A little scary to terrifying: Choose your own Halloween reading adventure!

By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná

Want to get into the spirit of Halloween, but don’t want to be too scared? We’ve got you! We’ve created a scary rating system from only a little scary () to terrifying ( ). Try it!

How much scare do you dare?



The Butcher & the Wren by Alaina Urquhart

Scary rating: Serial killers, a murder podcast, and creepy bayou? This one will have you checking the locks on your doors and windows.

Description: In the Louisiana bayou, forensic pathologist Dr. Wren Muller is sucked into an all-consuming cat-and-mouse game with a methodical killer who has a penchant for medical experimentation and is getting more brazen by the day.

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The Fervor by Alma Katsu

Scary rating: Part of the horror lies in the use of Japanese folklore and a strange sickness. The rest is in this story's foundation of the real history of Japanese American internment camps in the U.S.

Description: In 1944, Meiko Briggs and her daughter, Aiko, held in an internment camp in the Midwest, discover a mysterious disease spreading among the interned that is linked to a demon from the stories of Meiko's childhood, hellbent on infiltrating their already strange world.

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Chronophage by Tim Seeley

Scary rating: A lot of the scares in this graphic novel are visual, but there is a time factor to the story that is both trippy and creepy.

Description: A single mother becomes involved with a mysterious man who literally consumes past moments of her life, changing her history and forcing her to decide what should—or shouldn't—be undone.

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Eat the Rich by Sarah Gailey & Pius Bak

Scary rating: There are literal cannibals in this one.

Description: When the rich and powerful are literal cannibals, how can regular people avoid being on the menu?

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Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology

Scary rating: This collection features some of the most brilliant horror writers, including Stephen Graham Jones and Tananarive Due. Prepare to sleep with the lights on.

Description: Collecting original stories from some of the biggest names in horror as well as some of the hottest up-and-coming talents, this anthology puts a terrifying spin on what it means to be different—also known as "the other."

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Suburban Hell by Maureen Kilmer

Scary rating: If you've been missing the melodrama of Desperate Housewives or the freakiness of Santa Clarita Diet, this is the perfect blend.

Description: A Chicago cul-de-sac is about to get a new neighbor...of the demonic kind.

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The Liminal Zone by Junji Ito

Scary rating: Junji Ito is a master of storytelling. No amount of lights or locks will stave off the lingering dread these stories will engender.

Description: After abruptly departing from a train in a small town, a couple encounters a “weeping woman”—a professional mourner—sobbing inconsolably at a funeral. Mako changes afterward—she can’t stop crying! In another tale, having decided to die together, a couple enters Aokigahara, the infamous suicide forest. What is the shocking otherworldly torrent that they discover there?

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Dontana

About Dontaná

Dontaná is a Collection Management Librarian who was born with an unending reading list. She is almost always reading two books simultaneously and is easily distracted by cool covers.