It's that time of year when the ghosts, ghouls, witches, and monsters come out to play. Or at least they do in fiction! We've rounded up a list of some recent spooky books for your Halloween reading. Whether you like a classic ghost story, a contemporary thriller, or weird fiction there's something on this list for you.
For more recommendations, feel free to contact the reference desk at 978-623-8430 or rdesk@mhl.org.
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The boatman's daughter
by Andy Davidson FICTION DAVIDSON. A swampy literary horror novel about a young woman facing down drug dealers, a crooked cop, and a mad preacher on the banks of an Arkansas river. |
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The Wise Friend
by Ramsey Campbell FICTION CAMPBELL. Patrick Torrington's aunt Thelma was a successful artist whose late work turned towards the occult. While staying with her in his teens he found evidence that she used to visit magical sites. As an adult he discovers her journal of her explorations, and his teenage son Roy becomes fascinated too. His experiences at the sites scare Patrick away from them, but Roy carries on the search, together with his new girlfriend. Can Patrick convince his son that his increasingly terrible suspicions are real, or will what they've helped to rouse take a new hold on the world? |
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Little eyes
by Samanta Schweblin FICTION SCHWEBLIN. A metaphorical tale depicts a complex and relatable world where connections with people from all walks of life engage in internet encounters that lead to unexpected love, transformative adventure and unimaginable terror. |
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Monsters, Movies & Mayhem
by Jonathan Maberry SHORT STORY MONSTERS. Join award-winning authors Jonathan Maberry, Fran Wilde, David Gerrold, Rick Wilber and others for 23 all-new tales of haunted theaters, video gods, formidable demons, alien pizza, and delirious actors. Each story takes you to the silver screen with monstrous results. |
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The deep
by Alma Katsu FICTION KATSU. Surviving the sinking of the Titanic, Annie takes a job as a nurse on the Britannic before encountering a fellow survivor who forces her to reckon with past demons. By the award-winning author of The Hunger. |
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Even if we break
by Marieke Nijkamp TEEN FICTION NIJKAMP. A group of friends, bound together by years of history, embark on a visit to a cabin before dangerous secrets and unknown threats reveal a sinister plot that compromises their safety. |
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The only good Indians : a novel
by Stephen Graham Jones FICTION JONES. Four American Indian men, who shared a disturbing event during their youth, are hunted down years later by an entity bent on revenge that forces them to revisit the culture and traditions they left behind. |
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Bent Heavens
by Daniel Kraus TEEN FICTION KRAUS. Fed up with her missing father’s delusions about alien abductions, Liv endeavors to destroy her father’s “alien traps,” before an astonishing discovery forces Liv and her friend, Doug, to make an impossible choice. |
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When no one is watching : a thriller
by Alyssa Cole BOOK CLUB / COLE. Finding unexpected support from a new friend while collecting stories from her rapidly vanishing Brooklyn community, Sydney uncovers sinister truths about a regional gentrification project and why her neighbors are moving away. |
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Burn the dark
by S. A. Hunt FICTION HUNT. The star of an online indie series about witch-hunting across America harbors a secret burning desire for revenge against a coven of witches who sentenced her mother to a dire fate. |
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Mexican Gothic
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia FICTION MORENO-GARCIA. A reimagining of the classic gothic suspense novel follows the experiences of a courageous socialite in 1950s Mexico who is drawn into the treacherous secrets of an isolated mansion. |
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The year of the witching
by Alexis Henderson FICTION HENDERSON. Observing a life of strict submission to minimize discrimination for her mixed heritage, Immanuelle discovers dark truths about her community’s church and her late mother’s secret relationship with the spirits of four witches. |
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Wonderland
by Zoje Stage FICTION STAGE. Moving to a rural farmhouse in far upstate New York, Orla, a retired dancer, must protect her family from an unknown entity that is calling to them from the land, in the earth, beneath the trees — and in their minds. |
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Deathless Divide
by Justina Ireland TEEN FICTION IRELAND. A sequel to the best-selling Dread Nation finds a devastating loss throwing everything Jane believes into question, before encounters with familiar faces in Summerland enmeshes her in a maelstrom of deception and private demons. |
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Lakewood
by Megan Giddings FICTION GIDDINGS. Lena Johnson drops out of college to support her family and takes a job in the mysterious and remote town of Lakewood, Michigan. On paper, her new job is too good to be true. High paying. No out of pocket medical expenses. A free place to live. All Lena has to do is participate in a secret program, and lie to her friends and family about the research being done in Lakewood. As the truths of the program reveal themselves, Lena learns how much she's willing to sacrifice for the sake of her family. |
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The loop
by Jeremy Robert Johnson SF JOHNSON. A biotech experiment gone wrong renders a small western Oregon tourist town the epicenter of an inexplicable outbreak that causes infected patients to turn murderous, challenging a small group of outcasts to survive a violent night. |