Six Spooky Reads to Keep You Up at Night
It's spooky season and what better way to get in the mood than with a good book sure to give you chills
Dracula
Bram Stoker
Arguably the most genre-defining book on this list, no spooky season is complete without the Count. When naive and trusting Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help an eminent Count purchase an English home, he uncovers a shocking truth. Soon after, bizarre events begin to unfold in England as the Count prepares to arrive.
Starve Acre
Andrew Michael Hurley
A great choice for fans of English folktales, in their remote house on the moors a couple are trying to come to terms with the unexpected loss of their young son. Juliette is convinced that she can still feel his presence and goes to extremes to reach out, but Richard retreats, instead choosing to throw himself into the dark and hidden history of the area as the couple begin to come undone.
My Cousin Rachel
Daphne Du Maurier
Equal parts Gothic romance and unnerving thriller, we follow Philip the young heir to a sprawling Cornish estate offering shelter to his cousin’s charming but mysterious widow Rachel. Caught between infatuation and suspicion, can Philip trust this stranger in his home? Or is there more to Rachel than meets the eye?
Hagstone
Sínead Gleeson
A haunting debut novel, artist Nell feels perfectly at home on the remote island which inspires her work. When a letter arrives for Nell inviting her to complete a commission for the island’s mysterious commune, she jumps at the chance. But soon Nell will discover things about her community that challenge everything she thought she knew.
Graveyard Shift
M.L. Rio
From the author of If We Were Villains, a group of five strangers from very different lives cross paths each night after their shifts in the local graveyard. After discovering a fresh open grave in the otherwise abandoned site, the group decide to follow the gravedigger and realise he may be at the heart of a number of recent incidents across town.
The Haunting of Hill House
Shirley Jackson
A master of the horror genre, this is arguably one of Shirley Jackson’s best and is the inspiration behind the critically acclaimed TV series of the same name. A slow-burning psychological thriller, four strangers arrive at Hill House at the request of the mysterious Dr. Montague. Soon, horrifying events begin to take place, and it becomes clear that Hill House won’t let them go.
