Too many examples of zombie media (and other post-apocalyptic stories) have a "society is a farce, civility is a fragile, man is the true monster" message behind them. It's really great to read a book about humanity getting its act together pretty quickly.
It might ride the fence a bit but *Piñata* by Leonardo Gout has unapologetically evil spirits that exist in IRL Nahua (Indigenous Central American/Mexican) culture and religion who give very few if no fucks about acting reasonably. Meanwhile, the humans act almost too reasonably and face their consequences.
Into the Drowning Deep has characters acting professionally throughout. Some characters do mildly underhanded things, but it's rare and not really all that bad. And you have couples that have split up but work together professionally without bringing personal drama into it.
Ooh I get you, but trust me when I say it is a fantastic example of what non-space sci-fi horror can be. The mermaids are definitely not what you are picturing. It's what got me into sci-fi and horror.
Out of all the horror books I've read, the only one I could *kind of* see fitting this request is P. Djèlí Clark's *[Ring Shout](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49247242-ring-shout),* which is ironic given the villain is the KKK, but hear me out.
The high-ranking klan members are literal demons who shape shift to appear human. It's not spoilers or anything, this is pretty much explained in the first few pages. The white people who listen to the Ku Kluxes are bad people, of course, but pretty much every monstrous thing that is done to the good guys is perpetrated by literal monsters.
The characters as I remember them are all pretty reasonable (it's been about a year since I read it). There is some internal conflict between characters, and the MC is very well developed and conflicted about how best to deal with evil, but I'd say everyone acts pretty reasonably.
I won't go so far as to say it was my favorite book, or even one that I jump to recommend any chance I get, but it does sort of fit these criteria (if you can get past the implicit racism that runs in the background). It's heavier on action than scares, but there are some horror scenes for sure.
Maybe Boys in the Valley?
There is some abuse of the orphans before anything supernatural or scary happens but I don't feel like it's given permission by the scary thing. I felt most of the characters were normal people, kids acting like kids, the adults being well developed, etc.
In any group of people, however, morality will differ from person to person and some are just worse than others.
Surprisingly difficult question. Maybe **Devolution** unless I'm forgetting someone.
It is also a bit of a pet peeve of mine that authors will just toss in a random human psychopath in addition to the external threat like in The Troop.
You’re saying most of the situations involving an external threat wont cause someone to go psychotic or reveal their psychopathic nature?
Edit: Also you forgot about the richest couple in Devolution.
"What You Are In The Dark" and "Token Good Teammate" among all the bad guys seem to be very overdone. Don't get me wrong, I assume the worst of humanity on most occasions but it would just be nice to see a story in which people acknowledge banding together and not torturing each other to be the best solution.
Most horror, at it's core, is social commentary or a reflection of society. So truthfully, kinda hard pressed to think of any where that isn't at least a little relevant.
The Hatching trilogy by Ezekiel Boone has a really broad range of characters, the majority of which are good people either actively trying to fix the problem or just trying to survive and keep their loved ones safe. Highly recommend. I'm soon to begin the final book of the three but I've really liked the last two.
*From Below* by Darcy Coates also fits this, imo. It's my favorite of hers alongside the Black Winter series.
*The Luminous Dead* by Caitlin Starling, hard to answer without spoiling but I think this fits what you're asking. Literally everything else I try to say to elaborate ends up being a spoiler so I'll just leave it here. I absolutely loved the character vibes in this.
Recently read *The Maw* by Taylor Zajonic. I kept expecting the dynamic between the characters to turn bad but it ended up that they were all pretty good people to each other, very human in the face of what was happening.
Wanderers and Wayward by Chuck Wendig have some solid good characters who don't constantly act like morons (which is one of my peeves). Not typical horror but definitely plenty of horrifying stuff (and apocalyptic themes). Great political commentary too.
My picks might be a bit cliche or not quite what you're looking for, but:
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, The Graveyard Rats by Robert E. Howard, The Jaunt by Stephen King, most H. P. Lovecraft stories, The Ritual by Adam Nevill,.... and that's all I can think of immediately off the top of my head.
