The 10 Scariest Books to Read for Halloween

Halloween is almost upon us, and that means the cable channels with names like Discovery and Travel and Learning and History and American Movie Classics and A&E are trotting out their specials on ghost stories and monsters and the "Top 10 This or That of Horror." Now, that's all well and good ... but for my money, if you really want to be scared, you need to read a book. One of my obsessions is collecting horror novels from the '30s, '40s, '50s and '60s. I have a healthy collection interspersed within my library: horror anthologies edited by Christopher Lee and Alfred Hitchcock; books from the '30s and '40s by A. Merritt and John W. Campbell Jr. that are so old they are in bags and I haven't read them because I'm afraid they'll fall apart. If I had $1,200 in disposable income that I had to answer to no one about, I would scoop up a book I found online: a 1940s collection of horror short stories edited by Boris Karloff and signed by Karloff himself. I also have a complete collection of the novels of Stephen King, Bentley Little, Dean R. Koontz and almost all of the novels of Ramsey Campbell, so when I talk about scary books ... it is with no small amount of modesty that I say I know whereof I speak; and since it seems to be the time of year for this sort of thing, here in no particular order (except for alphabetical by book title) are the 10 scariest books to read for Halloween:

1. Dracula by Bram Stoker (New York: Signet Classics, 1992). "Denn die Todten reiten schnell" (20). "Listen to them - the children of the night. What music they make!" (28). Count Dracula sleeps in a lordly tomb in the vaults beneath his desolate castle. His stony eyes are open. His cheeks have the flush of life beneath their pallor. On his lips - a mocking, sensuous smile and scarlet-fresh blood. He has been dead for centuries, yet he may never die... Here beings the story of an evil ages old and forever new. It is the story of those who feed a diabolic craving into the veins of their victims, into the men and women from whose blood they draw their only sustenance. It is a novel of peculiar power, of hypnotic fascination. The reader is warned that he who enters Castle Dracula may not escape its baleful spell, even when he closes the book. This may seem like a "gimmee" novel for a list like this, but I've chosen it because I think it works on many levels, as you'll see. Now, as for Bram Stoker's little nightmare of a novel, studying it in my Gothic Lit class (during the Fall 2006 semester) was a treat for me. It opened up so many more issues in the novel than just "vampire comes to London to snack on unsuspecting Brits." There are all sorts of underlying issues that Dracula addresses, either consciously or unconsciously. It is a novel that deals with changing Victorian ideas of gender roles and human sexuality. It also deals with ideas of madness and insanity. Half of the novel takes place in an insane asylum, and in the other half the characters are questioning either their sanity or the sanity of the other characters. "Am I mad?" and "Are you mad?" are common questions throughout the book. Stoker does a wonderful job of turning reality (as the characters in the novel know it) on its head and coming at things from a skewed perspective. Another theme in the book is the idea of the "outsider." London, at the turn of the century, was experiencing a great influx of foreign immigrants, especially from Southern and Eastern European countries. Victorians were concerned about the "polluting" of British blood and of the moral integrity and chastity of their women. Stoker seems to have taken these fears and run with them to an extreme. Count Dracula is the ultimate foreign invader come to assault the proper British woman (first Lucy Westenra and then Mina Murray-Harker). All of these fears and ideas would have been in the forefront of the Victorian's mind, and would have made Dracula a much scarier book to the Victorian than it is to the modern reader. This is not to say that it isn't or can't be frightening to the modern reader, but that some of the social issues that made Dracula current to the Victorian reader do not have the same impact on the modern reader. Yet, Dracula has persisted as a classic for over 110 years. Why? Because - in my opinion - in spite of all these social issues, Dracula is a damn good read. It is an adventure story of a very high quality. It is, to me, somewhat reminiscent of Beowulf, in that modern men tackle supernatural monsters on their terms and succeed. No matter how you read Dracula it is a story that excites the reader. Whatever else Stoker may have been, he definitely knows how to tell a great story. Technically speaking, Dracula is near flawless. Stoker manages to tell a long and complex story in an epistolary format in at least 11 different voices/styles of writing that are all separate and distinct and unique. It is an amazing feat really. The bottom line is that Dracula is a novel that works on many different levels, but no matter how you choose to read it, Dracula will keep you enthralled until the last page.

2. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty (New York: Bantam Books, 1971). When originally published in 1971, The Exorcist became not only a bestselling literary phenomenon, but one of the most frightening and controversial novels ever written. (When the author adapted his book to the screen two years later, it then became one of the most terrifying movies ever made.) Blatty fictionalized the true story of a child's demonic possession in the 1940s. The simple story focuses on Regan, the 11-year-old daughter of a movie actress residing in Washington, D.C.; the child apparently is possessed by an ancient demon. It's up to a small group of overwhelmed yet determined humans to somehow rescue Regan from this unspeakable fate. Purposefully raw and profane, this novel still has the extraordinary ability to literally shock us into forgetting that it is "just a story." Excited by an article he read as a student, his fascination with the subject was born out of an interest in showing that the existence of God, in contemporary America, could be proved, as he says, "If there were demons, then perhaps there were angels and probably God and a life everlasting." His research eventually led him to tracking down priests who had participated in actual exorcisms. In doing so, Batty gathered enough evidence to write a novel that incorporated many of his factual findings. This resulted in what is, undoubtedly, one of the scariest novels that is out there, and the crowning achievement of the Satanism scares of the 1970s that included such others as Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin, The Amityville Horror: A True Story by Jay Anson and The Doll Who Ate His Mother: A Novel of Modern Terror by Ramsey Campbell. And, it is a very scary novel, shocking, even. There is something just disturbing about an innocent girl like Regan being possessed by some otherworldly entity that causes her to perform the profane, and that is what is scariest about this story, is what poor, poor Regan goes through during her ordeal. This is not a story for the faint of heart, I will warn you there, and even if you have seen the movie, even the supposedly "scarier" uncut version that was released in 2000. Reading the book The Exorcist is a completely different experience than sitting through the movie, there is just something infinitely scarier about the images that your own mind and imagination conjures up opposed to those that Friedkin and Blatty put on the silver screen. The bottom line? The Exorcist remains a truly unforgettable reading experience.

3. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007). Sooner or later the dead catch up... Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cook-book for cannibals ... a used hangman's noose ... a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude can't help but reach for his wallet. I will "sell" my stepfather's soul to the highest bidder. ... For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by a restless spirit. He isn't afraid. He has spent a lifetime coping with ghosts - of an abusive father, of the lovers he callously abandoned, of the bandmates betrayed. What's one more? But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost, no benign conversation piece. It's the real thing. And suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere: behind the bedroom door ... seated in Jude's restored vintage Mustang ... standing outside his window ... staring out from his widescreen TV. Waiting - with a gleaming razor blade on a chain dangling from one bony hand ... When I first heard about this book, I knew I had to read it. I've been on the waiting list at my local library for a number of months now, and I finally got to the top of the list and have finally finished it, and let me just say: WOW! In all honesty, I could not put this book down. I couldn't. I would pick it up, start to read, and then realize 30, 45, 60 minutes had passed and all I had done was sit there and read. What Joe Hill has done is craft a story that is incredibly engrossing, fast-paced and simply amazing and I hate him for it. From page one Hill had me, and it did not stop until 375 pages later. Now, there are a plethora of ghost stories out there. Some good (Bag of Bones, Burnt Offerings), some bad (there are too many to list) so what makes Hill's one of the good ones? Character. Heart-Shaped Box is a character-driven novel pure and simple. These are some of the roundest and most dynamic characters I have ever come across in the pages of fiction, and that creates sympathy and empathy for Judas and Georgia and so when the fecal matter hits the indoor cooling device - you really get behind them and are firmly in their camp until the end. On top of all this, Joe Hill has craft. There are some truly eerie and creepy moments in this book that at times made me reticent to read by nightlight after dark. Unsettling doesn't even begin to describe what Hill had managed to create in Heart-Shaped Box ... this is a novel that is worthy of Hill's literary pedigree and certainly shows the influence of his father. If you're looking for a good scare and a novel that will give you the cobbywobbles long after you've finished reading, then Heart-Shaped Box is the book for you.

