Looking for really good horror / ghost reads- any recs for newer/ less well known titles?

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I have read most of the classics- not really a fan of Steven king. Was hoping to discover some less well known gems.🙂

I found Dark Matter by Michele Paver very chilling (excuse the pun; it's set in the Arctic) and it definitely scared me.

Also The woman in Black by Susan Hill - much, much better than the film version, and The Haunting of hill House by Shirley Jackson.

Thanks - yes those are all great books 🙂

Shirley Jackson's books are great, but you've probably read them!

I dont know about lesser known but Phil Rickman has written quite a few supernatural scarey type books. I've read a couple but couldnt keep track of the vast number of characters he tends to use and that was annoying.

Ramsey Campbell is worth a look, too.

Riley Sager's books are fun twists on classical horror movie stories. I've enjoyed each one and seen there is a new one!

Susan Hill’s Simon Serrailler series (that was a lot of s’s …) is very well written. Some of them are really chilling.

Great thank you!
I was reading an article in the guardian. Really liked the sound of a couple of horror books mentioned. Looked them up and one was over £100. I hate it when they do that.

Michelle Paver is often recommended, so I bought a few of her books but didn’t find them particularly scary. They are atmospheric but they didn’t unnerve me. I second Shirley Jackson and Susan Hill - wonderful writers. I’ve read (and enjoyed, if that’s the right word given the context!) a lot of Adam G Nevill’s work - quite twisted rather than spooky/ghostly and definitely no happy endings! Mind you, I’m a huge Stephen King fan, so you may not enjoy what I do! Poppy Z Brite is interesting. I used to love picking up second hand horror anthologies - always a quirky gem or two to be found in them. Perhaps you could try that and see if you like any particular authors?

@burblish that’s a good idea. I love Stephen King all the way up to the middle of his novels. He builds up suspense well then I find he gallops off at ridiculous speed and far too much is revealed too early.
Loved insomnia up to a point, was really gripped and then it got silly- well it was always silly - but I could suspend disbelief for a while!

Phil Rickman books (like @Viviennemary mentioned) are good.

He’s written some stand alone novels but has also created the Merrily Watkins series about a CofE vicar who moves to a village on the Welsh border.
They’re creepy and very interesting (if archeology, ancient lore, folk tales, exorcism is your stuff) plus a lot of human interest and good character building. He’s pretty good at writing women too (if I remember correctly) which is often a novelty in the horror/thriller genre.

Happy Halloween!

I really enjoyed Slade House by David Mitchell, House of Clocks supposed to be really good too. YY to Susan Hill and Shirley Jackson. I love Stephen King, but not all books are scary and some of the newer ones are a bit meh.