Category: Book Lists

Just in time for Halloween, we have some book suggestions for readers of all ages.

Barely spooky for the littlest readers ages 0 to 8

A bit darker for readers ages 9 to 12

• Mystery Royale by Kaitlyn Cavalancia
  Named in the will of a wealthy man as potential beneficiaries, a group of teenagers must solve a murder to win the magical inheritance.
• The Creepening of Dogwood House by Eden Royce
  Aunt Angie has returned to South Carolina to take care of Roddie and reconnect with their family’s hoodoo roots. Roddie, however, can’t help but feel lost. His mom had never told him anything about hoodoo, Dogwood House, or their family. And as they set about fixing the house up, Roddie discovers that there is even more his mother never said.
• The Bellwoods Game by Celia Krampien
  A group of sixth graders participating in an annual Halloween tradition to pacify the ghost of Abigail Snook quickly realize that the Bellwoods contains an even bigger threat to their town.
• It Came From the Trees by Ally Russell
  Convinced that a big-foot-like creature took her best friend during a scouting trip, eleven-year-old Jenna sets out into the woods to find her.
• Read at Your Own Risk by Remy Lai
  When Hannah and her friends play a Ouija-style game in their school attic, they unleash an evil spirit that curses Hannah and communicates with her through her diary.
• Exit Nowhere by Juliana Brandt
  When Barret Eloise and her group project partners are locked in the haunted Raithfield Manor, the house transforms into a series of childhood games they must win to order to escape.

Haunting good reads for teens

• Holly Horror by Michelle Jabès Corpora
  When teenage Evie moves with her mother and brother to a new home known by locals as the Horror House, where a teen mysteriously vanished without a trace many years ago, she becomes haunted by a terrifying bonneted specter.
• Honeysuckle and bone by Trisha Tobias
  Carina Marshall is looking to reinvent herself, and what better place to do it than Jamaica, her mother’s alluring homeland? But when inexplicable things start happening to her in the house, only getting worse each night, Carina realizes that someone, or something, is out to get her. Is it the Halls? The house itself? Or is her own past catching up with her?
• Bad graces by Kyrie McCauley
  Stealing her perfect sister’s identity, self-destructive and desperate Liv Whitlock finds herself stranded with a pop star, two actresses, an Olympic gymnast and a social media influencer on an island where they must face something inhuman, using each other as their final tether to humanity.
• Five nights at Freddy’s: Tales From the Pizzaplex by Scott Cawthon and Andrea Waggener
  In this volume, three stories from the Publishers Weekly bestselling series Five Nights at Freddy’s: Tales from the Pizzaplex come to life in delightfully horrifying comics. Readers beware: This collection of terrifying tales is enough to unsettle even the most hardened Five Nights at Freddy’s fans…
• All better now by Neal Shusterman
  Three teens seek to unravel the truth behind conflicting agendas surrounding a deadly virus that could change humanity forever.
• Wake the wild creatures by Nova Ren Suma
  Sixteen-year-old Talia delves into her memories of the hidden feminist commune she grew up in and plots her way back to it after her mother is arrested for murder.

Dark and scary reads for adults

• Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  From the author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic comes a fabulous meld of Mexican horror movies and Nazi occultism: a dark thriller about the curse that haunts a legendary lost film—and awakens one woman’s hidden powers.
• Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay
  In June 1993, a group of young guerrilla filmmakers spent four weeks making Horror Movie, a notorious, disturbing, art-house horror flick. The weird part? Only three of the film’s scenes were ever released to the public, but Horror Movie has nevertheless grown a rabid fanbase. Three decades later, Hollywood is pushing for a big budget reboot. The man who played ‘The Thin Kid’ is the only surviving cast member. He remembers all too well the secrets buried within the original screenplay, the bizarre events of the filming, and the dangerous crossed lines on set that resulted in tragedy. As memories flood back in, the boundaries between reality and film, past and present start to blur.
• White Horse by Ericka T. Wurth
  An Indigenous woman must face her past when she discovers a bracelet haunted by her mother’s spirit.
• Evil in Me by Brom
  Brom’s newest novel of possession, damnation, and rock ‘n’ roll where one woman must get the world singing in order to save her soul. This devilish tale includes nearly two dozen of Brom’s immersive paintings and brilliant endpapers.
• Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
  Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix is about 15-year-old Fern, who in 1970 is sent to a restrictive home for unwed pregnant teenagers. Desperate for control and agency in their oppressed lives, Fern and the other girls discover a book of witchcraft, which they use to enact spells that bring both minor relief and increasingly dangerous consequences, ultimately exploring themes of female power, helplessness, and the dark side of magic.
• Slaying the Vampire Conqueror by Carissa Broadbent
  Sylina has sacrificed everything for her goddess–her soul, her freedom, her eyes. Life in service to the Arachessen, a cult of the Goddess of Fate, has turned Sylina from orphaned street-rat to disciplined killer, determined to overthrow Glaea’s tyrannical king. Butwhen a brutal vampire conqueror arrives on their shores, Sylina faces an even deadlier adversary. She’s tasked with a crucial mission: infiltrate his army, earn his trust–and kill him.
• My Funny Demon Valentine by Aurora Ascher
  Clearly, for Ash, a career as a musician isn’t exactly an option. Plus, he’s cursed. Sick of playing by the rules, Ash and his three brothers escape Hell in search of freedom on Earth. But it’s harder than they thought to keep their enemies off their tail…The four rogues quickly become the Underworld’s Most Wanted, and if they’re caught, the consequences will be dire. Yet everything changes for Ash when he meets a beautiful violinist who can see through his curse. It must be too good to be true, but, no matter the risk, he has to have her.
• Never Flinch by Stephen King
  When the Buckeye City Police Department receives a disturbing letter from a person threatening to “kill thirteen innocents and one guilty” in “an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man,” Detective Izzy Jaynes has no idea what to think. Are fourteen citizens about to be slaughtered in an unhinged act of retribution?
• Going Home in the Dark by Dean Koontz
  For Rebecca, Bobby, and Spencer, time is running out to remember the terrors of the past in a perfect town where nothing is what it seems. For Maple Grove, it’s a chance to have the “four amigos,” as they once called themselves, back in its grasp.
• Blood on her Tongue by Johanna van Veen
  The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy’s twin sister, Sarah, is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband’s grand estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a terrible fate in a lunatic asylum, Lucy must unravel the mystery surrounding her sister’s condition, but it’s clear her twin is hiding something.