What’s your favorite spooky Halloween read? Does it go something like this…
The lights suddenly go out. You look up from your novel, the lengthy prose forgotten as you stare at your front door, standing slightly ajar. A crisp autumn breeze sweeps over you, sending chills down your spine as the door swings open to reveal a lone figure standing in your doorway. You stare at the figure, unable to move as he moves his arm to reveal a long knife, blood dripping from it’s tip.
You get the point. Really good horror books are hard to find as writing a story that conveys the right amount of suspense, character development and realistic, but horrifying situations is a tough balance to achieve. This is why I have decided to go out of my comfort zone a little and purchase some new books that I normally wouldn’t purchase and I am here to tell you why you need to get out there and pick up some horror novels to tide you over until the 31!
Stephen King. You either love him or hate him and it’s easy to see why. The man is incredible at suspense, sometimes to the point of boring his readers but once you hit that climax you literally cannot put his books down. Personally, I chose IT and the Outsiders as my October reads and although they still sit on my shelf uncracked, I am so excited to begin them.
Why should you pick up a horror book instead of a more comfortable, less frightening one? Horror novels, when done well bring you back down to earth. They give you a sense of your mortality and make you ask yourself, “What would I do if this happened to me?” Would you be the one to go and hide in your closet, hoping and praying that you aren’t next? Or would you be the one to stand up and fight, jumping on the back of Pennywise to try and save your friends? What kind of person are you?
Besides these novels making your question your entire existence and what you would do if a killer clown tries to pull you into a drain, they can also be a lot of fun to read. You heard me. Reading about death, blood and horrifying situations can be fun! It isn’t actually real life so there is a lot of room for your creativity and imagination to take hold. What if there were aliens on earth? What would that be like? What if people could actually get possessed by demons? What if Pennywise was real… how terrifying would that be? Especially after all that clown nonsense in 2016. Horror novels give you a chance to explore things, places and situations that would would never be possible otherwise.
Now it’s your turn! What are your favorite horror novels and why do you love them?
Every Book and Cranny 
One of my favourite SK books is Gerald’s Game. The situation he puts the character in is simple but horrible. But my all-time favourite scary read is a story by Algernon Blackwood, “The Willows.” It’s quite subtle but terrifying.
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That’s a great suggestion! I watched the movie but I have never read the book, I’ll have to pick it up!
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