Halloween Book List 2021

You already know that Halloween is a favorite of ours here at Cape & Castle! But it extends to more than just movies and TV specials. It also includes spooky and fun books! And we’ve created a whole list just for you! Kat and Sarah C decided to get together and collab on the spookiest list yet! So keep reading for our Halloween Book List!

Author Highlight

Let’s begin by highlighting some of our favorite spooky authors this season!

Grady Hendrix – The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Vampire Slaying, The Final Girl Support Group

Stephen King – The Stand, The Outsider, Carrie, Tommyknockers

Neil Gaiman – American Gods, Sandman, Lucifer, The Graveyard Book

Deborah Harkness – The All Souls Trilogy

Natasha Preston – The Twin, You’ll Be Mine, The Lake, The Lost

Danielle Vega – Survive the Night, The Merciless, The Haunted

V.E. Schwab – The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, A Darker Shade of Magic, The Near Witch

Betsy Reavley – Murder at the Book Club, Murder in the Dark, The Quiet Ones, The Optician’s Wife

Faith Martin – Murder Now and Then, A Fatal Affair, Detective Hillary Greene Series

K.L. Slater – The Visitor, Safe With Me, Little Whispers, The Apartment, The Girl She Wanted

Young Adult

Let’s get into things by kicking it off with some great young adult reads for the season! But don’t be scared, even if you’re on the older side of adult, we guarantee you will still enjoy these novels!

The Lost Girls: A Vampire Revenge Story – Sonia Haril (September 2021)

Holly thought she was in love. Turned vampire by her boyfriend, Elton, in 1987, she’s nursing a broken heart a few decades later when he ditches her at a gas station. She realizes she isn’t the only one Elton promised a forever with after meeting his other exes, Rose and Ida.

The Haunted – Danielle Vega (June 2019)

Hendricks and her family just moved to a new sleepy, snowy town. She isn’t short on baggage either. With a rough and dark past, Hendricks just wants to start over. She didn’t expect to be welcomed into the popular crowd, but it came with the new house her parents are excited about fixing up. Turns out, it’s notorious for being haunted and it’s no joke. She begins experiencing horrors she can’t explain.

Dark and Shallow Lies – Ginny Myers Sain (September 2021)

The tiny town of La Cachette, Louisiana isn’t a town to come to if you have something to hide. It’s why Grey is mystified after Elora went missing. Nobody in this town of psychics knows what happened let alone where she is. As Grey digs into the night Elora went missing, she discovers that everyone has something to hide.

We Were Restless Things – Cole Nagamatsu (October 2020)

Link Miller’s death was ruled a strange accident. Who drowns on dry land? In the months following it, his friends and family struggled to make sense of it, but Noemi Amato knows the truth. Link drowned in an impossible lake only she can find. Even stranger, somebody claiming to be Link keeps trying to contact her, telling her to stay out of the forest.

The Game – Lindsey Miller

A game of Assassins goes wrong for Lia and her friends when their fellow classmates start turning up dead. This typical fun game, known all around as a town tradition, has become something far more deadly and threatens the futures of many.

The Woods Are Always Watching – Stephanie Perkins (August 2021)

Neena and Josie spent their high school lives as outsiders. With college well on its way, the two of them take one last chance to be together by taking a three-day trip into the Pisgah National Forest. But when they take a detour they walk into a horrible nightmare that will test in horrifying ways.

They’ll Never Catch Us – Jessica Goodman (July 2021)

Two sisters vie to get to the top spot on their cross-country team. What they didn’t expect was for the new girl to turn their lives upside down and try to take that dream away from them. It got even worse when she suddenly disappeared.

The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried – Shaun David Hutchinson (February 2019)

Dino doesn’t mind hanging around the dead, but he doesn’t want to join the family business, working in a funeral home. But when his ex-best friend, July, comes back to life, there are questions to be had. While the two try to figure out what this means, more people begin to forgo death, proposing a serious problem.

Crave – Tracy Wolff (April 2020)

After her parents die in a car accident, Grace is brought to a mysterious academy. Something is strange about the place and she can’t fully place it. But, as a mere human among monsters, Grace must be careful, especially around Jaxon Vega, a vampire that’s kept himself walled off from the world. Still, she can’t help being drawn to him. It could mean the end for her or it could mean something else. She isn’t sure she wants to find out.

A die-hard for Twi-hards.

What Big Teeth – Rose Szabo (February 2021)

Eleanor has been estranged from her family for years, but she comes home after fleeing her boarding school after a horrifying accident. All is not well when she gets there, however. She struggles to fit in with her family that likes to prowl the wood and read fortunes in the guts of birds.

Spooky Graphic Novels

You may get a certain image in your mind about what a graphic novel is, but we assure you, these will change the game! They are geared toward young adults and adults alike and we think you will love them as much as we do! These novels were spooky to read but they were also gripping! The artwork is phenomenal and the more we read, the more we wanted to read! These are definitely ones we will be reading over and over! So if you’re looking for thrills, chills, and artwork to stick with you, these graphic novels are for you!