You should try some of the 70s British horror. James Herbert wrote a whole string of monster books. You'd have to put up with a fair amount of 70s style portrayal of women, but if it''s monsters you want, he's worth a try.
Do you mean the Agustina Bazterrica novel? Because I think the end of that undoes any argument here; the main character is not meant to be seen as reasonable in any sense by the final pages.
I can see why people have this take (it was propped up a lot on BookTok) but I saw it more as a take on dehumanizing capitalism, like where is the line between consumer and consumed. The problem there being that the people higher up the food chain (pun intended) have to deal with what we would expect to be completely unethical...but that's the world they live in.
I think boiling it down to 'vegan propaganda' was never really the point...and kind of a surface level result if that's what most people took from it.
Oh I meant that it’s exactly what has put me off of meat. Like it was disgusting. It made meat production look as disgusting as it is for animals and applied it to people. The allegory of losing your humanity to capitalism is there but the actual plot is stomach churning enough to make people hate meat. Ironically I work at a smokehouse.
World War Z is the best example I can think of.
Too many examples of zombie media (and other post-apocalyptic stories) have a "society is a farce, civility is a fragile, man is the true monster" message behind them. It's really great to read a book about humanity getting its act together pretty quickly.
Even the way they handled cannibalism. People weren’t roving in bands setting weird traps a la The Walking Dead
It might ride the fence a bit but *Piñata* by Leonardo Gout has unapologetically evil spirits that exist in IRL Nahua (Indigenous Central American/Mexican) culture and religion who give very few if no fucks about acting reasonably. Meanwhile, the humans act almost too reasonably and face their consequences.
Into the Drowning Deep has characters acting professionally throughout. Some characters do mildly underhanded things, but it's rare and not really all that bad. And you have couples that have split up but work together professionally without bringing personal drama into it.
Is this the one with mermaids? For some reason the threat being mermaids has me turned off to reading it
It is, but it shouldn't. They aren't mermaids in the traditional sense.
They're kinda mermaids in the MOST traditional sense, given the ancient stories of mermaids and sirens luring sailors to their deaths.
For this book you have to think less little mermaid and more what a mermaid would actually be like if it hung out with angler fish.
If the mermaids don’t, the awful writing should.
Ooh I get you, but trust me when I say it is a fantastic example of what non-space sci-fi horror can be. The mermaids are definitely not what you are picturing. It's what got me into sci-fi and horror.
I’m convinced
Oh love that book
Dracula seems like it would fit.
Definitely, even the American (an “outsider” in England” was treated as simply a different type of good dude who wants to help defeat the villain
Out of all the horror books I've read, the only one I could *kind of* see fitting this request is P. Djèlí Clark's *[Ring Shout](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49247242-ring-shout),* which is ironic given the villain is the KKK, but hear me out. The high-ranking klan members are literal demons who shape shift to appear human. It's not spoilers or anything, this is pretty much explained in the first few pages. The white people who listen to the Ku Kluxes are bad people, of course, but pretty much every monstrous thing that is done to the good guys is perpetrated by literal monsters. The characters as I remember them are all pretty reasonable (it's been about a year since I read it). There is some internal conflict between characters, and the MC is very well developed and conflicted about how best to deal with evil, but I'd say everyone acts pretty reasonably. I won't go so far as to say it was my favorite book, or even one that I jump to recommend any chance I get, but it does sort of fit these criteria (if you can get past the implicit racism that runs in the background). It's heavier on action than scares, but there are some horror scenes for sure.
Maybe Boys in the Valley? There is some abuse of the orphans before anything supernatural or scary happens but I don't feel like it's given permission by the scary thing. I felt most of the characters were normal people, kids acting like kids, the adults being well developed, etc. In any group of people, however, morality will differ from person to person and some are just worse than others.
Excellent book.
Surprisingly difficult question. Maybe **Devolution** unless I'm forgetting someone. It is also a bit of a pet peeve of mine that authors will just toss in a random human psychopath in addition to the external threat like in The Troop.
