Dead Power, Forty-Foot Predators, and Something in the Basement

by Charles Welch

A blinding flash kills the power and every vehicle at a Colorado mountain cabin, and then something inhuman shows up while Mike and Hattie's daughter is missing. One reviewer compared it to Hunter Shea's Creature, and another liked that the leads are an older, still-in-love couple in their 50s, which is rare in this genre. It's sitting at 3.87 with over 300 ratings, and a reader called it bleak but nice, so go in expecting a sad, tense hike and not a romp.

“I’ve been reading so many new authors lately and having a blast. This made me reminiscent of Hunter Shea’s Creature (Another great book!), but there was no sasquatch here. No, we got something much, much worse. And on a bigger scale. Oh yeah, you’re curious now. But I ain’t spoiling a thing. Almost...”

by Nora Penn

This is the one that surprised me. A jungle lab loses power, the predators built from ancient DNA get loose, and one is forty feet tall, so a war correspondent, a young soldier and a barefoot tracker have to sneak to the last evacuation point in a single night. It has the highest rating on the list at 4.43, and reviewers keep praising the character work, not just the dinosaur chaos. The don't-run, one-silent-step setup sounds like it would be great for tension.

“Really, Surprisingly Good! Last Dispatch is a highly enjoyable dinosaur/creature survival thriller about a classified military operation that went horribly awry. The writing is excellent, especially for the genre. The characters are complicated, dynamic and self sacrificing. The plot is well...”

by Brandon Faircloth

Twenty-four stories set in Brandon Faircloth's interconnected horror universe, so it's a good pick if you like dipping in and out at bedtime. The blurb promises you'll be terrified and moved, and warns you about quiet scratching outside your window. It has a 4.03 from 134 readers but no written reviews yet, so I can't tell you much more than that. For free, that's an easy gamble.

by Evan Leikam

Travis is fresh off a breakup and stuck in a dead-end job, so he helps his friend Richard clean out his grandpa's house in remote Central Oregon. Something is waiting in the basement, of course. Readers call it short and easy to follow with a complete story, and one said they wouldn't have minded more. It's at 3.92 with just under 90 ratings, and it's a solid choice for a single evening.

“ALC provided by Podium Entertainment This was short, easy to follow, and while the story felt complete, I honestly wouldn’t have minded getting more. While this is horror, what stood out to me most were the relationships between the characters. There was a surprisingly sad and emotional side to the...”

by Jonathan Maas

A quick novella pitched as a Halloween hangover read, about something under the soil that's worse than the undead. It's the lowest rated here at 3.49 with 111 ratings, and there are no reviews to lean on, so treat it as a maybe. If you want something you can finish in one sitting and don't mind a gamble, it might scratch that itch. One catch: the free window listed for it was October 29 to November 2.

by Victoria Dougherty

The first in the Appalachian Moon Witch Chronicles follows Twila, a young poet who moves to Sibyl Springs, Virginia, the town her mother fled, and learns the moon has chosen her. Something on vulture wings is hunting what the moon chooses. Readers mention witches, werewolves and a mystery around her family, and it's rated 4.06 by about 50 people. If you like T. Kingfisher or Patricia Briggs, as the blurb suggests, this is worth a look.

“A young poet discovers a world full of secrets, witches and werwolves. I did like the mystery around the main character family and she learning to master her moon witch powers. I just did not fully belive in the love story, we know so little about their past history and we should convice that they...”