"A terrifying new novel from bestselling #HorrorBookTok sensation Ania Ahlborn—the acclaimed author of the modern classic Brother.
Hailed as a writer of "some of the most promising horror I've encountered in years" (Seanan McGuire, author of the Ghost Roads series), Ania Ahlborn delivers a novel that pushes the boundaries of horror into a new realm.
Isla Hansen, a mother reeling from a devastating loss, is beside herself when a mysteriously orphaned child appears on the outskirts of the Hansens' secluded Colorado property. Although strange and unexplainable, the child's presence breathes new life into Isla. But as the child settles in, Isla's husband, Luke, and their five children notice peculiarities that hint at something far beyond the ordinary—anomalies that challenge the very fabric of reality itself. The tension within the Hansen household grows, and with it, the sense that there is something very wrong with the new kid in the house.
The Unseen is a haunting tale that walks the line between the familiar and the unknown, drawing us into a chilling narrative where reality itself feels just out of reach."
"From master storyteller Ania Ahlborn comes a brand-new psychological thriller described as "a horrifying manifesto of marriage, manipulation, and the unpredictability of human relationships."
Simone and Elliott Evans have it all; a comfortable life, a house on a quiet street, and two sweet daughters. But their marriage is far from happy, especially now. While Elliott spends all day at work, postpartum depression presses down hard on Simone's shoulders. Baby Lizzy is colicky and often sick. Five-year-old Aster is a handful—not at all as good a "helper" as Simone had hoped. The more time Simone spends home alone with the girls, the more she's convinced that Elliott's interest in his family is waning. He's pining for his ex, Leighton Prescott—a woman who mysteriously disappeared from their small New Hampshire town years before, leaving her and Elliott's then newborn daughter, Aster, behind.
When Simone confronts Elliott in search of the truth, he reminds her that this isn't the first time she's accused him of being unfaithful, and it isn't the first time her assumption has been wrong. But when Simone spots Leighton at the grocery store in their tiny hometown, she has her proof. Leighton Prescott is back, and despite what Elliott says, Simone knows Leighton will stop at nothing to destroy the life she's built with Elliott, piece by precious piece.
Terrified of losing her family, Simone puts Elliott to the ultimate test. He's left with one last chance to save the marriage he vowed to preserve. But rather than rekindling the love he and Simone once shared, he instead uncovers an unfathomable truth about the woman he calls his wife, a woman that, as it turns out, he doesn't know at all."
"A terrifying novella from the bestselling author of Within These Walls, Brother, and The Bird Eater!
New York, 1977. The sweltering height of the Summer of Sam. The entire city is gripped with fear, but all Nell Sullivan worries about is whether or not she'll ever make a friend. The self-proclaimed "Plain Jane" does her best to fit in with the girls at work, but Nell's brother, Barrett, assures her that she'll never be like them. When Nell manages to finally garner some much-yearned-for attention, the unthinkable happens to her newfound friend. The office pool blames Son of Sam, but Nell knows the awful truth…because doing the devil's work is easy when there's already a serial killer on the loose."
"In this gripping psychological thriller, Kim Devland's dream home becomes a sinister nightmare as she spirals into madness, exploring the dark depths of desire, sacrifice, and obsession.
Kim Devland nearly has it all. A great marriage. A baby on the way. All that's missing is a house—one idyllic enough to fill the Norman Rockwell-shaped spaces in her mind. When Kim's husband, Eddie, books a property tour of a home Kim has been eyeing online, it's love at first sight. Far too expensive for them to afford, Kim and Eddie make an offer anyway...and score the deal of a lifetime. The house is suddenly theirs, and Kim sees it as destiny. But something begins to squirm beneath Kim's skin. Something portentous. A warning. Don't buy this house. Blinded by the idea of storybook happiness, Kim barrels headlong into a dream that quickly proves to be anything but. Her once joyful anticipation morphs into a harrowing descent into madness, and a chilling realization dawns upon her—this house is not a sanctuary but a prison, a sinister labyrinth where nightmares are born.
In a homage to Ira Levin's chilling masterpiece, Rosemary's Baby, Ahlborn's Palmetto delves into the depths of human desire, probing the boundaries of sacrifice and obsession. How far would you go to grasp your heart's deepest desires? Watching your dream become a waking nightmare, how loud would you scream?"
"In the vein of John MacDonald's Cape Fear, Ahlborn takes the classic stalker tale and updates it for the modern era.
The house sits stoic and slightly askew off the coast of Raven's Head. Its off-kilter windows are both charming and disorienting, its walls of overstuffed bookshelves both comforting and claustrophobic. When Leo and Lark Parrish arrive at their vacation home with their parents, their mother's idea of a quintessential Maine getaway seems like both a blessing and a curse. Lark—a novice novelist—can't wait to find inspiration at the end of a fog-entombed pier. And while being trapped in a house with no means of escape is the last thing Leo would consider a good time—especially with parents on the precipice of divorce—he can't help but wonder if maybe the change of scenery will help him shake off the chains of sadness brought on by the death of his closest friend.
But what starts off as a relatively benign family trip quickly turns menacing. Leo finds himself face-to-face with what feels like his best friend reaching out from beyond the grave, and only hours after they arrive, Lark begins to receive sinister texts. And then they both see it: someone lurking in the shadows of their rental home. Someone who has been expecting them despite the Parrishes being a thousand miles from home."
