Every year as October gets closer, I feel an overwhelming need to read every spooky thing I can get my hands on. BUT I’m quite picky about what constitutes the right type of spooky. I don’t want to be afraid to sleep alone in my house, and I have zero interest in home invasion or domestic violence stories. I have no interest in is-my-boyfriend-the-killer stories and no interest in gore. I’m not interested in most books that fall in the horror category, and I’m not interested in possession stories or most haunted house stories.
So you might be thinking, what’s left within the spooky realm? The spooky books I love are subtle. Most of them have a psychological component. Most of them are not overtly scary, but rather quietly unsettling. I want to feel disturbed without quite knowing why. Jump scares feel cheap—I’m far more impressed by writers who know how to discreetly lead me into uneasiness.
If you are also a lover of subtly spooky stories, here’s a list of 15 spooky books to read this fall.
(Harry Potter is not on this list because I assume it’s a given. What October is complete without revisiting Nearly Headless Nick’s death-day party?)
How I selected this list:
These are all contemporary fiction novels because I had to give myself some parameters or else I’d list too many. (My favorite fall classics and short stories will be a separate list.)
To be clear, these books don’t all necessarily take place during the fall. A lot of them take place across multiple seasons or a season other than fall, but still, they exude the spirit of fall to me.
These books are specifically for the spooky fall lovers rather than the cozy fall lovers. (For example, you should certainly read Anne of Green Gables in October, but that’s cozy fall rather than spooky fall, so it’s not on the list.) These are books that range from mysterious and atmospheric to psychologically disturbing. They span across dark academia, magic, suspense, and mystery. They are all books I wish I could read again for the first time.
A quick disclaimer:
The links I’m providing below are for Bookshop.org. This is a website I love because their mission is to support local bookstores. But can’t I buy books cheaper on Amazon, you ask? Maybe. But local bookstores support authors and publishers, so I want to support them. Because I’m an affiliate of Bookshop.org, I will earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use my links to make a purchase. But of course, you can buy them anywhere, including in person at your own local bookstore, or borrow them from your local library. More than half of what I read comes from the New Orleans Public Library, and if you aren’t using the Libby app to borrow kindle and audio books through your own library, you’re missing out on one of the best inventions of my life.
15 Spooky Books to Read This Fall
(In alphabetical order by author)
1. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Alex has grown up in circumstances that it’s hard to escape from. She dropped out of school, fell into the wrong crowd, and somehow survived a terrible and unsolved multiple homicide. But while recovering at the hospital, a stranger arrives and offers her a spot at Yale because he somehow knows that she has a secret ability she never talks about—the ability to see the dead.
At Yale, Alex is supposed to monitor the activities of the secret societies—occult activities that tamper with dark magic. She’s been given this opportunity as a second chance, but she finds herself in more danger than she could have imagined.
This book is everything I could want in a series. Paranormal set in a real-world setting. Dark academia. Brilliant characters and brilliant writing. I haven’t been as riveted by a series in a long time. The second book in the series, Hell Bent, is also great, and the author has hinted that she’ll be making an announcement about the next book soon.
2. The Absolutes by Molly Dektar
As a teenager, Nora is sent to spend a school year with distant relatives in Italy. In a brief encounter, she meets Nicola, the son of a powerful and feared aristocratic family. Though their encounter was short, it forged a lasting connection that Nora couldn’t let go of. When she unexpectedly runs into Nicola years later, that connection turns into infatuation. When Nora learns of a possible secret plot that Nicola might try to overthrow his corrupt father, she has to decide if the intimacy she longs for is worth the danger.
I anticipated liking this book because I was so impressed with the author’s first novel. I didn’t know that I’d spend the whole novel gripped with dread and unable to put it down. It’s a book about obsession, narcissism, control, and power, and it creeps over you so suddenly that you feel like you’re in the same hypnotic and dangerous spiral as the characters in the story. It’s brilliant and terrifying.
3. In the Woods by Tana French
Three friends play together in the woods in their Dublin suburb, but two of them never come home. The one who police find hugging a tree with blood-filled shoes can’t recall any details of what happened. Twenty years later, that boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective in Dublin, and hardly anyone knows about his past. But when a girl is found murdered in the same woods where his friends disappeared, he finds himself investigating the case. As his personal life begins to unravel, he becomes more and more obsessed with solving both cases.
This story is painfully tense, atmospheric, complex, intelligent, and entirely convincing. This is one of my favorite novels of all time, and it solidified Tana Franch as one of my favorite authors. Nearly every book she’s written since could go on this list, but nothing compares to this first one. (Pair it with the second book in the Dublin Murder Squad series, The Likeness. Another perfect fall novel.)
(There’s a BBC mini-series, and it’s quite good! Except they cram the first and second books into the season, which was a mistake.)
