Hauntingly Good Horror Books

By: Michelle Ogden

The season of chills and thrills is approaching with a crisp fall breeze, bringing with it new titles and remembrances of old favorites. If you love to read books that induce spine-tingling goosebumps, there are many new titles coming to the shelves of the Crawfordsville District Public Library. Check out the New Fiction shelves on the first floor for The Night House by Jo Nesbø (FIC Nes). The Swedish author of the Harry Hole mystery series, which includes The Snowman (FIC Nes v.7) has created excitement with his first horror novel. Coming out on October 3rd, this novel has a wickedly clever plot and all the classic horror tropes. Edenville by Sam Rebelein (FIC Reb) shares the same release date of October 3. Edenville is a surreal journey beginning with a vivid dream that inspires a novel, which leads to a job at a small liberal arts college where things aren’t normal. Edenville mixes horror and humor.

Bestselling author, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, returns with Silver Nitrate (FIC Mor) combining magic, movies, and bringing back the dead. Next up, Vampires of El Norte, by Isabel Cañas (FIC Can), features Nena and Nestor battling the undead along the Texas-Mexico border in the 1840s, and trying to protect Nena’s ranch from the vampires that rule the sinister nighttime landscape. Other new horror titles to check out on the New Fiction shelves at the library are The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi (FIC Man), Bridge by Lauren Beukes (FIC Beu), The September House by Carissa Orlando (FIC Orl), Rachel Harrison’s Black Sheep (Har), And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott (FIC Ell).

The library’s second floor will host a Hauntingly Good Horror display beginning October 1st. Check out your favorite authors or find new ones, like Clay McLeod Chapman. The New York Times described Chapman as, writing “with the trembling voice of Vincent Price and the sinister presence of Boris Karloff, Clay McLeod Chapman… uses the macabre to explore the humanity of his characters and reveal an almost spiritual side to the horrific.” Grab Ghost Eaters, Whisper Down the Lane, or The Remaking by Chapman (FIC Cha) from the horror display. One of last year’s favorites, The Children on the Hill, by Jennifer McMahon will also be featured. The story begins in 1978 in Vermont, Dr. Helen Hildreth is a renowned psychiatrist at the local treatment center for the mentally ill and she is raising her grandchildren, Violet and Eric. When Helen brings home an almost feral little girl named Iris, Vi is happy to have a friend. The story jumps to 2019, when a little girl goes missing and Lizzy, a local podcaster from Monsters Among Us, comes to investigate the disappearance. Lizzy knows there are monsters that walk among us because her sister is one.

Looking for a spooky camping story, The Troop by Nick Cutter (FIC Cut) is set in the Canadian wilderness. Scoutmaster Tim Riggs takes his troop camping every year for one weekend, and something is waiting for them in the darkness this year. Fans of stories featuring survival at any cost will enjoy The Troop. If you prefer graphic novels try Junji Ito, the master of macabre stories from Japan. The library has many of his works including Uzumaki and Fragments of Horror (GN FIC Ito). Classic horror tropes shine in Mary: an Awakening of Terror (2022) by Nat Cassidy (FIC Cas) in which dark thoughts and weird things begin happening to quiet, middle-aged Mary. Are you a fan of the Final Destination movies? Tananarive Due’s The Between (FIC Due) tells the story of Hilton who was saved from death by his grandmother’s sacrifice. Now, it seems dark forces are out to claim him.

This October, stop by the library and check out the New Fiction shelves and the second-floor display, Hauntingly Good Horror. The library staff can help recommend books and movies whatever your preferences are.

– Michelle is a library assistant at CDPL with over twenty years of library experience. She can be found at the second-floor reference desk plotting programs featuring yarn and reading books and magazines about books and magazines.