Do you like to read books to correspond with seasons and holidays? Me too! And October is the perfect time to reach for spooky books that will have you pulling the covers up a little higher as you read, especially right before Halloween.
Here’s the thing though: I don’t like books that are super scary, so if you are looking for horror then you are in the wrong place. The books on this list all feature other-worldly elements (hints at possible ghosts, spirits, etc), but they are NOT frightening. You are not going to be crying tears of terror when you turn out the lights after reading one of these books, I promise.
What you will find are stories that keep you on the edge of your seat, eager to find out what’s going to happen next and if the characters will make it through the creepiness they encounter. My favorite is listed first, so let’s get started!
P.S. I wrote a similar post a few years ago called 10 Creepy Classic Lit Reads for Halloween that follows the same rules as this post — creepy but not scary! Spooky books are my jam.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I might make some extra coffee money at no extra expense to you if you buy something through one of my links. Read more about that here.
5 Spooky Books to Read Before Halloween
The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus
Backcover Description:
1928
The Bonaventure Circus is a refuge for many, but Pippa Ripley was rejected from its inner circle as a baby. When she receives mysterious messages from someone called the “Watchman,” she is determined to find him and the connection to her birth. As Pippa’s search leads her to a man seeking justice for his murdered sister and evidence that a serial killer has been haunting the circus train, she must decide if uncovering her roots is worth putting herself directly in the path of the killer.
Present Day
The old circus train depot will either be torn down or preserved for historical importance, and its future rests on real estate project manager Chandler Faulk’s shoulders. As she dives deep into the depot’s history, she’s also balancing a newly diagnosed autoimmune disease and the pressures of single motherhood. When she discovers clues to the unsolved murders of the past, Chandler is pulled into a story far darker and more haunting than even an abandoned train depot could portend.
I loved this one the most! Jaime Jo Wright is the queen of mild ghost stories with seriously intriguing plots and characters, always set in dual-timelines. I’ve read all her books and I so deeply admire the way she is able to weave her mysteries to keep you guessing and that she writes about serious issues like human trafficking, mental illness, and more in a way that shows how relevant those issues continue to be. I totally didn’t see the ending of this one coming. If you only pick up one book on this list, let it be The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus!
Backcover Description:
Someone, or something, must be haunting the ship. Between mysterious disappearances and sudden deaths, the guests of the Titanic have found themselves suspended in an eerie, unsettling twilight zone from the moment they set sail. Several of them, including maid Annie Hebley, guest Mark Fletcher, and millionaires Madeleine Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim, are convinced there’s something sinister–almost otherwordly–afoot. But before they can locate the source of the danger, as the world knows, disaster strikes.
Years later, Annie, having survived that fateful night, is working as a nurse on the sixth voyage of the Titanic‘s sister ship, the Britannic, newly refitted as a hospital ship. When she happens across an unconscious Mark, now a soldier fighting in World War I. At first, Annie is thrilled and relieved to see he survived the sinking. But soon, Mark’s presence awakens deep-buried feelings and secrets, forcing Annie to reckon with the demons of her past–as they both discover that the terror may not yet be over.
This one is probably the creepiest of the books on this list, and just like with the last book, I didn’t see the ending coming. I loved the way the author took a true story and reimagined it with a ghostly twist. She does a great job chasing a few different story threads until they all coming together in a satisfying way.
Backcover Description:
As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.
Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.
You’ve probably heard of this book before because Tana French is a very popular mystery author, but if you’re like me and haven’t read it yet, now is the time. It’s a really compelling story that pops back and forth between the current crime and the missing children from the past, exploring the connections and lack thereof as Ryan tries to come to terms with what happened to him and his friends. Is there something sinister in those woods? I will give you a quick heads up that this book is high on the profanity rating. If you are sensitive to cursing maybe skip this one.
Backcover Description:
By March of Owen Edmonds’s senior year, eleven students at Masonville High School have committed suicide. Amid the media frenzy and chaos, Owen tries to remain levelheaded―until he endures his own near-death experience and wakes to a distressing new reality.
The people around him suddenly appear to be shackled and enslaved.
Owen frantically seeks a cure for what he thinks are crazed hallucinations, but his delusions become even more sinister. An army of hideous, towering beings, unseen by anyone but Owen, are preying on his girlfriend and classmates, provoking them to self-destruction.
Owen eventually arrives at a mind-bending conclusion: he’s not imagining the evil―everyone else is blind to its reality. He must warn and rescue those he loves . . . but this proves to be no simple mission. Will he be able to convince anyone to believe him before it’s too late? Owen’s heart-pounding journey through truth and delusion will force him to reconsider everything he believes. He both longs for and fears the answers to questions that are quickly becoming too dangerous to ignore.
When I read this book back in 2018, it stayed with me for weeks. I couldn’t stop thinking about the message of this book and thought it was an incredibly compelling picture of the way good vs. evil plays out in our lives. It’s part of a series and I just found out that book two is available on Kindle Unlimited so I’ll be picking that one up soon to read the next part of Owen’s story!
Backcover Description:
Ten years ago, Grace saw something that would forever change the course of history. When evil in its purest form is unleashed on the world, she and others from their religious community are already hidden deep in the hills of Tennessee, abiding by every rule that will keep them safe, pure–and alive. As long as they stay there, behind the red perimeter.
Her older brother’s questions and the arrival of the first outsiders she’s seen in a decade set in motion events that will question everything Grace has built her life on. Enemies rise on all sides–but who is the real enemy? And what will it cost her to uncover the truth?
If cults and secluded communities are your catnip, then you will want to pick this book up. It’s an intense, layered, thought-provoking story that you will not be able to put down. A plus for me is that it takes place in my home state of Tennessee, but even if you don’t have that personal connection you will still enjoy this suspenseful book.
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