Intruders: An Extreme Horror Story

by C.J. Shafer

When a group of psychopaths invade a family's secluded farmhouse, the quiet night turns to one of madness, torture, and brutality.



From the author of The Gimmick and Granny's House

76 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2026

Reviews

[Kelli Hancock]

This was such a fun one!

This is basically what you’d get if House of 1000 Corpses and Texas Chainsaw Massacre had a baby.. so if you love either of those movies you will devour this.

If you’re looking for a short story that will suck you in with the twists and gore this is for you! The plot was so good and I wish it was longer!

[Melissa Gibson]

There is nothing quite like devouring a great story in a single sitting, especially when it perfectly captures that Fall season vibe. This took me maybe an hour to read. So a good read in a short amount of time. I love a book that leaves me with conflicting feelings, because those are the ones that stick in your head long after the last page. Definitely give this bite-sized horror a try.

[Taylor Lebel]

The twist in this book is something you would never expect! I was mind blown with reading this book. From beginning to end, it kept me on my toes.


It’s different and unique! This could be made into a movie for sure!

[TD 😈🖤]

As someone who loves horror themselves, I can see the vision you were going for. I also read the Author’s Note. I really wish this was a movie. Thomas and the family against Otis and the gang.

Overall, the book was exactly what I was hoping for. Enough gore, an interesting plot, and a great reference of 2000’s movies that were a great inspiration for this book. I would gladly recommend this to anyone who loves extreme horror and wants a fast paced read

[BookishDogMamaKate]

I read the novella Intruders: An Extreme Horror Story by author CJ Shafer.

The opening has an immediate hook. Atmosphere is chef’s kiss. Let’s imagine you are running for your life. For your life. You make it to the only house in sight. The owners are home and let you in to keep you safe. Exhale. But wait…the one chasing you saw where you went.

Welcome to Intruders. Fasten your seat belt and keep your hands in the ride at all times. Or…you may lose one.

Ok look. I read this as I’m trying to increase my tolerance for splatter punk and extreme horror. And for sure…there is extreme horror. Some gore. Some blood. Things don’t end well for some characters…in graphic ways. And the descriptions are brilliant. Home run.

For me, all that came second though to the absolute terror I felt from the whole home invasion by crazy freaking anti-social personality disordered psychos. And the twists! (I could have used a Dramamine.) A plot that is so truly scary to me, having the one place that is supposed to by my sanctuary, my safe place..my home..invaded. Violated. Or to think that I’m in control of a situation, that I have the upper hand in a tense, even dangerous situation…and things go sideways.

This story has ALL the things! All the suspenseful, scary, suffocating, “wtf am I reading, got me holding my breath, how many times can I say..dang I didn’t see that coming” things.

It’s crazy. A must read straight through experience. A one sitting nightmare. An xtra large serving of delicious horror in a small package.

Definitely recommend!

I received an advanced reader copy from the author. This is my voluntary and honest review.

[Crystal Gritzmacher]

Intruders: An Extreme Horror Story by C.J. Shafer follows a group of psychopaths who invade a secluded farmhouse, turning a quiet situation into a nightmare of madness, torture, and brutality.

Holy hell. Shafer absolutely delivers on the horror here. The atmosphere is gut-wrenching, and I loved the way the story completely upends your expectations once the situation starts to unfold. I went from feeling genuinely sorry for the family to realizing that these intruders may have made a very serious miscalculation. Watching that dynamic shift was fantastic, and I was completely invested in seeing where it would go. Then came the twist, which caught me completely off guard and made the whole story even better.

And the gore? 10/10. There is plenty of it, and Shafer does not hold back. The violence keeps escalating in increasingly horrifying ways, but it never feels like gore for the sake of gore. Everything comes together to create this perfectly chaotic, brutal ride that had me completely hooked.

This was exactly the kind of extreme horror I was hoping for: disturbing, relentless, and wildly entertaining, with an ending that ties everything together perfectly. A thoroughly deranged read that absolutely understood the assignment.

Thank you so much to C.J. Shafer for the giveaway win and for the signed copy of Intruders! I’m so excited to have this one on my shelf, especially after that absolutely wild read. It’s always extra special to add a signed copy from an author to the collection!

[Luna May]

If you love good old-fashioned horror movies—and by old-fashioned, I mean those gloriously bloody early-2000s horror movies—you need to pick up Intruders. This one gave me some serious nostalgia with the way Shafer writes.

Jessica is running through the woods, screaming for her life, with Shane, Kyle, and Kevin—a psychotic group who genuinely enjoy killing—on her trail. When she stumbles across a farmhouse and begs the owners, Thomas and Linda, for help, they bring her inside.

Finally, she's safe.

Or is she? 👀

Because Thomas and Linda are carrying secrets of their own...

