Halloween Roundup: Five Modern Killer Tales to Enjoy this Spooky Season

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Halloween Roundup: Five Modern Killer Tales to Enjoy this Spooky Season

Five Modern Killer Tales to Enjoy this Spooky Season

It’s that time of year again when reading a frightening book feels especially right, sitting snuggled under blankets beside my spooky Halloween decor. Glittery orange and black spiders crawl across my fireplace mantel and a jagged tooth jack-o-lantern is lit on my porch every evening when darkness falls. 

While I enjoy frightening genres year-round, the autumn season prompts me to make a trip to the local library specifically for a stack of crime fiction, suspense thrillers, and creepy-crawly descriptions that are sure to make the bumps in the night sound a little more ominous. 

If you’re looking for a good scare this spooky season, check out one of the five modern killer tales in this Halloween roundup.

1. Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey (352 pages)

Halloween Roundup Five Modern Killer Tales

Image via Barne & Nobles

The last place Vera ever expected to end up was back in her childhood home. However, when she receives a call from her mother, Vera returns to a place the surrounding community would describe as a house of horror. Old wounds open as she remembers the father she loved and the serial killer he turned out to be. While caring for her dying mother with whom she shares a strained relationship, Vera imagines things can’t get much worse until notes in her father’s handwriting start popping up around the house. Further disturbing and unexplained circumstances suggest evil might not have gone simply because her father had. 

Why You Should Read It 

I’ll admit outright that I wasn’t particularly keen on the ending of Just Like Home. Oftentimes, it feels as though scary books and movies are unceremoniously wrapped up, not doing justice to the frightening plot as a whole. Despite feeling this way about Gailey’s latest novel, I still had to include it in this roundup for the unease and suspense I experienced while reading a handful of scenes at the beginning and middle sections of the book. One night, in particular, I stayed awake until well after midnight trying to reach a chapter ending where I felt calm enough to fall asleep. Reading this, you’ll be checking under your bed no matter your age. 

Spook Scale

4/5 Brookie Stars

2. The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter (496 pages)

Image via Barne & Nobles

GBI Investigator Will Trent finds himself wrapped up in two investigations that seem to have no connection: the brutal murder of a young woman and a prison riot. One of the prison inmates could be of help but what he has to share seems highly unlikely: accused years before of murder that has uncanny similarities to the most recent case, he pleads his innocence and insists the real killer is still on the loose. Will Trent takes a deeper dive into the old case alongside the new one, but with outdated information and unreliable witnesses, his unsettling discoveries about the murders may come too late. 

Why You Should Read It 

While crime fiction books aren’t typically full of ghosts and goblins, they always make my list of scary reads. What the twisted mind of one human can act out on another is a horror that’s all too real – crime fiction or not. Karin Slaughter is a favourite author of mine, and The Silent Wife is one of her reads I didn’t want to put down. Multiple characters and storylines leave you guessing until the very end who the monster might be. This is a page-turner I recommend, but please be aware that sexual assault is discussed heavily in this book. I would opt for a different roundup recommendation if this could be especially sensitive content for you. 

Spook Scale

5/5 Brookie Stars

3. In A Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware (352 pages)

Halloween Roundup Five Modern Killer Tales

Image via Barne & Nobles

Leonara hasn’t heard from her high school best friend in years but decides to accept the invitation to Claire’s hen party, a weekend getaway in the English countryside celebrating the bride-to-be. From the first night spent together, painful memories come back to haunt Lenora and shocking revelations are shared amongst the group of old and new friends. Most surprising of all is that the guests soon learn they are not alone in the secluded forest. Before it’s too late, Leonora must figure out who she should fear most, even if that means herself. 

Why You Should Read It 

While this book isn’t a new release by any means, I only recently got my hands on it and some other Ruth Ware reads in the past couple of months. I found myself most intrigued by Ware’s ability to make even the narrator feel unreliable to the reader. In this psychological thriller, all of the characters feel like probable suspects. Reading from the perspective of someone you can’t be sure is guilty or innocent will keep you on your toes and turning the page. 

Spook Scale

3/5 Brookie Stars

4. Chasing the Dead by Joe Schreiber (208 pages)

Image via Barne & Nobles

Sue Young receives a phone call every mother dreads, and suddenly, nothing matters more than saving her daughter, Veda, from whoever has kidnapped her. However, Sue soon discovers that her suffering is what the kidnapper is really after. Following his demands, Sue finds herself travelling back to a place of her childhood, one that holds her deepest secret. The caller on the other end of the phone somehow knows what Sue has spent years trying to forget. As a mother, she’d endure any suffering to save Veda, but even Sue could not have prepared for the otherworldly horrors she must face. 

Why You Should Read It 

This is a great read for anyone looking to toe the line between suspense thriller and supernatural horror. Following Sue in her desperation to save her daughter, I was reminded somewhat of a book I read last year, The Chain by Adrain McKinty. However, with a sinister twist, Schreiber takes readers on a far more horrifying journey. The plot is no normal kidnapping, and the book is no normal read. 

Spook Scale

4/5 Brookie stars

5. Haven by Kay Hooper (368 pages)

Halloween Roundup Five Modern Killer Tales

Image via Amazon

Sisters, Emma and Jessie Rayburn, have been estranged for years. When Jessie’s powers as a psychic investigator begin failing her, she hopes reconciling with the past will get her back on track, but that means returning home to a place she’s no longer welcome. Emma never left Baron Hollow but she is facing troubles of her own: unrelenting nightmares of women being murdered. When nightmares and reality begin to blur, Emma has no choice but to confide in Jessie and ask for the help of her sister’s psychic firm. Even with the assistance of Noah Bishop, law enforcement and cofounder of the town, the sisters may not be able to outrun their past or the evil still lurking. 

Why You Should Read It 

Sign me up for suspense with a splash of psychic powers! This story is multilayered with Emma and Jessie’s complicated relationship, a disturbing past event, and each of the girl’s personal struggles. Kay Hooper has written other books that follow the character Noah Bishop and his law enforcement team, but Haven felt more focused on the relationship between sisters and their shared trauma. This is another page-turner you can knock out before the spooky season is over. 

Spook Scale

3/5 Brookie Stars

Pick up one of these roundup reads just in time for Halloween! Have other scary book recommendations for us to enjoy this spooky season? Let us know here

Taylor Stawecki is a 20-something Michigander with a love for the great outdoors and written word. She spends her weekdays working for a digital marketing company and as a freelance copywriter. In her free time, you can find her reading, writing poetry, running, watching a Grey’s Anatomy rerun, or spending time with her family and friends.  As an old soul, she enjoys collecting salt and pepper shakers and cuddling up in oversized sweaters.

Favorite Book: If I have to choose, The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball
Favorite Brunch Spot: Rochester Brunch House
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