4. These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant
For nearly a decade, Cooper and his daughter Finch have lived off the grid in a cabin in the Appalachian woods. As Finch grows older, she starts asking questions about why they live the way they live. And when a stranger arrives at the cabin, Cooper is forced to confront the secrets he’s been keeping about what brought them there.
I suspected I would like this book before I read it, but it far surpassed my expectations. It’s as tense and disturbing as it is beautiful, and it feels remarkably real.
5. Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt
As kids, Ruth and Nat lived together in a home for abandoned children. Decades later, a mute Ruth reappears unexpectedly. She takes Cora, her pregnant niece, on a mysterious odyssey across New York state on foot. Suspense builds as we get closer and closer to whatever destination Ruth has in mind.
It’s nearly impossible to describe this book. The story moves between two timelines that merge together. It’s a sort-of ghost story that will leave you bewildered, captivated, and awed. It’s about cults, ghosts, meteorites (sort of), con-artists, and faith, and it leaves you wondering what’s real or not long after you finish it. I’ve never read a book quite like this, but I desperately wanted more.
6. Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey
Birdie lives alone with her young daughter, Emaleen, in small-town Alaska. And while she isn’t exactly thriving, she’s getting by as a single mom. Life consists mostly of days waiting tables at the lodge and nights drinking too much in the local bar. But then Arthur comes along.
Arthur Nielson has long been a mystery to the people in town. He lives alone in a remote cabin across the mountains, and he only comes into town when the seasons change. Though he’s a man of very few words, Birdie falls for him. Despite others’ warnings, she decides she and Emaleen will move into his isolated cabin. And while the cabin and surrounding nature are idyllic at first, Birdie and Emaleen gradually come to realize that Arthur isn’t who they thought he was, and they may be in terrible danger.
Eowyn Ivey seamlessly weaves bleak and visceral elements into a story that expands into magical realism and wonder. It’s a dark, and captivating fairy tale that feels more and more believable. I’ve never read a book like this, and it got better with every page. Be warned that it’s both spellbinding and not for the faint of heart. I can’t stop thinking about it.
7. Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
Biologist Inti Flynn arrives in Scotland with the goal of leading her research team in reintroducing a group of gray wolves into the Scottish Highlands. She’s brought her sister with her in hopes that distance will heal her from the secrets that drove them from their home in Alaska. But when a local farmer is found dead, Inti knows that the town will find a way to blame the wolves. But if the wolves didn’t kill the farmer, that means someone else among them did.
Like all of Charlotte McConaghy’s books, this book is about so much more than the plot suggests. It’s about love, mystery, psychology, the climate, fear, and a woman’s determination to protect those she loves. Reading a Charlotte McConaghy novel means embarking on a psychological journey that will ensnare you and rip your heart to pieces, but you will emerge desperate for more. I think she’s one of the best writers alive, and I’ll read everything she ever publishes. (Note that her first novel, Migrations, is one of my top 10 books of all time, and her most-recent novel, Wild Dark Shore, is one of the best books I’ve read this year. So read those too, but they feel like winter instead of fall to me.)
8. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The circus arrives without warning and is only open at night. The audience doesn’t know that inside, there’s a duel between two magicians who have been trained since childhood to battle each other. Their lives are at stake, but it doesn’t stop them from falling in love and putting themselves and everyone else in danger.
The truth is that you don’t really read this book for the plot—the plot is a bit ambiguous at best. Instead, you read it for the atmosphere. It feels like a fairy-tale that you want to exist in for as long as possible. It’s a dark and enchanting dreamscape that screams fall to me. There’s a reason people are obsessed with this book still almost 15 years after it was published.
9. Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott
Siblings Bellatine and Isaac Yaga have been estranged since their childhood. After learning they will be receiving a mysterious inheritance, they agree to meet, but the inheritance isn’t what they imagined—it’s a house on chicken legs from their ancestor’s home in Ukraine. The house is named Thistlefoot. They decide to set out on a cross-country tour performing their family’s traditional theater show with Thistlefoot, but they don’t know that they are being followed. A man who followed Thistlefoot to the US is tracking them, and soon they’ll find out that they’re being hunted and what it will cost them to protect themselves.
This is a unique reimaging of Jewish myth and Eastern European folklore. It’s part folktale, part family drama, and I haven’t read anything quite like it.
10. I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
The book is narrated by an unnamed woman who travels with her new boyfriend, Jake, to meet his parents on their remote farm. Throughout the visit, she is contemplating ending things while going through the motions of the visit. What appears to be a straightforward story of a couple visiting family delves into a deeply psychological exploration of loneliness, identity, free will, solitude, and our own perceptions of reality.
