15+ More Spooky Reads for Your Fall Reading List

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books)

I thought it might be time for an update of this post from 2019 to share some fabulous horror (or just spooky) reads with you. New recommendations are marked with an asterisk.

Because it's been a while since I read some of these books, I'll include the publisher's synopsis with some commentary.

*William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - While I'd watched the movie adaptation before, I had never read its source material. I found The Exorcist to be an incredibly rich text. When I last watched the movie, I didn't have children yet, but my perspective this time was firmly with Chris, the mother of the victim, as she tries to uncover the truth behind her daughter's ailment.

Synopsis: "Originally published in 1971, The Exorcist is a bestselling literary phenomenon and remains one of the most frightening and controversial novels ever written.

"Based on true events of a child’s demonic possession in the 1940s, The Exorcist tells the story of eleven-year-old Regan MacNeil and her mother Chris, a famous actress and doting mother. When Regan’s personality unexpectedly shifts and she starts exhibiting disturbing, often violent behavior, her desperate mother is driven to seek help from two Catholic priests, men who will risk everything—including their own souls— to free the girl from the ancient malevolent force possessing her.

"Purposefully raw and profane, this novel still has the extraordinary ability to shock readers and cause them to forget that it is 'just a story.' More than fifty years after its initial publication, The Exorcist remains a truly unforgettable reading experience."

*Mariana Enríquez's Our Share of Night (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - This book is incredible. It's surreal and complicated, emotional and heartbreaking . . . and it's so, so eerie. It's a long book, which allowed me to become totally immersed in its world. I couldn't stop reading.

Synopsis: "A young father and son set out on a road trip, devastated by the death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travel to her ancestral home, where they must confront the terrifying legacy she has bequeathed: a family called the Order that commits unspeakable acts in search of immortality.

"For Gaspar, the son, this maniacal cult is his destiny. As the Order tries to pull him into their evil, he and his father take flight, attempting to outrun a powerful clan that will do anything to ensure its own survival. But how far will Gaspar’s father go to protect his child? And can anyone escape their fate?

"Moving back and forth in time, from London in the swinging 1960s to the brutal years of Argentina’s military dictatorship and its turbulent aftermath, Our Share of Night is a novel like no other: a family story, a ghost story, a story of the occult and the supernatural, a book about the complexities of love and longing with queer subplots and themes."

Stephen and Owen King's Sleeping Beauties (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - "We could go on like this forever. He said, she said. The oldest story in the universe." Stephen King is consistently one of my favorite authors--his storytelling ability never fails. His recent novel with his son Owen King falls solidly within his oeuvre. Real-world issues combine with fantastical problems (in this case, women are falling asleep only to be cocooned in silky webs). The Kings take on feminism, the male tendency to violence, racism, mass incarceration, police shootings . . . and yet it's all wrapped up in a small town that's a microcosm of our larger society and its issues. As always, I appreciate the flawed heroes and totally vile villains who make up the Kings' large cast of characters. Fabulous, entrancing fantasy/horror novel.

Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina's The Things She's Seen (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - "In telling this tale, we were informed by two sets of stories that are the inheritance of Aboriginal peoples. . . . Both sets of stories inform our existences and, thus, our storytelling. The ancient tales of Aboriginal nations of Australia tell of an animate world, where everything lives" ("Author's Note," Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina). I had an urge to quote the entire Author's Note here but did restrain myself. I encourage you, though, to pick up this book immediately and not to skip the Note, which offers an enriching perspective on the stories behind the novel. It centers on two narrators: teenage Beth accompanies her father on his investigation into a fire that resulted in one man's death. The only catch? Beth is dead. Her recent death has left her single father alone and nearly unable to function. The second narrator is Catching, one of the children who survived the fire and who shares her tale, which is rife with Aboriginal stories, in verse. As the two narratives twine together, the truth behind the mysterious death becomes distressingly clear. This gorgeous, haunting, hopeful novel is a must read! (Thanks to Ashley for loaning it to me. She picked up this ARC on our recent trip to the NoVa Teen Book Festival.)

*Ryan La Sala's The Honeys (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - This was a controversial book for our Unabridged Podcast Buddy Read group—people had mixed feelings—but I'm unreservedly a fan.

The novel is complex, with many, many layers. Mars is grieving the death of his twin sister from whom he had grown apart in recent years. Her death occurred under bizarre circumstances—that scene opens the book in a surreal, immersive rush—and Mars feels that he's missing something. To get to the roots of her death, Mars decides to travel to the camp they both attended when they were younger: Caroline has been devoted to that camp and to a group there called The Honeys, while Mars—bullied almost to the point of death because of his genderfluidity—stopped attending years before.

That's the premise. What ensues is incredibly complicated: there's a mystery, there's body horror, there's an exploration of cliques, of gender, of romance, of friendship. The writing is gorgeous on the sentence level, and I found the plot to be totally captivating. While this is a polarizing read, it's one I highly recommend.

*Mattie Lubchansky's Boys Weekend (Bookshop.org) - Boys Weekend was a selection for the Tournament of Books, which often leads me to unexpectedly wonderful finds. I thought this graphic novel was just perfection, offering a story both moving and silly as it shifts into horror. It's a mind-bending read.

