Photograph: Bantam Press

In The Warehouse (Bantam, £12.99), Rob Hart has written a cautionary tale exploring the effects of runaway capitalism, corporate greed and consumer complacency in a near-future dystopia where governments no longer function and “The Cloud” runs everything. Amazon writ large, The Cloud is the invention of billionaire Gibson Wells, who oversees a city-state environment called MotherCloud, where every aspect of workers’ lives is rigorously monitored and controlled. Mired in this hellhole is Paxton, working as a security guard for the very concern that demolished his own startup company, and Zinnia, an industrial spy who befriends Paxton in a bid to get at vital information. Hart expertly interleaves the story of how The Cloud came into existence with a slow-burning thriller narrative, while hammering home the iniquity of the system and the soul-destroying monotony for those trapped within it. Featuring an explosive twist-in-the-tail climax, this terrifying hybrid of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Zamyatin’s We is a triumph.

Photograph: Jo Fletcher Books

More and more fantasy is drawing on mythologies from around the world. In her third novel, Gods of Jade and Shadow (Jo Fletcher, £14.99), Silvia Moreno-Garcia brings Mayan myths to 1920s Mexico. Eighteen-year-old Casiopea Tun lives in a dead-end southern Mexican town, works as a servant for her rich grandfather, and dreams of escape. When she opens a chest in his bedroom, she discovers not the riches she had hoped to find, but the bones of the Mayan god of death, Hun-Kamé. A shard of bone embeds itself in her thumb, thus bringing Hun-Kamé to a semblance of life. In the finest fairytale tradition, the god promises to fulfil Casiopea’s dreams if she will help him regain his missing body parts and resume his rightful place on the throne of Xibalba, the Mayan underworld. There follows a richly picaresque adventure as Casiopea and Hun-Kamé travel around Mexico on the god’s quest. This is a moving description of a young girl’s coming of age and a seamless fusion of the real and the magical.

Photograph: Titan

Growing Things (Titan, £8.99), US horror author Paul Tremblay’s first collection to be brought out in Britain, gathers 19 stories published over the last 15 years. Tremblay is not afraid to experiment, whether presenting a narrative consisting of notes for a non-fiction book, a story framed by an interview with a writer, or a choose-your-own-adventure set in a haunted house. For the most part he holds the horror at arm’s length with subtle hints, and he is excellent at filtering a story through the viewpoint of children. The best tales portray ambiguous horror apprehended – or misapprehended – by young protagonists. The highlight is also one of the few optimistic stories: in “Her Red Right Hand”, bereaved teenager Gemma confronts a goblin that haunts an ancient well, and in doing so comes to a rapprochement with her estranged father and an acceptance of her mother’s death. Growing Things is an engrossing collection that repays rereading.

Photograph: Gollancz

Billed by the publisher as Big Little Lies meets The Craft, VV James’s fourth novel, Sanctuary (Gollancz, £14.99), is set in the township of Sanctuary, Connecticut. At first glance, everything appears to be perfect in the sleepy, affluent neighbourhood, but tension beneath the surface comes to the boil when star high-school quarterback Daniel Whitman is killed in a house fire and locals suspect that his ex-girlfriend used witchcraft to murder him. Detective Maggie Knight is sent back to her hometown to investigate a complex case in which everyone is harbouring a secret. Knight’s persistent probing into the darkness that dwells at the heart of the town results in a thrilling denouement. Sanctuary is a compelling tale of small town rivalries, mob vengeance and magic.

Photograph: Faber

In Stefan Spjut’s second novel, Trolls (Faber, £14.99), translated from Swedish by Agnes Broomé, trolls are abroad in Sweden’s far north: shapeshifting creatures that take possession of animals and humans through mind-control and telepathy, and manipulate them to their own evil ends. Ten years before the novel opens, Susso Myrén killed a troll; now she fears for her life as they are out for vengeance. The narrative follows Susso, her best friend and the leader of a mysterious cult, along with many others, as they attempt to evade or work with the malign supernatural entities. The various elements have the makings of a decent Scandi-noir chiller, but Trolls is a mess, with too many characters spending too many pages getting into scrapes and out again with a facility amounting to authorial convenience. The story is still not resolved after 450 pages of cliches, stilted dialogue and some startlingly bad prose.

• Eric Brown’s latest novel is Murder Served Cold (Severn House). To buy these books go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £15, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99.