Anna I have been fully immersed in the horror genre lately. I LOVE Halloween and the entire fall season. As summer tragically draws to an end, I’m shifting gears and getting ready to embrace all the autumnal vibes. Halloween decor is here, the weather is changing and in no time, the crisp chill will roll in. Here is a list of some of my favorite scary books that pair well with pumpkin spice anything and a spooky mood.
Related posts: Halloween Short Stories and more great horror novels.
Mary, an Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy
Wow this book was dark….grotesque, violent, profane and macabre. A perfect demented Halloween read.
Mary is sort of a societal outcast, she seems like a haggard, washed out loner, who returns to her childhood home to take care of her aunt. She agrees to move home to take care of her Aunt Nadine only because she is truly desperate, out of money and “struggling with menopause” (which is an important theme here, but it’s involved so I’m skipping that part for now). The two have a strained relationship because Aunt Nadine is a horrid and profane person who hates Mary. Also, her childhood home is the site of violent mass murders carried out by a famous serial killer who was shot by police in the house- auspiciously on the day of Mary’s birth. The place has some creepy, ominous vibes about it.
Mary’s “menopausal symptoms” are grim hallucinations of mutilations and voices encouraging violence, dismissed by her male doctors. So Mary goes on suffering in a town with a sordid past, living with gnarly Nadine, who would push anyone to their breaking point.
To make matters worse, (or better, depending on your perspective…) there is a string of copy cat killings in town. Mary seems like a likely suspect, or has the killer come back from the dead? Mary seems like a character would would benefit from a psychotic break, and the whole time reading this book I was just waiting for Mary to crack.
I really enjoyed this novel from Nat Cassidy. While it was full of all the Halloween-type darkness one needs at this time of year (…The demise of Nadine…WOAH!!), the books is fairly complex, with themes of women’s issues. I’d like to post a full review later. Let me know what you think in the comments section- I would love to hear your thoughts.
The September House by Carissa Orlando
A couple buy their dream home and learn that is undeniably haunted. Paranormal phenomena increase in intensity around September: blood drips from the walls, piercing screams echo through the night, and there is an ominous presence in the basement, who is probably responsible for the apparitions of mangled children that run amok in the fall. It’s perfect. The macabre scenes take their toll on the family, although the mom is determined to make this dreamy old home work for them. When the dad goes missing, the concerned and sort of estranged adult daughter demands to move in with her mother. Katherine, hasn’t spent much time in the family home, as she was sent to live with her aunt shortly after they move in, presumably to protect her from the ghosts.
Unfortunately, Katherine arrives during September, when it will be difficult to protect her from the hauntings. Her mother must bargain with the ghosts and downplay the paranormal activity. Katherine is increasingly concerned about her mother’s mental health, while the running constant interference between Kathrine and the ghosts is draining, and pushes her mother to a breaking point. This story is also eerie and atmospheric- how I prefer my October reads- with sinister hauntings, and unreliable narrator, body horror, gore and violence. This is a great story to get you hyped for the Halloween season.
The Reformatory by Tananarive Drive
Set in Florida in the 1950’s during segregation, and based on the true story of the Dozier house for boys, where the author’s great-uncle died. The main character Robbie is sentenced to 6 mo at The Reformatory, for the minor crime of kicking someone: the son of a wealthy powerful family. He quickly learns that The Reformatory is a jail and his punishment is disproportionately severe to his alleged crime. He sees ghosts, or “haints”, as they’re called here, and learns of a dark hidden history of abuse and murder.
He quickly learns how to act to avoid brutal and frequent punishment: being sent to The Funhouse, The Box, or worse. Everyone has a special fear of The Warden, a violent and abhorrent man who believes it’s his god given duty of making the boys “better behaved, strong citizens” through barbaric torment. He relishes in his duty and seems to have a sinister tie to the Reformatory’s suspicious history.
His sister Gloria is his perpetual advocate and rallies everyone she can to help her brother appeal or escape before it’s too late. She too has a gift of supernatural abilities and senses the impending doom and urgency to get her brother out of danger. However, Jim Crowe segregation and racism thwart her efforts. The uphill battle in this regard is so frustrating, and is so depressing to read of terrible people getting away with terrible things.
This is a spooky ghost story, but the real horrors are in the racial injustice and abuse of young prisoners. These themes are still prevalent today, and offer a somber depth to this novel. The pace is quick and satisfying, the story is grueling, emotionally draining, and you’ll find yourself invested in the characters and rooting for the well being of the haints, prisoners and those fighting for them on the outside.
Wonderland by Jennifer Hillier
This setting of this novel had me so psyched to tear through it in hours: a rickety vintage amusement park in Washington State, well past it’s prime, paint crumbling off the giant clown face mascots. It opens with the mysterious disappearance of an employee who was last seen posting slanderous videos from the top of the Wonder Wheel- an iconic clown themed ferris wheel. Vanessa Castro moves to Seaside to become the new Chief of Police. She’s running from her own demons: her career has been jeopardized by the suspicious death of her husband. She is immediately called to investigate the ritualistic placement of a decomposing body at the base of the Wonder Wheel. She’s pressured to quickly wrap up the case, assuming the body is related to the recent disappearance, but her initial work reveals an unsettling pattern of missing Wonder Workers and questionable police conduct. The park seems to have a strange and hypnotic hold on the towns people. Why is everyone so loyal to this rusted out park? Maybe because the park keeps this sad town afloat? Or maybe it’s something more sinister.
Vanessa’s 14 year old daughter, Ava gets a job working at Wonderland. It’s extra dangerous this summer because there maybe a (serial?) killer on the loose. Through her, we learn about the parks dark past. Rumors circulate about hidden tunnels under the park, like a local legend, but some unsavory characters in town claim to have seen what really likes beneath the Hall of Clowns.
This is a great read for Halloween, its an eerie atmospheric setting in the rural Pacific North West- with clowns, life-sized vintage dolls, a trail of missing people, and a buried legacy of corruption.
The Whisper Man by Alex North
“If you leave the door half open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken.” A serial killer hunts children by night, whispering into their windows, compelling them to run away with him.
Frank Carter has kidnapped 5 children this way before he is finally arrested, but his crimes are a terrifying legacy that still haunts the community of Featherbank. Children repeat these disturbing nursery rhymes to remind each other to avoid the ever present threat of the Whisper Man.
Tom Kennedy moves to Featherbank with his young son Jake, soon after the death of his wife. Jake is having a hard time adjusting, maybe because plagued by night time whispers and strange visions. A neighborhood boy has recently disappeared and detectives learn of some eerie similarities between this case and those of the Whisper Man’s M.O. years before. Townspeople are on edge. Could it be true that the Whisper Man had an accomplice that is still stalking Featherbank’s youngest and most vulnerable? Is Frank Carter really the Whisper Man, and is the true killer back at it?
I read this novel a few years ago around Halloween. It has a good mix of police procedural drama, violent crimes and creepy paranormal elements.
I hope you adds some of these to your fall readings list. If you read any of these books, I would love to hear about your experience- so leave a comment!
