Top 5 spookiest reads of the season

BY ASHTYN HANSARD / Multimedia Journalist

With Halloween coming closer as October reaches its end, popular “Halloween” media starts to gain more traction. While there’s many lists for movies and songs to listen to around this time, here’s a list of the top five books to read for Halloween.

“The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson. “The Haunting of Hill House” was released in 1959, making the book almost 70-years-old. While the book has been around for several decades, it only started gaining more popularity around 2018. 

“The Haunting of Hill House” limited series was released on Netflix in October of 2018 and was directed by Mike Flanagan, a popular horror series director. While the series was only inspired by the book, there are still several connections between the two. 

Many famous quotes from the series are taken directly from the novel. For example, the last sentence of the starting and ending paragraph of the novel says, “Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

This quote is also mentioned in the final episode of the limited series. An original character, Steve Crain, narrates this line at the beginning of the episode and at the end with the final monologue.

In the book, the reader follows Eleanor Vance, Theodora, Luke Sanderson and Dr. John Montague as they stay in the abandoned Hill House for a summer. Both Eleanor and Theodora are staying under Dr. Montague’s wishes to observe the paranormal of the house while Luke is staying in order to make sure they researchers don’t cause damage to his future inheritance of Hill House. 

“Tender is the Flesh” by Agustina Bazterrica. “Tender is the Flesh” was released in November of 2017 in Spanish and was later translated into English in 2020. 

The book is set in a dystopian land where animals are unsafe to eat after a deadly virus has affected them. In order to quench people’s thirst for meat, companies began to select certain humans and breed them in captivity to be slaughtered.

This book is a hard finish according to most readers. The Bates Student writer Fiona Cohen wrote, “This is not a novel for the weak of stomach. Bazterrica does not shy away from gory descriptions of human slaughter. There are also some graphic descriptions of abuse and sexual assault.” 

While this book is definitely scary and uncomfortable to read, it also has extreme themes that may be too much for some readers. If you want to read this book, please proceed with caution.

“Coraline” by Neil Gaiman. “Coraline” is a widely known stop-motion movie, but it was first produced as a book. Published in 2002, “Coraline” was an instant hit, winning three different awards within a year of publishing. 

The book plot is very similar to the movie plot. Coraline moves into a new house and finds a secret tunnel that leads to another world with another set of parents, known as the “Other Mother” and “Other Father.” When Coraline discovers that her “Other parents” are evil, she has to fight to protect her family in the real world while saving herself.

Although the book and movie’s primary audience is children, people of any age can find themselves enjoying this fantasy story just in time for Halloween.

“The Shining” by Stephen King. “The Shining” is one of the most popular horror books of all time. Released in 1977, “The Shining” solidified King’s writing career and established him as a horror author. 

Similar to “Coraline,” the plot for “The Shining” novel is very similar to the movie. The Torrance family, the main characters of the book, stay at a hotel during the winter to be its caretakers. During their stay, the Torrance family becomes haunted by the hotel’s past and are forced to find a way to survive.

“The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides. “The Silent Patient” was released in 2019, making it the youngest book in this list. Although it’s been out to the public for five years now, the book only started gaining popularity in 2023 due to its praise on TikTok.

The story of “The Silent Patient” follows a psychotherapist handling a patient that refuses to speak to anyone after the murder of her husband. 

“THE SILENT PATIENT is immersive and hypnotic—the kind of confidently drawn suspense story that doesn’t need big, flashy twists to keep you hooked… but that delivers an exceptional twist or two anyway,” said Crime By The Book, a crime fiction review blog.

If you’re looking for a way to add to our Halloween spirit, I recommend reading any of the books listed here. All are available at your nearest bookstore or online shop.