October is officially spooky season, and there’s no better way to get into the Halloween spirit than snuggling up with a proper horror novel. Whether you’re after a slow-build chill or a full-on page-turner that keeps you up far too late, a good scare is basically a seasonal essential.
That's why I've come up with a list of five spooky books that you can add to your list this October, with some psychological horrors making you wonder why you picked it up, and others that are straight-up scary, sending a shiver down your spine. So here's what you should read this month:
1. 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
'Salem's Lot was Stephen King's second published novel, and it was released in 1975, so the fact that it's still being spoken about now just shows how amazing it is! The story is about a writer named Ben Mears who returns to the town of Jerusalem's Lot in Maine, where he lived from ages 5 to 9, only to discover that the residents are becoming vampires.
Goodreads shares: "Thousands of miles away from the small township of 'Salem's Lot, two terrified people, a man and a boy, still share the secrets of those clapboard houses and tree-lined streets. They must return to 'Salem's Lot for a final confrontation with the unspeakable evil that lives on in the town".
Creepy? Oh, yes, indeed. Exercise caution if you dare to read this one when it's bedtime.
2. Maeve Fly by CJ Leede
Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede is a dark, blood-soaked horror novel about a woman who plays an ice princess at a Southern California theme park by day and haunts the Sunset Strip dive bars by night.
It won the Golden Poppy Octavia E. Butler Award and was nominated for the Bram Stoker and Splatterpunk Award. It's one of those books that you cannot get out of your head, long after you've turned the last page.
Goodreads shares: "By the neon night glow of the Sunset Strip, Maeve haunts the dive bars with a drink in one hand and a book in the other, imitating her misanthropic literary heroes. But when Gideon Green - her best friend’s brother - moves to town, he awakens something dangerous within her, and the world she knows suddenly shifts beneath her feet."
"Untethered, Maeve ditches her discontented act and tries on a new persona. A bolder, bloodier one, inspired by the pages of American Psycho. Step aside, Patrick Bateman, it’s Maeve’s turn with the knife".
3. We Used To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
Interesting fact: this story was serialised on Reddit before it was turned into a full-length novel! Imagine being one of the first readers of a book on a forum? Crazy!
A psychological horror, this book will have you questioning absolutely everything that you read. It was also nominated for the Goodreads Readers' Favourite Horror in 2024. Goodreads shares: "As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighbourhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in."
"As soon as the strangers enter their home, inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materialising in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?"
4. Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh
Ottessa Moshfegh is the queen of weird and wonderful books, and this 2020 release is absolutely no different. It's a blend of horror, suspense, and pitch-black comedy.
Goodreads shares: "While on her daily walk with her dog in the nearby woods, our protagonist comes across a note, handwritten and carefully pinned to the ground with stones. Her name was Magda. Nobody will ever know who killed her. It wasn't me. Here is her dead body."
"Shaky even on her best days, she is also alone, and new to this area, having moved here from her longtime home after the death of her husband, and now deeply alarmed. Her brooding about the note grows quickly into a full-blown obsession, as she explores multiple theories about who Magda was and how she met her fate."
"Her suppositions begin to find echoes in the real world, and the fog of mystery starts to form into a concrete and menacing shape. But is there either a more innocent explanation for all this, or a much more sinister one – one that strikes closer to home?"
5. Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova
Monstrillo is a literary horror debut about a boy who transforms into a monster, and a monster who tries to be a man, set against a backdrop of a grieving mother who will do anything to have her son back, regardless of the form he takes. It's creepy but heartbreaking at the same time, and really thought-provoking.
Goodreads shares: "Grieving mother Magos cuts out a piece of her deceased eleven-year-old son Santiago’s lung. Acting on fierce maternal instinct and the dubious logic of an old folktale, she nurtures the lung until it gains sentience, growing into the carnivorous little Monstrilio she keeps hidden within the walls of her family’s decaying Mexico City estate."
"Eventually, Monstrilio begins to resemble the Santiago he once was, but his innate impulses—though curbed by his biological and chosen family’s communal care—threaten to destroy this fragile second chance at life".
Which books do you want to add to your spooky reading list this October? Let us know in the comments...