4. Midnight by Dean R. Koontz (New York: Berkley Books, 1989). The citizens of Moonlight Cove, California, are changing. Some are losing touch with their deepest emotions. Others are surrendering to their wildest urges. And the few who remain unchanged are absolutely terrified - if not brutally murdered in the dead of night. Moonlight Cove, California, where four unlikely survivors confront the darkest realms of human nature. Midnight. I'll never forget the first time that I read this book. It was the summer of 1990 (August, I believe), and we were on a family vacation at Lake Tahoe. It was a miserable vacation, though, because I was on the tail end of the chicken pox, and so I couldn't really go out; couldn't swim, couldn't hike, couldn't do anything but lie around the cabin, try not to scratch and read. I had two books with me for the week: Midnight and The Servants of Twilight by Dean R. Koontz. I had read Watchers earlier in the year and absolutely loved it. One of the distinct memories I have of reading this book is being so thoroughly chilled by the scene in the book with Sam Booker, the picture window at Harry Talbot's house, the pair of Regressives, and the horribly frightening tick-tick-tick. I was reading in the dead of night by flashlight (so as not to keep my brother awake who was in the same room) and after reading this portion of the book, I had to reach up, and without daring to look out the window (which was above my headboard) I pulled the curtains closed. It scared me to death! It only took me a day or two (and an equal amount of very long and goose-pimply nights) to read Midnight; I could not put it down! Koontz had done it again. I was now thoroughly hooked on this man's books, and have been ever since. In my 13-year-old mind, Watchers had set the bar so high for all future Koontz books. Midnight hit that bar easily, and then surpassed it. Many people will argue that Watchers is the best Koontz book, but I have to say that I think that Midnight beats Watchers hands down for story, for characters and for the all important chill-and-goose-bumps factor. Give me the Regressives any day over the Outsider. What is so great about this book, though, is that so many of the Koontz elements, the unassuming male lead who is really a "commando" in disguise, the swing music aficionado, the mismatched buddy cops, the determined (and often demented) federal agent, etc., etc. are not in this book. The only typical Koontz convention that is in this book is the character who is a veteran of Vietnam, and in this case, there are two. Midnight is a very exciting and intense update of H.G. Wells' classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, and a book that I highly recommend. This is one of the books that I would recommend if someone asked me: "I've never read any Dean R. Koontz books before, what should I begin with?"

