If you need a scary read to end your TBR, then you’re in luck! I know which horror novel you should read based on your zodiac sign. These book selections dig deep to intimidate each sign, and each one has a deliciously disturbing story to enjoy. Whether you are actually checking your horoscope forecast each week, you like the identity that comes with claiming your zodiac sign, or you are just looking for something scary to read, I have you covered here.
Now, I am not saying that you should build your reading list based only on your books based on your zodiac sign, but it is never a bad idea to add the chosen text to please your specific sign. Even if you do not believe in horoscopes and zodiac signs, you will not regret reading one of the great, scary ones in the list below. And, apparently, there is nothing to prevent the most devoted horoscope reader from checking the books that scare the other zodiacs the most.
Check out the horror novel recommendations based on your zodiac, which I have below for you, and make sure to share your favorite, spine-tingling read with me on Twitter when you’re working!
If you’re an Aries: Beloved by Toni Morrison
Oh, Aries. If there is one thing you hate, it is losing control of your life. You always want to be in charge, and you consider yourself a good leader. But what happens when you make a decision that is completely wrong, and it costs you everything?
If that thought sent a chill down your spine, then you need to pick up Tony Morrison’s loved one. The award-winning novel centers on Seth, a former slave woman who killed her young daughter to prevent her former boss from withdrawing to the South. Now living in Cincinnati in the wake of the Civil War, Sethe suffers from guilt over the death of her daughter, and lives in a house every day suffering from the vengeful spirit of the child, whose gravity “reads”.
If you’re a Taurus: The Cipher by Kathe Koja
Taurus also craves control, but in a very different way than Aries. You want to be safe, and above all you value an economically stable home environment. Anarchy, unpredictability, and things you cannot explain can be more than anything under your skin.
So you need to read Kathe Koja’s The Cipher. In this classic horror novel in translation, Nicholas and Nakota – but again, a couple of young creatives in an off-relationship – discover something strange in the storage room of their run-up apartment building: a black hole. With their lives already on the verge, Nicholas and Nakota embark on a series of experiments to uncover the secrets of dubbing “Funhole”. Nothing is unchanged from that black space, however, as those two will soon learn all too well.
If you’re a Gemini: Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
Jemisin has a terrible reputation for his temperament and flight, but that’s just who they are. If one thing is certain, it is when you are Gemini, and you are never dull in terms of design. Jemisin hates boredom with an intense passion, and they will do anything to avoid it.
If you are a Gemini I just said, then you want to read this book. Poppy Z. Britté’s Exclusive Corpus is one of the most disturbing horror novels I’ve ever seen. The story here centers on two young “actors, Andrew and Jay, whose prevalence draws them to murder. With an unfinished gaze, Brit follows two men as they walk to the object of their passion, Tran, who Lucky, they believe, to be their next victim. The Exclusive Corpus will surprise any Gemini how far they want to go to avoid getting bored.
Also Read: The Book You Should Read Next, According to Your Zodiac Sign
If you’re a Cancer: Dawn by Octavia Butler
The largest house in the Western Zodiac, Cancer is a down-to-earth sign that is afraid to change, abandon and leave its comfort zone. Although his practicality and enjoyment of small things can make it very difficult to scare him, there is one book that will collide with the dreaded high-notes of all cankers.
First published in 1987, Octavia e. Butler’s Dawn discontinues her exogenesis triology. The story here centers on Lilith, one of the last survivors of Earth, who was destroyed by fire centuries ago. She wakes up on an alien ship, far out of the reach of space, where she is brought to live among the Onali – a gender-trident race of aliens who interact with other species to expand their pool of genetic material It holds. Onakali wants to breed with Lilith and the other humans she has rescued from Earth, which may make the aliens habitable again, but will the humans be ready for Onakali hybrid offspring?
If you’re a Leo: Bødy by Asa Nonami
Garib Singh As you are doing, you cannot just be ignored or unwanted. You want to build your identity on society, and you want everyone to know your name. Your confidence and temperament are not terrible traits for dramatics, but they can make it a little easier to scare you.
Asa Nonami’s body horror is not a novel, per se, but it will scare the unmatched out of you, Leo. The stories of this frightening collection in translation take on society’s arrogance and obsession with image. In each, a person who loves or hates a particular aspect of their body goes to some extent to save or fix it – with potentially disastrous results. Not only will you discuss the conclusion of Garimi’s short stories, but you will also sympathize very well with his characters.
If you’re a Virgo: The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff
Virgo is a perfectionist who values order and impeccable performance above all else. As a Virgo, your deepest, deepest fear is that being less than perfect will deny you and will not be worthy of affection. Aren’t you glad I’ve found a horror novel that plays through those deep-seated concerns?
