I Am Legend by Richard Matheson is $1.99 at Amazon US.
The unofficial inspiration for Night of the Living Dead, it inspired countless books and movies and (arguably) the entire modern zombie genre. It's classified as a vampire story, but don't expect Dracula, Lestat or those sparkly Twilight guys. These are dirty, scroungy vampires that barely hold on to their humanity. They hide during the day and come out at night to harass the protagonist, who's barricaded himself inside his suburban house.
If you've seen the Will Smith movie, please don't hold it against the book.
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One of the most influential vampire novels of the 20th century, I Am Legend regularly appears on the "10 Best" lists of numerous critical studies of the horror genre. As Richard Matheson's third novel, it was first marketed as science fiction (for although written in 1954, the story takes place in a future 1976).
A terrible plague has decimated the world, and those who were unfortunate enough to survive have been transformed into blood-thirsty creatures of the night. Except, that is, for Robert Neville. He alone appears to be immune to this disease, but the grim irony is that now he is the outsider. He is the legendary monster who must be destroyed because he is different from everyone else. Employing a stark, almost documentary style, Richard Matheson was one of the first writers to convince us that the undead can lurk in a local supermarket freezer as well as a remote Gothic castle. His influence on a generation of bestselling authors--including Stephen King and Dean Koontz--who first read him in their youth is, well, legendary.
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