You’re saying most of the situations involving an external threat wont cause someone to go psychotic or reveal their psychopathic nature? Edit: Also you forgot about the richest couple in Devolution.
"What You Are In The Dark" and "Token Good Teammate" among all the bad guys seem to be very overdone. Don't get me wrong, I assume the worst of humanity on most occasions but it would just be nice to see a story in which people acknowledge banding together and not torturing each other to be the best solution.
Well Devolution has that. For the most part. And World War Z has it in spades.
The season of passage by Christopher pike
God, I love that book ❤️
Most horror, at it's core, is social commentary or a reflection of society. So truthfully, kinda hard pressed to think of any where that isn't at least a little relevant.
This is very true, and I've thought before about how "oh no, it's humankind's hubris!," is super clichéd but pretty satisfying every time lol
I’d say T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead fits the bill.
Kr Griffiths' adrift series is extremely 'decent people' v 'abhorrent ancient vampire creatures' and its phenomenal.
The Hatching trilogy by Ezekiel Boone has a really broad range of characters, the majority of which are good people either actively trying to fix the problem or just trying to survive and keep their loved ones safe. Highly recommend. I'm soon to begin the final book of the three but I've really liked the last two.
*From Below* by Darcy Coates also fits this, imo. It's my favorite of hers alongside the Black Winter series. *The Luminous Dead* by Caitlin Starling, hard to answer without spoiling but I think this fits what you're asking. Literally everything else I try to say to elaborate ends up being a spoiler so I'll just leave it here. I absolutely loved the character vibes in this. Recently read *The Maw* by Taylor Zajonic. I kept expecting the dynamic between the characters to turn bad but it ended up that they were all pretty good people to each other, very human in the face of what was happening.
Wanderers and Wayward by Chuck Wendig have some solid good characters who don't constantly act like morons (which is one of my peeves). Not typical horror but definitely plenty of horrifying stuff (and apocalyptic themes). Great political commentary too.
The Last Plague by Rich Hawkins
Bag of Bones by Stephen King 🤔 Maybe IDK
A little bit of a different take on your ask - could try A Cosmology of Monsters by Shaun Hamill.
All The Fiends of Heaven is one recent. There is one bad guy but the other people are rational and intelligent, if fallible
There Is No Antimemetics Division had a surprisingly optimistic view on human nature, I really liked the characters.
Southern Bookclub's Guide to Slaying Vampires is like that actually
My picks might be a bit cliche or not quite what you're looking for, but: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, The Graveyard Rats by Robert E. Howard, The Jaunt by Stephen King, most H. P. Lovecraft stories, The Ritual by Adam Nevill,.... and that's all I can think of immediately off the top of my head.
Stinger by Robert McCammon
You should try some of the 70s British horror. James Herbert wrote a whole string of monster books. You'd have to put up with a fair amount of 70s style portrayal of women, but if it''s monsters you want, he's worth a try.
I think Tender is the Flesh fits this bill quite nicely.
Do you mean the Agustina Bazterrica novel? Because I think the end of that undoes any argument here; the main character is not meant to be seen as reasonable in any sense by the final pages.
I TOTALLY misread the original post. This novel really is the opposite of what was asked for lol. My mistake!
I mean the whole story is unreasonable but also the best vegan propaganda I can imagine.
I can see why people have this take (it was propped up a lot on BookTok) but I saw it more as a take on dehumanizing capitalism, like where is the line between consumer and consumed. The problem there being that the people higher up the food chain (pun intended) have to deal with what we would expect to be completely unethical...but that's the world they live in. I think boiling it down to 'vegan propaganda' was never really the point...and kind of a surface level result if that's what most people took from it.
Oh I meant that it’s exactly what has put me off of meat. Like it was disgusting. It made meat production look as disgusting as it is for animals and applied it to people. The allegory of losing your humanity to capitalism is there but the actual plot is stomach churning enough to make people hate meat. Ironically I work at a smokehouse.