Friday, August 14, 2026

Ten chilling slasher novels

Alaina Urquhart is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Dr. Wren Muller series which has been published internationally in over twenty languages. When she isn’t writing, she is also the cohost of the chart-topping podcast Morbid, and an autopsy technician by trade.

The latest Dr. Wren Muller novel is The Butcher Legacy.

At People magazine Urquhart tagged ten "summer slashers [that] are meant to be read with the porch light on." One title on the list:
Slasher Summer by E.L. Chen

This is the newest entry into my favorite summer slasher reads and it delivers at every turn. Slasher Summer follows a group of seven friends (with real Midnight Society vibes) reuniting in their sleepy, lakeside hometown of Cedar Lake Falls. The reunion takes place at a secluded cabin in the woods that served as the primary filming location for the cult classic horror flick, Slasher. With a setting like that, nothing could go wrong, right? Wrong.

A masked killer crashes their reunion and the campy, slasher energy flows right in with them. It’s fast-paced, tense and includes nods to some of the best slasher films we all know and love. With Slasher Summer, E.L. Chen has made a self-aware homage to the genre that you should read with the light on.
Read about the other novels on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue