Whether you're a horror buff or just looking to get into the Halloween spirit, October is the perfect time to pick up a horror book.
Scary movies dominate the season, but thriller novels can offer a subtler, eerier scare. If you are looking to be kept up all night, opt for one of these masterfully scary horror novels.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson’s quintessential gothic horror novel is "thrillingly well written, full of complex, economical, vivid insight", said Aida Edemariam in The Guardian. In the "brilliant" classic, Dr Montague invites an eclectic group of four to spend the summer at the supposedly haunted Hill House, looking for scientific evidence of the supernatural. The inhabitants begin to experience strange phenomena and the lighthearted experiment quickly becomes "seriously scary" and "filled with a sense of mounting dread", said The New York Times. Eleanor, invited because of her childhood ability to activate poltergeists, struggles to separate reality from imagination in the house. Jackson's horror novel is a must-read this Halloween and "caviar for the connoisseurs of the cryptic".
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez
Filled with decaying ghouls, victims of military dictatorship, and cannibalism, the award-winning Argentinian author's short story collection is perfect if you want to "wince, flinch, and momentarily panic", said Chris Power in The Guardian. The longest of the stories, "Kids Who Come Back" begins with missing children reappearing in the parks of Buenos Aires, not a day older than when they left. Giving a "flavour" of José Saramago's fiction, the work is "beautiful" and "horrible" and the most "exciting discovery" in fiction for some time, said Kazuo Ishiguro in the same paper.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Hotel by Daisy Johnson
Daisy Johnson is the "demon offspring of Shirley Jackson and Stephen King", said Alex Preston in The Guardian. The Booker-shortlisted author's newest work delivers a series of 15 interlinked stories voiced by different narrators, one even narrated by the haunted house. The "mesmerising" book is "an homage" to "The Shining", said Johanna Thomas-Carr in The Times.
Set in The Hotel, a gothic building on the Fens with a violent past, each story reveals new myths, rumours, and secrets. The guests are aware of the mythology, entering in hopes of communing with their dead loved ones. Some leave unscathed, others are forever haunted by their stay and readers will bring their "own demons to each story".
Lone Women by Victor LaValle
It's 1915 and Adelaide Henry is alone in Montana "haunted by her secrets", said Chanelle Benz in The New York Times. LaValle opens his novel, set in the American frontier, with a scene of "dark, bloody upheaval" throwing the reader into this "genre-melding" book where nothing "is as it seems". Adelaide slowly discovers other lone women in the terrain, the only other black woman for miles, she realises sharing these secrets may be "the key to her self-preservation". With blood shed, missing people, and a looming white lynch mob, LaValle "deftly weaves history, horror" and suspense, providing an "impossible to put down" novel.
The Turn of The Screw by Henry James
This 19th-century novella isn't outdated. Modern readers will still find the seminal horror text "remarkably vivid and disquieting", said Calum Marsh in The New York Times. The classic gothic ghost story centres on a young governess sent to a country manor with strict instructions to care for two young children. While in the grounds, the governess starts to see apparitions, identified by the housekeeper as her predecessor. As the children begin to act strangely, the governess vows to protect them. A true classic of the genre, this haunting tale is "prized for its ambiguity and sophistication".
-
Delhi's dogs earn Supreme Court reprieveIN THE SPOTLIGHT After an outcry from the public and animal rights activists, India's Supreme Court walks back a controversial plan to round the city's stray dog population into shelters
-
8 hotels with ace tennis courtsThe Week Recommends Bring your A game
-
Abrego released from jail, faces Uganda deportationSpeed Read The wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego García is expected to be detained at an ICE check-in and deported to Uganda
-
8 hotels with ace tennis courts
The Week Recommends Bring your A game
-
The 5 best zombie movies of all timeThe Week Recommends Ghouls feasting on flesh have been a staple of cinema for more than 50 years
-
7 travel fragrances that let you smell good on the goThe Week Recommends Spritz away!
-
A guide to Budapest's healing thermal bathsThe Week Recommends There's a reason why it's called the City of Spas
-
Every MCU movie since 'Avengers: Endgame,' rankedThe Week Recommends How did the recent 'Fantastic Four: First Steps' stack up?
-
5 fun cycling tours that let you vacation on two wheelsThe Week Recommends Gain a new perspective while pedaling
-
The best singers turned actors of all timeIn Depth It's not often that someone is born with both of these rare skill sets
-
A descent into academic Hell, a ferocious feminist fable and the adult debut of a beloved children's authorThe Week Recommends August books include R.F. Kuang's 'Katabasis,' Xenobe Purvis' 'The Hounding' and Louis Sachar's 'The Magician of Tiger Castle'
