11 Spooky Books for Halloween to Read

Looking for some spooky reads this Halloween? These creepy books are perfect for autumn!

It’s spooky season! Autumn is the perfect time to pick up a chilling story: with the nights drawing in and the cold weather setting in, it’s the perfect backdrop for a horror story. The following 11 spooky books for Halloween are brilliant for this time of year.

I’ve tried to include a variety of stories, ranging from short stories and fun haunted-house-style tales to deeper, more complex stories with multiple layers to dig into.

Whichever one you choose, these creepy books are perfect for cuddling up under a blanket and giving yourself goosebumps!

11 Best Spooky Books for Halloween

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but it’s kind of impossible not to with this spooky read!

Horrorstor is gorgeously designed and looks almost exactly like an IKEA catalogue, complete with diagrams of furniture and sardonic captions.

That’s because the story is set in a fictional store called ORSK, a kind of alternate-universe IKEA.

In one particular branch of ORSK, the employees notice a problem: every morning, they find rubbish and chaos in the store displays, as though somebody is breaking in overnight.

The manager invites (or rather, forces) some of his employees to join him in an all-night stakeout in order to catch the culprit and restore the quiet, calm, boring atmosphere of ORSK.

Unfortunately for the group, it turns out what’s happening here is something much darker than a simple case of breaking and entering.

Scary and terrible things happen in ORSK at night. Hendrix writes what I would class as traditional gross-out horror (think bodily fluids and breaking bones).

This is a fun, easy-to-read, classic haunted house story with a modern, consumeristic twist. It’s also a fun little poke at IKEA.

It’s the perfect spooky book to squeeze in around Halloween.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

On the other end of the readability scale, you have the cult classic House of Leaves. Looking more like a textbook than a spooky novel, this is the kind of book that you have to study, ponder, and puzzle over.

With hidden codes and many layers of meaning, you can lose yourself in this creepy book in a way that is quite refreshing (and all-consuming!).

House of Leaves opens with a young tattoo artist, Johnny, looking for a new place to live.

He has a look around the apartment of a recently departed old man and is surprised to find a manuscript: pages and pages of work sprawled around the whole apartment.

Johnny pieces it together and finds a kind of thesis, a deep dive into a documentary about a strange house. Only Johnny isn’t sure the documentary- and the people contained within it – really exists.

If that sounds strange, that’s because it is. This story takes several twists and turns, and sometimes it’s almost incomprehensible.

Some pages contain words squashed into every square inch of the page, while others have just one sentence.

It has some genuinely terrifying moments, and you never know when to expect them.

I’d recommend this if you want to really invest some time into a book, or if you’re looking to find a new bookish community (there are many dedicated House of Leaves readers online).

Misery by Stephen King

Considered a horror book classic, Misery is one of my all-time favourite King novels, leaning more towards psychological horror than a monster story.

Famous writer Paul Sheldon has an accident in his car and is rescued by nurse Annie Wilkes. Annie seems kind and sensitive and has slowly nursed a severely injured Paul back to health.

However, Paul – with no ability to contact his family and no access to pain relief, except for Annie’s stolen stash of codeine – slowly realises that Annie is not who she appears to be.

Prone to manic episodes, Annie starts to manipulate Paul, forcing him to change the plot of his books to suit her whims by withholding pain relief until he complies.

The result is a twisted and truly horrifying fight for Paul’s freedom. It’s a must-read horror novel, the kind that puts a chill in your spine.

Plus, if you can catch it, the movie is absolutely incredible, with an outstanding performance from Kathy Bates as Annie.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

Annihilation is the first part of the Southern Reach trilogy by VanderMeer, but I feel that it stands alone as a spooky, atmospheric story in its own right.

Fair warning: you will have to read the other two to get all the answers you’ll probably need by the end of it!

Area X is a strange and dangerous wilderness, one that seems to ruin any human that comes into contact with it.

The government sets up an agency, the Southern Reach, and they assemble expeditions in order to understand more about Area X.

Unfortunately, it always ends badly: some teams come back with terrible illnesses, some teams go mad with the effort, other teams don’t make it back at all.

The reader follows The Biologist, who offers an initially very detached, observant view of what it is like to step into Area X.

Quickly, The Biologist witnesses some of the strange activity in Area X for herself, and the end result is genuinely terrifying.

If you’re looking for an original, chilling tale that goes beyond the traditional haunted house/monster story, this is the one to go for.

The Bees by Laline Paul

I often recommend The Bees, although it’s a difficult novel to categorize: it’s not a classic horror story, but it’s undeniably chilling.

The Bees is a sci-fi novel from the perspective of (unsurprisingly) bees. Starting with the birth of Flora 717, it takes you into the fictionalized, brutal heart of a beehive.

Flora 717 is a rebel, and in the bee world, rebels are not welcome. As Flora 717 grows, she learns that she must stick to her place or face terrible consequences. And when the hive comes under threat, the full and terrible power of the hive rises up.

I’ve seen comparisons to The Hunger Games and The Handmaid’s Tale, which is valid – if you enjoyed either of those, I think you would enjoy The Bees too.

But the difference with this is the kind of creeping, underlying sense of unease and the occasional dip into explicit bodily horror (or at least, bee bodily horror).

This is a unique spooky novel, and definitely worth a read if you want something different.