This is a quick read, but DO NOT let that fool you. There is so much packed into this story. Blood, guts, gore, twists, secrets, and plenty of WTF moments. 🩸🔪 I had JUST finished Part One when I was already sitting there saying, “WTF did I just read?!” 🤔 And it only kept going from there.

The twists kept me pulled in because every time I thought I had figured out where Shafer was taking the story... NOPE.

If you're a fan of slashers, home-invasion horror, unhinged killers, and that gritty early-2000s horror-movie feeling, Intruders absolutely delivers.

⚠️ TRIGGER WARNINGS⚠️

🩸 Graphic violence & gore
🔪 Murder
🏚️ Home invasion
🧠 Psychotic/unhinged behavior
🩹 Torture & bodily injury
💀 Death
😱 Captivity/being hunted
🩸 Blood, guts & graphic descriptions

[Kimberley Hall]

I received an ARC from the author and am leaving my honest and voluntary review.

I actually quite enjoyed this story. It was very fast paced, which I loved but I honestly think it could've been even better had it been longer.

That being said, I definitely appreciated the homage to some of my favourites in this one. I also found myself at one point questioning why one character felt a certain way towards another and I am so glad that we finally get the answer to that question at the end of the story.

This story starts off packed with adrenaline. The author did an incredible job of immersing you straight into the horror and panic of it all. You can feel your own heart racing right alongside our FMC. There is a great twist which happens early on, which I can appreciate. However, I think this would've been so much more impactful had it not been revealed so early on BUT given that this was a fairly short story...it worked. It was truly a great story overall and I'd like to thank the author for the opportunity to read it prior to release. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next. Well done!

[Honey Dy]

QUESTION: What do you expect when a group of psychopaths invade a secluded farmhouse?

ANSWER: Nothing but a night filled with brutality, torture, with a little bit of extreme violence thrown in for good measure 🫣🤫

Oooooh Weeeee! What a wild ride! NGL, Shafer kept me guessing the whole time I read this, and for a short novel, it really packed a punch, especially where it was needed!

Nothing is as it seems with this book, so if you're going in with a certain mindset, forget it, go in blind, and get ready for that POP 🎉

There's twist, after twist, after twist, and there was a point in time where whatever my gut was thinking, wasn't what it turned out to be, and it caught me completely off guard.

Be prepared for lots of blood, gore, extreme violence, and body pieces being chopped / hacked off (there's just no easy way to describe it).

If you're someone that's into slashers, and love the Final Girl, pick up the Intruders, cos I dare ya!

[Valiqa Khan]

This was my first book as an ARC reader, and honestly, it was such a fun one to start with. Intruders is a quick, brutal little novella that immediately pulls you in and does not let up.

I read the entire thing in a single day because every time I told myself I was going to stop, I wanted to see what happened next. It has that fast-paced, over-the-top horror movie energy where you can practically picture every scene playing out on screen. I genuinely would not be surprised if this ended up adapted into a Netflix movie one day.

If you like extreme horror, slashers, home invasion stories, and books that are bloody, chaotic, and just completely unhinged, this is definitely worth picking up. It knows exactly what kind of story it wants to be and commits to it.

Really solid, entertaining read, especially for such a short novella.

[Mellisa]

Summary: Jessica is being chased, and finds a home with a lovely middle aged couple ready to help save her - how lucky...right?

Review: Loved this! It gets started from the first page, with the twist happening pretty much from the start, but then it just gets more and more insane (in the best way!). Gore galore, absolutely disturbing and completely thrilling - I didn't know who to root for! Probably Tara in fairness!

From this story, with everything going on in the book, it really made me think of whether people are born monsters, or are they made from circumstance. *That person's* back story, I won't say who because spoilers, really did make me question that.

This is an extreme horror you don't want to miss! I was lucky enough to receive a digital copy from the author, and this book is released 1st October 2026. Don't miss it!

[Umi Arenas]

Have you ever sat down to read a book and, before you know it, you devoured it in one sitting?? Well this happened to me with “Intruders”. I’ll give it that it’s a novella, but I could not put it down. The twists are perfectly timed and executed to perfection. The references to the genre, particularly slasher, aren’t forced and they aren’t overused.

I don’t think I’ve ever said this about a book before, but I wish it was longer so we could have more of it.

A *must read* for every horror fan out there! Thank you C.J. for the ARC copy, and congrats! This is a truly great horror story!

[the.horror.girl.27]

A gory wild book with so many twists that I did not see coming! I love CJ Shafer’s books for the really detailed descriptions of the scene and characters. From the very beginning I felt like I was in the woods running with Jessica to get away from the crazed killer. This book is very graphically gory in a great way. There was backstory on the characters that I thought really added to the book and detailed why the characters did what they did and how they got to the point they were at. If you love horror this is a fast moving fun book!

