The Bad Place

Frank Pollard keeps losing his nights. He wakes with no idea where he has been, sometimes injured, sometimes holding something he cannot explain. Private investigators Bobby and Julie Dakota take on the job of finding out what happens during those missing hours. That is already an awful thought: having to ask strangers to tell you what you did yesterday.

The fear begins with Frank’s lack of control over his own life. It grows as the investigation points towards family secrets and experiments involving people. This is the sort of story where an ordinary question, “Where did I go?”, becomes less comforting each time someone gets closer to an answer. There is suspense and action alongside the horror, so it has more urgency than a quiet, creeping ghost story. I would call it a four for scares: the injuries and blackouts are unsettling, and the threat reaches beyond one man’s missing memory.

Pick this for a night when you want a mystery to pull you along but still want to feel uneasy when the room goes quiet. The private investigator thread gives you a way into the strange parts, while the questions about identity and the misuse of science give them some weight. A cosy chair seems reasonable. Keeping one lamp on seems even more reasonable.