3 Bone-Chilling Authors to Read

Our readers are getting a special treat today; our friend Mary shares 3 bone-chilling authors to read. These are her favorites to haunt your dreams this Halloween or any time of year. Do you have any favorite scary authors? Be sure to share the scare and tell us what you’re reading! 

It’s October and you know what that means? Halloween! I love Halloween – it’s my favorite holiday. What’s better than curling up with a good scary book and a pumpkin spiced beer? I’m a huge fan of horror novels. From zombie to demons to serial killers – I love it all.  I know what you’re thinking – you don’t like scary stuff, but come on! There are way too many people out there watching The Walking Dead, iZombie, and Supernatural on TV.

Let’s take the scare back from the screen. You know it’s so much better when you can imagine the scares in your own mind. There are a lot of books out there that fit into the horror/thriller/supernatural genre that are perfect to read this time of year. I don’t want you to waste your time so I am going to give you exactly what you need to get ready for the fall’s best holiday – a list of my some of my favorite horror authors and their best work.

Bentley Little

You should start with reading anything and everything written by Bentley Little. This author is amazing! He has a great collection of what I like to call “satirical horror”. Basically what he does is take something completely normal like a supermarket, and twist it into something you cannot imagine. It is difficult to pick the best books from him because they are all so incredible. If you want to start someplace really twisted, why not try your own safe little neighborhood? The Association follows the story of an adorable couple moving to a nice suburban gated community. They are having a great time until they start receiving some interesting gifts. These include dead animals and a warning that they’d better follow the rules of the Association or else. I will leave the rest for you to read yourself, but I would bet you’re not going to like (or maybe you’ll love!) the consequences for not following the rules.

Brian Keene

Brian Keene is a little bit horror and a little bit supernatural. He is known as the master of zombie fiction. He has also written a series of novels that follow the story of an ex-Amish spell practitioner, Levi Stoltzfus, that fights the horrors of the supernatural world. My suggestion is to start with Ghost Walk. This novel is perfect for Halloween.  The book has a haunted trail, a demon, and a gateway to hell. If you like this one, make sure to read the whole series. I think I read them all in a month so if you start now you can easily be done in time to bring the memories along to your own ghost walk.

Blake Crouch

Finally, I give you author Blake Crouch. You might already know Blake Crouch if you watched the Wayward Pines Series (although the books were so much better). He has a phenomenal serial killer series that follows the story of novelist Andrew Thomas who finds a mysterious killer is framing him for murder. The series starts with the novel Desert Places where we meet Andrew and the killer Luther Kite. This is classic horror at its best – nothing is unbelievable here – it’s just a bloody mess. Desert Places is followed up by two other novels Locked Doors and Break You. These three novels will keep you busy all of October.

So I hope you get your scare on this October and try out one or a few of the novels I’ve suggested. Trust me, it will be a horror fest!