Are you looking for scary book recommendations this month? If so, I’ve got 10 books for you to check out. These genres range from horror, mystery/thriller, and fantasy. I’ve included books I’ve personally read (3-5 star ratings), along with books on my TBR list. You can conveniently find the links to Goodreads, my reviews, and a link to Amazon if you’d like to purchase any of these books. Here are 10 scary books you need to read this October!
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1) Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
Genre: Horror, Paranormal
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From the publisher: Mallory Quinn is fresh out of rehab when she takes a job as a babysitter. She is to look after five-year-old Teddy. His drawings are the usual fare: trees, rabbits, balloons. But one day, he draws something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman’s lifeless body. Mallory begins to wonder if these are glimpses of a long-unsolved murder, perhaps relayed by a supernatural force. Read my review here.
2) The House Across The Lake by Riley Sager
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
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From the publisher: Casey Fletcher has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of liquor, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple who live in the house across the lake. Casey and Katherine strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage is not as perfect and placid as it appears. Read my review here.
3) Curse of Crater House by Rose Arcadia
Genre: Horror, Paranormal
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From the publisher: As the only survivor of an alleged haunted house, Quinn has spent years ensuring that no one else will endure what she has. Thanks to her special ability to sense a home’s personality, she uses her position as a realtor to make the perfect match with prospective homeowners and ensure harmony between them. But her talent is tested when she encounters Crater House. It is sentient. It is calculating. It wants occupants for all the wrong reasons. Read my review here.
4) No Exit by Taylor Adams
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
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From the publisher: On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. With the roads impassable, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop. Inside are four complete strangers. Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm and makes a horrifying discovery. In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked in an animal crate. Who can she trust? Read my review here.
5) Don’t Let in the Cold by Keely Parrack
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery/Thriller
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From the publisher: It was supposed to be just one night in the cabin: one night for Lottie and her brand new stepsister, Jade, to try to get along. When a solar flare causes a massive blackout―no power or cell signal―Lottie knows they’ve got a long night ahead of them. The storm isn’t the only thing they’ll have to survive. Read my review here.
6) It by Stephen King
Genre: Horror, Fantasy
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From the publisher: Can an entire city be haunted? The Losers Club of 1958 seems to think so. After all, when they were teenagers back then, these seven friends who called the small New England metropolis of Derry their home had first-hand experience with what made this place so horribly different. Every twenty-seven years, something that has existed here for a very long time comes back to terrorize Derry, lurking in the city storm drains and sewers, taking the shape of every nightmare and deepest dread.
7) Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
Genre: Horror, Mystery/Thriller
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From the publisher: Twenty-five years ago, Maggie and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.
8) Five Survive by Holly Jackson
Publication Date: November 29, 2022
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery/Thriller
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From the publisher: Eight hours. Six friends. One sniper. Eighteen year old Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break. Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. There’s no mobile phone reception and nobody around to help. And as the wheels are shot out, one by one, the friends realise that this is no accident. There’s a sniper out there in the dark watching them and he knows exactly who they are. One of the group has a secret that the sniper is willing to kill for.
9) NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
Genre: Horror, Fantasy
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From the publisher: Victoria has a secret gift for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. Charles Manx likes to take children for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. With his old car, he can slip right out of the everyday world, and onto the hidden roads that transport them to an astonishing – and terrifying – playground of amusements he calls “Christmasland.” One day, Vic goes looking for trouble—and finds Manx. That was a lifetime ago. Now Vic, the only kid to ever escape Manx’s unmitigated evil, is all grown up and desperate to forget.
10) The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
Genre: Horror
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From the publisher: Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre. For more than a decade, she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, working to put their lives back together. Then one woman misses a meeting, and their worst fears are realized—someone knows about the group and is determined to rip their lives apart again, piece by piece. Read my review here.
I hope this post gave you some ideas on what you can read for spooky season! Do you have any recommendations of your own? I’m always looking for suggestions and would love to hear your thoughts! For some nostalgic Halloween reads, visit my post here. Happy reading everyone!
RELATED POST: 3 Nostalgic Reads for Halloween
I’m super picky with some horror/thriller books, but I’ll definitely check out The Final Girl Support Group!
I hope you enjoy it Cam!
Woah! the cover of curse of the crater house is so cool!
I already read the final girl support group; I find it good but not amazing- the start was way too slow and long for me 😅 definately didn’t guessed where the novel was going however!
The Final Girl Support Group wasn’t Hendrix’s best work but I love it for Halloween because of the horror movie references haha. I’m glad it ended up picking up its pace towards the end. Thank you for reading Kristina!
It absolutely terrifies the shit out of me 😂😂😂
Hahaha which makes it perfect for Halloween! Thank you for reading Sarah!
What a great list of books. I don’t read horror, but my husband does, now I have some books to recommend to him
Thank you for sharing Wendy! I hope he enjoys these books!
Thanks for sharing all these reads! I’m too chicken for horror but some of these mystery/thrillers sound so interesting 🙂
mia // https://miasdiyprojects.com/
Hahaha fair! I’d recommend Don’t Let in the Cold, it’s a great Young Adult thriller. Thank you for reading Mia!
Five Survive is on our TBR!!
That’s wonderful to hear! I can’t wait for it. Thank you for reading!
Absolutely love this list! I already have Home Before dark and Gidden Pictures on my TBR and I am about to add the rest. I seriously need to win the lottery soon because my TBR list is longer than the River Nile 🤣 Thank you fir the recommendations.
I’m right there with you! There are so many books to get through haha. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy these picks!
A great collection of perfectly spooky books to get us in the mood for Halloween. I really must read a Riley Sager book soon!
The House Across the Lake was my first read from Sager and it a rollercoaster ride! Thank you for reading Jodie!
Ooh these all look amazing! As a massive Holly Jackson fan I’m super excited for Five Survive and I’ve added The Final Girl Support Group to my list too, it sounds like something I’d really enjoy. Thank you so much for sharing x
I’m so excited for Five Survive too! I hope you enjoy The Final Girl Support Group, it’s perfect if you love horror movies. Thank you for reading Ceri!
Great list!! We can’t wait to read Five Survive.
I’m looking forward to that one as well! Thank you for reading!
This has reminded me that I need to read more from this genre as these are some great books that are perfect for this time of year!
Yes! There’s nothing better than curling up with a good horror/thriller during this time of the month. I hope you find your next read from this list Molly!
I’m not a huge fan of Stephen King but there are quite a few of these books that I would love to read! I’m a huge horror fan!
His work tends to be a hit or miss, but I loved ‘It’! I hope you enjoy these books. Thank you for reading!
Horror is a genre I don’t read a lot of but I do tend to enjoy them when I do pick them up so I definitely think I need to check out some of these ones!
I hope you’ve found some suggestions here! Thank you for reading Alice!
I haven’t read any of these books, but I’ve heard about a few that I’m interested in including Hidden Pictures and The House Across The Lake. Also, the cover for Curse of Crater House is so creepy!!!
Great picks Karalee, I hope you enjoy Hidden Pictures and The House Across the Lake! I agree, the cover for Curse of Crater House is so chilling. Thank you for reading!