Synopsis: "Newly-out trans artist’s assistant Sammie is invited to an old friend’s bachelor weekend in El Campo, a hedonistic wonderland of a city floating in the Atlantic Ocean's international waters—think Las Vegas with even fewer rules. Though they have not identified as a man for over a year, Sammie’s college buddies haven't quite gotten the message—as evidenced by their formerly closest friend Adam asking them to be his 'best man.'

"Arriving at the swanky hotel, Sammie immediately questions their decision to come. Bad enough that they have to suffer through a torrent of passive-aggressive comments from the groom's pals—all met with zero pushback from supposed 'nice guy' Adam. But also, they seem to be the only one who's noticed the mysterious cult that's also staying at the hotel, and is ritually dismembering guests and demanding fealty to their bloodthirsty god.

"Part satire, part horror, Boys Weekend  explores what it’s like to exist as a transfemme person in a man’s world, the difficulty of maintaining friendships through transition, and the more cult-like effects of masculinity, 'hustle' culture, and capitalism—all through the vibrant lens of a surreal, scary, and immensely imaginative romp."

*Richard Matheson's I Am Legend (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - I still haven't watched the film adaptation of this classic, but the book is worth your time. Neville's point of view is at the center of this post-apocalyptic tale of a disintegrating world. I highly recommend the audiobook!

Synopsis: "Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth...but he is not alone. Every other man, woman, and child on Earth has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood.

"By day, he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn.

"How long can one man survive in a world of vampires?"

*Editor Jordan Peele's Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - As with the best anthologies, this one collects work from an array of authors. Some were familiar, and some were not, allowing me to extend my knowledge of some authors' backlists and to learn about new authors to add to my TBR.

Synopsis: "A cop begins seeing huge, blinking eyes where the headlights of cars should be that tell him who to pull over. Two freedom riders take a bus ride that leaves them stranded on a lonely road in Alabama where several unsettling somethings await them. A young girl dives into the depths of the Earth in search of the demon that killed her parents. These are just a few of the worlds of Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele’s anthology of all-new horror stories by Black writers. Featuring an introduction by Peele and an all-star roster of beloved writers and new voices, Out There Screaming is a master class in horror, and—like his spine-chilling films—its stories prey on everything we think we know about our world . . . and redefine what it means to be afraid.

"Featuring stories by: Erin E. Adams, Violet Allen, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Maurice Broaddus, Chesya Burke, P. Djèlí Clark, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, N. K. Jemisin, Justin C. Key, L. D. Lewis, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nicole D. Sconiers, Rion Amilcar Scott, Terence Taylor, and Cadwell Turnbull."

Helen Phillips's The Need (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - SOME SPOILERS AHEAD! Have you ever frozen in a quiet home, convinced that you've heard footsteps in another room? or someone creeping in your hallway? You're almost POSITIVE that you're imagining things. But there's always that chance . . . Helen Phillips's The Need gave me SUCH Dark Matter vibes. It was less science centered than Blake Crouch's novel but asked similar questions about how unique each of us really is, what we would do if driven by desperate circumstances to fight for the lives and families we've built. In The Need, Molly is a paleobotanist and mother. In her work life, she is working with her partners both to uncover plant fossils and to puzzle out a set of slightly "off" discoveries. At her home, she and her husband David--who often has to travel for work--are raising their children, four-year-old Viv and infant Ben. She is also fighting an overwhelming anxiety that causes her to see and hear threats in her home that are PROBABLY imaginary. Probably. I raced through The Need, completely absorbed by its questions about identity, motherhood, and gratitude, all wrapped in an engaging mystery and a world just on the other side of fantasy. Perfect, weird, suspense novel with an ending that made me flip back to re-read it.

Sarah Pinborough's Behind Her Eyes (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - I can TOTALLY see why Stephen King blurbed Sarah Pinborough's Behind Her Eyes. The best things about this book are spoilerific, but I'll just say that it's a *patient* suspense novel. The way she builds her alternating protagonists, Adele and Louise, is brilliant, demonstrating the revelations of each as the reader comes to understand what's going on in the background.

Riley Sager's Lock Every Door (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - What a beach read! Riley Sager's Lock Every Door is SUCH a page turner. Focusing on twenty-something Jude, who lands an amazing job as an apartment sitter in the famous New York building the Bartholomew, the novel begins quickly and maintains its pace through every page. Sager excels at building suspense and playing with readers' expectations without cheating. I think this is the strongest of Sager's three novels--each has been better than the last.

*Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - This super-twisty novel is quite a ride. I kept thinking I had it figured out, and then Ward would throw in another new direction. While the plot was propulsive, it's the characters who are the real stars here.

Synopsis: "Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street is a shocking and immersive read perfect for fans of Gone Girl and The Haunting of Hill House.

"In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three.

"A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time.

"A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory.

"And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible.

"An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all."

Other Recommendations

Steve Cavanagh's Thirteen​ (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

Karen McManus's Two Can Keep a Secret (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

Gin Phillips's Fierce Kingdom (Libro.fm)

Ruth Ware's The Turn of the Key (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

#bookishfaves #seasonal #tbr #thriller #spookyreads #horror