Could be a character who is part of the town
Could be a character coming into the town
Could be the surroundings/make up of the town
Could be the townspeople itself
Not necessarily murder mystery- women comes back to small town, vibes
More so spooky vibes, please, like something is…off
Edit on 10/01: wow thanks so much for your responses! I tried to respond but this blew up more than I thought it would! I will compile a list of most suggested in this thread so we can all get into those unsettling towns!
Edit 10/01: later in the evening: thank you all so much for your recommendations! I think we all appreciate the vibes we want for this fall season!
I went through and selected the top 55 repeats from the top 500 comments (please, I’m human and tired and have law school in the morning) but I appreciate everyone’s recommendations and will continue to read them!
As always be informed readers and check out any TW before heading into a book!
Edit: 10/04 oh my goodness you guys are the best thanks so much for these recs! Cannot wait to start reading!
I have decided to start with Needful Things by Stephen. King (my first King book!)
I also have been responding to some comments on my other account JarvisLuna without realizing I was signed into the wrong account (ooops) it is OP so please still take my gratitude but from the wrong account.
My previous list on 10/01 of the top 55 has been edited to be sorted by title A-Z as well as new additions:
(1) 14 by Peter Clines
(2) American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett
(3) American Gods by Neil Gaiman
(4) Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
(5) The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig
(6) Bone White by Ronald Malfi
(7) Broken Harbor by Tana French (and the Searcher)
(8) Cainesville Series by Kelley Armstrong
(9) The Castle by Franz Kafka
(10) The City and the City by China Miéville
(11) Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare
(12) Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente
(13) CJ Tudor:
The Chalk Man,
The Burning Girls,
The Taking of Annie Thorne
(14) Dark Places and Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
(15) Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano
(16) Diary by Chuck Palahniuk
(17) Goblin by Josh Malerman
(18) A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler
(19) Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan
(20 Gormenghast Series by Mervyn Peake
(21) Grist Mill Road by Christopher J. Yates
(22) Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
(23) Harvest Home by Thomas Tyron
(24) Hello Martin by PJ Burgy
(25) Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
(26) Isle of Dogs by Patrica Cornwell
(27) John Died at the End by David Wong
(28) The Killings at Badger’s Drift by Caroline Graham
(29) Lapvona by Otessa Moshfegh
(30) Last Days by Adam Nevill
(31) Malice House by Megan Shepherd
(32) Mary by Nat Cassidy
(33) Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
(34) The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
(36) Odd Thomas Series by Dean Koontz
(37) The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. LeGuin
(38) Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo
(39) A Shadow over Innsmouth by H.P Lovecraft
(40) Shin Sekai Yori- English translation of Cadetine WordPress
(41) Slade House by David Mitchell
(42) Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (and The October Country)
(43) Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters
(44) The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
(45) Stephen King:
11/22/63,
Colorado Kid (Haven)
Desperation,
Duma Key,
Fairy Tale,
IT,
Needful Things,
Pet Sematary
The Regulators
Salem’s Lot,
The Shining
The Stand
Under the Dome,
(46) Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
(46) Strathcarnage by Matt Hamilton
(47) Tales from a Gas Station Series by Jack Townsend
(48) The Town that Forgot how to Breathe by Kenneth K. Harvey
(49) Wake in Fright by Kenneth Cook
(50) The Wayward Pines Series by Blake Crouch (and Perfect Little Town and Abandon)
(51) The Uncanny Valley: Tales from a Lost Town by Gregory Miller
(52) Universal Harvester by John Darnielle
(53) Uzumaki by Juni Ito
(54)We Have Always Lived in the Castle/ The Lottery/The Road Through the Wall by Shirely Jackson
(55) Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
(56) White Smoke by Tiffany Jackson
(57) Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
New Additions, 10/4:
(1) Brigadoon (book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner)
(2) Coldheart Canyon by Clive Barker
(3) A Cure for Suicide by Jesse Ball
(4) The Dark Tower by Stephen King
(5) The Farm by Tom Rob Smith
(6) From: TV Series
(7) Gilded Needles by Michael McDowell
(8) Grindle Witch by Benjamin Myers
(9) House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
(10) Lost Horizon by James Hilton
(11) Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
(12) Midnight TX Series by Charlaine Harris (with a cat POV!)
