It isn’t just movies and TV that can offer a few chills this October 31st. Well before Mary Shelley and friends sat around a fire telling spooky tales, people were terrorising each other with tales of the unknown both internal and external. I’ve thought about some of my favorites from the past 12 months or so – some reads, some re-reads, for the coming season. This is just in case you’ve watched Midnight Mass and Candyman and are being tempted by Halloween: Resurrection or Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason takes Manhattan (again). There’s plenty of creepy reading out there, too.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson: Shy Eleanor Vance is escaping from a domineering mother and a pair of siblings all too happy to sacrifice their sister to their matriarch’s caprices. An opportunity to take part in an experiment on the supernatural seems a perfect escape route for her, but has Eleanor just swapped one prison for another? Filmed twice (the 1999 version is hilariously awful) and the basis of Mike Flanagan’s 2018 Netflix series, Jackson’s novel is one of the most influential horror novels ever written and a book I take from the shelf every single year.

Pet Sematary by Stephen King: Many refer to It, The Shining or The Stand as King’s greatest work but this family-based horror is the bleakest, most uncomfortable King I’ve ever read. Louis Creed has moved his family to a new town where the work is easier, the neighbors are friendlier, and the only thing that he needs to worry about are the trucks speeding up and down the highway outside his house. Just don’t go too far into the woods behind the house.

The Cipher by Kathe Koja: This tale of misfits and other-worldly portals delves into obsession, body horror and toxic relationships with gusto. Nicolas wants to be a poet but works in a video store. He also wants Nakota, whose crooked grin and taste in friends/hangers-on is going to bring all kinds of trouble. Thirty years old this year, the novel’s potentially not one for the squeamish. Think House of Leaves but at break-neck speed.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric La Rocca: This is told in a series of emails and message board posts between two people who have yet to meet face-to-face. It’s pretty creepy from the off and just delves further into the horror from there with manipulation, paranoia, and body horror just some of what’s on the menu. My favorite GoodReads review for it so far is ‘Well. That was really something.’ It really bloody well is.

Ghost River by Chad Ryan: Ryan’s debut is a heady mix of magic realism and horror. The occupants of Ghost River – the living and the dead – are trapped by their ties to the land, their relationships and the forces around them. Often quite epic in scope, the cast of characters and their … ahem quirks… alone were enough to keep me enthralled.

The Ritual by Adam Nevill: A lad’s weekend in the Swedish countryside takes a definitive turn for the worst and fast in this 2011 folk horror. Luke, Hatch and his friends are hoping to get back to nature, re-establishing their college bonds, and say goodbye to a dear friend. What already seems like a poor idea given their ages and ‘quirks’ very quickly becomes much much worse once an accident means they have to try a short-cut through the woods.

Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy: A softer take on the ‘folk horror’ subgenre, Hardy takes us back to 1970s Britain. Recently bereaved teenager Nif is isolated and vulnerable, walking a countryside parched by a heatwave as she seeks talismans to augment her budding interest in witchcraft. Enter local ne’er-do-well Mal, possibly a kindred soul, possibly someone she should stay as far away from as possible. This is a read that slowly winds up the tension, blending coming-of-age fumbling awkwardness with something far, far darker.

The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig: Wendig caught the cultural zeitgeist two years ago with his pandemic-based thriller Wanderers and returned in 2021 with this tale of a family -each member with their own specific demon – moving to a new neighborhood for a fresh start. To say much more would be to give the twist away, but it’s definitely worth the read.

The Midwives by Duncan Ralston: True crime hack Martin Savage has upset plenty of the wrong kind of people in his career. Now one of them – the serial killer known as the ‘Witch-hunter’ – has escaped and seems intent on making Martin’s life and the lives of those around him resemble every horror imaginable. It’s time to head for the hills, or in this case the most isolated place that Martin can think of. But what happens when that place is home? And it has plenty horrors of its own?

Penpal by Dathan Auerback: The scariness of childhood has been mined extensively over the years and this novel adds to the trope – including scary woods, odd-behaving neighbours and a friendship that anchors the main character to reality until it can’t. The language is strange, the relationships often stranger – the protagonist’s point of view often means the reader can see things he can’t – and the ending is something that may stay with the reader for a while.

Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill: Hill has seen a lot of success with adaptations of his work in recent years, but his debut’s claustrophobic, more linear narrative is as creepy as anything in Charlie Manx’s Christmasland. Aging rock star Judas Coyne makes up for not knocking out any more hits by building his collection of rock memorabilia. And it’ll be one of those purchases in particular that will have him battling for his life. At this point, I’m almost convinced that Hill produces better work than his far more illustrious father, and I’m regularly going back to his work.

The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean: With definite nods to Shirley Jackson, this story of sibling relationships and ghostly happenings is set in early 1970s Britain – not a good time or place if this is a fair guide. Tim and Abi are precocious, intellectually snobbish, and generally just too smart for their own good. But when they play a trick on an awkward classmate, the repercussions will last for years to come.

The Haunting of Blackwood House by Darcy Coates: Anyone who likes haunted house stories should read at least one of Darcy Coates’ books. Clanking chains, scratches on the woodwork, and echoing footsteps in the attic are all present and correct.

Blob on the Bayou by William F Aicher: A Pheonix Bones short, Aicher’s regenerating bounty hunter and existentially angsty protagonist sets off down Louisiana way for an adventure with downed planes, mysterious forces and a number of wrecked boats. If it’s a mixture of comedy, horror, and thoughts on meaning and existence that you are after, then Aicher and his protagonist may be the men for you.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones: Four friends on an illegal hunt is the launching pad for this tale of revenge and insanity. With nods to social conditions and toxic masculinity, Graham Jones’ tale is bleak, powerful and creepy in the best possible ways. The author is on a real hot streak at the moment and quickly becoming one of the most successful names in horror fiction.

Rites of Extinction by Matt Serafini: Rebecca Daniels is a woman on a mission, a woman who can never go home. With her family obliterated and suspicions about her actions mounting, her arrival in the sleepy town of Bright Fork may be the final chance she has to take down a killer intent on completing a devastating ritual.

The Terror by Dan Simmons: Lost expeditions have always held a fascination for me and this novel takes the 1845 Sir John Franklin expedition to find the famed North-west passage as its setting for a novel steeped in paranoia, betrayal and the supernatural. Its recent TV adaptation brought me back to it and I wasn’t disappointed.

The Nightmare Room by Chris Sorensen: If you’ve ever wanted to record an audio-book, but are afraid of what horrors you might end up dealing with, this might be for you. Peter Larson and family return to the old homestead for a fresh start away from the rat-race. The house has recently experienced a death. Peter’s going to set up the old basement for his recordings. Enough said.

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu: Twenty years before Bram Stoker brought us Dracula, fellow Dubliner Le Fanu’s Carmilla brought us this tale of vampirism from the casebook of the occult detective Dr. Martin Hesselius. A far shorter tale than Stoker’s novel, Carmilla has in recent years received increased interest from writers such as Carmen Maria Machado. Maybe I’m biased because I did my M.A. on Le Fanu’s work, but I think he’s one of the most interesting novelists of the 19th Century.

That’s my list for the year. If you made it to the end, I hope you’ve got some recommendations. I also hope I’ve missed out on some stuff to read for the next 12 months because there are astonishing writers – Laird Barron, Victor LaValle, Sylvia Moreno Garcia, and Caitlin R. Keirnan among others – who are on my Kindle but who I just haven’t had time to read this year (it’d be nice if I could get paid to just read books). So much to read, so little time. Happy Halloween!

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