Boo!
Horror is a tricky genre for a writer to get right. You need the tension, the fear, and the build-up, all while making sure it's not dull. Pacing is crucial. It's tough, and sometimes even tougher, to find the good ones out there; but no fear, I got you.
I've got your vampires, creepy caves, dangerous expeditions, and haunted hotels all listed below, simply take your pick. You can put them on hold at any UCL location. Here are 10 horror books to get you spooked all October long. If you're looking for a good mystery instead, check out this post detailing the best mysteries to read this fall.
Into the Sublime by Kate A. Boorman
A new YA psychological thriller from Kate A. Boorman, author of What We Buried, about four teenage girls who descend into a dangerous underground cave system in search of a lake of local legend, said to reveal your deepest fears.
When the cops arrive, only a few things are clear:
- Four girls entered a dangerous cave.
- Three of them came out alive.
- Two of them were rushed to the hospital.
- And one is soaked in blood and ready to talk.
Amelie Desmarais' story begins believably enough: Four girls from a now-defunct thrill-seeking group planned an epic adventure to find a lake that Colorado locals call "The Sublime." Legend has it that the lake has the power to change things for those who risk—and survive—its cavernous depths. They each had their reasons for going. For Amelie, it was a promise kept to her beloved cousin, who recently suffered a tragic accident during one of the group's dares.
But as her account unwinds, and the girls' personalities and motives are drawn, things get complicated. Amelie is hardly the thrill-seeking type, and it appears she's not the only one with the ability to deceive. Worse yet, Amelie is covered in someone's blood, but whose exactly? And where's the fourth girl?
Is Amelie spinning a tale to cover her guilt? Or was something inexplicable waiting for the girls down there? Amelie's the only one with answers, and she's insisting on an explanation that is more horror-fantasy than reality. Maybe the truth lies somewhere in between.
After all, strange things inhabit dark places. And sometimes we bring the dark with us.
It Looks Like Us by Alison Ames
From the author of To Break a Covenant comes an edge-of-your-seat read that will leave your heart pounding.
One week ago, Riley Kowalski joined a team of four other teens for an internship on climate change research in the Antarctic, sponsored by one of the world's largest tech companies. It was just the opportunity she had been searching for—an escape from the ridicule she'd received after a panic attack at school, a fresh start.
But their small team isn't alone in the remote, frozen reaches of the polar south.
In the eerie haze of evening sunlight, Riley sees something out of the corner of her eye—something that's watching them. She writes it off as the effects of her anxiety, but when their expedition leader begins to change—her limbs elongating, her body contorting—and grow violent, Riley knows the danger she feels is real. Something is stalking them, infecting them, and slowly infiltrating the team.
There is more to this research trip than any of them bargained for, and if they aren't careful, none of them will make it out alive.
These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall
The Haunting of Hill House meets Knives Out in a bid for an inheritance that will leave Helen Vaughan either rich or dead.
Helen Vaughan doesn't know why she and her mother left their ancestral home at Harrowstone Hall, called the Harrow, or why they haven't spoken to their extended family since. So when her grandfather dies, she's shocked to learn that he has left everything—the house, the grounds, and the money—to her. The inheritance comes with one condition: she must stay on the grounds of the Harrow for one full year, or she'll be left with nothing.
There is more at stake than money. For as long as she can remember, the Harrow has haunted Helen's dreams—and now those dreams have become a waking nightmare. Helen knows that if she is going to survive the year, she needs to uncover the secrets of the Harrow. Why is the house built like a labyrinth? What is digging the holes that appear in the woods each night? And why does the house itself seem to be making her sick?
With each twisted revelation, Helen questions what she knows about the Harrow, her family, and even herself. She no longer wonders if she wants to leave...but if she can.
Horror Hotel by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren
This addictive YA horror shares the tale about a group of teen ghost hunters who spend the night in a haunted LA hotel is The Blair Witch Project for the TikTok generation.
When the YouTube-famous Ghost Gang—Chrissy, Chase, Emma, and Kiki—visit a haunted LA hotel notorious for tragedy to secretly film after dark, they expect it to be just like their previous paranormal hauntings. Spooky enough to attract subscribers--and ultimately harmless.
But when they stumble upon something unexpected in the former room of a gruesome serial killer, they quickly realize that they're in over their heads.
Sometimes, it's the dead who need our help—and the living we should fear.
Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bovalinio
They'll lure you in with fruit and gems and liquor and dancing, merriment to remember for the rest of your life. But that's an illusion. The market is death itself.
Beneath the streets of York, the goblin market calls to the Wickett women—the family of witches that tends to its victims. For generations, they have defended the old cobblestone streets with their magic. Knowing the dangers, they never entered the market—until May Wickett fell for a goblin girl, accepted her invitation, and became inextricably tied to the world her family tried to protect her from. The market learned her name, and even when she and her sister left York for Boston to escape it, the goblins remembered.
Seventeen years later, Lou, May's niece, knows nothing of her magical lineage or the twisted streets, sweet fruits, and incredible jewels of the goblin market. But just like her aunt, the market calls to her, an echo of a curse that won't release its hold on her family. And when her youngest aunt, Neela, is kidnapped by goblins, Lou discovers just how real and dangerous the market is.
To save her, both May and Lou will have to confront their family's past and what happened all those years ago. But everything—from the food and wares to the goblins themselves—is a haunting temptation for any human who manages to find their way in. And if Lou isn't careful, she could end up losing herself to the market, too.
The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky
New York Times- bestselling author Goldy Moldavsky delivers a deliciously twisty YA thriller that's Scream meets Karen McManus about a mysterious club with an obsession for horror.
