Backrooms Reading List: 5 Must-Read Liminal Horror Novels
With Kane Parsons’ film breaking box-office records, we’ve selected five books to read after watching Backrooms
by George Dunn 2 June 2026
A24
From misty moors to deep space, from uncharted islands to hell itself, the horror genre has explored just about everywhere you can imagine, and has trickled down into those in-between places too. Yes, the concept of liminality has slipped its academic leash and wandered into mainstream media, and the horror genre, ever opportunistic, has welcomed it with open arms.
Coup de Grâce by Sofia Ajram
Titan Books
Coup de Grâce (2024) is an ambitious, meta, labyrinthine novella that will leave you utterly devastated. We meet our protagonist, Vicken, on the subway — a suicidal man en route to throw himself into the Saint Lawrence River. But when he disembarks, he finds himself in a brutalist, shifting station that he can’t quite seem to find his way out of. Lynch meets Dante in this outrageously clever and emotionally punishing debut.
A Short Stay In Hell by Stephen L. Peck
Strange Violin
A TikTok sensation running at a lean 108 pages, Peck’s 2012 novel follows a recently deceased Mormon named Soren. In spite of his faith, he finds himself deposited into an infinite library, a hell that he can escape should he find his own life story amidst the endless volumes stored there. This triggered a small but persistent existential crisis in this reader, from which I have only just recovered.
The Cipher by Kathe Koja
Dell Books
Since being published in 1991, Koja’s The Cipher remains one of the most profoundly queasy novels that money can buy. It follows a spectacularly loathsome couple, Nicholas and Nakota, who discover what they term “The Funhole” in a storage room. They experiment, offering it insects and small animals, but after curiosity becomes obsession, Nicholas decides to stick his hand in. Not a great idea.
Rest Stop by Nat Cassidy
Shortwave Publishing
Cassidy’s 2024 novella, now being republished as a part of his collection I Know A Place (alongside an introduction by Stephen King), is largely set in a gas station bathroom. Can you get more liminal? Our protagonist Abe is locked in this smelly, damp, meta purgatory, subjected to occasional animal attacks and the persistent assault of his own thoughts. This is a grotesque, fun ride.
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
Canongate
Hall’s 2007 book is not always classed as a horror novel — something I would dispute on the basis that it terrified me endlessly. It follows an amnesiac named Eric, who is armed only with instructions from his former self that tell him: this has happened before, he should locate Dr Randle, and he must navigate a liminal dimension known as “Unspace”. Not to mention, he’s being hunted by a personality-eating entity known as a conceptual shark. It’s inventive and haunting and does not take it easy on the brain.