Books to get you in the spooky spirit

 

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Something is out there but just the sight of them will make you go crazy and kill everyone you love, including yourself. Five years after the invasion of the creatures, Malorie and her two young children are among the only known survivors, living in an abandoned house. But with supplies dwindling and the children old enough to make it, they set out blindfolded to find a new place to survive. The narrative is split between Malorie’s past and present, showing the way the world has devolved. If you’ve already seen the Sandra Bullock adaptation on Netflix, this book will still hold new twists and surprises. There’s even a sequel that came out last year, “Malorie.”

Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

If you’re looking for a truly scary experience, consider picking up the book that made Stephen King tweet: “Scared the living hell out of me, and I’m pretty hard to scare.” The book follows the Barrets, a normal New England family, as they are torn apart by the signs of acute schizophrenia in their 14-year-old daughter, Marjorie. With doctors unable to help, a local Catholic priest suggests an exorcism and the whole thing becomes a reality show spectacle. Fifteen years later, Marjorie’s younger sister is interviewed by a bestselling writer, and her memories and buried secrets shoot to the surface and clash with what the broadcast showed.

The Shining by Stephen King

Of course a horror list wouldn’t be complete without a novel by the King of horror. Many of his novels are guaranteed to put you in the spooky Halloween spirit, but this is one of his best-known titles. If you’ve seen the movie starring Jack Nicholson, you haven’t even scratched the surface of this book. With King and director Stanley Kubrick disliking each other’s works, they ended up as two separate pieces of fiction. Jack and WendyTorrance see hope of different kinds in a season as caretaker for the secluded Overlook Hotel resort, while their young son, Danny, only sees despair and evil with his precognitive visions. The bones of the book and the movie are the same, but the book leans heavier into the horror.