Halloween is fast approaching with darker nights and brisk autumn mornings. I always read more during the autumn and winter months as there's something so comforting about curling up with a book on a dark evening with a cup of tea. Halloween is one of my favourite holidays but over the last few years I've found myself being a bit too busy to go all out. So to make the most of it I like to read some books that are a little spookier. Today I've rounding up some Halloween themed reads. I know not everyone is fond of a classic, gory horror so I've also included some thrillers and some Halloween read based at children. Lets face it, Halloween is never as good when you're not a child. Trick or treating over Halloween parties any day. And sometimes I think that a good thriller can actually be scarier than a horror!
Horrors
The Silence of the Lams by Thomas Harris - Could you really talk about classic horror without mentioning Hannibal Lecter? This isn't the first book in the series but it's definitely the most famous and you can read it without reading the others. Hannibal Lecter is a very creepy character, I mean, he eats people. This book isn't very scary in a traditional sense but it is very unnerving. The movie is also very good so a great one to read and then watch. If you've seen the film then you definitely need to read the book as it adds a lot more strength and understanding to the story.
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix - This book would definitely win an award for the most unique idea. This is a horror story set in a furniture store. They obviously couldn't call it IKEA in the novel but it's very obvious that it's modelled off of IKEA. The book itself is physically set up to look like one of their catalogues. The staff keep noticing that things are moving in the store overnight and so some staff members are pain extra to do an overnight shift and try and get to the bottom of things. Lets just say that night was definitely not worth the overtime. This book is actually really scary at times so a very impressive one indeed.
Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake - This book isn't particularly scary but it is very enjoyable. Its about a boy who hunts ghosts. He is tracking down a particularly nasty ghost called 'Anna Dressed in Blood' who is known for brutally murdering anyone who enters the house she haunts. But Anna makes no move to kill him and he finds himself trying to help her rather than kill her. She has something that she needs to do before she can 'pass on'. This is definitely the least scary out of the horrors I've included and is for those that don't want something too scary but still want a little bit of horror for Halloween.