Supernatural

On the Supernatural shelf you will find vampires, werewolves, fae and ghosts pressing against the ordinary world, as in Patricia Briggs's Bone Crossed, where Mercy Thompson's shapeshifting and her tangled obligations to a vampire seethe drive a story that keeps its feet in a garage and its teeth in the dark. Karen M. McManus's One of Us Is Next works differently: its threat arrives through a text message and a game of truth or dare, so the dread builds from high school gossip and suspicion rather than from anything with fangs.

Where to Start with Supernatural

Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House strips the ghost story down to a house and four people, and the terror comes from what the characters refuse to say to each other rather than from anything that jumps out. William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist asks for more: it stages a full battle between a girl and something inside her, and the reader is meant to feel every hour of the priests' effort. Jim Butcher's Ghost Story drops Harry Dresden into a murder investigation where the detective is the corpse, so the usual rules of a Dresden case are gone before chapter one. Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House puts a freshman at Yale in the middle of secret societies that trade in the dead, and the appeal is watching an outsider learn the rules fast enough to stay alive.

Supernatural as a Long Commitment

George R. R. Martin's A Storm of Swords is the third volume of a series with no announced end, and its supernatural element arrives through prophecy and resurrection rather than through a monster on the road. Dean Koontz's Brother Odd keeps the series running by moving its hero into a monastery, so the strangeness comes from the setting rather than from a new villain. Ben Aaronovitch's Whispers under ground sends Peter Grant below London, where the city's ghosts and rivers are part of the police work, and the book rewards readers who already know the cast. Christine Feehan's Dark Magic belongs to a long-running sequence about a psychic family, and each volume hands the story to a different brother, so the commitment is to the family rather than to one hero.

Supernatural for Younger Readers

Karen M. McManus's One of Us Is Next continues the story of a group of students who survived a deadly game, and the supernatural pressure here is the sense that the past will not stay buried. V. E. Schwab's Vicious follows two college friends who give themselves powers and then turn on each other, which makes the book a study of rivalry rather than of ghosts. Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children gives its narrator a telepathic connection to every other child born in the same hour, and the book asks the reader to accept that history itself is the supernatural force. Jim Butcher's Changes puts Harry Dresden in a position where he has to choose between his own life and his daughter's, and the book is the one where the series stops being about cases and starts being about consequences.

Where should I start with the Dresden Files?

Jim Butcher's Changes is not the first book in the series, but it is the one where the long story pays off. If you want to see what the series can do at full strength, start there and accept that you will miss some references. Ghost Story picks up right after it, so the two work as a pair.

What is the difference between a haunted house novel and a possession novel?

Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House keeps the threat inside the building and inside the narrator's head. William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist brings the fight into the open, with a victim, a ritual and witnesses. The first asks you to doubt what you read; the second asks you to watch a struggle.

Which supernatural author is best for a younger reader?

Karen M. McManus writes for teenagers and keeps the supernatural element as pressure rather than as gore. V. E. Schwab's Vicious is aimed at older readers but moves fast enough for anyone who likes a rivalry story. Both are shorter commitments than a series like Feehan's.

How long is the Dark series by Christine Feehan?

It is a long sequence, and Dark Magic is one volume within it. Each book follows a different member of the same psychic family, so you can read them out of order without losing the thread. The commitment is to the family rather than to one hero.

What should a newcomer expect from supernatural fiction?

Expect the supernatural to be a rule the characters have to work around, not just a monster. Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House makes those rules the plot, while Ben Aaronovitch's Whispers under ground makes them part of a police procedure. The variety is in how much the book explains and how much it leaves you to guess.