With Halloween falling on a Friday this year, there’s sure to be more mischief and mayhem than usual. If you’ve decided to forgo the usual monster ball, murder mystery, or detective party, there are plenty of good thrillers to keep you company while you wait for the trick or treaters. This year, take a brief break from the Jack Davis series and spook things up with one of these scary new Halloween thrillers.
Take a trip to the sinister streets of Victorian London this Halloween with Sarah Pinborough’s Mayhem. As if tracking down Jack the Ripper weren’t hard enough, Scotland Yard has more than it can handle when another serial killer starts leaving bundles of body parts – sans heads – scattered around London. The overworked forensic expert in charge of examining the bodies turns to opium for relief, but his foray into London’s seedy drug dens may lead him right to the Torso Killer… and a face he recognizes all too well. Part murder mystery, part supernatural suspense, this Halloween thriller is entirely impossible to put down.
Perfect for Halloween, Michelle Muto’s The Haunting Season brings the scary old haunted house to life – literally. When three high school kids head to Savannah’s Siler House – the most notorious haunted house in town – they hope to study the paranormal to better understand their own “gifts,” like communicating with ghosts and resurrecting the dead. Soon, their talents are tested to the limits when evil forces in the Siler House seem intent on keeping the kids trapped inside forever. Spooky and suspenseful, The Haunting Season will have you jumping at every ghost that knocks on your door!
If horror novels are the highlight of your Halloween, The Shining Girls is all treat, no trick. Lauren Beukes’ chilling novel of suspect won Best Horror Novel at the 2013 British Fantasy Awards for good reason: It takes scary to a whole new dimension. A combination crime fiction novel sci-fi time travel adventure, this Halloween thriller follows a serial killer as he jumps through time to hunt and kill the “shining girls,” until one survives and turns the tables. Gritty and gruesome, this spine-tingling, toe-curling, heart-racing crime fiction novel may have you jumping out of skin.
Don’t’ let the trick or treaters have all the fun! These scary new Halloween thrillers give you a great reason to stock up on candy and stay in this Halloween. Just be sure to leave the lights on – for the trick or treaters, of course!