Cosy horror for dark nights

Same nightmares. Different stories.

Book · 1985

The Door to December

A 1985 horror novel by Dean Koontz, first published under the pseudonym Richard Paige.

The Door to December, an After Dark title card
Year
1985
Kind of horror
Psychological

The title alone earns it a place on my shelf. The Door to December sounds like something you should not open after dark, and Dean Koontz rarely disappoints when he goes looking for what waits behind a closed door. It first went out under another name, Richard Paige, which only makes me more curious about it, not less. What was he testing out, hiding behind someone else's byline?

My money is on this one playing the long game, the kind of dread that settles in rather than jumps out at you. That is only my hunch reading the shape of it though, not a promise, so take it as one night-owl's guess rather than a verdict.

Read it somewhere quiet, on a night when you actually want to sit with what you have just read rather than reach for something louder to drown it out. Coffee on, lights low, phone away. This kind of horror rewards patience.

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Book · 1998

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Book · 1974

Carrie

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Book · 2001

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