When it comes to horror movies, the rules are clear:
- Avoid abandoned buildings, warehouses, and cabins at all times.
- Stay together: don't split up, not even just to "check something out."
- If there's a murderer on the loose, do not make out with anyone.
If only surviving in real life was this easy...
New girl Rachel Chavez turns to horror movies for comfort, preferring stabby serial killers and homicidal dolls to the bored rich kids of Manhattan Prep...and to certain memories, she'd preferred to keep buried.
Rachel is recruited by the Mary Shelley Club, a mysterious society of students who orchestrate Fear Tests, elaborate pranks inspired by urban legends and movie tropes. At first, Rachel embraces the power that comes with reckless pranking. But as the Fear Tests escalate, the competition turns deadly, and it's clear Rachel is playing a game she can't afford to lose.
Dead Flip by Sara Farizan
Edge-of-your-seat YA horror perfect for fans of Stranger Things.
Growing up, Cori, Maz, and Sam were inseparable best friends, sharing their love for Halloween, arcade games, and one another. Now it's 1992, Sam has been missing for five years, and Cori and Maz aren't speaking anymore. How could they when Cori is sure Sam is dead and Maz thinks he may have been kidnapped by a supernatural pinball machine?
These days, all Maz wants to do is party, buy CDs at Sam Goody, and run away from his past. Meanwhile, Cori is a homecoming queen, hiding her abiding love of horror movies and her queer self under the bubblegum veneer of a high school queen bee. But when Sam returns—still twelve years old while his best friends are now seventeen—Maz and Cori are thrown back together to solve the mystery of what really happened to Sam the night he went missing. Beneath the surface of that mystery lurks secrets the friends never told one another, then and now. And Sam's is the darkest of all . . .
Award-winning author of If You Could Be Mine and Here to Stay Sara Farizan delivers edge-of-your-seat terror as well as her trademark referential humor, witty narration, and insightful characters.
The Honeys by Ryan La Sala
From Ryan La Sala, the wildly popular author of Reverie, comes a twisted and tantalizing horror novel set amidst the bucolic splendor of a secluded summer retreat.
Mars has always been the lesser twin, the shadow to his sister Caroline's radiance. But when Caroline dies under horrific circumstances, Mars is propelled to learn all he can about his once-inseparable sister who'd grown tragically distant.
Mars's genderfluidity means he's often excluded from the traditions—and expectations—of his politically-connected family. This includes attendance at the prestigious Aspen Conservancy Summer Academy where his sister poured so much of her time. But with his grief still fresh, he insists on attending in her place.
What Mars finds is a bucolic fairytale not meant for him. Folksy charm, sun-drenched festivities, camouflage, old-fashioned gender roles, and a toxic preparatory rigor. Mars seeks out his sister's old friends: a group of girls dubbed the Honeys, named for the beehives they maintain behind their cabin. They are beautiful and terrifying—and Mars is certain they're connected to Caroline's death.
But the longer he stays at Aspen, the more the sweet mountain breezes give way to hints of decay. Mars's memories begin to falter, bleached beneath the relentless summer sun. Something is hunting him in broad daylight, toying with his mind. If Mars can't find it soon, it will eat him alive.
The Book of Living Secrets by Madeline Roux
Perfect for fans of The Hazel Wood, this genre-bending page-turner from New York Times bestselling author Madeleine Roux follows two girls who transport themselves into the world of their favorite book only to encounter the sinister alternate reality that awaits them.
No matter how different best friends Adelle and Connie are, one thing they've always had in common is their love of a little-known gothic romance novel called Moira. So when the girls are tempted by a mysterious man to enter the world of the book, they hardly suspect it will work. But suddenly they are in the world of Moira, living among characters they've obsessed about for years.
Except...all is not how they remembered it. The world has been turned upside down: The lavish balls and star-crossed love affairs are now interlaced with unspeakable horrors. The girls realize that something dark is lurking behind their foray into fiction--and they will have to rewrite their own arcs if they hope to escape this nightmare with their lives.
Direwood by Catherine Yu
In this velvet-clad 1990s gothic horror, Aja encounters a charming vampire who wants to lure her into the woods--just like her missing sister.
No one ever pays attention to sixteen-year-old Aja until her perfect older sister Fiona goes missing. In the days leading up to Fiona's disappearance, Aja notices some extraordinary things: a strange fog rolling through their idyllic suburban town, a brief moment when the sky seems to rain blood, and a host of parasitic caterpillars burrowing their way through the trees. Aja's father, the neighbors, and even her ex-friend Mary all play down this strange string of occurrences, claiming there must be some natural explanation. It seems everyone is willing to keep living in denial until other teens start to go missing too.
Aja is horrified when she meets Padraic, the vampire responsible for all the strange occurrences. His hypnotic voice lures her to the window and tells her everything she's longed to hear—she's beautiful and special, and he wants nothing more than for Aja than for her to come with him. Aja knows she shouldn't trust him, but she's barely able to resist his enthrallment, and following him into the woods may be the only way to find Fiona. So she agrees on one condition: He must let her leave alive if she is not wooed after one week. Though Aja plans to kill him before the week is out, Padraic has his own secrets as well.
In the misty woods, Aja finds that Padraic has made his nest with another vampire in a dilapidated church infested by blood-sucking butterflies. Within its walls, the vampires are waited on and entertained by other children they've enthralled, but there is no sign of Fiona. Before her bargain is up, Aja must find a way to turn her classmates against their captors, find her sister, and save them all—or be forced to join the very monsters she wants to destroy.
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