5. Off Season: The Author's Uncut, Uncensored Version by Jack Ketchum (New York: Leisure Books, 2006). I love this book. This is one of the most visceral and gut-wrenching horror novels that I have ever read. Ketchum certainly pulls no punches as he tells his tale of inbred cannibal hillbillies along the Maine coast. Yeah, you heard me: inbred cannibal hillbillies. (Insert banjo music here.) Let me tell you, it doesn't get any better than that. Off Season is an updated re-telling of the Scottish legends of Alexander "Sawney" Bean, an alleged cannibalistic clan leader who was executed for the murders and cannibalisation of more than 1,000 people; and Ketchum does right by this source. I actually have a morbid fascination with cannibalism (I guess it is because it is one of the last great taboos in our society) and a number of the short fiction stories that I have written actually deal with this topic, not a few of them influenced by Ketchum and Off Season. Only a novel of expert articulation and emotional truth can cast such a long shadow, and Ketchum's is both. Horror critic Douglas Winter calls the book one of "remarkable elegance," and indeed its drum tight. Equally impressively, Ketchum uses the devastation of a group of tourists by a band of cannibals not to pander, as so many horror writers after him have done, but to explore with intelligence (and ferocity) the nature of evil and of the human spirit that can resist it. The imagery is cruel - bloody battles between the tourists and cannibals, torture and consumption by the cannibals of their victims - as is the arbitrariness of who will live and who will die; but always Ketchum is in command. Off Season is a gore-streaked feast for those inclined to gruesome horror. It was all but banned in 1981 for its disgusting and disturbing content and for its use of children as villains instead of victims. A not-to-be-missed early piece by the master, Jack Ketchum, pick up a copy of this if you can find it and enjoy! Just how scary is Ketchum ... Really? Well, Stephen King says that anytime he wants a good fright, he picks up a Jack Ketchum book. Having never read Ketchum before I really had no idea what to expect. Was this going to be insightful horror like King and Barker, or mindless pulp horror like Koontz and Little. Happily, it was neither. Off Season dives far beneath the concept of "pulp." I have to believe that even in the loose days of EC Comics Tales from the Crypt, Eerie, Weird and all the rest would have passed on this story as too much for even them. I have never in my experience of reading experienced anything so feral and psychologically horrifying as Off Season. It was so unrelentlessly grotesque in its depiction of human dismemberment and cannibalism I couldn't help but become the person staring at the dead bodies beside the car crash. I simply could not look away. The writing style is simplistic and raw, which serves the story well. No poetic metaphors or descriptions here; everything is described in straightforward terms. It's got a visceral, punch-you-in-the-gut style that I actually enjoyed. There were even a few passages that nearly made me nauseous ... and it actually takes a lot to do that to me. Hannibal by Thomas Harris, Dreamcatcher by Stephen King, The Store and The Collection by Bentley Little have done it, and now Off Season can be added to that list. Off Season is written so well, and paced with such ferocity, that I felt pulled along in the blood-river flow with Carla, Marjie, Laura, Dan, Nick and Jim. The novel's structure isn't original, modeled largely on George A. Romero's film The Night of the Living Dead ("They're coming to get you, Barbara!"), but its events unfold with shocking energy and directness. The ending, however, is somewhat rushed, with a loose moral attached, showing how violence feeds on itself, but I found the turn of events rather contrived, as if Ketchum wanted to comment on how ordinary men can become murderers if placed in a terrifying situation (plus, I thought the cops caught on a little too quick to what was going on for my liking). What sets this novel apart from any other horror novel out there is the sheer honest approach it espouses in its evil. This book is not for the feint of heart - but, absolutely for those who want to test their will in Hell. (There are two versions floating around of Ketchum's Off Season ... the 1980 cut version and the reissue in 2006 - under the title Off Season: The Author's Uncut, Uncensored Version. Either one is worth it, really, but if you want the most bang for your buck, so to speak, get the "Author's Uncut, Uncensored Version.")

6. Psycho by Robert Bloch (New York: Bantam Books, 1969). She stepped into the shower stall ... and let the warm water gush over her. That's why she didn't hear the door open. At first, when the shower curtains parted, steam obscured the face. Then she saw it ... a face, peering through the curtains, hanging in midair like a mask. A head-scarf concealed the hair, and glassy eyes stared inhumanly. The skin was powdered dead-white and two hectic spots of rouge centered on the cheekbones. But it wasn't a mask. ... Mary stated to scream. And then the curtains parted further and a hand appeared, holding a butcher knife... I believe that this story is so omnipresent in the public's collective consciousness, that I won't be spoiling anything by discussing the particulars of this story: a quaint little story about a boy and his mother. Ha Ha, right? Well, that's what this story basically boils down to. It is Oedipus Rex retold and given a very dark twist. It is believed that the story is based on the life of real-life serial killer Ed Gein, and while that may be true ... I don't know that it really matters much in the long run. For a writer of horror, like myself, this is a seminal book. There is so much to learn from and emulate in this book that I don't even know where to begin. First of all, I have to admire the daring of introducing what seems to be the main character of the book, and then killing - rather brutally, I might add - within the first 35 pages! Robert Bloch is a genius. I could go on and on and on about this book, the fact that Bloch is able to keep the suspense level up so high through to the end, the tension that runs from beginning to end, the character development that Bloch manages in only 136 pages, and the ending ... oh, the ending. Love it! Again, Robert Bloch is a genius! My recommendation to you is to find this book as soon as you can and experience Psycho as it was meant to be experienced. Not that I'm knocking the movie, Hitchcock's vision was inspired, but there's something to be said for reading the original, you won't regret it. Just as a side note, on Wikipedia (here's a grain of salt, take it with the following and call me in the morning), it states the following: "In an interview, Bloch also mentioned that someone had once proposed the concept of Psycho becoming a musical, on Broadway. To Bloch's disappointment, there didn't seem to be anyone willing to fund it, although he said that the score had already been set, and there were some great tunes to sing in the shower." Whether or not this is true (I have a sneaking suspicion that it was all a set-up for Bloch to be able to tell the joke at the end), that is a great punchline. You have to love the wit on a man who can comes up with that. Tunes to sing in the shower ... great!

