Worry Box

By Chris Panatier

Book Overview

An unsettling horror story with a mysterious twist from a celebrated voice in horror. Perfect for fans of Paul Tremblay's A Head Full of Ghosts.

The Martins need a new home for their growing family. For Alison, Nathan, daughter Dru, and foster child Lailah, it's love at first sight when they see the house in Tumbling Hills. It even has a cozy attic, which is great for Lailah; she needs a quiet place to be alone when her intrusive thoughts creep in.

(crack an egg into the coffee machine)

The family gets settled. The house is perfect, and so is the timing - Lailah's adoption will soon be finalized.

(push your sister down the stairs)

But as the date approaches, her intrusive thoughts get worse, and Lailah fears she's losing control.

(burn them alive in their beds)

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1836730322
• ISBN13: 9781836730323
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Watkins Media Limited
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Original and scary!

I finished this one last week and my jaw still hurts from clenching it the whole time I was reading. I’ve come to expect a Panatier story to give me characters I will love. Worry Box opens with a family sitting down to a dinner of “over baked chicken, undercooked rice, and limp asparagus”. My jaw clenched. Talk about setting a mood. Who are these awful people? Soon enough, a second family shows up and my faith is restored. Their dynamic seems genuine and I like spending time with them. They’re good people. They have a Labrador. Everything is fine. The set up seems simple. Nathan and Allison have 2 daughters. Dru is a 9 year old potty mouth punk rocker and 12 year old Lailah, foster daughter that has intrusive thoughts. They’re all settling into a new house and hopeful that Lailah will soon be a permanent part of their family. I loved the Midwest setting and the architecture background. I was lulled by the wholesomeness, but only for a minute. The changing POV kept this story moving. I was convinced I knew what was going on. I was delighted that I was wrong and the story spun a different way. The last 30%, I could not put this book down. The ending was the perfect payoff for all the tension built along the way. There’s humor here, and that helped sustain me through the dreadful bits. I cared about these characters and didn’t want to see them get hurt! I enjoyed every second of my time with this story. Highly recommend for readers that enjoy propulsive horror that’s tense but full of heart. A huge thank you to Angry Robot and NetGalley for the eARC!