Belardes, Nicholas. The Deading. Erewhon. Jul. 2024. 304p. ISBN 9781645661290. $27. HORROR

Belardes debuts with a dystopian zombie tale of ecological horror. In a small fishing town, sea snails infect wildlife and eventually people, who start dying and then rising again—but changed. With the town quarantined by the government, the residents will have to figure out how to survive the infection and the Risers.

Jones, Stephen Graham. I Was a Teenage Slasher. Saga. Jul. 2024. 384p. ISBN 9781668022245. $27.99. HORROR

In 1989, in a small town in Texas, teenager Tolly Driver is a good kid. However, he is about to be cursed to kill for revenge. Best-selling and award-winning Jones (The Angel of Indian Lake) writes a slasher story with a twist—from the perspective of the slasher, Tolly.

Patterson, James & J.D. Barker. Confessions of the Dead: Who Can Solve the Mystery of Cemetery Lake? Grand Central. Jul. 2024. 464p. ISBN 9781538758922. pap. $19.99. HORROR

In a picturesque New Hampshire town with a nonexistent crime rate, a mysterious stranger shows up, and then officers are called to multiple crime scenes, which lead them to a lake that doesn’t appear on any map. Best-selling Patterson and collaborator Barker team up again after Death of a Black Widow. With a 250K-copy first printing.

Query, Matt & Harrison Query. Wilderness Reform. Atria/Emily Bestler. Jul. 2024. 352p. ISBN 9781668024133. $27.99. HORROR

The Query brothers (Old Country) return with a survival horror story. Teenager Ben is sent to a wilderness camp reform school in Montana, where the counselors are too friendly—and slightly menacing. Ben and his cabinmates pool their skills to unearth the truth and try to make it out alive.

Tingle, Chuck. Bury Your Gays. Tor Nightfire. Jul. 2024. 304p. ISBN 9781250874658. $26.99. HORROR

Tingle follows his LJ Best Book Camp Damascus with a Hollywood-set horror. TV producer Misha is finally getting award attention, but the studio execs want him to kill off the gay characters in his streaming series for the season finale. He refuses and now has a target on his back—and the monsters from his horror movie days are stalking him. With a 150K-copy first printing.

Trías, Fernanda. Pink Slime. Scribner. Jul. 2024. 240p. tr. from Spanish by Heather Cleary. ISBN 9781668049778. $24. HORROR

Award-winning Uruguayan author Trías makes her U.S. English-language debut with a novel that was one of NYT’s best books in Spanish in 2020. A city is ravaged by a mysterious plague, an algae bloom poisons the air, and the only food is a revolting pink paste. Amid this, a woman tries to survive and care for those who depend on her.

Winning, Josh. Heads Will Roll. Putnam. Jul. 2024. 368p. ISBN 9780593544693. $29. HORROR

In the latest from Winning (Burn the Negative), TV star Willow damages her reputation and is sent to regroup at Camp Castaway, a summer camp for adults. Things seem fine until one of the campers disappears, and Willow finds a mutilated doll in her room with a threatening message. Then campers begin to lose their heads—literally.