Since a great horror book lives or dies by its ending, it is no surprise that classics like The Haunting of Hill House have twists that are truly jaw-dropping in their brutality. Although Stephen King has written 66 books, not all of them were instant classics like Carrie and The Shining. His career is full of huge hits, like King’s dystopian horror fantasy The Stand.
However, the prolific author has penned just as many lesser and sometimes even outright bad novels, like the infamous Dreamcatcher. The biggest recurring issue throughout King’s lengthy career is endings, which many critics single out as his greatest weakness. This issue has even made it into some of his fiction at times, with It’s Bill admitting he can’t write endings.
It is easy to empathize with King’s plight. A lot of authors struggle to stick the landing, and the many thriller books that were almost 10/10 classics prove just how often a bad ending can completely derail an otherwise strong read. However, the following horror books didn’t struggle with this issue, thanks to their brutal, unforgettable twist endings.
10
The Ruins (Scott Smith)
This Nightmarish Holiday Horror Doesn’t End Well For Anyone
Released in 2006, The Ruins tells the story of a small group of backpackers who end up stranded at the titular ruins of a Mayan temple while on holiday. When a group of well-armed villagers refuse to let them leave, the young holidaymakers must resort to desperate means to survive.
The threat of the novel might be supernatural in nature or biological, but one thing is certain. The novel’s antagonist is ruthless, a mindless killer that starts to take over the bodies of the book’s heroes one by one in increasingly brutal, upsetting fashion.
Readers might seek out this sunny horror story assuming that at least one character will emerge from the ordeal alive, but this hope is likely to diminish as each character succumbs to a progressively nastier fate.
The entirety of The Ruins is gripping, but the survival horror really ramps up as it reaches its conclusion. Readers might seek out this sunny horror story assuming that at least one character will emerge from the ordeal alive, but this hope is likely to diminish as each character succumbs to a progressively nastier fate on the seemingly cursed mountain.
9
The Only Good Indians (Stephen Graham Jones)
This Acclaimed Horror Novel Has A Brutal But Poignant Denouement
Stephen Graham Jones’ The Only Good Indians might be the most moving book on this list, as the prolific horror author uses the story of an estranged group of Native American friends to comment on the hardships and joys of reservation life. The 2020 novel offers a unique perspective on the struggles of the post-colonial experience.
However, this book still comes from the author of the My Heart is a Chainsaw series, so readers expecting happy endings should look elsewhere. The story of a cursed being enacting revenge decades after a hunting trip gone wrong, The Only Good Indians is heartbreaking and shockingly ruthless right up to its unexpectedly poignant, but bleak conclusion.
8
The Spite House (Johnny Compton)
Compton’s Debut Novel Boasts A Vicious Twist Ending
The debut of author Johnny Compton, The Spite House is an intense haunted house story with a difference. The relentless horror thriller follows a desperate man on the run with his two daughters who reluctantly becomes the caretaker of a supposedly haunted house in Degener, Texas.
What follows is a mind-melting horror story that sees Eric gradually uncover the house’s secrets, before the final chapters reveal a twist so unnerving and hopeless that it casts a dark shadow over everything that has come before. Paced like a 10/10 thriller novel, The Spite House only bares its ingenious horror premise in its finale with a killer twist.
7
And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie)
Christie’s Most Iconic Whodunit Builds To A Jarringly Dark Coda
Agatha Christie’s name may be synonymous with fun, cozy murder mysteries starring Miss Marple, Poirot, and other unlikely detectives, but the prolific author had a sharp edge from time to time. One of her most iconic books, And Then There Were None, is set on a small island where eight people arrive after receiving mysterious invitations.
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The characters are picked off one by one in an early antecedent of the slasher movie subgenre, and the tension ramps up as the number of characters dwindles rapidly. While many 10/10 thrillers rely on huge plot twists to make their endings memorable, what makes And Then There Were None’s conclusion uniquely brutal is the killer’s glib attitude and their bleak fate.
6
The Turn of the Screw (Henry James)
James’s Legendary Ghost Story Has A Shocking But Inevitable Twist
1898’s Gothic novella The Turn of the Screw has been called one of the earliest psychological horror stories, and it is easy to see why. The tale follows a governess who becomes convinced that her young charges are possessed by the spirits of a dead groundskeeper and an earlier governess.
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The novella never clarifies whether something supernatural is really afoot or if the narrator is merely deluded, and this makes the twist ending far more shocking and impactful as a result. While Mike Flanagan’s Netflix adaptation, The Haunting of Bly Manor, was uncharacteristically weak thanks to its overly complicated plot, the original novella excels due to its disarming simplicity.
5
Tender Is the Flesh (Agustina Bazterrica)
This Intense Dystopian Horror Doesn’t Leave Readers With Any Hope
Published in 2017, Tender Is the Flesh is author Agustina Bazterrica’s dystopian sci-fi horror novel set in a future where all animal meat is inedible and cannibalism is both commonplace and a viable industry as a result. The book follows Marco, a human meat supplier whose personal veganism underlines his personal struggles with this new system.
