Books like All the lovely bad ones

A deliciously spooky descent from playful summer pranks into a chilling confrontation with a tragic, restless past. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with All the lovely bad ones.

chilling
atmospheric
dread-tinged
cozy-yet-creepy

01
The old Willis place
Mary Downing Hahn
A chilling, atmospheric ghost story where the desperate need for friendship collides with the terrifying consequences of unearthing buried secrets.
Shares:
- chilling
- atmospheric
- suspenseful
- earnest
02
Wait till Helen comes
Mary Downing Hahn
A chilling, atmospheric ghost story that weaves the very real anxieties of a blended family into a tale of creeping supernatural dread.
Shares:
- chilling
- atmospheric
- suspenseful
- earnest
03
Bad Girls Don't Die
Katie Alender · 2009
A snarky, fast-paced descent into suburban horror where high school angst collides with genuine supernatural dread.
Shares:
- chilling
- suspenseful
04
The dead girls of Hysteria Hall
Katie Alender
A creepy, atmospheric thriller that channels the rebellious spirit of girls who were locked away for being too strong-willed.
Shares:
- atmospheric
- suspenseful
- eerie
05
Down a Dark Hall
Lois Duncan · 1974
A claustrophobic gothic mystery that wraps you in the suffocating dread of an isolated boarding school harboring dark, supernatural secrets.
Shares:
- suspenseful
- earnest
- eerie
06
The ghost sitter
Peni R. Griffin · 2001
A sunlit summer vacation slowly gives way to a gentle, spine-tingling mystery about the ghosts we leave behind.
Shares:
- suspenseful
- earnest
- eerie
07
House Next Door
Richie Tankersley Cusick · 2002
A delightfully eerie blend of vintage teen horror and tragic supernatural romance.
Shares:
- atmospheric
- dread-tinged
- suspenseful
- earnest
08
Silverhill
Phyllis A. Whitney
A brooding gothic mystery where a haunted estate and twisted family secrets blur the line between reality and illusion.
Shares:
- atmospheric
- suspenseful
- eerie
09
The Bell Bandit
Davies, Jacqueline
A gentle, wintry mystery that wraps a poignant exploration of family changes inside a satisfying neighborhood whodunit.
Shares:
- earnest
10
Doll bones
Holly Black
A chilling, autumnal road trip that captures the bittersweet, terrifying threshold between childhood imagination and adolescent reality.
Shares:
- earnest
- eerie
11
The hollow skull
Christopher Pike
A pulpy, paranoid descent into small-town horror where the people you love are replaced by something deeply wrong.
Shares:
- eerie
12
Down among the sticks and bones
Seanan McGuire
A dark, lyrical fairy tale about the monstrous expectations placed on little girls and the terrifying, beautiful worlds they escape to.
Shares:
- eerie

Back to All the lovely bad ones