in tow.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
In the wake of a devastating international pandemic that killed the vast majority of the world’s inhabitants, a travelling group of actors roams throughout the United States, performing Shakespeare performs for remoted settlements in return for meals or shelter. The highway journey theme of the story skips alongside the road between drama and horror — among the locations that the group visits are definitely horrific, however finally, the story is considered one of hope and the human will to outlive and rebuild after catastrophe.
Feed by Mira Grant
Mira Grant’s Feed collection has one of the attention-grabbing zombie story premises I’ve encountered. What if the zombie apocalypse occurred and people form of received? Set in a world that has arrange loads of new guidelines and laws to be able to keep away from zombie outbreaks as a lot as doable, life is continuous nearly as regular. A bunch of bloggers hit the highway to comply with the Republican presidential candidate on his marketing campaign path and uncover a chilling conspiracy alongside the best way.
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez
After the dying of their spouse and mom, a father and son go on a highway journey to go to her household. Unfortunately, as an alternative of closure, they discover a terrifying secret society referred to as the Order, who dabble in monstrous and demonic acts. As effectively as telling a daunting supernatural story, it additionally tells the story of some very human horror: Argentina’s army dictatorship.
If you don’t take pleasure in horror however need to, strive our record of 20 Horror Books for People Who Don’t Like Horror. If you’re searching for enjoyable reads in a unique style, strive Sci-Fi Reads for Every Mood.
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