Fall is the perfect time of year to pick up a thrilling book. Whether that’s a thriller, mystery or horror novel, there is nothing like reading a scary story in October.
With an already compacted reading schedule for my classes, I try to find spare time to incorporate spooky books off my to-be-read shelf as I can.
As a prolific reader, here are my top five favorite books to read during this terrifying time of year.
“The Haunting of Ashburn House” by Darcy Coates
“The Haunting of Ashburn House” is truly terrifying. I finished this book last weekend and read it in two days. I started reading this book at night, all alone, and about 200 pages into it, I had to stop because it was scaring me so bad — and that never happens.
This novel is about a girl who inherits a house from a great-aunt she never met, and the only memory she has of the house is her mother running away from it covered in blood.
This book involves a paranormal ancient house, and the entire novel gave me chills even when it wasn’t supposed to be scary. I don’t usually love paranormal stories, but this one was fast-paced and gripping.
If you like books like this, I highly recommend picking it up around Halloween. Just be warned, it’s similar to “The Conjuring” movies and will leave you scared to look in your mirrors — but you’ll just have to read it to find out why.
“Five Survive” by Holly Black
This book is about 400 pages, and I finished it in one sitting. I have never read so fast in my life, and it’s all because this cat-and-mouse thriller leaves you desperate to find out who is going to die.
In this novel, six teenagers head to Florida in their RV for their high school senior trip. Around halfway through their road trip, their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere, with no service and no one to help them. After they pull over, every wheel in their RV is shot out, and then the six friends realize this was no accident.
One of the kids steps out of the RV to look at the tires when he sees a red dot on his chest, and that’s when they realize there is a sniper in the woods watching them.
This book only has one setting, the RV, and takes place over eight long hours in the middle of the night. As the mystery unravels, the book continues to get more and more chilling. This book is a must-read for anyone who needs a book that reads itself; you have to pick up this spine-chilling book.
“And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie
I took a Queens of Mystery class in the spring, where we read books by Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. One of the many books we read was “And Then There Were None.”
This mystery novel brings 10 strangers to a private island. Everyone was invited by the host, but they were nowhere to be seen. Each stranger has one thing in common, and none of them are willing to reveal their secrets.
The plot of this novel follows the nursery rhyme “Ten Little Soldier Boys.” This means the reader knows exactly what is going to happen, just not who it will happen to.
Soon after arriving, people start dying in 10 different ways until there are none left. This classic novel truly proves why Agatha Christie is the Queen of Mystery, and at the end of the book, you’re left to pick up the pieces and solve the mystery yourself.
“The Children on the Hill” by Jennifer McMahon
I read this book a few years ago, and I still think about it to this day. The novel is inspired by Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and explores an eerie mental asylum with horrifying secrets.
“The Children on the Hill” is set during two time periods: 1978 and 2019.
The 1978 story is about a psychiatrist, Dr. Helen Hildreth, who owns a treatment center for the mentally ill. In her off time, she takes care of her two grandchildren, Violet and Eric. To them, she is a loving and caring grandmother.
One day, Dr. Hildreth brings home a child, Iris. Iris is silent, sickly and doesn’t behave like a normal girl. Violet is originally ecstatic to play with her new friend until something horrible happens.
Fast forward to 2019, Lizzy Shelley, the host of the popular podcast “Monsters Among Us,” travels to Vermont, where a young girl has been kidnapped. Lizzy has her own personal reasons for wanting to find this young girl, and the reason will leave you haunted.
There is no way to summarize “The Children on the Hill” without spoiling every aspect of it, but take my word for it, each chapter will leave you stunned and terrified.
When I read this book, I was waiting in my car for the three siblings I was babysitting to get out of their tutoring session. I still remember one of the boys suddenly smacking the window and scaring the ever-living daylights out of me.
“House of Hollow” by Krystal Sutherland
This book is a fantasy novel with horror and thriller themes. I read this novel last year, and it wasn’t ever scary, but it was creepy and left my skin crawling by the end.
“House of Hollow” is about a strange girl, Iris Hollow, and her two older sisters. Each sister has a strange half-moon scar on their throat, and none of them remember where it came from.
Suddenly, Iris’s oldest sister, Grey, goes missing suspiciously. As Iris tries to find her sister, things become weirder and weirder. For example, when Iris goes to her sister’s apartment, a corpse falls out of the ceiling. Instead of decomposing normally, it’s covered in stinky flowers.
She soon discovers something horrifying about her family’s past, and nothing is the same after. If you like fantasy novels, I highly highly recommend picking this book up. It’s the perfect amount of mystery and horror without losing any of the magic that comes with fantasy novels.
October is a scary time of year for all of us, and I hope these books will help you cope with the stress of midterms and oncoming deadlines.
After all, there’s nothing like a little adrenaline to scare away the stress of real life.