READ MORE: Dystopian Books Like The Handmaid’s Tale

Dracula by Bram Stroker

It’s a Halloween classic! Dracula is a slow burn compared to some of the others on this list of spooky reads, which is a good thing: the horror and unease are allowed to slowly and steadily grow to almost unbearable levels. 

If you’ve enjoyed vampire books or TV shows in the past (former Buffy fans, assemble!), you may find it hard to get into the groove of this.

We’re all so familiar with vampires at this point that some of the actions of Dracula may come across as kind of predictable.

However, it’s worth sticking with it because this is the origin story, the jumping-off point for depictions of vampires in popular culture, and it has unbelievably creepy, atmospheric storytelling.

Jonathan Harker takes a trip to Transylvania to help a count (yes, Count Dracula!) to buy a London house but quickly finds that his client is not what he expected to be.

Slowly, as the horror begins to unfold, Jonathan’s sense of terror and panic creeps into the reader. It’s an incredible book, and it also touches on Victorian sexuality, which is a fascinating (and sometimes twisted) subject.

Ring by Koji Suzuki

Speaking of origin stories, Ring by Koji Suzuki is the master copy of creepy chain-letter stories!

If you don’t know, Ring begins with a group of teenagers found dead in mysterious circumstances.

Journalist Asawaka – uncle of one of the victims – goes to investigate, only to stumble upon a strange tape.

The tape tells him that if he doesn’t follow the instructions, he will die in seven days.

And so the time begins to tick down: Asawaka’s increasingly frantic investigation builds, and you feel his utter horror as time runs out.

It’s a must-read if you love the horror genre.

It’s a classic horror story, the kind you’d tell to freak out your friends at a sleepover, and both the original Japanese movie and the American remake are considered horror movie must-watches.

Honestly, the book is better (as it often is).

Suzuki is a master when it comes to slow-building horror and strange, twisted moments of terror. Even if you’ve seen the movie, I’d recommend picking up this creepy book too.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story, and it’s a horror story in more ways than one. A young woman is sent to rest in an old mansion in an attempt to cure her depression.

Essentially in isolation, the woman is not allowed to read, or write, or work in any way.

Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t cure her depression, and the woman starts to lose all sense of reality in her confinement.

The Yellow Wallpaper is genuinely terrifying: it gave me goosebumps, and that doesn’t happen often with horror stories.

As she begins to see strange patterns in the wallpaper – patterns that become people that transform into something twisted and horrific – she starts to lose her mind completely, and the reader is similarly plunged into confusion and fear.

It’s an insightful depiction of the woeful mistreatment of female mental health, and it’s a hugely important piece of feminist literature.

It had such a huge impact at the time of writing that it actually had an impact on the way doctors would view mental health in women. It’s a gothic horror story, and I’d recommend it for a shorter read.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Many of us watched the Netflix adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House (some of us watched it while hiding behind a cushion, of course).

The original story is brilliant, and even if you’ve watched the newest adaptation, I’d suggest reading the book too.

An incredibly influential gothic horror novel, The Haunting of Hill House is a classic haunted house story. Four guests come to stay at the mansion, Hill House, only to find that they quickly encounter intense paranormal activity.

READ MORE: 11 Gothic Novels to Read

It’s subtle and fascinating, especially when one of the characters, Eleanor, starts to unravel as she struggles to cope with her experiences.

I’d recommend this if you’re working your way through classic horror: it’s influenced everyone from Stephen King to Neil Gaiman, and the 1963 adaption, The Haunting, is excellent.

Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

It’s not often that you come across a truly original horror book, but Tell Me I’m Worthless definitely fits the bill.

It’s an extremely modern horror story – one of the most ‘current’ horror books I’ve ever experienced – and it deals with, among other themes, sexual assault, fascism, and the experiences of trans people in modern-day Britain.

It follows two characters, both of whom are spiralling out of control. Alice is a trans woman, dealing with trauma by drinking, taking drugs, and partying.

Ila, meanwhile, is involving herself in TERF groups, campaigning against rights for trans people, while indulging in some pretty toxic self-harming behaviour on the side.

Alice and Ila, along with their friend Hannah, visited a dark and twisted house three years ago, but Hannah never came back.

The aftermath of this is brutal for the reader to witness, and it’s a fascinating (and dark) dive into the darker corners of the human psyche.

It’s an intelligent and surprising horror story, with some visceral horror (think Carrie levels of gore).

It has shades of House of Leaves, The Haunting of Hill House, and Stephen King’s earlier work, but it very much stands alone as a unique piece of work.

I’d recommend it if you want to read something that will keep you guessing.

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

This is another book with a very compelling cover! In Our Wives Under the Sea, the main character Miri can’t connect with her life, Leah, when she comes back from a catastrophic deep sea mission.

Leah, forever changed by whatever lurks in the depths, is no longer the same person, and Miri wants to find out why.

It’s a chilling, haunting story. I am fascinated by what could lurk in the deep sea, and this is perfect if you’ve ever gazed out at the water at night and felt a sense of foreboding.

It touches on some difficult themes, with plenty of loss and grief, but it’s also chilling. 

I’d recommend it if you like character-driven novels. It unfolds slowly, but it’s well worth the time investment.

I hope this has helped you to pick the perfect story for Halloween: any of these spooky books will get under your skin!

Megan Bidmead

Guest writer

Megan is a freelance writer based in Somerset, England. When she’s not writing about books, video games, and pop culture, she’s running around after her two kids and trying to squeeze in the occasional walk in the countryside.