“Suddenly the day was gone, night came out from under each tree and spread.”
Looking for the perfect reads to get you into the spirit of spooky season this Halloween? Whether you’re craving chilling tales that send shivers down your spine or lighter, cosier tales with a touch of supernatural charm, there’s a Halloween book out there for every mood. As the nights grow longer and the air turns crisp, it’s the perfect time to curl up with a book that captures the eerie magic of the season. Which is why we here at What We Reading thought we would pull together some of the best Halloween books to help set the mood for the spookiest night of the year that will appeal to readers of all genres! So grab your nicest blanket, light a pumpkin-scented candle and brace yourself for some page-turning terrors with these books for Halloween!
The Halloween Tree – Ray Bradbury
Kicking off our list of the best Halloween books is Ray Bradbury’s classic work, The Halloween Tree. Set on Halloween night, the story follows eight costumed boys running to meet their friend, Pipkin at the haunted house outside of town. Instead, they encounter the huge and bony Mr Moundshroud.
As Pipkin scrambles to join his friends, he is swept away by something dark and sinister. Moundshroud leads the remaining boys on the tail of a kite through both time and space in a search across the past for both their friend and to uncover the true meaning of the season.
The Haunting Of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
One of the most chilling haunted house stories ever written and the perfect spooky read for the Halloween season, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House is the story of four individuals who find themselves in the estate known as Hill House. Dr Montague is an occult scholar looking for definitive proof of a haunting, Theodora is the lighthearted assistant, Eleanor is a delicate young woman already well-acquainted with the supernatural and Luke arrives as the future heir of Hill House.
To begin with, the four’s stay at the house looks set to be little more than a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. Little do they know that Hill House is gathering its powers. Soon it will select one of the visitors to claim as its own.
Check Out The Best Classic Horror Books To Read During Halloween
Hallowe’en Party (Hercule Poirot #1) – Agatha Christie
At a Hallowe’en party, Joyce, a fiery thirteen-year-old boasts to her friends that she once witnessed a murder. When no one believes her, she storms off home. But, within hours, her body is discovered, still in the house, drowned in an apple-bobbing tub.
That same night, famed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is called in to unearth the ‘evil presence’ responsible for the killing. However, the first point of order for him is to establish whether he is on the hunt for a murderer, or a double-murderer. One of the most famous Agatha Christie mysteries, Hallowe’en Party is a Poirot mystery that revolves around the holiday, perfect for a chilling thriller read during the season.
Pumpkinheads – Rainbow Rowell
Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends. Every autumn, they work together at the best pumpkin patch in the entire world, Omaha, Nebraska. They say goodbye to each other every Halloween and are reunited every September 1st. But, Halloween this year is set to be different. Josiah and Deja are finally serious. It’s their final year at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together, their final goodbye.
Josiah’s braced to spend the whole night feeling down about the whole affair. Deja has a plan: Instead of moping about tossing lima beans down the Succotash Hut, the two go out with a bang. In her graphic novel set during Halloween, Pumpkinheads, Rainbow Rowell and artist Faith Erin Hicks create a touching story about two teens who discover what it means to leave a place, and a person, behind with no regrets.
The Silent Companions – Laura Purcell
When Elsie married handsome young heir Rupert Bainbridge, she believed she was embarking on a destiny for a life of luxury. Yet, with her husband dead just weeks into their marriage, her servants resentful of her and the local villagers all incredibly hostile to her, Elsie finds herself with only her husband’s awkward cousin for company. Or so she believes.
Inside her new abode is a locked door, behind which lies a painted wooden figure that bears an impeccably striking resemblance to Elsie. The residents of The Bridge are terrified of the figure. Elsie is quick to dismiss their fears. That is until she notices the figure’s eyes starting to follow her. One of the best spooky Halloween books, Laura Purcell’s The Silent Companions is a Victorian ghost story brimming with unsettling and suspenseful creeping dread.
The Sun Down Motel – Simone St. James
Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some of its customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying their utmost to keep their secrets hidden from others. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. Yet there is something about the Sun Down, and she soon finds herself determined to unravel all the secrets hidden inside.
