What to Read This Halloween…

“Have a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween!”

Not sure what to read Halloween night? Let me help you! I have all the gory details of 15 books perfect for Halloween reading! Underneath the cover of each book you will find the average rating, a link to Goodreads to add it to your WTR list (and later review it) and a link to buy the eBook so you can read it right away!

In no particular order… let’s do this!

1. Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.

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Average rating on Goodreads: 3.80
Average rating on Amazon: 4
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Maybe you have seen the movie on Netflix (and loved it as much as I did!) but did you know this was first a book? Yep! Published in 2013. The film was inspired by this very awesome book. Check it out on Goodreads here, and if you love it, get yourself a copy (links below). Also, there is a book two! Check it out here.

eBook: Australia, US and UK

2. Haunted (David Ash #1) by James Herbert

Three nights of terror in a house called Edbrook. Three nights in which David Ash, there to investigate a haunting, will be the victim of horrifying and maleficent games. Three nights in which he will face the enigma of his own past. Three nights before Edbrook’s dreadful secret will be revealed – and the true nightmare will begin.

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Average rating on Goodreads: 3.80
Average rating on Amazon: 4
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You may have heard of James Herbert. He is a talented writer that is responsible for many popular books, such as: ‘The Fog’. Sadly, James Herbert passed away back in 2013 but his hard-to-put-down books live on! Check out ‘Haunted’ on Goodreads here, and if you love it, get yourself a copy (links below). Note: I am reading this at the moment and oh my… It is a hard one to put down. Prepare to stay up very late reading this.

eBook: Australia, US and UK

3. Alice (The Chronicles of Alice #1) by Christina Henry

In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo the screams of the poor souls inside.

In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blond, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn’t remember why she’s in such a terrible place. Just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood…

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Average rating on Goodreads: 3.87
Average rating on Amazon: 4
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I am loving this creepy twist on the Alice that we know. Check it out on Goodreads here and do yourself a favour and grab yourself a copy right now!

eBook: Australia, US and UK

4. Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.

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Average rating on Goodreads: 4.08
Average rating on Amazon: 4.3
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If there was ever a book that you knew was going to be hard to put down, this is IT. What is creepier than a flock of sleepwalkers going to an unknown destination, with you following them?! Check it out on Goodreads here. Grab yourself a copy below!

eBook: Australia, US and UK

5. The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

A chilling ghost story with a twist: the New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People returns to the woods of Vermont to tell the story of a husband and wife who don’t simply move into a haunted house, they start building one from scratch, without knowing it, until it’s too late . . .

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Average rating on Goodreads: 3.81
Average rating on Amazon: 4.1
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Talk about creepy… You buy a house and start to buy different items to make it gorgeous and the way that you want it, but little do you know you’re actually buying items to make it like the house that it once was, previously owned by three generations of “Breckenridge” women who died suspiciously and are still searching for something important to them. Eek! Take my money… right now! Check it out on Goodreads.

eBook: Australia, US and UK

6. The Girl From The Well by Rin Chupeco

You may think me biased, being murdered myself. But my state of being has nothing to do with the curiosity toward my own species, if we can be called such. We do not go gentle, as your poet encourages, into that good night.

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Average rating on Goodreads: 3.77
Average rating on Amazon: 4.3
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If I’m honest… this had me at ‘girl’ and ‘well’. Die hard fan of The Ring – anything with anyone in or from a well… I am in! Check it out on Goodreads. Links below to buy!

eBook: Australia, US and UK

7. Misery by Stephen King

Paul Sheldon. He’s a bestselling novelist who has finally met his biggest fan. Her name is Annie Wilkes and she is more than a rabid reader – she is Paul’s nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. But she is also his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house. Annie wants Paul to write a book that brings Misery back to life – just for her. 

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Average rating on Goodreads: 4.15
Average rating on Amazon: 4.6
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Imagine being in a horrible car accident, and the nurse who is meant to be taking care of you has taken it that bit too far and instead is holding you captive in her isolated house. That is, until you write a book that brings her favourite character back to life. Oh, and to make sure you do what she says she will get nasty (this could involve a needle or an axe). Also: this became a movie with Kathy Bates and James Caan! Have a look at this book on Goodreads. Buy using links below!

eBook: Australia, US and UK

8. The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates

There’s something wrong with Ashburn House…
The ancient building has been the subject of rumours for close to a century. Its owner, Edith, refused to let guests inside and rarely visited the nearby town.