7. The Return by Bentley Little (New York: Signet, 2002). Springville is famous for the legend of the Mogollon Monster. Of course, nobody really believes it. It's just a good campfire story, something to attract gullible tourists - until an excavation team unearths the figurine of a screaming woman, the jawbone of a deformed animal, and a child's toy. How odd that they were buried together. Odd, too, is the foul odor lingering in the air, the strange noises at night, and the man's face found hanging from a tree. Now the locals are locking their doors. Because after sundown, campfire stories can seem very, very real. The praises for Bentley Little that are on his book covers, "Frightening ... and impossible to put down ... Master of the macabre" - Stephen King; "Rock-'em ... Shock-'em ... Terror fiction" - Dean R. Koontz; "Graphic and fantastic" - Publishers Weekly; and "If there's a better horror novelist working today, I don't know who it is" - Los Angeles Time; are certainly deserved. It was because of these reviews that I picked up my first Bentley Little novel (The Walking), and I have since gone out and found the rest of his books, and am glad that I did. This book, The Return, is a fascinating horror story that literally starts at page one and does not let up until the very end. I had a very hard time putting this book down, because I wanted ... I needed to know what was going on and how Little was going to wrap it all up. The Return is an excellent story that postulates a supernatural theory for the sudden disappearance of the Anasazi nation of the American Southwest. Highly enjoyable - if exceptionally graphic and detailed, I mean faces being ripped off and hung from tree branches isn't the sort of thing to be talked about in "polite society" - but all-in-all, this was a great novel, and a worthwhile read for anyone who wants a good scare to keep them reading well into the night. Just don't turn the lights off... the Mogollon Monster could be anywhere...

8. The Shining by Stephen King (New York: Signet Books, 1977). REDRUM! REDRUM! "... [E]very big hotel has got a ghost" (22), and the Overlook Hotel is no exception. Jack Torrance is an out-of-work, ex-alcoholic writer, who has taken a dying grasp at a last straw offered: the caretakership of the Overlook in the Rockies of Colorado. Jack, his wife Wendy, and their son Danny will be spending the off-season (in the dead of winter) sequestered in the isolated resort. Danny soon discovers that there is more to the Overlook than meets the eye. For you see, Danny has "the shining." That special ability that some call second sight, and will soon be working overtime at the Overlook. Because, the Overlook has more than one ghost... and the "manager" is out to get Danny. Preying on Jack's insecurities and fears, the Overlook soon convinces Jack that he is needed by the hotel's "management" and his initiation is the murder of both Wendy and Danny. Stephen King's The Shining is the ultimate in haunted house stories, and... for me is the scariest of all his works. Claustrophobic and intense, King pulls no punches in dealing with such themes as alcoholism, spousal and child abuse, and - of course - a good old-fashioned ghost story. It is an engrossing story that takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of emotions. King's writing in this novel is superb and the book is structured as a five-part tragedy (it was originally conceptualized as a play), "Prefatory Matters," "Closing Day," "The Wasps' Nest," "Snowbound," and "Matters of Life and Death." The dichotomy of Jack's character is especially fascinating... the unfeigned love that he feels for both his wife and son, and yet the uncontrollable descent into madness and murder that the Overlook plunges him into. My first exposure to The Shining was a MAD Magazine parody of the Stanley Kubrick film. From there, I purchased the book when I was in the seventh grade, and read it for the first time that summer while my family was vacationing at Lake Tahoe. It scared me then... it has scared me each time I have read it since... and it scared me when I read it this time around. Usually, I read late into the night... but with The Shining, I couldn't bring myself to read it much past midnight. It truly is the scariest book I have ever read, and is definitely the most terrifying of King's works. Just remember, when traveling... stay away from Room #217.

9. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991). When Agent-in-Training Clarice Starling is brought in to interview the nefarious Dr. Hannibal Lecter, little did she know that she would be caught in the ever expanding maelstrom that was surrounding the serial killer known only as "Buffalo Bill." She soon finds herself caught up in a world of murder, insanity, and political intrigue. When the daughter of a Tennessee Senator becomes Bill's newest victim it becomes a race against time to find the madman, but can the help that Dr. Lecter has promised be trusted? Yes, like Dracula and Psycho and The Shining, this is a book that has entered so deeply into the collective cultural consciousness, but that doesn't mean that the book still isn't one of the scariest you will come across. Truly the best of Harris' four Lecter novels, The Silence of the Lambs is a chilling tale that, as the back of the book says, "scared the world silent!" The book is not just scary and terror-filled, but also has that indescribable feeling that I can only call "skin-crawling." It has that certain, I-feel-like-I'm-being-watched quality to it. Reading it really struck my eerie bone, more times than I'd care to admit, I found myself looking over my shoulder to make sure that that was just a breeze from the open window, and not the breath of Buffalo Bill, or Dr. Lecter! I won't trot out the tired clichés by saying it was "a thrill-ride," or "scary as Hell," or "a page turner," and "I couldn't put it down." However, I will say that you would be hard-pressed to find another book that will actually lower the room's temperature, and chills your very blood! It is definitely a book that you need to read in the middle of a large open field, in broad daylight with all the lights on! (I know, I know, if you were in the middle of field in broad daylight, you wouldn't need to have the lights on, but work with me on this, please.)

10. The Totem by David Morrell (New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1979). When Police Chief Nathan Slaughter settles in the tiny mountain community of Potter's Field, Wyoming, his desperate hope is that he has left behind forever the nightmare he barely survived as a Detroit cop. But nothing has prepared him for the horror he is about to confront. It begins with Sam Bodine's mutilated cattle. It continues when old Doc Markle dies from shock. Abruptly, Sam and his family vanish. Townspeople are found without faces. And children go insane. For every time the full moon rises, something all too human and deadly lurks in the mountains, its hour of vengeance at hand. For me, The Totem is illustrative of everything that is right about the horror genre. It is one of those books, like Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot and The Shining, Peter Straub's Ghost Story and William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist that just sums up what a horror novel should be. Sure, The Totem has a few cardboard characters. Potter's Field's Mayor Parsons comes to mind readily as the kind of mayor in every story of this kind from Jaws to Needful Things to Jurassic Park (though in Park it's not a mayor but billionaire entrepreneur John Hammond). But, the story rises above these flat characters and becomes one of the most frightening and truly scary stories that I have read. Morrell does an excellent job of creating the right mood, atmosphere and tone in The Totem which makes everyone involved - from police chief Nathan Slaughter (who is among the best in the tradition of horror police chiefs, up there with 'Salem's Lot's Parkins Gillespie and Jaws' Police Chief Brody) to us the Reader - look over their shoulder every so often to make sure that the things with the shining, moon-kissed eyes are not sneaking up in them. Perhaps one of the more amusing aspects of The Totem is that there are very few proper names, a handful of the main characters are given them, but for the most part, characters are referred to by titles: the medical examiner, the rancher, the hippie, the patrolman, the father, the mother, the husband, the wife, the boy, the pilot. Very few proper names at all. The bottom line, however, is that The Totem is one of the best and most frightening horror novels currently on bookstore, library and home shelves. In fact, now I come to think about it I hate David Morrell: with The Totem, he's written a book which set a standard few authors could ever come close to in the horror/thriller genre. Yeah, I hate him. He's a genius. Buy it, borrow it, steal it, I don't care how you get your hot little hands on it, but if you consider yourself a serious student of the horror genre, or just like to be scared, then Sweet Fancy Moses, you need to read this novel! The Totem isn't a roller coaster ride, it's a high-speed journey on a Harley, straight toward a brick wall. Living dangerously? D-mn right. Only problem is ... the brakes don't work.

For further chills, check out my list of the best 10 ghost stories for long dark nights, also on Associated Content by Yahoo!.