Nominated for Best Mystery & Thriller in the Goodreads Choice Awards, Simone St. James’ The Sun Down Motel is the story of a young woman being ensnared by the secrets lurking in a rundown roadside motel, just as her aunt was thirty-five years before.
The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires – Grady Hendrix
Patricia Campbell has always planned for a big life. But, after giving up her nursing career to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia’s life has never felt smaller. The only thing left she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers brought together by their shared love for true crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, the women are just as likely to be discussing the recent siege at Waco by the FBI as they are the difficulties of marriage and motherhood.
But, when a sensitive and artsy stranger moves into the neighbourhood, the attention of the group soon turns toward the newest arrival. When some of the local children go missing, Patricia begins to suspect the stranger may be involved. In one of the most horror-comedy Halloween books, Grady Hendrix invites readers to follow Patricia’s investigation into who she believes could be the next Bundy or Dahmer. The reality soon proves to be far more terrifying than even she could have imagined.
Dark Harvest – Norman Partridge
For some in the small Midwestern town, he is known as the October Boy. To others, it is Ol’ Hacksaw Face or Sawtooth Jack. Whatever the name, all of the residents know exactly who he is. How he rises from the cornfields every Halloween night, a butcher knife in his hands, and encroaches on the town where gangs of teenage boys await their opportunity to confront this infamous nightmare. Both the predator and prey, the October Boy is the ultimate prize in a yearly rite of life and death.
Pete McCormick knows that killing the October Boy is his one opportunity to escape this one-horse town. He’s prepared to do whatever it takes and sacrifice anything necessary to be a winner for once in his life. But, in Norman Partridge’s chilling Halloween Book, Dark Harvest, Pete will soon look into the face of this saw-toothed horror and unearth the terrifying truth behind the October Boy.
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The Whisper Man – Alex North
After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes that a new start will be the key to helping both him and his young son, Jake, begin to heal. A new beginning, a new house in a new town, Featherbank. But, this town has a dark past. Two decades earlier, a serial killer abducted and killed five of its residents. Until Frank Carter was finally caught, he was known as the ‘The Whisper Man’ because he would lure his victims out by whispering at their windows during the night.
Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new surroundings, a young boy goes missing. His disappearance bears an unnerving resemblance to Frank Carter’s reign of terror and soon reignites old rumours that he may have had an accomplice in his fold. In one of the most chilling Halloween books blending mystery with real-life terrors, detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis must find the boy before it is too late, even if that means revisiting their greatest foe in prison: The Whisper Man himself.
Small Spaces (Small Spaces #1) – Katherine Arden
One of the best Middle Grade Halloween books, Katherine Arden’s Small Spaces follows eleven-year-old Ollie, still reeling from a tragic loss and only finding comfort in the company of his books. So, when she sees a woman attempting to throw a book in a river, she decides to steal it. What she discovers inside its pages is a chilling story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers who loved her and the peculiar deal she made with the ‘Smiling Man’, a sinister spectre who grants someone their deepest-held wish, but only for the ultimate price.
The following day, Ollie is taken on a school trip to Smoke Hollow, a local farm with a haunting history of its own. There, she is shocked to stumble upon the graves of the very people she has been reading about. On the way home, her bus breaks down. The teachers leave, and the creepy bus driver offers some bizarre advice for the kids left behind in his care.
The Cabin At The End Of The World – Paul Tremblay
Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are holidaying at a remote cabin sitting on a tranquil lake in New Hampshire. Their closest neighbours are more than two miles in either direction from them along a rutted old dirt road. One afternoon, a stranger appears in their driveway.
Leonard is, without doubt, the biggest man Wen has ever seen; but he is young, friendly and wins her over immediately. Leonard and Wen play and talk together until he suddenly apologises and tells her that ‘none of what is going to happen is your fault’. Three more strangers then arrive at the house, brandishing all manner of menacing weapons. In one of the most shocking Halloween books by Paul Tremblay, Wen rushes to warn her parents as Leonard calls out to her that he and his posse need her help to ‘save the world’.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
