6 Spook-tacular Books to Celebrate the Spooky Season

The time of year has come again when the treats come out, the pumpkins get carved and monsters roam the streets. And what better way to celebrate the spooky season of Halloween but with a good old book? And why stop at only one, why not six? Here at Better Reading, we’ve gathered six spooky books that are the perfect night in after trick-or-treating. So grab your lollies, put on your costumes, and prepare yourselves for the most chilling chapters ever penned in the history of adult fiction…

Dark Mode by Ashley Calagian Blunt

Is it paranoia – or is someone watching? For years, Reagan Carsen has kept her life offline. No socials. No internet presence. No photos. Safe. Until the day she stumbles on a shocking murder in a Sydney laneway. The victim looks just like her. Coincidence? As more murders shake the city and she’s increasingly drawn out from hiding, Reagan is forced to confront her greatest fear. She’s been found.

Buy a copy of Dark Mode here.

The Shadow House by Anna Downs

When single mother Alex flees her abusive relationship and moves with her teenage son and baby girl to a rural ecovillage, she thinks she’s made the best decision of her life. Pine Ridge is idyllic: the off-grid lifestyle and remote location are perfect, and the community is welcoming – mostly. Charmed by its magnetic founder, Kit, and the natural beauty of the former farmland, Alex settles easily into her new home. But her arrival at Pine Ridge disturbs barely submerged secrets, and she’s shaken by a series of eerily familiar events that seem to be connected to the abandoned farmhouse on the hill. Alex realises that, in escaping her own shadowy past, she may have stumbled into someone else’s. And this time, there may be nowhere to run.

Buy a copy of The Shadow House here.

Australian Ghost Stories by James Phelps

The most haunted home that world-famous ghost hunter Lorraine Warren ever stepped foot in was a three-bedroom brick home in suburban Sydney. Australian Ghost Stories is a spine-tingling collection of true crime tales that will leave you feeling haunted long after you’ve turned the last page. From the ghostly apparitions that haunt historic landmarks to diabolical presences in everyday suburban houses, these are stories of ordinary Australians and their encounters with the unexplainable. This thrilling blend of true crime and supernatural encounters will leave you questioning everything you know about this world … and the next.

Buy a copy of Australian Ghost Stories here.

Pet Cemetary by Stephen King

The house looked right, felt right to Dr Louis Creed. Rambling, old, unsmart and comfortable. A place where the family could settle; the children grow and play and explore. The rolling hills and meadows of Maine seemed a world away from the fume-choked dangers of Chicago. Only the occasional big truck out on the two-lane highway, grinding up through the gears, hammering down the long gradients, growled out an intrusive threat. But behind the house and far away from the road: that was safe. Just a carefully cleared path up into the woods where generations of local children have processed with the solemn innocence of the young, taking with them their dear departed pets for burial. A sad place maybe, but safe. Surely a safe place. Not a place to seep into your dreams, to wake you, sweating with fear and foreboding.

Buy a copy of Pet Cemetary here.

Bunny by S.E. Tolsen

Two eyes bore into him from across the room. They’re not her eyes. They’re the same colour and shape, but they’re not her eyes. ‘I see you.’ Silas didn’t have a happy childhood. Aunt Bunny made sure of that. But out of money and almost out of time, Silas and his girlfriend Rose are forced to return to his childhood home. Back to the darkness, back to the woods, where addiction and hedonism are disguising something much more sinister … Plagued by strange, unnerving events, Silas is drawn back into the family by an ancient presence deep in the woods. It will not let him go, and neither will Bunny.

But a copy of Bunny here.

20th Victim by James Patterson

Three victims, three bullets, three cities. The shooters’ aim is as fearsomely precise as their target selection. When Lindsay realizes that the fallen men and women excel in a lucrative, criminal activity, she leads the charge in the manhunt for the killers. As the casualty list expands, fear and fascination with this suspicious shooting gallery galvanizes the country. The victims were no angels, but are the shooters villains . . . or heroes?