[Thebleedingspine]

After reading Granny’s house, I was so excited to receive an arc of Intruders.
This was a brutal story that is nonstop full of action, and I flew through the 76 pgs.
My mind was blown by the multiple twists, and I loved the homage to horror movies of the early 2000s. In fact it read just like a horror movie. There’s gore galore, so be aware if that’s not your thing! I suggest going in blind..don’t read any reviews with spoilers! My jaw actually dropped. CJ Shafer is absolutely an author you need to check out in the indie horror community if you haven’t yet!

[Ali O]

INTRUDERS by C.J. Shafer
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Horror, gore, and madness galore!!
Jessica is running from someone, and unfortunately knocks on the wrong door to be “saved.”

This book is wild, depraved and wickedly brutal! I enjoyed it so much!! It’s a fast and non stop intense short story!!
It’s my first read from this author and I’m excited to read more!!

I was lucky to get an arc of this extremely entertaining and jaw dropping horror story!

**It’s out now and I recommend the quick read for extreme lovers!!**
🪚 🔪🩸🏠🔪🩸🏠🔪🩸🏠🔪🪚

[M.P. Tera]

Quick and gripping read from start to finish.
This one gives me Texas chainsaw massacre vibes with enough action and surprises to keep any horror reader satisfied.

You will not see the twist coming until its right in your face.

It is a very creative read in the slasher aspect. The author had some great ways to inflict pain and suffering through out the story.

Loved it and read it as a bedtime story

[becc]

a short story of irresistible forces meeting some immovable objects.

we get a twist right in the first few pages. and from there it’s just action, and gore. and i loved it. the characters, sadistic. the kills, gory. it honestly felt like i was reading screen play. it felt like this could be a slasher movie.

this was my first book by this author but deff won’t be my last. actually 5 stars.

[ReadsByNadia]

*Beta* Intruders By CJ Shafer

Genre: idk gore?

⭐️5/5

Review:

An intense horror novelette filled with multiple plot twists & “WTF!?” moments. I typically don’t read outside of the romance genre. However, I couldn’t put this story down. A fast paced read, that has a satisfying ending.

This is definitely the best story to come from author CJ Shafer!

[Renee collins]

Thank you to the author for letting me read this!

This story was so good! What happens when the killers become the hunted? Read this story to find out it’s a bloody good time. I can’t wait to read more of this authors work. He is amazing his storytelling is great. If the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and House Of 1000 Corpses had a baby this book would be it.

[Josh Martinez]

Intruders is another fantastic short story from the mind of @cjshaferauthor. It is fun and gruesome and has great twists that keep you wanting more.

When a small group of serial killers make their way to a run of the mill farmhouse, they have no idea the hell they are walking into. Who will survive the night? Who is the bigger psycho killer?

[ChanaReadsHorror]

I was gripped with this story from page one. It took off and did not let up once. Then when things started to get really crazy I was sat and could not put the book down at all. This is one of those books that it is done so well you are sucked in at the start and it does not let you go. It was just the right amount of brutal and gory and when it takes a left turn, it does not stop from there.

[Ameriah Rain]

This book is intense check your triggers when it comes to body horror and such! This is a what happens when a group of serial killers run into a psychotic family. It’s a fast read with great story and details. Extreme horror.

[Kez]

This was a short but punchy read! A group of psychos finds more than they bargain for when they break into a remote farmhouse, and the night takes a brutal and gory turn.

If this is what C.J. Shafer has up his sleeve, I can't wait to see what he brings us next.

[Melissa]

Unexpected twists throughout the whole short story.
For a short story there was definitely no restraint with plot twists gore and mayhem.
Very descriptive and definitely something that takes your mind back to the good old 90s slasher movies.

[Danni]

4.5!! This actually made my stomach turn a little bit while reading. CJ you’ve written another banger, thank you for the early copy!!

He wasn’t joking, this is an extreme horror story, I would go so far as to call this splatterpunk. 👀 this was GNARLY.

[Dan]

In less than 100 pages, Shafer's Intruders catapaults you into a bloody home invasion story that, if longer, could easily stand its ground against Your Body Will Never Be Found and Are Your Parents Home?, titles I read earlier this year.

[sugarnsass_reads]

A group of sadistic intruders break into a farmhouse and get more than they bargain for. Twists, Turns and gore!! Great fast paced, extreme horror read with gore and horror and plot. Vivid descriptions that made me cringe and cry for more!

[Christal England]

The twist was 😱 holy wow!! I'm just gonna leave it at that. Because it's a must read.

[Laura Parkhurst]

Devoured this book! The gore, the horror, the storyline absolutely superb. It's a must-read.

[Jessica]

Wow i definitely loved all the twists in this plot definitely a great way to change up the home invasion theme. The fact that the family were killers as well priceless