The Reading List: Spooky Season
It’s arguably one of the most wonderful times of the year, all you basic bitches! It’s fall AF, and Halloween (a.k.a. Jen’s birthday) is right around the corner. Death is all fun and games when it’s spooky skeletons and undead zombies, less so when it’s COVID. So be smart, don’t throw (or go to) any Halloween parties, and instead, curl up with one of these creepy books. (And don’t forget to buy them from your local independent bookstores or Bookshop.org!).
Mexican Gothic
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
This 50s-era thriller kept popping up on my Instagram feed since it was released this summer, and I immediately took screenshots to remember to put this on my TBR list. Reviewers compare this to classics like Jane Eyre and Rebecca with fantasy horror elements like ghosts and a spooky haunted house. I’m very excited to read this one; it sounds like a perfect Halloween read!
The Guest List
by Lucy Foley
I didn’t know much about The Guest List when I picked it up, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down. This Agatha Christie-style whodunit takes place on a secluded island off the coast of Ireland where a pretty unlovable cast of characters have gathered for a wedding. Bouncing around from the points of views of different characters, we learn early that everyone there has secrets, but whose will result in a murder?
The Sun Down Motel
by Simone St. James
In 2017, a 20-year-old named Carly travels to the creepy town of Fell to investigate her aunt Viv’s disappearance in the 80s. Her trip leads her to take the same overnight shift at the shitty Sun Down Motel that Viv took decades before. St. James takes us back and forth between the two characters as they solve the mysteries of the hotel’s ghosts in parallel. From experience, I can tell you — think twice about reading this one right before bed!
My Sister, the Serial Killer
by Oyinkan Braithwaite
I’ve also noticed this one on my IG feed a lot lately, and I love the title, so I made an impulse purchase at Greedy Reads’ sidewalk sale this past weekend. In it, Korede finds herself helping clean up after her sister Ayoola’s murders of three boyfriends, but she begins to rethink her role in Ayoola’s life when her crush asks for Ayoola’s number. One of my favorite writers, Samantha Irby, describes this book as “campy and delightfully naughty,” so I am obviously here for it.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark
by Michelle McNamara
It’s…kind of unbelievable I haven’t recommended this book on HTJL until now. In fact, I even read the entire thing on the flight home from our trip to Scandinavia in 2018. Usually I sleep the whole way home from our European jaunts, but once I started I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, I couldn’t stop, and if you’re into true crime, you won’t be able to put it down either. The late Michelle McNamara was a true crime junkie and spent hours writing about and scouring the internet for clues about the elusive Golden State Killer, who was finally arrested in 2018 after terrorizing California with rapes and murders in the 70s and 80s. All I can say is it’s a good thing I read this one 1) after I knew he had been arrested, and 2) while I was flying through perpetual daylight, because it is absolutely terrifying.
The Woman in the Window
by A.J. Finn
Appropriately, The Woman in the Window starts around Halloween, with the reclusive main character Dr. Anna Fox using her camera to spy on her neighbors. She’s agoraphobic, having suffered some kind of traumatic accident, and her husband and daughter are not currently living with her. She spends her days drinking wine, watching old movies, chatting in an online support group, and watching her neighbors. One day, she witnesses her neighbor Jane Russell being stabbed and calls the police, but when they investigate, she is told that the woman she knew as Jane is not Jane, and Jane is very much alive and well. The Russells don’t know what she is talking about, leaving Anna to question her own sense of reality.
Have you read any of these books? Which books are your spooky season favs?
-Staci
