Affiliate links can be found within this post. If you need additional information, please see the disclaimer.
Spooky reading season is quickly approaching and I’ve been reading and anticipating reading a handful of spooky season recs already. Last year, I was reading a lot of them which burned me out really quickly. So this year, I made it a point to focus in on what kind of spooky reads I wanted to enjoy and so far I haven’t been disappointed at all! These are my TOP 5 recommendations if you’re looking for something a little spooky that features elements of fear, hauntings, supernatural beings and the like!
The Madness by Dawn Kurtagich
Award-winning author Dawn Kurtagich masterfully weaves a captivating tale of suspense and horror, in which Dr. Mina Murray returns to the windswept shores of Wales to help her childhood friend fight the mysterious illness that plagues her. When the lines between reality and delusion begin to blur, Mina must face off against a monstrous legacy—or be consumed herself.
Beware what waits in the shadows…
With one unexpected email from her estranged best friend, Lucy, Mina Murray’s carefully curated life is turned upside down. Leaving behind her psychiatric practice in London, she returns home to the windswept shores of Wales. Faced with everything she’s left behind, she soon discovers that Lucy’s symptoms mirror those of her mysterious amnesiac patient hundreds of miles away.
With nothing but an untreatable sickness connecting the two women, and with Lucy’s life on the line, Mina finds herself asking questions and being drawn ever-deeper into a web of secrets, missing girls, and the powerful, nameless force at its center—one that has been haunting her for years.
As terrible, ancient truths begin to reveal themselves, Mina prepares to confront her own darkest secrets, and with them, an evil beyond comprehension. Together with a group of smart, savvy women, Mina seizes one last, desperate chance to stop the cycle that began so long ago. But there are dangers to inviting the attentions of what might not be a man, but a monster…
Sleep Tight by J. H. Market
The sole survivor of a serial killer might hold the key to stopping a new spree of murders in this propulsive horror thriller in the vein of The Black Phone and The Whisper Man.
Dark and twisting at every turn, fans of Catriona Ward will love this chilling new tale from the deviously inventive horror author that Peter Farris calls the “clear heir to Stephen King.”
Beware the one who got away . . .
Father Silence once terrorized the rural town of Twisted Tree, disguising himself as a priest to prey on the most vulnerable members of society. When the police finally found his “House of Horrors,” they uncovered nineteen bodies and one survivor–a boy now locked away in a hospital for the criminally insane.
Nearly two decades later, Father Silence is finally put to death, but by the next morning, the detective who made the original arrest is found dead. A new serial killer is taking credit for the murder and calling himself the Outcast.
The detective’s daughter, Tess Claibourne, is a detective herself, haunted by childhood trauma and horrified by the death of her father and the resurgence of Father Silence’s legacy.
When Tess’s daughter is kidnapped by the Outcast, Tess is forced to face her worst fears and long-buried memories. With no leads to follow, she travels back to Twisted Tree to visit the boy who survived and see what secrets might be buried in the tangled web of his broken mind.
With captivating prose and an old-school horror flair, Sleep Tight is a must-read, haunting tale from a true master of the genre.
The Life and Death of Rose Doucette by Harry Hunsicker
Dallas PI Dylan Fisher thought he was done with his ex-wife— but now he’ s solving her murder
Dallas private investigator Dylan Fisher hasn’ t seen his ex-wife, Rose, in three years— which is why he’ s surprised when she asks him to meet her at a hotel. Rose Doucette is a homicide detective, and she wants Dylan’ s help with a murder investigation that she’ s been asked to step back from but can’ t seem to let go.
They review the details of the case and part ways— but as Rose is leaving the parking lot, Dylan sees a suspicious car begin to follow her. Feeling uneasy, he tails the car and tries to warn Rose, but he’ s too late— the driver of the car shoots her, killing her instantly, before speeding away.
The police are determined to pin the murder on Dylan, so he’ s left with no choice but to find the killer himself. Teaming up with Rose’ s widower, a defense attorney named Tito, the pair dive into Rose’ s past to figure out who could’ ve wanted to kill the woman they both loved— and what they were trying to hide.
Perfect for fans of Michael Connelly and Robert Crais
In The Lonely Hours by Shannon Morgan
In a bewitchingly melancholy, thrillingly modern ghost story for readers of Eve Chase, Megan Shepherd, and Lisa Jewell, the new inhabitants of a centuries-old castle perched on a remote island in northwest Scotland must confront its tragic and terrifying history…
On a small island in a remote corner of northwest Scotland lies Maundrell castle, owned by its wealthy namesake family for centuries—until now. Edwina Nunn is shocked to learn a relative she never heard of has bequeathed the castle and its land to her. What awaits Edie and her teenage daughter, Neve, is even more startling, for the castle is home to a multitude of ghosts.
Yet there’s a strange beauty in the austere architecture and the eerie, bloody waters of Loch na Scáthanna, the Lake of Shadows. Beguiled by a frightened ghost who gazes longingly out of the castle’s windows, Edie and Neve are drawn to the legends shrouding the island and the mystery of the Maundrell Red—a priceless diamond that disappeared decades before.
Is the gem really cursed, and the cause of the family tragedies that have all occurred on Samhain—Scottish Halloween? As Samhain approaches once more, Edie and Neve race to peel back the dark secrets entwining the living and the dead—a twisted story of bitter cruelty and hidden love—or they will become another Maundrell tragedy trapped in the lonely hours . . .
Specters in the Glass House by Jaime Jo Wright
An ominous butterfly house. A sinister legacy. An untraceable killer.
In 1921, Marian Arnold, the heiress to a brewing baron’s empire, seeks solace in the glass butterfly house on her family’s Wisconsin estate as Prohibition and the deaths of her parents cast a long shadow over her shrinking world. When Marian’s sanctuary is invaded by nightmarish visions, she grapples with the line between hallucinations of things to come and malevolent forces at play in the present. With dead butterflies as the killer’s ominous signature, murders unfold at a steady pace. Marian, fearful she might be next, enlists the help of her childhood friend Felix, a war veteran with his own haunted past.
In the present day, researcher Remy Shaw becomes entangled in an elderly biographer’s quest to uncover the truth behind Marian Arnold’s mysterious life and the unsolved murders linked to an infamous serial killer. Joined by Marian’s great-great-grandson, can Remy expose the evil that lurks beneath broken wings? Or will the dark legacy surrounding the manor and its glass house destroy yet another generation? and experiences the dark underbelly of reality as she faces off against vampires, demons, and redneck serial killers. Promised a cure to her condition along the way, Randi does her best to stay alive.
Looking for book recs…
Adventures in Literature 
Leave a comment