Of all the spooky stories I’ve ever read, from suspense stories to straight horror stories, I think this one disturbed me the most. Iaian Reid is a master at writing tension so subtle that you barely notice it at first and building it until you feel terrified but can’t find the words to express why. It’s genius and rare and I still think about it all the time.
(There is a movie. Do yourself a favor and do NOT watch it before reading this. So much of the tension in the book comes from reaching a point where we don’t know what’s real or not, but having a visual pretty much spoils it.)
11. Foe by Iaian Reid
Junior and Henrietta live a quiet life on their farm. One day a stranger arrives with the news that Junior has been chosen to go spend a couple of years on a space station. Henrietta is told that she won’t be left alone though—she’s assured that arrangements have been made so that she never has to miss Junior while he’s away.
This was the second Iaian Reid novel I read (the only repeat author on this list), and it proved to me that we can count on him to leave us deeply unsettled with every book he writes. I’ve never read anyone who has mastered the art of subtle suspense better. Nothing overtly scary happens in this novel at all, but I increasingly wanted to hide under the table with every page I read.
(There’s a movie starring Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan, and I think it’s fantastic.)
12. Salvage This World by Michael Farris Smith
Hardly anyone remains in South Mississippi in the near-future. Storms continuously ravage the coast, and there are barely any crops, jobs, or businesses left. The only people who’ve stayed are those without hope left for a better life. Among those remaining, a religious cult has captivated congregants and begun to spread violence. Jessie and her young son, Jace, are on the run from the cult, and Jace’s father is missing. She seeks refuge at her childhood home where she reluctantly reunites with her father. Rather than finding safety with her father, she has unknowingly brought the violence with her.
Michael Farris Smith captures the mysteries of the south better than almost anyone writing today, and this book kept me awake at night even more than his previous ones. He is an expert at tone, atmosphere, and characters that say an enormous amount with very few words. There are questions left unanswered at the end of the story, but this felt true to the world Smith built. If Faulkner were alive today, he’d own all of Michael Farris Smith’s novels.
13. The Night Climbers by Ivo Stourton
When James arrives at Cambridge University looking for friendship and a place to belong, he ends up befriending a group of privileged and secretive classmates who call themselves The Tudor Night Climbers. They spend their nights searching for thrills by scaling the university’s towers and building. But when the group-leader’s father cuts off his allowance, they convince James to participate in a crime that, if successful, will allow them to maintain their privileged lifestyle.
I read this book back in high school, and it’s stuck with me ever since. This is a suspense novel about loyalty, secrets, the measures people will take to fit in, and what it’s like to live with the consequences. The book never became very popular, but I’ve not stopped trying to convince people that it should have.
14. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
At the prestigious Hampden College in New England, a group of brilliant and eccentric Classics students form a tight bond with each other and their popular professor. They exist in an exclusive bubble, thinking and living differently than their classmates. But soon their eccentricity crosses the lines of morality. They slip deeper into obsession, betrayal, and dark destruction they can’t return from.
This is the original dark academia book, the book that all others in the genre have been trying to measure up to ever since. It’s been over 30 years, and no one’s done it better. This is one of my absolute favorite books of all time, and one of my most vivid college memories is of staying awake all night on an exam night to finish this because NOTHING could possibly have been more important. I have no idea what I made on that exam, but I sure remember this book, so I must have made the right choice.
15. All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
In 1975 in a small Missouri town, teenage girls start disappearing. But one girl finds an unlikely hero in her classmate, Patch, who jumps in to fight the kidnapper before he can take her. Patch is taken captive instead, and his best friend, Saint, is determined not to give up until she finds him.
The story that follows spans nearly 3 decades, examining the aftermath of the crime and the lasting effects it had on everyone in the town. In this story, the past isn’t really past but rather a never-ending present that continues to shape the characters years later.
I couldn’t put this book down. It’s part mystery, part thriller, part love story, but never what you expect. It deserves every bit of hype it’s received, and it’s one of my favorite things I’ve read this year.
An Honorable Mention:
This one isn’t a novel, but it belongs on your spooky reading list.
16. Mysteries by Bill Watterson and John Kascht
This is Bill Waterson’s (author/illustrator of Calvin and Hobbes) first book in decades. Waterson and the artist John Kascht crated this tiny, dark masterpiece about the questions humas will never be able to answer. It’s sparse, dark, and mysterious, and I spent a very long time thinking about it after I read it. It’s an illustrated fable, so will only take you about 5 minutes to read. Also watch the videos of how they created it on YouTube—it’s the most fascinating collaboration process I’ve ever seen.
This is an ever-evolving list that I’m sure will grow before next spooky season, so leave me your own favorites in the comments! And let me know if you want the longlist of honorable mentions.
This is a great list Kayla! I will try and read at least of couple of them this fall!
Added two of these for spooky season! Thank you. 👻