Spooky books for Halloween - what would you read?

[StillTryingHard]

So December will be all about Christmas books. But as it's October what would you recommend for some seasonal spooky fiction?

Try Dark Matter by Michelle Parven. Very atmospheric and tense. As well as actually scary.

Thanks esme - I will check it out

i am not a fan of spooky books

Got to be The Woman in White.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill is my all time favourite ghost story. She's got a new collection of short ghost stories out at the moment so I'm going to buy that soon.

Dark Matter is also very good as mentioned by Esmesbees

Slade House by David Mitchell

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Dark matter and the woman in black were both fantastic.

Salems Lot is properly scary!

Dark Matter is cheapo on Kindle right now. Must admit that I didn't love it (I loved the earlier bit, before the silly scary stuff starts!) but know that lots of MNers really enjoyed it.

And if we're talking King, I'd suggest 'It'.

Faerie Tale by Raymond E Feist.. very creepy.

Any Adam Nevill, but especially House of Small Shadows.

the SO loves Graham Masterton. im not keen but you may like them.

Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

For classic spooky it's got to be M.R James, if you want something more contemporary I'd go for Phil Rickman and his Merrily Watson series.

Adam Nevil isn't spooky, his stuff is bloody terrifying! End of Days had me genuinely sleeping with the lights on, and I consider myself a seasoned horror fan.

Salem's Lot was the first book I read that absolutely terrified me. I think I was about 12 when I read it too, as I'd nicked it off my sister.

It also taught me the word 'sphincter'

Can I recommend Dracula too?

I've just started Birdsong, but I might see if I can get Dark Matter downloaded and try that afterwards.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo to Merrily Stupid Whatshername. I loathed that book.

Merrily Watkins is ace and v. spooky, so there!

The girl in the swing by Richard Adams is chilling, I had trouble sleeping afterwards.

I was going to recommend Haunted or The Secrets of Crickley Hall, also by James Herbert. I always read them around Halloween.

I'm currently reading the woman in black, so far it's very atmospheric.

'The Magic Cottage' James Herbert is pretty good.
'77 Shadow St' Dean Koontz is creepy too.
'Moonlight Bay' Dean Koontz is chilling but not because its old fashioned gothic horror, its new science 'could be in the future' horror!

Dr Sleep by Stephen King. It's the sequel to The Shining but very different. So, spooky and so readable.

I second M R James. I always dip into his stories this time of year.

Novel-wise The Loney is a spooky read.