Reads to Get Under Your Skin This Halloween
If you're looking for a chilling read this Halloween season, this is the perfect article for you!
If you think horror is all jump scares, blood-soaked corridors and things lurking under the bed (sometimes it is, and I love it), think again.
Horror can be gothic and seductive, deeply unsettling or so grotesque that you briefly question why you're reading it over dinner. It can make you afraid of the dark, suspicious of your neighbours or reluctant to find out what's actually in the fridge.
Whatever your particular brand of nightmare, there's plenty to get stuck into this Halloween. Ready to have your TBR haunted?
For the love of a good ghost story
There's something about a haunting that never gets old. Maybe it's the possibility that there's something beyond what we can see, or the delicious dread of knowing something is there without knowing exactly what it wants.
In Ghost Month by Simon Wroe, the dead return to the living world for one month each year, blurring the boundaries between the living and the departed. Meanwhile, Solace House by Will Maclean serves up gothic intrigue and sinister secrets, reminding us that curiosity doesn't always end well.
For séances, revenge and a haunted Hong Kong mansion, pick up The Hong Kong Widow by Kristen Loesch. Because sometimes the past doesn't just come back to haunt you - it has unfinished business.
Of course, not all horror needs ghosts or haunted houses. Sometimes, the most unsettling thing is when the familiar starts to feel completely wrong.
Inspired by the cult horror game, Exit 8 by Genki Kawamura, translated by Sameeha Anwar, traps its protagonist in a seemingly endless subway passage where spotting the smallest anomaly is the key to escape. It's an everyday setting turned deeply uncanny - and suddenly, that familiar corridor doesn't feel quite so familiar.
A little blood, a little desire, a lot of bad decisions
Halloween wouldn't be Halloween without something deliciously dark. Think gothic atmospheres, dangerous obsessions and characters who really ought to know better.
Kat Dunn's Hungerstone reimagines the classic vampire novella Carmilla, combining gothic tension, forbidden desire and a mysterious woman whose arrival turns an already strained marriage into something far more dangerous.
For something a little closer to home, Dearest by Jacquie Walters explores the horrors of new motherhood, family secrets and the unsettling feeling that something isn't quite right. When exhausted new mum Flora welcomes her estranged mother into her home for help, she begins to suspect she's invited something much darker inside. Because apparently, sleep deprivation and a complicated mother-daughter relationship weren't enough to contend with.
Then there's The Dead Husband Cookbook by Danielle Valentine, where a writer investigating a celebrity chef's missing husband uncovers secrets surrounding his disappearance and her famously mysterious ingredients. Some recipes are best kept secret. Others are best avoided altogether.
Still hungry for more horror?
The spooky reading doesn't have to stop at Halloween. Secret Dinner by Raphael Montes promises a particularly gruesome feast, following four struggling friends whose lucrative catering venture takes a horrifying turn. Perhaps don't read this one over dinner.
And Don't Leave Her Alone by Desirée de Fez, translated by Lizzie Davis, explores motherhood, anxiety and the monsters that can emerge from the seemingly ordinary, with visceral body horror and a surreal, unsettling atmosphere.
Whether you're after ghosts, gothic obsession or something that makes you reconsider your dinner plans, there's no shortage of ways to get your horror fix this Halloween.
Because the best scary stories are the ones that stick with you long after you've closed the book.
Sweet dreams! 🎃🦇👻
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