Heat wave be damned—I want a pumpkin spice latte, and I want it now. But alas, the menu offerings at my local café still skew toward cold brews and refreshing, fruit-infused teas. My targeted ads are for sunscreen, swimsuits, clinical-strength deodorant; my social media feed filled with snapshots from beach vacations and family barbecues. And shockingly, my friends are resistant to my attempts to interrogate them about their Halloween costume plans, despite All Hallows’ Eve being only 110 days away.
While I wait for the rest of the world to catch up with my sentiment that every season should be spooky season, I can at least embrace the emergence of Summerween. A reimagining of this warm and sunny time of year, Summerween blends the whimsy of summer vacation with the eerie air of those autumn days I so long for. If you, like me, are on the hunt for a fresh horror listen to add some doom and gloom to your cloudless, radiant summer days, these 2026 releases are just the thing: as ferociously entertaining as they are deeply unsettling.
One of the highlights of this Summerween has been the critically lauded television adaptation of Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat, a magnetic, hedonistic follow-up to Interview With the Vampire. If you’ve already fallen under the spell of Lestat de Lioncourt on the small screen, revisit the seductive world he was born into. Exquisitely narrated by Vikas Adam with all the swagger and depth the titular antihero demands, the second installment of Rice's Vampire Chronicles series paints a vivid portrait of Lestat that is at once angsty and deeply complex, following the Brat Prince from his aristocratic coming-of-age in France circa the 18th century to his rock-n-roll exploits of the 1980s.
If you prefer to spend your summer cooling off in the air conditioning with all the comforts of technology, Paul Tremblay’s latest novel may leave you yearning for some time away from your computer. In Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep, Julia Flang, a semi-pro gamer in her twenties, is recruited to remotely pilot a medically brain-dead man across the country. But that man’s consciousness has not entirely faded, and now he must solve the mystery of his own identity—all while contending with the artificial intelligence implanted in his brain. It’s as outlandish as it sounds, and it’s well worth the ride, especially in audio. With sound design that mimics the technohorror, Dead but Dreaming is nightmare fuel for the modern age. (And don't miss our interview with Tremblay, where the horror writer reveals what scares him the most.)
With its blood-spattered sunglasses and glimmering waves, the cover of Chuck Tingle’s new horror romp simply screams Summerween. But press play on Fabulous Bodies, and you’ll find the macabre magic extends far beyond the surface. Tingle again teams up with narrator Mara Wilson—who also lent her voice to his Lucky Day, Bury Your Gays, and Camp Damascus—to bring to life the story of fashionista, would-be influencer, and part-time grave-robber Poppy Stringer. Gleefully grotesque and rich with body horror, Tingle's latest sends Poppy on a joyride set into motion when she’s hired to steal the body of legendary musician Eddie Michaels. What Poppy doesn’t know is Eddie has no intention of staying dead.
“It’s happening again.” That’s the ominous message Special Agent Daniel Stansfield receives, beckoning him back to Denver, Colorado. Four years ago, he ran from the city, leaving behind the haunting unsolved case he was never able to shake. But he's forced to return when a string of amnesiac murderers turn up on the side of the road, wearing the skin of their victims. As Daniel attempts to uncover the truth behind these inexplicable killings, he's also forced to reckon with the traumas of his upbringing. With a setting in the vast Colorado landscape echoing the desolation of The Shining and a pitch-perfect performance from Andrew Eiden, this is a detective thriller with a foreboding supernatural edge you won’t soon forget.
When my fellow Audible Editor Patty finished this audiobook, she immediately stopped by my desk to insist I give it a listen. Here’s what she has to say about this inventive twist on the haunted house trope: “Kylie Lee Baker has a way of pulling you into a world that feels both distant and unsettlingly close, and Japanese Gothic is no exception. Set across two timelines, we follow Sen, who is determined to carry on the legacy of the samurai while coping with a father transformed by war, and Lee, a college student drifting through grief who travels to Japan hoping for a reset. Their stories feel worlds apart at first, until the connection between them begins to surface in ways that are eerie and impossible to ignore. Natalie Naudus’s performance captures every bit of tension beautifully, grounding both timelines while letting the unease slowly build. Don’t let the pretty cover fool you, this one gets dark quick!”
Sarah G. Pierce’s For Human Use isn’t horror in the strictest sense, but its absurdist narrative is gleefully grotesque. A darkly funny send-up of online dating and tech capitalism, this wildly original debut centers on the launch of Liv, an app that connects living, breathing human beings with cadaver companions. The app is a smash hit, with users valuing a sort of ease impossible in relationships with living partners, but the venture firm funding Liv has misgivings. Come for the wholly original concept and the bizarrely sweet, uncanny romance voiced to perfection by narrators Marie Hawkins and Eric Burgher; stay for the fiercely satirical take on how we dehumanize and commodify one another in our attempts to find connection.
