Books Like Stranger Things
Here’s a list of Books Like Stranger Things while we wait for Stranger Things Season 5, which is coming soon! Enjoy these nostalgic supernatural stories with themes of friendship and growing up.
BOOKS LIKE STRANGER THINGS
NEW BOOKS LIKE STRANGER THINGS
A Spell to Wake the Dead by Nicole Lesperance
- Two teen girls are dabbling in the occult
- One night one the beach, they discover a woman’s body
- They evade the police, dabble in the dark arts to try to solve the crime, and put themselves into danger
- Themes of friendship and dark paranormal forces.
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
- Alice’s grandmother wrote a cult collection of dark fairy tales about the Hinterland
- Someone from the Hinterland steals Alice’s mother
- Alice and her classmate Ellery must venture to the Hinterland
- A New York Times bestseller!
My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
- In 1988, best friends Abby and Gretchen go skinny dipping
- After that, Gretchen just isn’t herself
- Is their friendship strong enough to fight evil?
- 1980s setting and friendship themes!
Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson
- Set in 1980s Niagara Falls
- Jake and two siblings start a ghost club
- This fun project turns super spooky
- Retro setting and a fun premise
Empty Heaven by Freddie Kölsch
- Queer found family
- New England small town setting
- Folk horror harvest ritual
ADULT BOOKS LIKE STRANGER THINGS
The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
- A vacation thriller combined with folk horror
- A luxury resort opened in a hostile town
- A mysterious group called The Birds
- Friends with secrets (in the past narrative)
- References Midsommar, a Swedish folk horror movie
The Gathering by CJ Tudor
- An alt-history vampire story set in a remote Alaskan mining town
- A special investigator from Forensic Vampyr Anthropology Department arrives to investigate a grisly murder and any possible vampire involvement
- True Detective: Season Four meets True Blood
A Step Past Darkness by Vera Kurian
- Friend group with secrets
- Past present timeline set in Wesley Falls
- Six classmates who witnessed a terrible crime in the summer 1995
- Parnormal elements
The Reaping by Jess Lourey
- Finnish folklore
- Creepy going-on in an isolated Northern Minnesota town
- A sanitorium/nursing home for killers
YA BOOKS LIKE STRANGER THINGS
Dead Flip by Sara Farizan
- Three middle school friends addicted to the arcade
- Five years later, in 1992, one of them is missing.
- When he returns and is still age twelve, what happened?
Imagining Elsewhere by Sara Hosey
- 1980s setting
- The creepy town of Elsewhere
- Supernatural elements
- Themes of friendship + a retro setting
Direwood by Catherine Yu
- 1990s horror
- A woman’s older sister goes missing.
- At the same time, a creepy string of paranormal events strikes their small town.
- A seductive vampire
Small Town Monsters by Diana Rodriguez Wallach
- Girl with demonologist parents
- Creepy small town
- What happened to Maxwell’s father
- Is the same dark force taking his mother too?
Mayhem by Estelle Laure
- 1987 setting
- Roxy and her mother have fled to a small beach town
- Matrilineal magic
- Who is kidnapping girls from the beach?
The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee
- Genie Lo’s hometown just came under siege by a hell spawn
- Quentin, a cute new transfer student, is actually a mythological Chinese hero
- Super cute YA book with some romance and a Buffy the Vampire Slayer feel!
Other posts you might enjoy:
Books to Read if You Love Wednesday on Netflix!
Do you have other books to add to my list? Are you excited about the new Season of Stranger Things! Talk to me in comments!
