10 great horror books to read this October
It’s that time of year again!
There’s a chill in the air, everything smells a bit like apple cider donuts and wood smoke, people have the theme from Practical Magic on repeat, the sun is setting earlier, and it’s hard to shake the feeling that something ancient and terrible is watching you from just out of sight as you’re walking home at night. That’s right, folks: Spooky season is finally upon us!
While there’s truly no hard-and-fast rule on the best time of year to read scary stories, if you’re anything like me, you like to pack in as many as possible in the days leading up to Halloween. Below you’ll find a list of 10 recent horror novels that are perfect for the month of October (and beyond).
Nine years ago, Emily Carroll released a truly chilling anthology of gorgeously illustrated and grotesquely visceral horror stories titled Through the Woods. If, like me, you were a fan of this collection (I still think about the story “His Face All Red” fairly regularly), then you’ll rejoice to hear that Carroll’s recent adult graphic novel is every bit as unsettling as her early work.
A Guest in the House tells the story of Abby, a quiet and lonely young woman who, upon learning about the sudden death of her new husband’s first wife, Sheila, begins to question his innocence. Was it really natural causes that killed her, or something much more sinister? Were all of her possessions truly destroyed in a fire? Why does he live by a lake if he doesn’t swim, and why won’t he let his daughter go near the water? As Abby adjusts to married life, her obsession with Sheila continues to grow until a startling encounter with her predecessor’s ghost changes everything.
Taking inspiration from the gothic tales that have come before it,
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