5 Chilling and Suspenseful Books to celebrate the Spooky Season!
Nothing says Halloween like chills up your spine as you read quietly in a dark corner of your home. Here are my top 5 recommendations for the spooky season.
Five Reading Recommendations for the Halloween Season
- Perfume by Patrick Suskind –
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
Sick, twisted, sad, compelling, slightly nauseating, and one of my favorite books of all time. Perfume is the tale of a man who has no personal scent, who becomes the most powerful maker of scents.
“…there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages…”
Isolation is used rather beautifully in this book. The character is isolated from humans that cannot connect with a scentless man. The writer uses the sense of smell so cleverly, isolating that one power to the detriment of all. If you are a writer, you will appreciate this book and the autho’s ability to truly engage you with all your senses.
- Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier – Nothing says suspense like Daphne Du Maurier. A young woman prematurely marries a slightly older, and debonair man, then is whisked away to Manderley, the family home still filled with memories of the previous wife—Rebecca. Hitchcock made a film of Rebecca that became as classic as the book.
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
- Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk – Disturbing to say the least! The moment I realized the narrator had slept unknowingly with his recently deceased wife I was horrified and hooked! Discover but beware of the culling song, if heard you might not be alive long.
Beware the culling song!
- Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley – A long weekend in the country and a contest of wits, produced this work of art. It explores the theme of what it means to be human, a topic very relevant today. And who could not be sympathetic to the monster when he says, “Shall each man find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone?” Generally, you can download a free copy of Frankenstein on most ebook sites.
A monster who only wants love, and barring that-revenge!
For reference, Ms. Shelley’s mother was the infamous social activist and essayist, Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote A Vindication of Rights of Woman in 1792. Her father was William Godwin, considered a radical voice in British politics at the time, and owner of a bookstore. Ms. Shelley was married to the English poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley.
- The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson – A work of non-fiction, beautifully
A true story about the Chicago World’s Fair and sick serial killer!
researched, compellingly told. Amidst the wonders of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, lurks a serial predator out for blood. When a young handsome doctor purchases a pharmacy from an elderly widow, the creepy begins. “They knew Mrs. Holton had sold the place. But why had they not seen her around town? Holmes smiled and explained that she had decided to visit relatives in California…” And so we track the goings on of a manipulative psychopath.
Enjoy your reading time as the clouds move in and weather turns gray, and ghosts of the past echo in the wind, “Come what may.”
Until next time,
Tricia
5 Books of Chills & Suspense