Anna Fall is finally in full swing and I have whole heartedly embraced the season by deep diving into a tall book list of horror stories. I mean, I’ve been really in the mood to just live with my face in a horror novel so I’ve cultivated a list of perfectly creepy stories to set an ominous tone for October. I’ve already posted two parts of this list here and here. I’ve finished so many more since my last post that I need to do an update. So, here is my next set of eerie Halloween bangers to ring in spooky season.
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
I LOVED this book, what a perfectly eerie haunted house story. I think this will be my favorite haunted house book for a while.
Maggie hasn’t been back to her childhood home since her family fled in the middle of the night, leaving all their possessions behind. She has no memory of the terrifying ordeal that lead to their escape, all she knows about the events were learned from her father’s infamous account titled The House of Horrors, a book he published in the aftermath. Although lucrative, the books caused a stir and left negative legacy for the town, creating a media storm and ghoulish tourist. Maggie is dealing with some resultant guilt and shame. Can she really believe the house was haunted by spirits so evil and dangerous that her family can never safely step foot in there again, as they claim? If was so harrowing, why can’t she remember any of it?
Banebarry hall is a once elegant mansion named after a fictional poisonous berry, that has just about been swallowed whole by the Vermont forest. It has a dark legacy of it’s own: there have been many fatalities and disappearances on the grounds, all involving young girls. Is there an omniscient presence that threatens the daughters of Baneberry Hall?
When Maggie moves in the strange events pick up, memories resurface and the more she learns about her time in the house, more details in her father’s book are corroborated; details she’s easily dismissed as fiction. She learns of the disturbing disappearance of her young neighbor Petra, and as the coincidences line up, it’s hard for her to dismiss the unnerving credibility of her father’s story.
We learn the truth of what happened years ago from her father’s perspective who tells his account as the events happened in a dual timeline story arc. As his story progresses, the real backstory is so much more complicated that we could have imagined. The ending was hard to guess, and the big revel is layered behind several fast-paced whiplashing twists.
Nestlings by Nat Cassidy
This was the second book I’ve ready by Nat Cassidy and I love his writing style. He’s great at setting a scene of the dark, and scary stuff, and this is the perfect time of year when sometimes you are just in the mood for some eerie, macabre vibes to welcome Halloween. If you’re ready to bask in the ghoulish and frightening ambiance, then Nat Cassidy will help you out.
This novel is set in an old building New York City. Ana and Reid find an apartment on the top floor with a great view at a great deal. It’s perfect for a new baby and they simply can’t pass up the opportunity to build their dream life in their dream home. But obviously, it’s a crumbling nightmare factory that will clearly ruin their lives. 🤦♀️ IDIOTS!
Ana senses that something is wrong with apartment and is worried about the changes she sees in baby Charlie. Her post partum depression makes her somewhat of an unreliable narrator. Reid is unfazed until Charlie appears to have injuries. Is Ana’s stability slipping or is there a more sinister force at play? Psychological dread and tension builds. The building is a prominent plot point and presents like a character itself.
The main character is wheelchair bound due to a pregnancy complication, and I really enjoyed this element. It adds something unique to the horror atmosphere.
This is highly atmospheric and suspenseful, some grotesque elements. I don’t easily get grossed out, but there were some scenes and detailed that made me visibly shudder- so good job Nat Cassidy for the effective writing. This an original concept that includes a fun new take on a classic horror theme and delivers a satisfying ending.
Trigger warnings for this novel for child abuse, infanticide, which are present but a small part of the novel.
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
A haunted house tail told by a hilarious narrator that delivers ghosts, vultures, entomology, and underground children.
“Vultures are extremely sensitive to the dead, especially when the dead are doing something they shouldn’t be”. This book weaves a dry humor and sarcasm into the horror, and honestly, it’s pretty funny.
Sam is an archeoentomologist who returns home after an unexpected leave from work, following up on her brother’s concerns about their mother’s health. After a cross country road trip, she is struck that her childhood home is uncomfortably different. Puritan decor has replaced a colorful and quirky ambience and her mother’s strong personality also seems diluted to reflect the preferences of the recently departed Gran Mae. She is increasingly concerned that the changes in her mother are due to a tragic biological nature, or could there a more nefarious cause? Sam notices that there is a unnatural lack of bugs in the backyard garden (I love that entomology is plot relevant). Her grandmother was a expert and accomplished gardener, but Sam’s resurfacing childhood memories paint the picture that the grandmother is a more sinister character rather than a nurturing nana figure. She tells cautionary bedtime stories of underground children, a homespun tale of the boogyman that turns out have been based on a kernel of truth.
