There is less than a week until Halloween so reading some scaring stories before the holiday might be a good idea if you’re not weak of heart.
#1 Aldous Huxley – The Devils of Loudun (1952)
Known for political and social works, Aldous Huxley published “The Devils of Loudun”. The book as everything from demonic possessions, to sexual repression, religious fanaticism and hysteria in France’s 17th century. The book, a nonfiction was adapted in a movie in 1971 as The Devils.
#2 Stephen King – Pet Sematary (1983)
Known as the father of horror, Stephen King wrote back in 1983 a long novel in a mix of horror and thriller. When a happy family of four moves into a new house, everything seems perfect. However, the town has a dark secret in its ‘pet cemetery’, where locals bury their dead animals.
#3 Dennis Lehane – Shutter Island (2005)
Shutter Island is focused on U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels in the year of 1954. He and his partner came to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a patient from the Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. While searching for the escaped prisoner/patient, the two find out there is more to this prison-hospital than meets the eye – experiments and horrifying surgeries are the norm.
#4 Dan Simmons – Carrion Comfort (1990)
A combination of thriller, horror and Sci-Fi, the Carrier Comfort is a story with vampires at its main characters. But unlike Twilight or Vampire Academy, this book is far more scarier even if the main traits of vampires live on: thought reading, mind control, and physical control – in Simmons’s book we see people doing horrible deeds at the demand of vampires.
#5 Gillian Flynn – Sharp Objects (2006)
Even if her book Gone Girl was adapted for the big screen, I believe Sharp Objects is the most disturbing thriller from Gillian Flynn. The story revolves Camille, a journalist that returns to her home town to investigate a series of deaths. We are quickly brought into her trouble past, her problematic family and her own personal demons.
What other books are on your Halloween must-read list?