Here are 14 liminal spaces horror book recommendations for those who just saw “Backrooms” at the movies!
What are liminal spaces?
Liminal spaces are places or states of transition. This may be physical or psychological. Liminal space imagery often depicts this sense of in-betweenness with transitional places such as stairwells, roads, corridors, or hotels.
The House on Abigail Lane by Kealan Patrick Burke
Since its construction in 1956, the house on Abigail Lane has been the site of unexplained disappearances: people vanishing upstairs and leaving behind only eerie traces like a wedding ring, a phone, or an eye. This novella compiles sixty years of eyewitness accounts, news reports, and paranormal investigations.
Lost Highways: Dark Fictions from the Road by D. Alexander Ward
A collection of tales set on the endless, open roads of America. From ghostly hitchhikers to cosmic horrors lurking at remote rest stops.
Wyrd and Other Derelictions by Adam L.G. Nevill
This collection presents a series of eerie, atmospheric tales focused on abandoned spaces where humanity has been wiped out by some catastrophic, unknowable force.
The Way Inn by Will Wiles
Neil Double is a "conference surrogate », a man paid to attend industry events so others don't have to. He encounters a mysterious woman at a motel called The Way Inn. His search for her pulls him into a surrealistic nightmare, revealing disturbing secrets about the hotel and reality itself.
The Grip of It by Jac Jemc
A young couple, Julie and James, escape the city to a cheap suburban house hoping for a fresh start, but the home has other plans. Strange stains crawl across the walls and map themselves onto Julie's body as bruises, hidden rooms multiply… they will have to fight to free themselves from its grip.
The Midnight Knock by John Fram
Eight strangers all running from or hiding something, find themselves stranded together at a remote west Texas motel. Within hours one of them turns up dead. Now the remaining guests must solve the murder before midnight, or face whatever ancient evil lurks in the desert darkness beyond the motel's protective lights.
The Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung
A mysterious research institute houses cursed objects such as a vengeful handkerchief, a haunted sneaker, a confessional cat. The night-shift employee who starts exploring its halls soon discovers why so few colleagues stay for long.
Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill
Apartment 16 is locked and untouched for fifty years in an upscale London building until a night watchman investigates a late-night disturbance and is forever changed by what he finds inside. When a young woman inherits an apartment in the same building and begins digging into her great-aunt's cryptic diary, she uncovers the building’s secrets, with Apartment 16's door serving as a gateway to something far more terrifying.
The Between by Ryan Leslie
While digging in his backyard, Paul Prentice uncovers a mysterious iron door that leads him and his childhood friend Jay into a labyrinth filled with Escher-like rooms, monsters, and a strange connection to an obscure 1980s computer game. Trapped and with their minds slowly warped by the roles they're forced to play, the two friends must survive not only the ancient hunter stalking them from the depths but the growing threat they pose to each other.
I Found a Circus Tent in the Woods Behind My House by Ben Farthing
When a father and his four-year-old son discover a mysterious circus tent in the woods and refuse a strange invitation inside, the tent swallows them whole, plunging them into a terrifying maze of tents populated by eerie performers demanding they put on a show. Dave will have to outsmart the circus's sinister boss and find a way out before it's too late.
The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig 
Twenty years after one of their friends vanishes while climbing a mysterious staircase that appeared in the woods during a camping trip, a group of five high school friends reunites when the staircase reappears.
The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike
A family moves into a seemingly perfect new apartment next to a graveyard, only to discover the longer they stay, the more trapped they become. As terrifying events accumulate and neighbors flee one by one, the couple and their daughter are left alone with something lurking in the basement.
Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall
A year after her sister Becca vanished while searching for the ghost of Lucy Gallows, Sara rallies her skeptical friends to venture into the forest when the mysterious road reappears, the only path to finding Becca. But the road plays by its own deadly rules, and every wrong step summons creatures.
Coup de Grâce by Sofia Ajram
Vickers steps off a Montreal subway intending to end his life, but instead finds himself trapped in an infinite, looping underground station with no exit in sight. As he wanders the labyrinthine hallways, he begins to suspect his imprisonment is no accident.
Liminal spaces have a way of haunting us while making us want to return to them. I hope you've found a book on this reading list that will allow you to continue your journey!
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