New 2025 Splatterpunk books you should be excited to read!

Splatterpunk, also known as extreme horror, is making a massive comeback. Authors such as Wrath James White, Aron Beauregard, and Patrick C. Harrison III, Matt Shaw, and Agustina Bazterrica have become household names within the horror lit community. Their works have been widely reviewed and shared across social media.

There was a time when being labeled a Splatterpunk writer meant the death of any chance at literary respectability. Once dismissed as little more than trashy shock fiction, Splatterpunk was long considered a death sentence for a writing career. To the mainstream, it wasn’t art—it was pulp, cheap thrills, written by hacks. But today, Splatterpunk authors embrace the label. They have devoted followings of gore-hungry readers who celebrate and champion the genre.

Lets take a look at the 8 most exciting and newest Splatterpunk releases we can’t wait to get our hands on…

Books available now

Handyman by Aron Beaurogard

Published in February 2025, Slob author and seasoned Splatterpunk writer Aron Beauregard delivers another tale of sheer horror with Handyman (2025). As expected from Beaurogard, this one is packed with blood, gore, and gut-wrenching brutality.

At a first glance this book appears to disrupt the typical Splatterpunk. The blurb suggests a fresh start for protagonist Vinny – an equilibrium to be shattered. Yet “the darkness from [his] past still haunts him” (Goodreads, accessed March 2025)—hinting that things may not be as promising as they seem…

Beneath the schlocky slasher aesthetic of its cover, Handyman is said to explore deeper themes of grief, trauma, and abuse, making it more than just a mindless gore-fest.

The Reunion by Matt Shaw

Prolific Splatterpunk author Matt Shaw (Sick Bastards) has already unleashed three brutal volumes in 2025—and with a fourth set to drop this August, he shows no signs of slowing down. His latest release is a revenge story spanning just 55 pages. And much like the book’s brevity, details online are scarce.

The Reunion reads like the unpopular kid’s “manifesto” – or the unpopular kid’s wet dream. It’s a vitriolic account of a bullied protagonist who finally gets payback on his former tormentors at a school reunion. There’s not much I can say without spoiling the plot, but I will say three things: (1) it’s Splatterpunk—yet surprisingly light on splatter; (2) it’s a quick, dark, and fun read that I’d still recommend to extreme horror fans; and (3) the ending? Absolutely shocking (in the best way possible).

You should definitely read this book.

The Landlord: Extreme horror by Matt Shaw

Slightly longer than The Reunion, we have The Landlord (2025) – released in January this year. Landlord is a dark, extreme horror about deception, and what lurks behind closed doors.

A single mother, raw from a recent divorce, is searching for a new home to rebuild her life with her kids. Somewhere quiet to recover. On paper, she’s the perfect tenant—financially stable, no glaring red flags.

But appearances can be deceiving. She and her estranged husband are seasoned con artists, moving from property to property, exploiting legal loopholes to stay rent-free until eviction forces them out. It’s a game they’ve played many times before, and they believe they’ve found their next unwitting victim.

But this story is not about your typical landlord! New to the rental business, he hoped leasing the house would help him turn over a new leaf, a distraction from the darker urges he’s spent years indulging. Because before he put the property on the market, it had another purpose—his hunting ground. This can only end badly…

With an intriguing plot like this, we are excited to read this.

Dick Brick: An Extreme Horror by Matt Shaw

A book that is definitely not for kids, Dick Brick is another revenge story by Matt Shaw. Ian is humiliated by the popular girl at school in the worst possible way. When they happen to bump into each other at a supermarket, Ian seizes the opportunity to get revenge.

With a “toy built entirely from plastic bricks, Ian was going to hurt her physically as much as she’d hurt him mentally” (goodreads, [accessed: 30/03/2025]). Not your typical instrument of revenge to say the least!

Rabbit Hunt by Wrath James White

Okay, so this one actually came out in 2023. However, when reading this month’s issue of Scream magazine (Issue 89), I saw this reviewed and decided we had to read it. Wrath James White spins the yarn of six college kids going to the woods for a drug-fueled orgy. Yet in the vein of the stereotypical slasher, they’re not alone!

Mooky, Rashad, Steve, and Big Mike haven’t hunted together since their college days. Life—marriage, kids, and careers—has kept them occupied, leaving little time for old friendships. But this weekend, that changes. After years apart, the guys are reuniting for a rabbit hunt… and the woods will soon be filled with screams.

Wrath James White will take the psycho inbred redneck trope, and turn it on it’s head – in Rabbit Hunt!

The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica

From the acclaimed author of the worldwide phenomenon Tender Is the Flesh comes a highly anticipated literary horror novel about a woman trapped within a secretive and brutal religious order, as the world beyond descends into chaos.

This dystopian, feminist, extreme horror is a tale with themes surrounding the climate crisis, ideological extremism, and humanity’s most violent instincts!

To be released

Death Spell by David Sodergren

Expected for release on May the first this year David Sodergren describes this release on goodreads as:

part corporate satire, part ultra-bloody splatterpunk horror. If you thought my recent books had too many nice, likeable characters in them, wait ’til you get a load of *these* scumbags.

Sounding like it touches on similar themes to American Psycho (1991), Death Spell tells of Ron Jarvis making a Faustian deal 25 years prior, now a billionaire media mogul, he must return to the pact’s dark architect to save his daughter—unleashing a relentless storm of death, despair, and blood-soaked chaos. Sounds brilliant to us.

Make a Wish by Matt Shaw

Second dystopian Splatterpunk novel in this list is Make a Wish, expected for release on August 8th this year. From the blurb, we expect Hunger Games but with the gore and dark aspects turned up to 100!

From the words of the author:

Martin and Sonia’s child, Stevie, needs a liver transplant but in this cruel world, unless you’re rich enough to go private, the only way they’re going to get one is if Stevie enters The Arena with other sickly children and steps out victorious…

This will make you uncomfortable, this will make you question things in this very world we live in now but – ultimately… This is going to take your heart, rip it out and stamp on it.

Matt Shaw, goodreads [accessed 30/3/2025]

This one is going to be a hell of a ride!

Splatterpunk books from the 90s:

Perhaps you would like to know more about the Splatterpunk books that started the movement back in the ’90s? Click the button below to see the very best examples of extreme horror from the 1990s.