2021’s Scariest New Books To Read for Halloween

Alex Faccibene

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A black and white image of a skull on top of a large book. There are more books, candles, and a quill behind the skull.

It’s officially Halloween season! Some people might think 2021 doesn’t need any more horror, but nobody told the publishing industry. Here are five of the scariest books of the year, if you dare to read on…

The Between by Tananarive Due

“Even with the humidity in the little house and the steam from pots boiling over on top of the stove, their lids bouncing like angry demons, Nana’s flesh felt as cold as just-drawn well water. As cold as December. He’d never touched a person who felt that way, and even as a child he knew only dead people turned cold like that.”

When Hilton was seven, his grandmother gave her life to save him. Thirty years later, Hilton’s borrowed time seems to be running out. His wife, the county’s newly-elected first African-American judge, receives racist and threatening hate mail from a man she persecuted. Desperate to keep his family safe, Hilton is plagued by horrible nightmares and memories and increasingly loses his reality grip. Is he going mad, or is something haunting him?

The Between is Tananarive Due‘s debut novel, but it was re-released this October with a beautiful new cover. It’s a suspenseful — and stressful — slow-burn story, full of strange and compelling dream sequences that blend with reality as the plot progresses. Read it if you’re a fan of open-ended stories that leave you sitting with your thoughts and force you to come up with answers.

RELATED: Five of 2020’s scariest book releases

The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould

The cover of Courtney Gould's book "The Dead and the Dark"

Teenagers are turning up dead in Snakebite, Oregon, and the inhabitants know who to blame. When a star high school athlete vanishes, all fingers point at Logan and her ghost-hunting dads who have just returned to town. To try to clear her parents’ names, Logan teams up with the girlfriend of one of the missing to figure out who—or what—is haunting Snakebite.

Their investigation, however, reveals truths and terrors about themselves, their families and their town they might not be able to handle.

The Dead and the Dark boasts a tangled web of secrets; differing perspectives build tension throughout. Courtney Gould‘s setting descriptions create a blistering, tense atmosphere in an isolated and spooky town.

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

Five friends reunite in Japan for a destination wedding at a Heian-era mansion. It’s picture-perfect for the ghost-obsessed couple due to the fact the villa is haunted. Buried in the foundations are bones of a bride and the girls sacrificed every year to keep her company. What starts as a dream wedding, however, quickly turns into a nightmare.

I can’t even look at the cover of Nothing But Blackened Teeth; illustrator Samuel Araya gave me nightmares before I even opened the book! Still, it’s worth a read. Cassandra Khaw‘s character-driven novella taps into aspects of Gothic horror, such as slow-building unease and a focus on decay in a genuinely creepy way.

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

The cover of Stephen Graham Jones' book "My Heart is a Chainsaw"

Thanks to a recent wave of upscale newcomers, the town Jade lives in with her Blackfeet father is becoming increasingly unrecognizable. Jade gets by with horror movies, narrating the town’s history as though it’s one of them. But as tourists go missing, Jade suspects gentrification might not be the only evil thing threatening her community.

On the surface of My Heart Is a Chainsaw is the story of murder in a small town. It expands, however, into a critique of colonialism, Indigenous displacement and gentrification through the lens of a broken young girl using horror movies to cope with the horrors of her life. While a slow burn, it’s scary, full of blood and gore, just like Stephen Graham Jones‘ other books.

RELATED: The Best Summer 2021 Books You Haven’t Heard Of

Body Shocks: Extreme Tales of Body Horror edited by Ellen Datlow

Body Shocks doesn’t come out until October 19, but it’s going to be gruesome and terrifying. It features stories by iconic writers including Carmen Maria Machado, Livia Llewellyn and Seanan McGuire. Tananarive Due and Cassandra Khaw each have one too. Subjects include organ-harvesting doctors, grotesque runway shows and predatory sea creatures. This collection is not for the faint of heart.

These are just some of the horrifying books that came out this year. What will you be reading to celebrate Halloween this month?

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Alex Faccibene

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