Spooky season is officially nearing its fright-filled climax, and if you’ve watched all the horror movies and revisited all the Halloween-themed TV episodes you can possibly stand, maybe it’s time to cut down on your screen time (not to be your mom, but may I recommend Brick?) and revert to a tried-and-true method of getting in the All Hallows’ Eve spirit: reading a really good, really scary book.
I haven’t always been a fan of horror lit (I’m basically Joey from Friends hiding his copy of The Shining in the freezer), but the contemporary selections we’ve rounded up aren’t just scary for the sake of being scary; they’re smart, well crafted, and thoughtful reads relating to the near-apocalyptic darkness of being a person in the world today. Fun, right? Below, find the seven best books to read to prepare yourself for Halloween:
Bad Witches by H. B. Akumiah
Even the spookiest Halloween read-athon should leave at least a little room for levity, and that’s exactly what Limousine Readings cohost H.B. Akumiah’s debut novel, about a trio of young Black women in New York who realize they’re witches on their shared 22nd birthday, delivers. It’s giving The Craft, in the best way possible!
Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle
A seen-it-all gay screenwriter falls victim to Hollywood’s pernicious “bury your gays” trope—in which LGBTQ+ characters are the first to be killed off—in this alternately thrilling and laugh-out-loud funny 2024 bestseller.
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
This 2017 debut from Machado swirls literary fiction, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and more into a spine-tingling short-story cocktail best consumed when you’re not alone at home. (Otherwise, “Real Women Have Bodies,” a story about women vanishing and turning up as ghosts sewn into the seams of prom dresses, might just unsettle you too much.)
Herculine by Grace Byron
Byron’s recent debut, which follows its protagonist from the urban wilderness of New York to the supposed promised land of her ex’s all-trans-girl commune in the Indiana woods, manages to create an on-page atmosphere of genuine terror that’s skillfully balanced with wit and shrewd wisdom about the true meaning of belonging—and escape.
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
This 2023 book from Makkai truly has it all: true-crime podcast intrigue, boarding-school drama, a soupçon of romance, and a genuinely fascinating (not to mention frightening) look at our society’s obsession with dead girls—particularly those who happened to be white and well-off.
Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi
Nobody crafts a tantalizingly ambiguous narrative quite like Emezi, and this thriller about five friends attempting to outrun the dangers of a Nigerian city’s elite underground world is guaranteed to keep you so enthralled by the quickly evolving plot that you may just miss the trick-or-treaters ringing your doorbell.
The Perfect Nanny by Leïla Slimani
It’s difficult to think of a crime more disturbing than killing children, but a 2012 real-life murder case in New York is exactly what inspired this slim and spellbinding novel from Prix Goncourt winner Slimani. The book is as chilling as you might expect, but it also brings up questions about childcare, gendered labor, and mental instability that too often go ignored in polite society.
