Fall is finally here! The wind brings a lovely chill with each gust, the leaves are turning shades of gold and ruby red, and Halloween decorations are going up all over every house in the neighborhood. Why not celebrate spooky season curled up in a blanket with a cup of hot chocolate and a good mystery or thriller? Here are my top five favorite books for ringing in the Halloween season.
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1. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
This hair-raising story follows Camille Preaker, an investigative journalist who returns to her hometown that she’d rather forget to investigate a string of young girls who were murdered. She stays with her strange family in the old, creaking house she grew up in, haunted by the memory of her dead sister and the little girls whose lives had been taken.
This book is one of the most disturbing I’ve come across. There is no shortage of slimy characters to suspect as the murderer stays at large, and Flynn’s writing style is poetic but also downright terrifying. This story will leave you with questions until the very end, and the reveal of the true killer will haunt you for years to come.
2. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Ten people are summoned to an island by a mysterious man. When they arrive, he is not there. The guests’ confusion turns into fear when one of them turns up dead. And then another. One by one, they are being picked off, and they race to discover who the killer is before there are none of them left.
There is a reason Shakespeare and the Bible only outsell Agatha Christie. This story draws you in and does not let you go. I read this book in one sitting; I was so captivated. It is not as gory as Sharp Objects, but Christie maintains a sense of urgency as her characters are killed like fish in a barrel. If you enjoy a classic mystery, give this book a shot.
3. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
Five high schoolers walk into detention. Four walk out. The fifth, Simon, lies dead. Because Simon was planning to reveal the other four’s deepest secrets the very next day, the four survivors are all suspects in his murder. But none of them will confess.
This book is a little silly at times, and it is the lightest novel on this list, but it still offers a good mystery with lots of twists and turns. The four students all have intriguing characters, and you can’t help but root for them as they try to prove their innocence. Of course, one question looms large over the whole story: who is lying?
4. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry
In early August 1969, the murders of five people, one of them pregnant, shook the nation. The crime scene was so violent, it was hard to believe humans could inflict such harm on one another. A trail of clues leads investigators to a cult in the middle of the California desert. Its leader? Charles Manson.
If true crime is more to your liking than fiction, you need to read Helter Skelter. One of its authors, Bugliosi, was the prosecutor at the Manson trials to write about the case with astonishing detail. While everyone knows something about the Manson murders, this book will shock even the most hardcore true crime fans.
5. Amphigorey Too by Edward Gorey
This book is a collection of 20 short stories, illustrated with macabre drawings as the stories themselves. Mostly dealing with death, the stories can be confusing at times, but they are always entertaining. The very first story, The Beastly Baby, centers around a hideous, bloated baby who nobody liked and whose death (“a wet sort of explosion”) was met with joy. And it only gets darker from there.
If you don’t want to commit to reading a novel this Halloween season, this book is perfect. It reads fast, like a comic book, but it still is profoundly dark. The illustrations add much to the stories’ macabre tone; reading this book is an experience like no other.