Top 10 Tuesday – 10 Horror, Thriller, Or Mystery Novels I Want To Read Next October.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

October 29: Halloween Freebie

I interpreted this topic as being one to bend however you want, just as long as it’s Halloween-related somehow.

This post will be covering books that I am considering (most of them strongly so) to read during October of 2020, titles with a sort of horror, thriller or mystery theme to them that are perfect for the month. Some of these titles I might read far in advance though. These genres are appealing all throughout the year after all!

Pretty much wrapped up my reading for October. Unfortunately, I didn’t read as many horror, thriller, and mystery titles as I was originally intending due to several ARCs capturing my attention and a sort of mini-reading slump (by my reading standards anyway!) that had me reading a bit less than usual. But without further ado, here is the list-

1.) The Annotated Dracula by Bram Stoker. Edited by Leslie S. Klinger, Intro by Neil Gaiman, et al. A part of the Annotated Books series.

My library has another book in the Annotated Books series that compiles all of Lewis Carroll’s Alice-related work into the most grandiose and beautiful giant coffee table hardcover ever. Dracula has been given similar treatment and if it’s anything like The Annotated Alice, boasts a large amount of extra content like illustrations, photographs, interpretations, and historical info. I’ve found that these sorts of things in addition to annotations in general can really help put classics into perspective. They can also really highlight moments and passages that carry a specific depth of meaning or contextual tidbits worth knowing.

2.) The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

This title is $4.99 on Amazon Kindle, not sure if it’s a sale price or the list price. If it’s the latter I must say it’s awesome to finally see some eBook prices going down to 75% of physical book prices. Anyway, The Deathless Girls is a feminist retelling of the Dracula myth, focusing on his brides as main characters and there is some f/f. It sounds all-around dynamic and intriguing, very curious about anyone’s thoughts if they’ve read it. Also of mention is the hardcover- perhaps this is a special or limited edition, but someone posted pictures of the book and it really belongs on some list of prettiest hardcovers in the world.

The Deathless Girls by @Kiran_MH is a work of art!! I've been engrossed in it all morning. And look at the beautiful Waterstones edition!! pic.twitter.com/OjqORj0dnH

— 🐡📚Lily Golding 📚🐡 (@WhisperofPages) September 24, 2019

3.) Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

There are so many thrillers I’m excited to read but know almost nothing about since I like to limit known info as much as possible so every plot twist and surprise hits just right. I just remember hearing this author’s name often and this seems like his most intriguing title in addition to his newest.

4.) Doctor Sleep (Sequel to The Shining) by Stephen King

I finished The Shining for the first time this October! Review coming soon. But just want to say, just reading the description I am super excited for Doctor Sleep. So curious about how an adult Danny is like, he was such an endearing character in The Shining. Also there are about a million unanswered questions and possibility for exploration of the magical powers and forces in The Shining so I’m hoping this book tries to delve in a book way into that.

5.) The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Currently $2.99 on Amazon in Kindle format. I might try to make room for this tite on my November TBR since it’s a new release and this is described as a dark fairytale. For my tastes, those are always appropriate all year ’round.

6.) The Phantom Forest by Liz Kerin

On Twitter I mentioned being a sucker for haunted forests and someone recommended this title. I know little of it but this description was an immediate attention-getter. TBR’d.

Seycia’s father told her this story as a child — a story of the most holy place in the Underworld, The Forest of Laida, where all souls go to rest before embarking on a new life. But Seycia’s father is dead now, and his killer has put a target on her back.

After being chosen for her village’s human sacrifice ritual, Seycia is transported to the Underworld and must join forces with Haben, the demon to whom she was sacrificed, to protect the family she left behind from beyond the grave. In this story of love, survival, and what it means to be human, Seycia and Haben discover that the Underworld is riddled with secrets that can only be unlocked through complete trust and devotion, not only to their mission, but also to one another.

7. Kill Creek by Scott Thomas

Another title I know little to nothing about, but saw it recommended in relation to The Haunting of Hill House. Must say the house on the cover is a sure deadringer. Has anyone read it?

8. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

I own four copies of this book across four different mediums and have taken it with me to various places on multiple occasions. Still very eager to read it but I think the length of it put me off for years. After finishing so many giant tomes this year, I’m hoping 2020 will be the year I get into this 10+ years TBR’d title.

9. Red Dragon & The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

I love the movie version of The Silence of the Lambs. Have been looking forward to digging into these books for years, especially Red Dragon which should be far removed enough in content to be thrilling and surprising.

10. The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons

If gothic mystery novels written a few decades ago with dramatic cover title fonts were an aesthetic, it’s definitely my type of aesthetic. Had been meaning to read Anne Rivers Siddons for a while now but had forgotten her work until coming across a rec of it in this 3-part October series on horror novels written by female authors, I mentioned it in some earlier Bookblogger Bookmarks posts but it’s always worth mentioning again.

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This was a fun post! Please do let me know if you’ve read any of these titles and your thoughts on them, always loving your comments. ❤ Also, are there any books that you wanted to read this month but didn’t get around to? It’s almost Halloween, hoping everyone has fun as this month comes to an end. Thanks for reading! ~ Kitty