Best horror books to read this spooky season: 10 page-turners to scare your socks off
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As you're prepping for Halloween, don't forget to read a scary book. Because nothing screams spooky season like your imagination running wild with some freaky prose.
This fall offers a whole slew of horror reads and novel chillers to get in the mood. Sure, don't forget the classics (Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"? Still a banger) or the usual suspects like Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, Clive Barker and their literary lot. But there's a bunch of authors, up and coming as well as well-known, whose fresh fare will keep you up at night with page-turning thrills.
Here are 10 new titles available to check out now, depending on your horror tastes:
If you're a sucker for true crime: 'Becoming the Boogeyman'
By Richard Chizmar (Gallery Books)
Chizmar's 2021 thriller "Chasing the Boogeyman" wove together mystery and coming-of-age elements in a metafictional narrative that centered on an '80s Maryland serial killer, and the author carries over that approach for the intriguing sequel. His on-the-page counterpart discovers a garbage bag full of human remains near his home, which puts a strain on his marriage, and more deaths spark fears of a copycat and a new investigation.
If you prefer epic nightmares of the seasonal variety: 'Black River Orchard'
By Chuck Wendig (Del Rey)
Pour yourself some cider when sitting down with this huge (609 pp.) tome, set in small-town Pennsylvania. After several painstaking years, Dan Paxson's apple trees have finally fostered a fruit his teen daughter has named the Ruby Slipper. Local residents become ravenous for its delicious taste – and the apple's powerful aftereffects – but there's something much more evil at root in this story of social status and rural terror.
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If you live for devilish family drama: 'Black Sheep'
By Rachel Harrison (Berkley)
Vesper is a young cynical woman who escaped a devout religious community – and her scream-queen mommy dearest – before turning 18 and hasn't looked back. Now in her 20s, she receives a wedding invitation from her beloved cousin Rosie and decides to dip her toe back into a toxic environment. But Vesper is met with more than just an awkward family reunion when she learns of the place's biggest secret and potentially an impending apocalypse.
If you enjoy anthologies like 'Tales From the Crypt' and 'Creepshow': 'Out There Screaming'
Edited by Jordan Peele (Random House)
The "Get Out" filmmaker curates a collection of thoughtful short stories by 19 leading voices in Black horror. Rebecca Roanhorse's "Eye & Tooth" stars a pair of sibling monster hunters tackling the Texas undead, Tananarive Due's "The Rider" centers on two Freedom Riders and the sinister thing on their bus, while P. Djèlí Clark's "Hide & Seek" is a tale of kids, drug addiction and black magic.
If you like a mix of Stephen King and cyberstalking: 'Parasocial'
By Alex de Campi and Erica Henderson (Image Comics)
With his marriage on the rocks and his sci-fi TV show canceled, Luke Indiana is a fading actor on the convention circuit who needs a win but winds up wrecking his car on a Texas highway. Devoted super-fan Lily stops to help, but instead of getting a charge for his dead phone to call a tow truck, he's kidnapped and has to use all his charm and wits to survive. The graphic novel offers a contemporary take on "Misery" and a clever look at modern fandoms.
If you prefer your rock music on the darker side: 'Schrader's Chord'
By Scott Leeds (Tor Nightfire)
Like a heavy-metal spin on "Evil Dead," Leeds' debut novel centers on a family record store in Seattle. After the death of his estranged dad, Charlie Remick returns home to discover he's inherited not only the business but also a strange black case with four old vinyl records. Playing them opens a portal to the land of the dead, and the key to closing off all this supernatural badness happens to be Charlie's resurrected father.
If you dig a humorous haunted house tale: 'The September House'
By Carissa Orlando (Berkley)
Margaret realized a life's dream when she and her husband Hal bought an old Victorian house for a steal. Then the walls started bleeding – something to look forward to every September! – and she met the spirited houseguests that came with the place. Four years later, Hal's gone missing, Margaret teams with her daughter to find him and they deal with the house's big secrets in a darkly comic mix of "Ghosts" and "The Shining."
If you're all about supernatural Westerns: 'Vampires of El Norte'
By Isabel Cañas (Berkley)
"The Hacienda" author goes back to 1840s Mexico with this historical fiction tale of Nestor, a vaquero who works on ranches near the Texas border and still grieves his beloved Nena, whom he assumes dead nine years after she was savagely attacked and drained of her blood. Surprise, though: They're reunited when America invades Mexico, she's now a very alive healer and is mad he left her, though they have more sinister problems to tackle than relationship issues.
If you're interested in Southern Gothic stories of parental loss: 'What Kind of Mother'
By Clay McLeod Chapman (Quirk Books)
In Chapman's follow-up to last year's "Ghost Eaters," Madi Price is forced to return to the Virginia hometown she left as a teen mom and starts a gig as a local palm reader. Now with her 17-year-old daughter in tow, Madi runs into high school love Henry, a fisherman whose wife died by suicide and infant son went missing five years ago, and she reluctantly gives him a reading, leading to psychic visions that the kid isn't as dead as everyone thinks he is.
If you love crafty teen slashers: 'Your Lonely Nights Are Over'
By Adam Sass (Viking Books for Young Readers)
Dearie and Cole are gay best friends and snarky seniors at Stone Grove High who get blamed when anything bad happens. They're of course the first suspects when Mr. Sandman – a notorious serial killer who was never caught – reemerges and targets the school's Queer Club. The pals have to stop the gory rampage before the body count grows any higher in Sass' violently funny outing.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Horror books to read for Halloween: These 10 will scare your socks off