( 13) Never Let Me go By Kazuo Ishiguro
(14) Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
(15) The Santaroga Barrier by Frank Herbert
(16) The Slap by Steven Millhauser
(17) Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters
(18) The Store by Bently Little
(19) Tales from the Loop: TV Series
(20) The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien
(21) The Town Manager by Thomas Ligotti (free audiobook on PesudoPod Episode 605)
(22) Velocity by Dean Koontz
(23) Where Trouble Sleeps by Clyde Edergton
(24) Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin
by LunaJarvis
35 Comments
If you don’t mind YA, the Dark Side of Nowhere by Neal Shusterman. I read it back in high school, been meaning to reread it for a few years now.
I will suggest this series till the day I die for someone who is wanting something exactly like you suggested. Tales from the gas station. It’s about a guy who works at a gas station on the edge of town and freaky stuff happens. I’m not going to spoil too much but there are cultists known as the mathematist, lawn gnomes that show up randomly, a very creepy ventriloquist doll, hand plants. This is a book series that if you want to read something that is just off and kind of spooky but everyone acts like it’s normal read the series.
Wayward Pines is my absolute favourite book series
The Wayward Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch. Spooky, unexplained happenings, mysterious strangers, with a great twist.
Woman in the Dunes
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
Harvest Home
Salem’s Lot
Short story: “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson
[Uzumaki](https://www.viz.com/read/manga/junji-ito/product/3382)
[Stillwater](https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/stillwater-by-zdarsky-pérez)
Welcome to nightvale
Needful Things or Desperation. Both by Stephen King.
The Stepford wives. Something about the women in that town is just off.
We have always lived in the castle
The Stepford Wives
Comfort Me With Apples
Stephen King has entered the chat.
Are you up for a bit of true crime? Check out In Broad Daylight by Harry N. MacLean. It’s about Skidmore, MO – an “off” place if ever there were one! It’s also written better than your average true crime book.
100% Gillian Flynn’s “Dark Places”
Wayward Pines by blake crouch is the answer to your question!
Wake in Fright by Kenneth Cook. It takes place in a bush community in Australia, sometime in the middle of the 20th century. I wont say too much, but it deals with an outsider getting a crash course on this eary town.
something wicked this way comes by ray bradbury
Salem’s Lot
Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Salem’s Lot.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. It’s about two sisters who don’t associate with the townspeople and vice-versa
It
Odd Thomas. The number of times Dean Koontz says Pico Mundo is impressive. And the town feels like a character, to me at least. I always imagined it with a pink sort of hue about it, with a sort of snow globe effect around it? Idk
Also I agree with ‘Salem’s Lot. That town has a grey hue when I read it, and the house at the edge of town is oversized and bearing down on Jerusalem’s Lot.
Definitely Salem’s Lot.
Salem’s Lot. The town is the main character. Slow burn, big payoff IMO.
Well, definitely IT by Stephen King. That’s, like, the whole plot! One of my favorites.
There’s an excellent documentary on this called Hot Fuzz
More a house than a town but Mexican Gothic has that “off” vibe if you enjoy horror! And the whole big city socialite experiences a return to the rural.
American elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett
Cainesville series by Kelley Armstrong.
Definitely the Wayward Pines series as suggested too!!
“American Gods” has a section about a cute midwestern town (Minnesota or Wisconsin if I recall correctly) that against all odds continues to thrive despite economic hard times, and they have a cheerful Santa Claus like mayor who ushers protagonist around.
I’m not a big creepy/horror book reader, but that section blew my mind. It’s an excellent slow burn.
Not a town, but an apartment building and it’s tenants: 14 by Peter Clines
The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig. Great writer.