Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Creepy Reads

(Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Broke and Bookish )

I love a creepy read any time of the year, and so for this Top Ten Halloween freebie week, I couldn't resist talking about ten creepy books I really enjoyed. I've tried to only pick books this week that I haven't talked about at length on this blog already, so while I love And Then There Were None and The Turn of the Screw, they won't be making an appearance this time.

 

1. Night Film by Marisha Pessl

"On a damp October night, beautiful young Ashley Cordova is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. Though her death is ruled a suicide, veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. As he probes the strange circumstances surrounding Ashley’s life and death, McGrath comes face-to-face with the legacy of her father: the legendary, reclusive cult-horror-film director Stanislas Cordova—a man who hasn’t been seen in public for more than thirty years." (Amazon)

I seriously love Night Film more than I can say. It is so clever, and so unique, and has an amazing mystery that is seriously scary.

 

2. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

"First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own." (Amazon)

This is one of those books that has such a deep, foreboding nature about it that never lets up, and leaves you wondering just what exactly is real within the book's terrifying world. 

 

3. We Have Always Lived in the Castle

"Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate." (Amazon)

Simply put, this book contains some of the absolute creepiest characters you will ever encounter.

 

4. The Alienist by Caleb Carr

Carr unrelentingly takes his readers deep into the terrifying mind of a killer.

5. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

This was required reading in college that really stuck with me, and that I have revisited and recommended to friends since then. Gilman unflinchingly puts the reader into the mind of a woman who is going insane.

 

6. The Ghost Writer by John Harwood

"In this tantalizing tale of Victorian ghost stories and family secrets, timid, solitary librarian Gerard Freeman lives for just two things: his elusive pen pal Alice and a story he found hidden in his mother's drawer years ago. Written by his great-grandmother Viola, it hints at his mother's role in a sinister crime. As he discovers more of Viola's chilling tales, he realizes that they might hold the key to finding Alice and unveiling his family's mystery-or will they bring him the untimely death they seem to foretell?" (Amazon)

Like The Haunting of Hill House, this is a book that has you constantly questioning how much is real. Can the protagonist's mind be trusted?

 

7. Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson

Watson taps into a deep, terrifying nightmare-the idea that one day, someone could be in an accident, and every morning wake up not realizing they can't remember years of their life. What would it mean to have to rely completely on a person who might as well be a stranger?

 

8. Drood by Dan Simmons

Even the cover of this book is creepy! Drood features the real-life characters of Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens, is a chilling tale of obsession and madness, and is one of the most haunting, eerie books I have ever read. 

 

9. Cast of Shadows by Kevin Guilfoile

Just how far would you go to find justice for a murdered loved one? In this book, a scientist takes the DNA of his daughter's unknown murderer, and clones him, then watches the clone grow up, hoping to find answers.

 

10. The Museum of Dr. Moses: Tales of Mystery and Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates

Oates writes some of the scariest short stories I have ever read. I highly recommend all her short story collections.

What are some of your favorite scary reads? :)