I love it when friendship takes center stage in horror books. The traumatic events that characters typically encounter in horror stories are not only slightly less terrifying when faced with a friend, but can also serve to solidify a budding friendship in a trial-by-fire kind of way.
My favorite book of all time, Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962), leans into the theme of friendship, but Jim Nightshade and Will Halloway will be sitting this list out because I’m going to focus specifically on female friendships. Whether you’re looking for teenage or adult characters, frenemies or BFFs, a pair or a group—I’ve got a recommendation, so slip on that friendship bracelet and let’s get to the books!
Dread Nation (2018) by Justina Ireland
Does a story about Black teenage best friends killing zombies in post-Civil War America sound good to you? If so, Dread Nation is the book for you. In this alternative history tale, the Civil War ended when the slain soldiers on the Gettysburg battlefield started getting up to attack the living. Main character Jane—born just two days before the dead began to rise—is on the cusp of graduating from Miss Preston’s School of Combat, where for the past few years she’s been training to protect wealthy white people from the shamblers.
While Jane’s strict teachers can be irritating, the real thorn in her side is fellow trainee Katherine—a prim and proper girl who can pass as white. But Jane and Katherine are suddenly thrown together when they get caught up in a conspiracy.
The enemies-to-friends arc that Jane and Katherine experience is the emotional center of the story for me. Their friendship makes them both better people, forcing them to confront their own prejudices. Plus, they’re both badasses who are experts with scythes, sickles, and rifles—which, as well as being necessary for survival in this zombie-plagued America, is just straight-up cool.
My Best Friend’s Exorcism (2016) by Grady Hendrix
If you want to read about a teenage friend duo in a classic high school setting, then My Best Friend’s Exorcism is the way to go. Set during the 1980s, Abby and Gretchen have been BFFs ever since they bonded at Abby’s E.T.-themed 10th birthday party. They’re now sophomores in high school and one night they decide to try LSD, but then Gretchen goes missing in the woods. When she comes back the next morning she seems… different.
While many would chalk Gretchen’s new mean girl attitude and weird behavior up to a bad trip and raging teenage hormones, Abby knows better—she knows that her friend has actually been possessed by a demon. But not even an entity from hell can get between two teenage girls who love and trust one each other.
There is definitely horror in My Best Friend’s Exorcism—it features a a demon, after all—but it’s all told with a hilariously campy tone that adds levity to even the most the dire situations.
Hendrix’s The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (2020) similarly focuses on female friendship, but this time the story follows a group of Southern suburban moms. I mean, who else could you trust to slay a vampire with you?
American Ghoul (2024) by Michelle McGill-Vargas
American Ghoul is part buddy comedy and part vampire horror. Set during the Reconstruction era in America, narrator Lavinia has recently broken free from the bonds of slavery, but now she’s in jail for the murder of a white woman called Simone. She maintains that she “can’t kill somebody who’s already dead” and tells her jailer the story of how she got mixed up with Simone, who happens to be a vampire (hence Lavinia’s “already dead” defense).
Lavinia and Simone were never a natural fit as friends, but are thrown together due to their precarious situations and shared desire to get out of the South. They become traveling companions, but Lavinia is also essentially forced to become Simone’s familiar—a tough task, considering Simone’s lack of restraint when it comes to her blood lust and Lavinia’s desire to hold onto some semblance of morality.
Lavinia and Simone often border on being frenemies. They both have strong personalities, which leads to frequent clashing—but they’re also all the other has, which cements their bond early on.
Survivor Song (2020) by Paul Tremblay
Survivor Song starts with a rabies-like disease spreading in Massachusetts. Infected people become violent and bite-y in just a few hours, essentially turning them into zombies.
Eight-months-pregnant Natalie and her husband Paul are discussing whether to try and flee the state when they’re attacked by an infected neighbor. Paul is killed in the ensuing struggle and Natalie is bitten, leaving her desperate to get a vaccine before succumbing to the symptoms. She turns to her best friend, Ramola—a cool, calm, and collected pediatrician—for help, and the two of them try to get to a hospital while chaos consumes the state.
Survivor Song doesn’t really offer gory zombie-killing action in the style of The Walking Dead (or Dread Nation, as mentioned above!). Instead, it’s more of a character study—albeit a very tense one—focused on Ramola and Natalie and the deep friendship they share. The narrative feels far more grounded than it does in most zombie stories, but I think that only serves to make it scary in a horribly realistic way.
Teenage friendships can feel incredibly intense, but also kind of fragile; by contrast, the bond that 30-something Ramola and Natalie have developed over the years is unwaveringly solid and dependable.
House of Hunger (2022) by Alexis Henderson
Gothic sapphic vampires have been popular ever since J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla hit the scene in 1872, and Alexis Henderson’s House of Hunger is a worthy addition to the subgenre, despite not actually containing any actual vampires.
Marion is barely an adult and barely getting by. She’s trying to support both herself and her drug-addicted brother on a meager salary when she sees an advert to become a bloodmaid at the wealthy House of Hunger. She jumps at the chance to escape. All she has to do is bleed a little—well, sometimes a lot—for Countess Lisavet Bathory, who technically isn’t a vampire, but sure drinks enough blood to count as an honorary one. The rest of the time Marion gets to live a life of luxury—hedonistic parties, fancy dresses, rich food—but this is a horror novel, so of course there’s a hidden dark side to the gig.
Marion doesn’t initially get along with the other bloodmaids, which is no wonder when there’s stiff competition to be the favored First Bloodmaid, a position currently occupied by Cecilia. But the other girls—Irene, twins Evie and Elize, and young ward Mae (who isn’t yet old enough to give blood)—eventually warm to her.
The closed world of the House of Hunger is certainly opulent, but it’s also ruthless, and the bloodmaids eventually realize that they’re better off treating each other with compassion, rather than fiercely competing against one another.
Feel free to gush about your own favorite friendships between women in horror in the comments below, as there are plenty that I didn’t have a chance to mention here. And if you’re looking for female friendships in SFF, check out this list!