Sea of Sorrows Collection – Rich Douek (Author) Alex Cormack (Artist) (October 12th, 2021)

In the aftermath of the Great War, the North Atlantic is ripe for plunder by independent salvage crews. When a former naval officer hires the SS Vagabond, he leads the ship to a sunken U-boat and a fortune in gold. Tensions mount as the crew prepares to double-cross each other, but the darkness of the ocean floor holds deeper terrors than any of them have bargained for!

Chained to the Grave Collection – Andy Eschenbach (Author), Brian Level (Author), & Kate Sherron (Author & Artist) (November 16th, 2021)

The Old West springs to the afterlife in otherworldly color! He may have died at high noon, but he’ll be back in the saddle by midnight! Outlaw Roy Mason has come back from the dead, chained to the tombstone that marked his grave. It’s a lawless time, a magical time, and the undead Roy soon finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place as he sets out in search of treasure.

Scarenthood Collection – Chris O’Halloran & Nick Roche (Author & Artist) (September 28th, 2021)

Most days, the To-Do List is the same: Drop kids at preschool; Grab coffee with other parents; Go ghost-hunting in woods; Fight demonic entity; Collect kids; Nap time. But with the kids away on a field trip, a group of parents disturbs an ancient evil buried beneath the old Church Hall, unearthing a decades-old mystery about a missing child, and inviting something hungry into their lives.

Fiction

These books may be fictional, but the nightmares some of them may leave you with are absolutely real! Keep reading for our list of gripping spooky novels! But don’t worry, we’ve included one or two that will at least provide you with some laughs on the road to terror!

House of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski (March 2000)

After finding a manuscript written by a blind man who’d been murdered under mysterious circumstances, Johnny begins to experience something dark haunting him, trying to possess him.

Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia (June 2020)

Noemi Taboada comes to the aid of her cousin who is desperate for somebody to save her from some mysterious doom. Though Noemi seems like the last person to be anyone’s rescuer she quickly comes to High Place. She knows very little about her cousin’s new husband and even less about High Place. It’s not long after her arrival that she finds herself having strange dreams about the estate.

The Ex Hex – Erin Sterling (September 2021)

Sometimes nursing a broken heart means putting a curse on the horrible boyfriend that gave it to you. That’s the case for Vivi. But when her hometown, Glen Graves, is under attack from multiple, mystical sources, Vivi and said ex have to work together to break the curse on the town.

The Final Girl Support Group – Grady Hendrix (July 2021)

The final girl is the one left standing after defeating the vicious killer and avenging the friends lost, but what happens after all is said and done? For Lynnette, it has defined every day of her life. Going to a support group with five other women who’ve survived horrific events like her, they are working on putting their lives back together, moving past the trauma. But Lynette’s worst fears come to life when one of the women misses a meeting and discovered that somebody knows about their group and is determined to tear apart their lives.

The Book of Magic – Alice Hoffman (October 2021)

Come back to the Owens family with magic, whim, and love and delve into the story of Jet Owens. When she hears the call of the deathwatch beetle she knows she only has seven days to live. The Owens family rallies together to put an end to this family curse!

Lovecraft Country – Matt Ruff (February 2016, on Hulu)

Lovecraftian horror and fantasy come together with the horrifying terror of life in Jim Crow America. In 1954, Atticus Turner goes searching for his father after he goes missing and his Uncle George and childhood friend, Letitia go with him. During this road trip, they encounter not only the terror of white America but monsters in the dark that threaten Atticus and his entire family.

Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson (October 1959, on Netflix)

Four arrive at the infamous Hill House but discover they aren’t guests, but prisoners. Each of them encounters inexplicable phenomena. Hill House is very much alive in its own spooky way and by the end of their stay, one of them will not be leaving.

Brand New Cherry Flavor – Todd Grimson (January 1996, on Netflix)

The instant gory, cult classic from Netflix stems from this dark novel. Lisa Nova considers herself a rising star with her latest short film that’s gaining so much attention. She’s determined to be the next female director, believing she transcends the darkness of Hollywood with all of its lies, cheating, and hypocrisy. But when she’s double-crossed by a dirt-bag producer, she turns to Boro, an enigmatic leader of a local biker gang who knows more than just the streets.

The Last Werewolf – Glen Duncan (January 2011)

Jacob is a little suicidal. He’s decided after this next full moon he’s done. For two hundred years he’s wandered the world alone, at the terrible whims of his lunatic appetites. As the last of his kind, he can’t go on. Or so he thought.

The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – Stuart Turton (February 2018)

Aiden knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden is in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor.

We hope you liked our Halloween Book List! And we hope that you are able to find at least a couple of books to check out this spooky season! Or maybe find some old favorites! Find and follow us on Twitter @capeandcastle and chat with us about your favorite Halloween books and what novels go on your spooky list every year! Be sure to also check out our site where you can find more articles on all things Disney and beyond!