Creepy reads

October being spooky season is a great opportunity to read books that are scary or creepy. Here's a list of some books I've read that are like this.

Blood Sinister by Celia Rees
I remember in year 9 one of my friends going on about getting this book in our school library. I later won it in a competition with the library and started reading it but took it with me to Germany on my first German exchange. I remember being chilled by the book and devouring it once I got to Germany. I started reading it again as soon as I'd finished.

One For Sorrow/Two For Joy/Seven For A Secret by Clive Woodall
This is a dystopia but not as you know it. A dystopia set in the bird world. Magpies and other corvids (crow family) are top of the pecking order and killed all the smaller birds except for one robin. The first book is that robins quest for survival. To tell you any more would be spoilers but these stories are, to be honest, quite graphic and horrifying. It's also why I don't care for magpies as much as other birds.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Ok so I haven't read this book yet, but I just know it's going to be terrifying after seeing the stage play.

Dracula by Bram Stoker and Dracula the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker
Well Dracula was always going to be in this list. One of the original horrors/monsters. There are lots of nail biting scenes when Dracula is involved. You never quite know what he is going to do. The other book is the official sequel written by his great grand nephew. This story turns the tables and introduces Countess Bathory. It is also quite the bloodbath.

Once Upon A Dream by Liz Braswell
I'm loving fairytale reimaginings but did not expect a Disney licensed book to be this dark. I would call this book a psychological horror and I honestly felt I had to read a non fantasy book after I read it. I'm curious as to how the other Twisted Tales are and whether they go as dark as this one.

The Spiderwick Chronicles and Beyond The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
These are great fantasy books but there are spooky, tense moments that give it a slightly darker tone to other children's books. The authors constantly hint that the faeries live among us too and they are not all friendly either.

The Power of Dark by Robin Jarvis
Set in Whitby, this story is the first of a trilogy and involves dark, unsettling magic. For example, under the influence of a magical object, one of the main characters creates an amusement machine of an executioners chair and when it is used it transports the user to a scene as if they are actually in the chair about to be executed. I can't wait to read what happens in the rest of the series.

Disney Villains series by Serena Valentino
You can read my full review of the series here, but I wanted to put these in here as I believe they are creepy in the way that you read about psychological trauma characters go through. Also being Disney Villains, they're perfect Halloween reading.

Have you read any of these books? Have I inspired you to read them?

Lotty
xx