It’s not just tradwives who are having their moment in the social media sun. With the revival of weight loss culture and the seeming demise of body positivity, the year has been dominated by shrinking frames on screen and worrisome trends in the wellness space. In the multicast-narrated Nothing Tastes as Good, author Luke Dumas skewers our slim-obsessed society with the story of Emmett Truesdale. Emmett has tried every diet possible to change his body (and by doing so, he hopes, his life), but none of them seem to have an effect. When he hears of a clinical trial for a miraculous new drug, he signs up and is rewarded by near-instantaneous results. But the side effects of Obexity are nothing short of sinister, and when stories of a cannibalistic killer begin to circulate, Emmett begins to question just how far he’d go for a smaller frame.
One of my least favorite aspects of summer? The bugs. I have no malice against creepy-crawler critters, but I’d prefer they fly or skitter as far away from me as possible. Among my most irrational insect-based fears is the humble botfly, a parasitic creature that burrows into mammalian skin. (I quite literally shivered at the thought while typing this line.) T. Kingfisher’s Wolf Worm seems to target me specifically. This gothic horror listen follows Sonia Wilson, a scientific illustrator who, in 1899, is hired by the mysterious Dr. Halder to catalogue his entomology collection. But there’s murmurs of something dark lurking in the woods near Halder’s estate. With Mary Robinette Kowal behind the mic amping up Kingfisher’s viscerally upsetting creature horror, this is not a listen for the faint of heart.
Horror comedy has been making waves, with films like Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, They Will Kill You, and Forbidden Fruits proving the genre’s success. There’s just something special about work that toes the line between grimly humorous and downright terrifying. The delightfully titled I Will Kill Your Imaginary Friend for $200 falls into that very category. Eight-year-old Kay’s imaginary friend Eddie Video is just the balm for her quiet, anxious life. But when Eddie’s brash personality and penchant for off-the-wall pranks puts Kay in danger, she seeks out the help of Ivan, a middle-aged man whose ability to see imaginary friends makes him the perfect mercenary to take them out. Dark, quirky, and oddly heartfelt, this listen is best described with the words of one Audible listener, who dubbed it “Stephen King's It meets The Brave Little Toaster.”
Author Sarah Gailey called Xe Sands “such an incredible voice” who “always brings a grounded feeling of perseverance to the characters she reads,” and we couldn’t agree more. Her performance takes this genre-resistant folk horror to another level. On its face, Make Me Better is set in an idyllic vacation destination—a secluded island surrounded by an expansive, rapidly growing coral reef. But Kindred Cove is anything but a getaway. Protagonist Celia is burdened by grief and craving connection, so she’s lured into the promise of healing that the cultish Cove community offers. The annual Salt Festival guarantees a release from pain, and Celia is more than ready to begin anew. The only question left is: What is the cost of such transformation?
A novel take on the vampire genre, The Flayed Man is a dark, evocative work of literary horror that explores familial relationships and the exhaustion of caregiving. When Ellis isn’t working in the ER, she’s taking care of her mother, who is living with early-onset dementia. These stressors are further complicated by a curse that demands the family feed on blood daily to avoid an unthinkable fate. But things truly reach a fever pitch when Ellis’s mom frantically warns of the coming of “The Flayed Man.” Her dread isn’t imagined, and an ancient horror draws closer and closer. Rising voice artist Avery May brings to life Ellis’s struggle to maintain her humanity at all costs.
Horror often draws upon the topic du jour to craft narratives that feel particularly resonant to contemporary audiences. And in 2026, who among us has not found themselves in a doomscroll spiral of shortform content? Trad Wife emphasizes the “doom” element, zeroing in on influencer Camille Denning, who’s desperate to complete her flawless rustic image with the ultimate accessory: a baby. Desperate to make it happen despite her souring relationship with her husband, Camille makes a wish on an eerie old well she stumbles across in the fields. She gets pregnant, but the child she’s carrying is less a bundle of joy and more the stuff of nightmares. Narrator Rachel L. Jacobs expertly builds tension and unease as Camille’s demonic pregnancy progresses, bringing with it plenty of body horror and no shortage of peculiar cravings.
If you prefer your horror with a historical edge, check out This House Will Feed. Maria Tureaud’s adult debut is set in the wake of Ireland’s Great Hunger, a period of mass starvation that began in the mid-1840s and ultimately killed over one million people. Maggie O’Shaughnessy has lost her family and all hope in the blight, but an enigmatic benefactor by the name of Lady Catherine steps in to offer a new beginning in her County Clare mansion. There, Maggie is brought into a scheme to claim Lady Catherine’s daughter’s widow pension. But the estate grows disquiet—are the folk tales of curses and phantoms true? Or is the true wraith lurking within Maggie herself? Atmospheric, bleak, and breathtaking, this listen (enlivened by a team of talents in Emily O’Mahony and John Keating) is as unsettling as it is heartbreaking.
