Horror is the genre of October. It is the star of the show. And this genre is no stranger to tropes, just like every genre. Tropes in horror books can be done well, and they can be done poorly, it is all up to the author. And sometimes, tropes are just bad.
My all-time least favorite trope is instalove. I am a slow burn fan, take all the time you need! So as soon as I see an instalove relationship in a book, I know I will be rating it three stars… or less.
But there are also tropes in fiction that I love. I am not afraid to say that I will pick up books based on tropes. Enemies to lovers, consider it added to my TBR. Found family, I have already purchased the book. Kowing the tropes of a book is a huge indicator of whether I will like it or not.
Although tropes can get a little spoilery sometimes, and I also love going into books with no idea whatsoever of what I’m about to read. It’s a fine line I am living on. I am a very complicated person.
What is a Trope?
The definition of the word, “trope” has shifted a little, especially due to the bookish internet community. However, I am not a stickler to the dictionary, so I am using the word with the warped definition that has developed over the years of book blogs, booktubes, bookstagrams, and now book toks. Words and their definitions change all the time, ask the experts.
So, for the purposes of this post, a trope is a plot point, character, setting, or relationship that has been used multiple times in fiction to relay a message. That message can be the tone of a story, the mood of a character, and so much more. There are multiple occurrences of this literary device in whatever genre it belongs to.
Tropes in horror books are unique. This genre has a whole set of tropes all to itself. That is true for most genres, but you can add a romance trope to a horror book but you can’t add a horror trope to a romance book. That’s all I’m saying.
Tropes in Horror Books That I Love
Now that I have laid out the definition of a trope that I am using for this post, let’s talk about some of my favorite tropes in horror books:
- Final Girl Trope: I mean, it would be a pretty pointless book if no one survivd the night, right? I love this trope because it is a classic. It has been used in some of the earliest horror stories. It is also comforting to know that despite the best efforts of the villian, ghost, or murderer, someone is going to survive.
- The Haunted House Trope: As soon as I know that a book is going to feature a haunted house, I am all in. I have a fasination with the lore of ghosts, and I have always found haunted house stories to be the most fun to consume. Writers can get very atmospheric when writing these stories, which I love.
- The “I thought you were my friend” Trope: This is used so often in horror books that once you have read enough, you can guess when this is happening. But it is still a lot of fun, and when a writer does it so well that I didn’t guess it from the beginning, it is some prime reading material. Obviously I won’t be giving any recommendations for this trope…
- The Creepy Summer Camp Trope: I am currently watching the “1984” season of American Horror Story, so this one is fresh in my mind. But I love a book about a creepy summer camp! There is so much an author can do with this setting. So much creepy factor.
- The “I thought it was ghosts, turns out it was humans” Trope: This one is always fun because I rarely guess the ending. I think I’m going to to a ghost story and in the end, find out it was evil people all along. This trope bamboozles me a lot. Also, I’m definitely no recommendations for this trope as well.
- The Home Invasion Trope: You see this one a lot with slasher type books, and I find this trope incredibly scary. It is so real, and can happen to anyone, and it really freaks me out late at night. Which is why it’s so fun to read!
- The Slasher Trope: Most of us have heard of or seen a slasher movie. Scream or The Strangers are fantastic examples of this trope. It involves murderer going on a killing spree, murdering multiple people, and it usually leads to the final girl trope.
- The Creepy Hotel Trope: This is one of the most used tropes, it seems, especially in the film industry. A couple examples I can think of are The Shining and Psycho. I love this trope becsause I just think hotels and motels are spooky in general. Thinking about all the people that stayed there before me freaks me out a bit.
Horror Book Recommendations Based on Tropes
Alright, let’s get to some recommendations. I can’t select a book for each of the tropes I mentioned above because that would come with some pretty big spoilers. So I’ll stick with the basics for these recommendations.
The Haunted House Trope
In Horrid by Katrina Leno, Jane moves into her grandma’s old house and quickly starts to hear noises and see weird things. This story is your classic haunted house book, with a huge creepy house, creaking floors, and objects moving by themself. With such a strong atmospheric tone, you will love this book if you love ghosts.
The Final Girl Trope
Talk about playing with tropes with this book! Twisting tropes around is one of my favorite things authors do, changing them into something completely new and surprising. Final Girls by Riley Sager is about Quincy, who is a final girl. She survived a mass murder when she was younger and now she has to figure out how to continue living her life, with support from other final girls. But what happens when people start killing all the final girls one by one? Will there be a final final girl?
The Slasher Trope
There’s Someone in Your House by Stephanie Perkins is a great example of the slasher trope in fiction. In this story, Makani moves to a new town, and students from her new school are starting to show up dead. This leaves the town on edge, everyone looking over their shoulders. Netflix has also adapted this story into a movie, which was really well done! I really enjoyed this film.
The Home Invasion Trope
Home invasion stories are by far the most terrifying. These are the stories that make me scared when I hear a bump in the night, not ghosts. I haven’t actually read this book yet, but I have it on my TBR. The Need by Helen Phillips is about a mother who is home with her children when she starts hearing noises. She soon comes face to face with an intruder who knows a lot about her family. This book sounds so creepy and so tense, which I love. This story has the classic home invasion trope, so let’s hope it is well done.
The Creepy Hotel Trope
The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James takes place at a creepy motel. Viv works the graveyard shift and starts to experience some really spooky things. I am not sure if you would even be able to pay me to work a graveyard shift at a creepy motel in the middle of nowhere. It would have to be a lot of money because this story is spooky!
Tropes in horror books are so much fun when they are done well. I especially love when authors play with the tropes of a genre, creating something brand new and exciting. Especially in horror, which is already an exciting genre.
You can check out some more horror/thriller book recommendations by clicking here.
Let me know in the comments below what your favorite horror trope is! And give me some more recommendations! I am trying to read books from as many tropes as I can.
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