Questioning the existence of ghosts, were reminded that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. This is common refrain in research and I love that it was employed to challenge her acceptance of the supernatural. She is a scientist (as am I) and I love her empirical and analytical eye towards her irrational experiences. Gayle further challenges her skeptics: “do you truly not believe in it, or do you not believe it could happen to your mother? You’re an archaeologist. Do you think that every other culture is misguided too?” This forces Sam to consider all the sociocultural contexts that she wouldn’t question or challenge otherwise, it’s a thought provoking and well done scene.
This book felt similar to the September House, which I also enjoy and recommend.
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
“It’s dedicated to anyone who has every loved a monster.” I love a good haunted house tale, and this one delivers with an added layer of crime and disturbing family drama. I really liked this book and was surprised by how entertaining it was.
Vera returns to her childhood home because her mother, Daphne is dying. She has to reconcile her past and her strained relationship with her mother as she cares her in her last days. The house is no stranger to death, however, as Vera’s father is a convicted serial killer who carried out his heinous crimes here. We follow Vera and her childhood friend Brandon and how their halcyon friendship is stained by growing up, and further tested by the local crimes.
The creepiness factor really hit. What I really appreciated about this novel is the variety of horror archetypes (murder, gore, possession, ghosts, psychological horror) that are incorporated into the plot. The story arc of the fathers crimes, and his underlying motivation and maintaining paternal relationship with his daughter is suspenseful and disconcerting.
The Ghost Wall- Sarah Moss
Set in Northern England, in a rural site where a small group of anthropology students are walking the steps of Iron Age Britons. They’re reliving life in the Iron Age, left to their own devices, exposed to the elements, to hunt and gather with their DIY Iron Age tools. The college course is crashed by a family head by a mean bus driving dad who is really into ancient Britain, and has a furious passion for ancient history. However, his passion seems to be fueled by feelings of nationalism and racial purity, which immediately makes him seem dangerous and unlikeable. Yet, he has brought his timid, submissive wife and 17yo daughter, Silvie, with him on the trip, and the presentation of these two characters made me hella suspicious of the dad. Silvie, along for the ride, makes fast friends with the only female student on the trip, Molly, a luscious and uninhibited American whom Silvie idolizes as everything she is not.
They find the remains of a young girl preserved in the bog whom they believe was ritually sacrificed. Her hands are found bound behind her back, and this sacrifice is alluded to throughout the novella.
Quick aside: bog bodies are a real thing, they’re human bodies found in the peat bogs of northern Europe are remarkably well preserved due to the chemistry of the bog, many theories consider traditions of sacrifice or executions to explain the deaths. They’re super interesting and this aspect really drew me into the book, but it’s not really prevalent besides the theme surrounding this sacrificed girl.
The dad is really into the re-enactment and it kind of goes to his head. They start building the ghost wall, a customary rudimentary barricade built by the “primitive” (<—also a theme) people, made of sticks and topped with the skulls of their favorite tribal members, as sort of an honor or distinction. The building of the ghost wall is an important turning point, where things get a little macabre and ominous. Tensions rise between Silvie and her controlling and abusive father, placing Silvie in a precarious situation.
This book was written around the time of Brexit and includes a prominent theme of Us vs. Them.
Slade House by David Mitchell
A paranormal thriller that “feels like a board game designed by MC Escher on a bender and Stephen King in a fever.” This is a brilliantly descriptive quote from the novel that precisely captures how it feels reading it. The Slade house is a not-so-typical haunted house story with a refreshing twist that’s told through 5 independent, but related short stories. Each story takes place on October 31st, each set 9 years apart, when the Slade house is accessible to a select few. The house can’t be seen by just anyone, yet those who can see it seem to go missing. Each story is told by a distinct narrator, strong, well developed, and highly enjoyable characters. The Slade house has its own literary universe full of occult and paranormal magic, and is built upon what David Mitchell introduces in a previous novel called the Bone Clocks another. I haven’t read it, and I didn’t feel like it was necessary to read it before reading Slade house. However, the story is disorienting by nature, and at times, hard to follow. However, this is an entertaining haunted house story that’s in a league of its own.
