Horror Books Featuring Monstrous Mothers Guaranteed to Terrify You

Being a mother is a tireless and thankless job—especially in those first few years. Sleepless nights, temper tantrums, a husband who travels and is rarely home. What happened to the artist? The woman? Perhaps she simply needs to transform.

Growing sharper teeth, more hair, and a ravenous new appetite. Nightbitch explores how women lose themselves to motherhood through one woman who redefines herself.

Mothers are meant to nurture and protect. And when they do the opposite, the pain they can inflict is absolutely devastating.

No one knows that better than Flora. She hasn’t spoken to her own mother in years. But when her newborn arrives early and her husband is still deployed, Flora is drowning. When her mother appears on her doorstep, she thinks perhaps this is the perfect opportunity to reconcile. Except things only get stranger and Flora’s grasp on reality continues to fracture, causing her to wonder exactly who her mother is and what she invited into her home.

Having to move back home is a nightmare most adults would rather never face. But when Grace loses her job in the middle of the pandemic, her mother Jackie offers salvation. She isn’t a failure if her mother moves in with her, right? But as the pressure of isolation presses in around them, the secrets both Grace and Jackie keep threaten to break them both. There’s a reason Grace isn’t close to Jackie. And by the time Grace remembers the truth, it might be too late.

It’s practically a cliché to include a mother-in-law in this list, but Laura Lamb is worthy. Paranoid, cruel, and malicious, it’s no tragedy when she takes her own life. But instead of freeing Abigail and Ralph, Laura haunts them, driving Ralph into a deep depression. As Abigail spirals in an entirely different direction and obsesses about becoming a mother herself, we’re forced to face a horrifying truth: when trauma isn’t dealt with, it will always repeat.

Not every woman goes into motherhood calmly and confidently. Especially when there is the lingering trauma of their own turbulent relationship with their mother tainting the experience. Blythe Conner didn’t grow up in the warm and loving arms of her mother. It’s why she’s determined to be the mother she never had to her own daughter. But Violet seems to reject Blythe from the start, seeding a deep fear that there’s something wrong with Violet, Blythe, or worse, both of them. Is she imagining things? Or maybe Blythe just needs to try again with a new baby.

No one influences how we see ourselves more than our mothers. They teach girls how to be women, often inflicting their own insecurities and vanities on their daughters. That’s exactly what Noelle did to Belle, implanting an obsession with skincare deep in her. But when Noelle dies, Belle is lured into the same cult-like spa Noelle was devoted to. Noelle always taught Belle looks are important. She never told her they might actually kill.

Not every woman becomes a mother willingly. Eva certainly didn’t. It doesn’t help that the little boy she raised was always cold and indifferent. So, when he ended up murdering seven of his fellow high school students, Eva was the only one who wasn’t surprised. But two years after that horrific day, Eva is forced to reckon with the truth and face the disturbing reality that perhaps she played a direct role in that terrible tragedy.