Nightmarish and gruesome, Bazterrica’s novel doesn’t shy away from gruesome imagery of cannibalism. However, the book heads into even darker territory as it continues, and its protagonist loses what is left of his humanity. This culinates in one of the most chilling final sentences in recent literary history.
4
The Woman in Black (Susan Hill)
Hill’s Victorian Era Ghost Story Has A Jaw-Dropping Twist
A throwback to classic Victorian ghost stories like James’ The Turn of the Screw, The Woman in Black follows a mild-mannered junior solicitor who recounts a terrifying ordeal from early in his professional career. Tasked with settling the estate of a lonely shut-in, the novel’s hero is sent to a remote country house in the isolated small town of Crythin Gifford.
The Woman in Black’s movie adaptation made its ending even darker, but the sudden shock that comes at the close of the original novel is breathtakingly brutal in its vicious simplicity.
Over time, the narrator’s grip on reality loosens as he stays in the haunted house for longer, plagued by strange noises and gruesome accidents that seem too awful to be mere coincidence. The Woman in Black’s movie adaptation made its ending even darker, but the sudden shock that comes at the close of the original novel is breathtakingly brutal in its vicious simplicity.
3
The Screwfly Solution (Alice Sheldon)
This Feminist Sci-fi Horror Ends Without Much Hope For Humanity
Penned in 1977, “The Screwfly Solution” was a sci-fi horror story by author Alice Sheldon, writing as James Tiptree Jr. The plot follows a pandemic of gender-based violence as countless men begin murdering women and ranting about misogynistic justifications for their horrifying crimes.
It is the story’s glib conclusion that gives Sheldon’s best work its incendiary power.
The very premise of “The Screwfly Solution” is terrifying, as it gradually becomes clear that men worldwide are caught in the grip of this inexplicable, murderous frenzy. However, it is the story’s glib conclusion that gives Sheldon’s best work its incendiary power.
To say much more would be to ruin the twist, but suffice to say, Sheldon’s story comes up with an explanation for its horrors that is just as scary as the murders earlier in the novella. In the process, the author penned a tale more troubling than any of Stephen King’s many dystopian sci-fi stories.
2
Pet Sematary (Stephen King)
King’s Saddest Book Has A Truly Heartbreaking Conclusion
Speaking of King, no list of horror books with terrifying endings would be complete without a mention of the genre’s most notable name. Yes, as outlined above, King is infamous for the flaws found in many of his novel endings. However, when he gets endings right, they can truly be doozies.
For example, Pet Sematary’s story of two grieving parents going to radical extremes to revive their dead child is a chilling plot even before its ending. Pet Sematary zeroes in on the worst fear of every parent and makes for a nightmarish read throughout, as the tragedy of the couple’s loss mixes with the dread of their ill-fated plans.
Pet Sematary is available to stream on Netflix and Prime Video.
However, it is the utterly hopeless ending of Pet Sematary that stands out even amid the miasma of King’s more mean-spirited, nastier horror stories. A cyclical twist that proves sometimes, dead is better, Pet Sematary‘s twist ending is a grim, hopeless coda that offers the reader no reason to hope, but plenty of cause to shiver in fear.
1
The Haunting of Hill House (Shirley Jackson)
Jackson’s Masterpiece Ends In A Moment of Terrifying Tragedy
Shirley Jackson is one of the greatest horror writers of all time, and her many iconic short stories feature some of the genre’s best twist endings. However, it is her masterpiece, The Haunting of Hill House, that earns the top spot in this rundown thanks to its twisty, brutal denouement.
Throughout The Haunting of Hill House, readers grow increasingly close to the novel’s heroine, Eleanor. While Netflix’s loose The Haunting of Hill House adaptation makes Nell a more outwardly tragic figure, the book’s main character is a reserved, quiet, and secretly rebellious woman whose loneliness and caution make it impossible not to root for her.
Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House has been adapted to film twice, as The Haunting (1963) and The Haunting (1999), and to streaming once as 2018’s The Haunting of Hill House
Throughout her stay in the eponymous house, there are clearly supernatural events going on behind the scenes, but Nell’s gradual unraveling is the novel’s real story. The presence or absence of ghosts seems less important than the existential connection that Nell feels she has with the house, one that doesn’t seem like it could end well.
In the end, Jackson’s novel breaks the reader’s heart while simultaneously chilling them to the bone. The Haunting of Hill House has the lowest body count on this list, but its unforgettable ending will still stick with readers long after they finish the horror novel.
The Haunting of Hill House
10/10
- Release Date
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2018 – 2018
- Network
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Netflix
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Michiel Huisman
Steven Crain
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Elizabeth Reaser
Shirley Crain