Alexandra Sokoloff’s The Harrowing College is on a group of five college students – Caine, Lisa, Martin, Patrick, and Robin – whose only connection is that they have no family to return home on Thanksgiving break. Left alone on campus as a catastrophic storm strikes the school, students soon realize that they may not be the only institution living at Baird College on break. A sixth figure hunts down the hallway – but what does it want with Baird’s abandoned youth?
Also Read: The Next Book You Should Read, According to Your Zodiac Sign
If You Are a Libra: Elizabeth Hand Wielding Hall
Like many other signs, Libra is afraid of being alone in this world. But the sign is unique in that, apart from being afraid of an unbalanced life that is just so bent, it also deeply worries about the breakup – both romantic and Platonic.
At Elizabeth Hands Welding Hall, a group of former bandmates and their partners have recorded their accounts of the events that surround the recording of the band’s final album. Several years ago, the band rented an English country estate, Titular Wilding Hall, with a history, and traveled together to record what would be their most successful album. Each member walked in, but one of them, frontman Julian Blake, was never seen or heard from again. Now, there are plans to dig up the mystery of Julian’s disappearance in a documentary, but will Welding Hall leave its secrets so easily?
If you’re a Scorpio: You by Caroline Kepnes
Scorpios are a strange bunch, but they just want to be loved like the rest of us. They detest the idea of being betrayed, and so they usually keep it at people’s arm’s length, to keep their secrets to themselves. What is a Scorpio most afraid of, and intimate.
Caroline Capons’ You are heard by Joe Goldberg, a quiet bookstore employee who grows up with one of the shop’s repeat customers. Beck is an aspiring writer who has no reason to believe that running into Joe at the bar is nothing more than a chance. She does not know whether she has researched on her credit card to learn more about the name, or that she has hacked her phone so that she can read all of her texts and emails. Beck cannot see what is happening to her, but the reader knows that it is not beautiful.
If you’re a Sagittarius: Spare Room by Dreda Say Mitchell
You are an independent soul, Sagittarius! Your worst nightmare is not being able to travel the world and do what you want to do. Being free, and being independent, is your top priority.
This is why Dreda Say Mitchell’s spare room will cool you to the core. The story here centers on Lisa, a woman who has gone through her past, who thinks she has made a fresh start when she starts renting a room in the house of a good couple. After Lisa receives a suicide note, which apparently belonged to a former tenant, he falls into a terrible spiral. Her new landlords make it clear that the man who wrote the note was never present, and Lisa is the first person to rent a room with them. As disturbing events begin to occur, the renter begins to worry that whatever happened to the scribe of that note may happen to him.
Also Read: Which Magazine You Should Be Reading Based on Your Zodiac Sign
If you’re a Capricorn: Experimental Film by Gemma Files
As a Capricorn, I can tell you that the number 1 thing is a Capricorn fear failure. We fear that we will never live to our full potential, and we will die small and insignificant without leaving our mark on the world.
In the experimental film by Gemma Files, film-history teacher Lois is a forgotten female director, A.W. Macla discovers a cache of films from Whitcomb, whose mysterious disappearance ends his career. Determined to use Whitcomb’s collection to make a name for herself, Lois begins reviewing films that other women leave behind. But those old films are dark forces to work with, forces that still leave Whitcomb behind, and are now free to hunt down Lois and his family…
If you’re an Aquarius: Rabbits in the Garden by Jessica McHugh
If there is one thing that Kumbh never has to experience, it is just another face in the crowd. A Kumbharam stands outside, and whatever puts an asphalt on it is simply inflexible.
Twelve-year-old Avery Norton loses everything – her lover, her home, and her happy family – when it is revealed that her family’s basement is a cemetery, with a series of events circulating her family’s best-kept secrets. Series. On the murder charge, Avery is sent to live in the Taunton State Lunatic Asylum. He must work hard to prove his innocence – no easy feat, given that the person with whom the crime has been committed is also the person who sent him to Taunton. As she spends more time in the asylum, however, Avery wonders if what they say about her is true.
If you’re a Pisces: Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
Pisces, you are very creative! Like Sagittarius and Aquarius, you just want to be yourself. Whatever gets in that way, whether it is constructive repression, responsibility, or death, fills you with absolute fear.
Samantha Schweblin’s Fever Dream opens with Amanda, a woman dying in a remote, Argentine hospital, with only a strange boy named David. As he begins to interrogate her that he has killed her, a terrible story unfolds. David wants to hear Amanda’s story, but he already knows: A folk doctor drains half of his soul to save his life from a water treatment. Her stories are woefully and unbreakably juxtaposed, as it turns out, and as Amanda weaves her story, guided by David’s insistent, pointed questions, it becomes clear that someone – or something – responsible for their illnesses.