5 October Reads To Creep You Out This Halloween
Hold your own creep-tastic book fair all month long
Last week, we found out where to pick up Halloween T-shirts so we can look creepy and feel comfy at the same time.
This week, we’re getting even cozier as we curl up with some spooky tales perfect for these dark autumn nights.
5 eerie books to cozy up with this October
THE DARK DESCENT OF ELIZABETH FRANKENSTEIN
Kiersten White
This retelling of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” remains pretty faithful to the original, with one major difference.
This time around, Elizabeth Lavenza, Victor’s bride killed by the monster on her wedding night, is our narrator.
Neither a blushing bride nor helpless victim, our new protagonist has a strength and moral complexity that feels refreshing to see in a female lead.
Elizabeth’s point of view sheds new light on the Monster and his creator as author Kiersten White weaves psychological horror into the well-known tale.
Even with these new elements, there is still plenty of gothic imagery and lyrical language to make this book the perfect creepy companion for chilly October nights.
THE TROOP
Nick Cutter
A scout leader takes his troop to an uninhabited island for their annual wilderness retreat. An intruder with a mysterious illness and a ravenous appetite soon shows up, and the troop is now fighting for survival on multiple fronts.
You know what? Don’t read this novel.
No, wait. Do read it.
Or just… Okay. Let’s back up.
Is this a creepy story? Yes. Is there suspense? Yes. Is there gore? OMG, yes.
To be 100% honest, I’m not a fan of body horror and certain types of torture, so there were scenes that I found very difficult to get through.
There are shades of so many types of horror in this book. “Lord of the Flies”, “The Thing”, “The Silence of the Lambs”, “Stand By Me” and “28 Days Later” all come to mind. I enjoyed the suspense and the pacing of the story, which was helped immensely by transcripts of events after the incident interspersed between the main story.
So, is it a good book? Yes. Just be sure you are ready for some intense descriptions of torture and gore before you choose this particular adventure.
WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE
Shirley Jackson
Mary Katherine Blackwood, her elder sister, Constance, and uncle, Julian, live in a decaying mansion far from a town that despises them. It’s been that way since the rest of the Blackwoods died at the dinner table six years ago, victims of a mysteriously poisoned sugar bowl.
The three remaining Blackwoods lived in quiet ostracism until the day a long-lost relative arrived and disrupted their tenuous reality.
Shirley Jackson, who first lived rent-free in your head that time you read The Lottery in 8th grade, knows how to unsettle you while keeping you in her thrall. Mary Katherine’s unreliable narration keeps you off-kilter as you work through the clues leading you back to what really happened that fateful night.
“We Have Always Lived in the Castle” has all the creepy atmosphere and dark secrets that make a great October read. Anxiety and dread coat every page, layering until you feel the walls of that crypt-like house closing in on you, too.
HEX
Thomas Olde Heuvelt
In the idyllic town of Black Spring, everyone knows everyone else. Including the 350-year-old witch who cursed the town and catatonically wanders everywhere from the square to the supermarket.
Town elders have quarantined Black Spring from the outside world, using increasingly modern technology to keep its secret. But the kids of Black Spring are growing restless, and their attempts to disrupt the system and reach the outside world awakens the witch’s fury.
It’s like a version of “Footloose” where the town bans social media instead of dancing. And instead of a big, triumphant school dance at the end, …well, I’m not going to spoil it. Let’s just say that there’s no confetti-covered Kevin Bacon in sight.
I love the embrace of modern technology as a plot device. Live streams and GoPros are as pivotal to the action in “Hex” as ancient curses and haunted forests.
I see shades of “Cabin in the Woods” here, especially in the light tone of the book’s beginning, and it feels like a fresh take for the genre.
MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW
Stephen Graham Jones
Jade Daniels knows horror movies, especially slashers.
When the teen outcast suspects a slasher is afoot in the posh new development across the lake, Jade hopes that her encyclopedic knowledge of horror movies can help the town’s Final Girl catch the killer before a final-reel bloodbath comes for them all.
You guys. This novel chainsawed its way right into my heart.
“My Heart is a Chainsaw” is a love letter to horror movies. To horror nerds. To the weird kids everywhere for whom these movies were a cherished part of growing up.
And the references. My god, the references. This book is absolutley crammed full of them. Most are obvious, while others hide in the corners of dialogue, waiting for fellow horror fans to find them peeking out like tiny, bloody valentines.
Stephen Graham Jones, the author of “The Only Good Indians”, again touches on important themes like gentrification, indigenous displacement and abuse. This review lists the abuse issues more directly if you would like to find out more before you decide to read. Jade’s love for slashers comes from a deeper place, and this book is more than the sum of its body count.
Tl;dr – if you like horror movies, you should read this book. If you love horror movies, your heart is in this book.
What are you reading this October?
Do you like to revisit old favorites? Are you looking for something new? Is there one book you absolutely have to read every Halloween season?
What’s on your shelf or library waitlist that you are dying to get into?
Let me know in the comments below!