The chill of autumn was finally in the air, however briefly, and it got me thinking about my favorite spooky books to read. Last year, I wrote about some of my favorite scary movies, so this year, I decided to compile a list of a few of my favorite books for all of us readers out there.
Top of my list is a trilogy. The first book is “Ghost Road Blues, A Pine Deep Novel” by Jonathan Maberry. I have thought about this series on and off over the years since reading it, which I believe is a hallmark of any good story. The movie “Sinners,” again brought this book series to my mind. Other titles are “Dead Man’s Song,” and “Bad Moon Rising.” The first book, “Ghost Road Blues,” is the Winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. I found this series to be an excellent Halloween read.
My favorite author, L.M. Montgomery, took a stab at the horror genre when she wrote “Among the Shadows.” A collection of haunting tales, each story reflects Montgomery’s life-long fascination with all things supernatural.
If you like a little outlandish horror written into your every day, Bently Little is an author you should give a shot. Two of my favorite books written by him are “Consultant,” which is about a company’s merger and how it imposes its new cost-saving measures with a vengeance on its workers, and “The Association,” which chronicles one couple’s descent into suburban madness under the rule of their new home’s strict HOA.
I love Stephen King novels, my favorite being “Rose Madder,” which I know a lot of fans don’t like as much. The book is about a special painting the main character finds one day, and how the artwork becomes a focal point of her life. Aspects of the book remind me of one of my favorite episodes of “Are Your Afraid of the Dark” about an evil witch who locks people away inside of paintings.
“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe is a story I read in fifth grade and have never forgotten. I do not like the sound of heartbeats, or talking about blood in general, so even as a child I fully understood how the murderer’s guilt could manifest as a still beating heart pounding below the floor. This story will forever haunt because it explores the many aspects of what one imagines a mental breakdown to be like: raw anxiety, resentment, guilt and paranoia laced with fleeting moments of sanity.
A novel written for an adult audience, R.L. Stine’s “Superstitious” is about Irish superstition and murder. If you are a young reader who enjoys Stine, I encourage you to consider Richie Tankersley Cuisick or Graham Masterston. A good scare for younger readers is “Wait till Helen Comes” by Mary Downing Hahn, “The Dollhouse Murders” by Betty Ren Wright or the “House of Dies Drear” by Virginia Hamilton.
Scary Christian-themed haunts can be found in books by Frank Peretti or Robert Whitlow.
Other spooky authors I recommend are Alice Hoffman, Agatha Christie, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Heather Graham, Dean Koontz, Erin E. Adams, and Lois Duncan.
Other titles I recommend are “The Manhattan Hunt Club” by John Saul, “The Ruins” by Scott Smith, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving, “The Magic Cottage” by James Herbert, “Practical Magic” by Alice Hoffman, “Trick or Treat” by Richie Tankersley Cuisick, “Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold, “The Terror” by Dan Simmons, “There’s No Way I’d Die First” by Lisa Springer, and “Watcher in the Woods” by Florence Engel Randall.
Happy hauntings this Halloween reading season!