Disclaimer: Some links in this book list for horror books with Caribbean representation are affiliate links. If you click them to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. Whether or not you make a purchase is entirely up to you.
Here are a few book recommendations for horror lovers who want to add Caribbean representation to their bookshelves. This list will also include sci-fi and speculative fiction with horror elements.
1. The Summer I Ate the Rich by Maika and Maritza Moulite
The Florida-born Moulite sisters bring their Haitian culture to the forefront with a story that takes inspiration from the origins of zombie lore. Desperate to care for their ailing mother, Brielle Petitfour uses her cooking talent to make the money she and her sister need to do so. Her secret ingredient? Human flesh.
2. Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer by Jamie Figueroa
At their mother’s passing, Rafa and Rufina spend a final weekend in their childhood home in the tourist town of Ciudad de Tres Hermanas. Reckoning with intergenerational and ancestral trauma while their mother’s ghost haunts them, the siblings make a plan to earn enough money performing for tourists to afford a plane ticket out.
3. Honeysuckle and Bone by Trisha Tobias
Teenager Carina Marshall takes on the job of nanny for an elite family on a Jamaican estate as she runs from her own dark secrets. As she looks to reinvent herself, her mother’s homeland offers the perfect escape with a gig as an au pair for a wealthy and powerful family. But she soon finds that even paradise has its hauntings.
4. House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias
Childhood friends Gabe, Xavier, Tavo, Paul, and Bimbo have always been surrounded by death and ghosts. But when Bimbo’s mom gets shot, he and his friends agree to kill the man who killed her. As Bimbo becomes unrecognizable and with the backdrop of a pending hurricane, this group of friends contends with blurring the lines between myth, mysticism, and the real world.
5. Tentacle by Rita Indiana, Translated by Achy Obejas
Pulled from the post-apocalyptic streets of Santo Domingo, young maid Acilde Figueroa finds herself at the forefront of a voodoo prophecy. She is the only one who can travel back in time to save the ocean and humanity from disaster. But she must first find a sacred anemone to help her become the man she always was. This novel delves into questions about climate change, sex, Yoruba rituals, queer politics, and much more.
6. Five Midnights by Ann Dávila Cardinal
I have reviewed this one in depth here, but the first in this duology sets the scene for classic Puerto Rican lore. Lupe Dávila arrives on the island to spend the summer with her uncle, the chief of police investigating strange murders in their neighborhood. A monster they thought didn’t really exist hunts Javier Utierre and his friends. Lupe and Javier, who cannot stand each other, must team up to solve the mystery and save Javier and his friends’ lives.
Find these horror books with Caribbean representation here!