Spooky season is upon us, and the Library has spooky stories of all types to keep you up at night! From vampires to haunted houses and zombies, there’s a scary amount of good books coming out that will haunt you. Grab a blanket to cozy up and get ready to meet the monsters that lurk in the shadows. These chilling reads are waiting for you on our shelves!
Click on the book title to request a print copy of the book, or check out Libby or Hoopla for eBook or eAudiobook offerings.
So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison
Sloane is dreading her birthday. She doesn’t need a reminder she’s getting older, or that she’s feeling indifferent about her own life. Her husband surprises her with a weekend getaway–not with him, but with Sloane’s longtime best friend, troublemaker extraordinaire Naomi. But when they arrive at their rental cottage, it becomes clear Naomi has something else in mind. She wants Sloane to really live. So Naomi orchestrates a wild night out with a group of mysterious strangers, only for it to take a horrifying turn that changes Sloane’s and Naomi’s lives literally forever.
The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister
Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a “bog-wife.” Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails–or refuses–to honor the bargain, the Haddesleys, a group of discordant siblings still grieving the mother who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, face an unknown future.
William by Mason Coile
Henry is a brilliant engineer who has achieved the breakthrough of his career–he’s created an artificially intelligent consciousness, the half-formed robot William.
No one knows about William. Henry’s agoraphobia and his fixation on his project keeps him up in the attic, away from everyone, including his pregnant wife, Lily.
When Lily’s coworkers show up, wanting to finally meet Henry, he decides to introduce them to William, and things go from strange to much worse.
This Cursed House by Del Sandeen
Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago–and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over.
Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan. And soon the shocking truth comes out: The Duchons are under a curse.
The Unmothers by Leslie J. Anderson
Marshall is still trying to put the pieces together after the death of her husband. After she is involved in a terrible accident, her editor sends her to the small, backwards town of Raeford to investigate a clearly ridiculous rumor: that a horse has given birth to a healthy, human baby boy.
When Marshall arrives, she finds an insular town that is kinder to the horses they are famous for breeding than to their own people. But when two horribly mangled bodies are discovered in a field–one a horse, one a human–she realizes that there might be a real story here.
Hampton Heights by Dan Kois
On a cold winter’s evening in 1987, six middle-school paperboys wander an unfamiliar Milwaukee neighborhood, selling newspaper subscriptions, fueled by their manager Kevin’s promises of cash bonuses and dinner at Burger King. But the freaks come out at night in Hampton Heights. Sent out into the neighborhood in pairs, the boys will encounter a host of primordial monsters–and triumph over them.
Happy reading!
-Melinda
Read it or Weep 