The twisted, tantalizing premise of Greedy is merely an amuse-bouche for the sharp class commentary that simmers just below the surface. The Yakuza are on debtor Edward Cook’s trail, and the broke everyman is determined to do whatever he can to pay them off and keep his family safe. He answers a help wanted ad for a private chef position with a wealthy, eccentric socialite, and soon finds himself in a world he couldn’t possibly imagine. His new employer’s tastes are rather specific, to say the least. A vicious takedown of classism, consumption, morality, and complicity, Callie Kazumi’s food-horror is a feast, and narrator Ami Okumura Jones’s delicious performance the pitch-perfect pinch of seasoning.
Another work of historical horror, Philip Fracassi’s Sarafina opens during the American Civil War. Three brothers serving in the Confederate Army decide to abandon ship when it seems death is far more likely than victory. As they begin the long and dangerous trek home, they’re met with violence and peril. In dire need of respite, they seek refuge in a cabin they come across in the woods where a woman named Sarafina and her son, Titus, reside. But there’s something not quite right about their host or the home she’s built in the wilderness. This taut, brutally beautiful novel is made all the more haunting thanks to the performances of Eric Fox and Ellie Gossage, who embody each narrative perspective with genuine emotion and dread.
Narrated by actress Gilli Messer, Odessa zeroes in on a grieving family attempting to revive their teen daughter Yetta after she is murdered in one of the antisemitic pogroms that devastated Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries. Their attempts at resurrection go awry, splintering her soul and inadvertently bringing a golem to life. It’s an intensely human but chillingly monstrous novel, one that reckons with gender and history while delivering plenty of terror. No one is better suited to convey the haunting devastation of this book than author Gabrielle Sher, who told us, “Writing Odessa, I got to delve into my favorite literary genre (the gothic) while exploring my identity as a Jewish woman … I realized that through the writing process, I was facing my own monsters alongside Yetta.”
The peaceful, slow pacing of the Scottish countryside, the quiet of a remote cottage, the chance of a fresh start—Home Sick opens with a concept that feels more appropriate for a lighthearted work of contemporary fiction than a horror novel. But when Tamsin relocates after a traumatic workplace incident, she finds that her new home is anything but an escape. Her peculiar neighbor looms ominously, separated only by a thin wall. Steeped in dread and paranoia, this tightly wound debut (narrated with magnetism by classically trained actor Mhairi Morrison) buzzes with anxiety and tension.
We’ve been waiting for Monika Kim’s next novel since 2024, when her debut, The Eyes are the Best Part, first hit our headphones. She returns with Molka, an unapologetically rageful tale of misogyny, sexual violence, and the quest for vengeance. The title refers to the Korean term for hidden cameras used by voyeurs to illegally film victims in private spaces like fitting rooms or restrooms. Junyoung, an IT tech working in a Seoul office building, is quite familiar with molka—he’s installed a network of cameras spanning the entire building to prey on female employees. When Dahye’s life begins to unravel due to Junyoung’s growing obsession with her and the police won’t intervene, she’s forced to take matters into her own hands. Narrator Rosa Escoda seamlessly voices both perspectives of this novel, in turns sympathetic and compelling and thoroughly unsettling as both Dahye and Junyoung.
It’s no secret that we’re, err, suckers for a good vampire story, and Charlotte Cross’s The Brides promises to be a thoroughly original reimagining of Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula. This time, the focus is not on the titular Count but on his living dead brides, figures usually kept at the periphery of the story. Like Dracula, this novel is epistolary, unfolding through journal entries, psychiatric reports, letters, and more, lending a sense of realism to its richly developed Victorian world. And at the center of it all, four women en route to Transylvania with no way of knowing the shocking evil that awaits them. The Brides is told through a dual timeline narrative and is fittingly narrated by Anna Popplewell and Sam Woolf, bringing to life both the fate of the brides and the fallout faced by those who survived.
Nat Cassidy, author of When the Wolf Comes Home; Mary and Nestlings, debuted his first collection of stories in May, earning praise (and a brand-new introduction) from the master of horror fiction himself, Stephen King. The stories within I Know a Place are set in unassuming locales: a gas station, a yoga retreat, a doctor’s office. But the darkness lurking in these everyday settings is far more sinister than you could ever imagine. Narrator Shaun Taylor-Corbett—who voiced one of my favorite horror books ever with Stephen Graham Jones’s The Only Good Indians—is joined by the author and fellow performers Kelley Rae O’Donnell and Stephanie Willing, and their delivery will have you thinking twice about taking a breather at a rest stop on your next road trip.
It’s been three years since the cultural phenom that was Barbenheimer, and Lindy Ryan’s Dollface promises a new crossover event featuring our favorite fashion doll. Described as “Barbie meets Scream,” this slasher packs plenty of nostalgia and a wicked sense of humor. When horror author Jill moves to New Jersey, she figures her biggest problem will be getting along with the rest of the PTA moms. She couldn't have predicted that a serial killer clad in a plastic mask would soon descend on the town, picking off her peers one by one. Narrator Stephanie Németh Parker nails every voice in this suburban thriller, grounding the story in close-to-home terror while suspense mounts and the body count rises.
Further Summerween 2026 listening:
Fresh frights arriving after Labor Day:
2026's spooky, scary book-to-screen adaptations:
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