"The house on Old Mill Road has stood in an open field for longer than Jesse Wells has been alive, its crooked windows and jutting turret tormenting the kids of Warsaw, Michigan the way only a haunted house knows how. Everyone imagines that something terrible lurks within the house’s abandoned rooms—especially Jesse and his two closest friends, Casey and Reed. But when Reed chooses the house as a backdrop for his own suicide, childhood ghost stories are transformed into a nightmare that sends Jesse into a downward spiral of grief.
Nearly twenty years later, Jesse stands on the collapsing steps of the house that snatched away his best friend. Casey has asked him to revisit their old demons, if only to help them find closure that’s long overdue. But tragedy finds them once more, and Jesse is left forever changed.
Now, left to cope with the disaster that had become his life, Jesse must unravel the mystery behind the house that has terrified him since he was a boy. To fail is to lose everything he has left. But success might come at an even a higher price."
"Maggie Olsen had a pretty ordinary childhood-swimming and sleepovers, movie nights and dad jokes. But then there were the other things...the darker things...the shadow that followed her home from the cemetery and settled into the corners of her home, refusing to let her grow up in peace. Now, after three years of being away from the place she's convinced she inadvertently haunted, and after yet another family tragedy strikes, Maggie is forced to return to the sweltering heat of a Savannah summer to come to terms with her past. All along, she's been telling herself it was just in your head, and she'd nearly convinced herself that she'd imagined it all. But the moment Maggie steps into the foyer of her family home, she knows. The darkness is still there. And it's been waiting for Maggie's return..."
"Twenty years ago, the mysterious death of his aunt left Aaron Holbrook orphaned and alone. He abandoned his rural Arkansas hometown vowing never to return, until his seven-year-old son died in an accident, plunging Aaron into a nightmare of addiction and grief. Desperate to reclaim a piece of himself, he returns to the hills of his childhood, to Holbrook House, where he hopes to find peace among the memories of his youth. But solace doesn’t come easy. Someone—or something—has other plans.
Like Aaron, Holbrook House is but a shell of what it once was, a target for vandals and ghost hunters who have nicknamed it “the devil’s den.” Aaron doesn’t believe in the paranormal—at least, not until a strange boy begins following him wherever he goes. Plagued by violent dreams and disturbing visions, Aaron begins to wonder if he’s losing his mind. But a festering darkness lurks at the heart of Holbrook House…a darkness that grins from within the shadows, delighting in Aaron’s sorrow, biding its time."
"Ryan Adler and his twin sister, Jane, spent their happiest childhood days at their parents’ mountain Colorado cabin—until divorce tore their family apart. Now, with the house about to be sold, the Adler twins gather with their closest friends for one last snowboarding-filled holiday. While commitment-phobic Ryan gazes longingly at Lauren, wondering if his playboy days are over, Jane’s hopes of reconciling with her old boyfriend evaporate when he brings along his new fiancée. As drama builds among the friends, something lurks in the forest, watching the cabin, growing ever bolder as the snow falls…and hunger rises.
After a blizzard leaves the group stranded, the true test of their love and loyalty begins as the hideous creatures outside close in, one bloody attack at a time. Now Ryan, Jane, and their friends must fight—tooth and nail, bullet and blade—for their lives. Or else surrender to unspeakable deaths in the darkened woods."
"Andrew Morrison sacrificed everything—his childhood, his education, and the girl of his dreams—to look after his alcoholic mother. But enough is enough, and now he’s determined to get out and live his life. That means trading the home he grew up in for a rented room in the house of an old childhood friend—both of which are in sorry shape.
The only thing worse than Drew’s squalid new digs and sullen new roommate is the envy he feels for the house next door: a picture-perfect suburban domicile straight out of Norman Rockwell, with a couple of happy householders to match. But the better acquainted he gets with his new neighbors—especially the sweet and sexy Harlow Ward—the more he suspects unspeakable darkness beyond the white picket fence.
At the intersection of Blue Velvet and Basic Instinct lies The Neighbors, an insidiously entertaining tale of psychological suspense and mounting terror by the boldest new master of the form, Ania Ahlborn."
"With nothing but the clothes on his back—and something horrific snapping at his heels—Jack Winter fled his rural Georgia home when he was still just a boy. Watching the world he knew vanish in a trucker’s rearview mirror, he thought he was leaving an unspeakable nightmare behind forever. But years later, the bright new future he’s built suddenly turns pitch black, as something fiendishly familiar looms dead ahead.
When Jack, his wife Aimee, and their two small children survive a violent car crash, it seems like a miracle. But Jack knows what he saw on the road that night, and it wasn’t divine intervention. The profound evil from his past won’t let them die…at least not quickly. It’s back, and it’s hungry; ready to make Jack pay for running, to work its malignant magic on his angelic youngest daughter, and to whisper a chilling promise: I’ve always been here, and I’ll never leave.
Country comfort is no match for spine-tingling Southern gothic suspense in Ania Ahlborn’s tale of an ordinary man with a demon on his back. Seed plants its page-turning terror deep in your soul, and lets it grow wild."
