Alright, it’s spooky season people! Horror has a long tradition of scary houses and liminal spaces, and this year’s horror novels feature a great slate of haunted properties: from a former plantation in the American South to a condo in Chicago and cabin in Colorado, from an ancestral home in an historic England-like country to an abandoned mansion in Malaysia, to a seemingly quaint town in upstate New York.
This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno
Mexican American couple Thiago and Vera move into a Chicago condo beset by unexplained occurrences: cold spots; scratching in the walls; an unruly smart speaker. After Vera dies in a freak accident, Thiago moves to a remote cabin in Colorado, where once he realizes he‘s facing something cosmically sinister it’s already too late. Check this out for a dose of Lovecraftian horror, where the malevolent unknowable is knocking on the door of our reality.
Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw
Five friends, with a lot of hurt feelings and baggage between them, reunite at an isolated, dilapidated Japanese mansion where rumor has it a bride left at the alter was buried alive in the foundations, joined each year by another girl buried alive to keep her company. Two of the friends are eloping, but the legend of the bride is real, and she wants her tribute. Coming in at a slender 128 pages, this taut, atmospheric read packs a punch.
The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling
Practical, grown orphan Jane Lawrence has settled on a plan to secure her future by marrying local doctor Augustine in a union of convenience. She agrees to his only stipulation, that he always spend the night at his ancestral home, and that she never do. But following an accident, Jane breaks her promise and discovers the secret Augustine has hidden. Left alone in the remote mansion, Jane struggles to hold onto both her sanity and her future. If you’re looking for gothic-tinged horror, try this.
When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen
Mira, a Black high school teacher, is headed back to her rural North Carolina hometown for the first time in a decade for the wedding of a white friend. Mira’s dismayed to learn that the wedding is at a restored plantation where, as a teenager, she sensed the ghosts of enslaved people who had been tortured onsite. Many of the guests’ ancestors owned slaves, prompting supernatural retribution as the wedding weekend goes wrong in deadly ways. This is a good pick for those looking for more violent horror, as well as a sense of how past wrongs haunt the present.
Cackle by Rachel Harrison
After a devastating breakup, Annie Crane leaves New York City to start over in a small town in upstate New York. She quickly makes a new friend in Sophie, who seems to lead a charmed life but also inspires fear in the townsfolk. Could she be … a witch? If you are a reader who wants something a little spooky, but not too scary, or a person who enjoys the movie Hocus Pocus, this is the read for you.
~ posted by Andrea G.
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