Following Edith’s death, her sole surviving relative, Adrienne, inherits the property. Adrienne’s only possessions are a suitcase of luggage, twenty dollars, and her pet cat. Ashburn House is a lifeline she can’t afford to refuse.

Adrienne doesn’t believe in ghosts, but it’s hard to ignore the unease that grows as she explores her new home. Strange messages have been etched into the wallpaper, an old grave is hidden in the forest behind the house, and eerie portraits in the upstairs hall seem to watch her every movement.

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Average rating on Goodreads: 4.04
Average rating on Amazon: 4.6
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A creepy haunted house… of course this is the perfect read for Halloween! With the thought that Adrienne could actually be the next victim… something evil enough is in that house to cause a human harm. Eek! Take a look on Goodreads. Grab yourself a copy below.

eBook: Australia, US and UK

9. Violet by Scott Thomas

For many children, the summer of 1988 was filled with sunshine and laughter. But for ten-year-old Kris Barlow, it was her chance to say goodbye to her dying mother.

Three decades later, loss returns—her husband killed in a car accident. And so, Kris goes home to the place where she first knew pain—to that summer house overlooking the crystal waters of Lost Lake. It’s there that Kris and her eight-year-old daughter will make a stand against grief.

But a shadow has fallen over the quiet lake town of Pacington, Kansas. Beneath its surface, an evil has grown—and inside that home where Kris Barlow last saw her mother, an old friend awaits her return. 

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Average rating on Goodreads: 3.72
Average rating on Amazon: 3.7
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A child’s imaginary friend is waiting at that house for her to return… I am not sure I need to say more! Check it out on Goodreads. Links to buy below!

eBook: Australia (only available as an audiobook or paperback in AUS and UK), US and UK

10. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, the lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

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Average rating on Goodreads: 3.9
Average rating on Amazon: 3.85
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Have you seen the TV series on Netflix? Of course you have! Well, before Netflix… it was a book (published in 1959). The TV show was inspired by this very popular and highly rated book because… duh! It’s amazingly spooky and well written. Check it out on Goodreads. Do yourself a favour and grab your copy now.

eBook: Australia, US and UK

11. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

Victoria McQueen has a secret gift for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. On her Raleigh Tuff Burner bike, she makes her way to a rickety covered bridge that, within moments, takes her wherever she needs to go, whether it’s across Massachusetts or across the country.

Charles Talent Manx has a way with children. He likes to take them for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. With his old car, he can slip right out of the everyday world, and onto the hidden roads that transport them to an astonishing – and terrifying – playground of amusements he calls “Christmasland.”

Then, one day, Vic goes looking for trouble—and finds Manx. That was a lifetime ago. Now Vic, the only kid to ever escape Manx’s unmitigated evil, is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx never stopped thinking about Victoria McQueen. He’s on the road again and he’s picked up a new passenger: Vic’s own son.

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Average rating on Goodreads: 4.07
Average rating on Amazon: 4.4
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Joe Hill… Stephen King’s son… you know this will be amazing! Check out the blurb above and you can view this on Goodreads here.

eBook: Australia, US and UK

12. The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H. P. Lovecraft

This collection spans Lovecraft’s literary career, and charts the development of his ‘cosmicist’ philosophy; the belief that behind the veil of our blinkered everyday lives lies another reality, too terrible for the human mind to comprehend. In stories written in the gothic tradition, narrators recount their descent into madness and despair. Through their investigations into the unexplained, they tug at the thin threads that separate our world from another of indescribable horror. ‘“ Great God! I never dreamed of THIS!”’ screams occultist Harley Warren in ‘The Statement of Randolph Carter’, as he begs his companion to bury him alive. Another early piece, ‘The Outsider’ – a tragic and emotive evocation of loneliness and desolation – follows a man’s escape from his castle in a desperate search for human contact, but the loathsome truth he discovers destroys his mind.

In later tales, such as the iconic ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ and ‘The Whisperer in Darkness’, Lovecraft reaches into the cosmos, bridging the divide between horror and science fiction. The extra-terrestrial ‘gods’ and cursed histories that would emerge from these stories now form the cornerstones of Lovecraft’s unique mythology: the Cthulhu Mythos. This fictional universe, built in large part by his friend and most ardent supporter August Derleth, has in the years since been reimagined in myriad forms, and continues to act as a haunted playground for countless illustrators, fans and authors.

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Average rating on Goodreads: 4.22
Average rating on Amazon: 4.6
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If you know anything about H. P. Lovecraft, you know you’ll never be disappointed. Do yourself a favour and lose yourself in all things Lovecraft. Look at Goodreads here and grab yourself a copy below. You’ll soon see why H. P. Lovecraft has such a huge following.

eBook: Australia, US and UK

13. The Institute by Stephen King

In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Ellis’s parents and load him into a black SUV. The operation takes less than two minutes. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there’s no window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents—telekinesis and telepathy—who got to this place the same way Luke did: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and ten-year-old Avery Dixon. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, “like the roach motel,” Kalisha says. “You check in, but you don’t check out.”

In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute.

As psychically terrifying as Firestarter, and with the spectacular kid power of It, The Institute is Stephen King’s gut-wrenchingly dramatic story of good vs. evil in a world where the good guys don’t always win.

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Average rating on Goodreads: 4.27
Average rating on Amazon: 4.6
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Anything Stephen King, and I am IN! You need to be as well. I have never been disappointed in a Stephen King book and I have great confidence you won’t either. Check it out on Goodreads and grab yourself a copy below. Will Luke be the first to escape the Institute?

eBook: Australia, US and UK

14. Full Throttle Stories by Joe Hill

A little door that opens to a world of fairy tale wonders becomes the blood-drenched stomping ground for a gang of hunters in “Faun.” A grief-stricken librarian climbs behind the wheel of an antique Bookmobile to deliver fresh reads to the dead in “Late Returns.” In “By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain,” two young friends stumble on the corpse of a plesiosaur at the water’s edge, a discovery that forces them to confront the inescapable truth of their own mortality . . . and other horrors that lurk in the water’s shivery depths. And tension shimmers in the sweltering heat of the Nevada desert as a faceless trucker finds himself caught in a sinister dance with a tribe of motorcycle outlaws in “Throttle,” co-written with Stephen King.

Featuring two previously unpublished stories, and a brace of shocking chillers, Full Throttle is a darkly imagined odyssey through the complexities of the human psyche. Hypnotic and disquieting, it mines our tormented secrets, hidden vulnerabilities, and basest fears, and demonstrates this exceptional talent at his very best.

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Average rating on Goodreads: 4.12
Average rating on Amazon: 4
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Joe Hill along with Stephen King – Yep, take my money. All of it. Also – head on over to Netflix because the awesome people that they are have released an adaptation of one of the tales, named: ‘In the Tall Grass’. Yes! Check it out on Goodreads too.

eBook: Australia, US and UK

15. The Troop by Nick Cutter

Once a year, scoutmaster Tim Riggs leads a troop of boys into the Canadian wilderness for a three-day camping trip—a tradition as comforting and reliable as a good ghost story and a roaring bonfire. But when an unexpected intruder—shockingly thin, disturbingly pale, and voraciously hungry—stumbles upon their campsite, Tim and the boys are exposed to something far more frightening than any tale of terror. The human carrier of a bioengineered nightmare. An inexplicable horror that spreads faster than fear. A harrowing struggle for survival that will pit the troop against the elements, the infected … and one another.

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Average rating on Goodreads: 3.75
Average rating on Amazon: 4.1
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A three day camping trip turned nightmare… intruder, shockingly thin… disturbingly pale… and voraciously hungry. If you happen to be going camping Halloween night, give this one a read! Have a look on Goodreads here.

eBook: Australia, US and UK

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Which will you choose? Leave me a comment. Have you read any of these and loved them? Hated them? Let me know.

Have a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween!

Until next time,

Emma xx