About The Book of Autumn: For readers of Adrienne Young, Olivie Blake, Erin Sterling, Hazel Beck, and Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House, a spellbinding debut about ambition, privilege, second chance romance, and ancient magic set at an enchanted school tucked among the red mesas of rural New Mexico, where a formidable pair of magicians are summoned to pursue an alleged killer. Out October 28th 2025.

Lately, I’m finding that I love books that feel like an experience. With the rise of Booktok and Bookstagram, authors are experimenting now more than ever with new, fresh ways of engaging their audiences. They include playlists, interior art, character art, bonus scenes, maps, aesthetic videos, and moodboards, all to make their stories feel more real, more immersive, more shareable, and of course, more fun.

My debut novel, The Book of Autumn, is written in the form of a research record, a collection of notes from an investigation at a haunted college in the desert where one student ends up dead and another is floating in the infirmary and growling guttural nonsense. Through entries from the floating girl’s diaries, annotations from philosophers, real-world ancient grimoires, and old religious texts, as well as footnotes from other characters interjecting with their own opinions into the investigation, Cella and her partner Max slowly piece together the clues of what’s gone wrong. The inspiration for this format was one of my obsessions—a copy of House of Leaves that consumed me. I loved how it was the sort of text you could engage with, and how you could pick up more things on subsequent reads. It felt like it wasn’t experimenting just to experiment, but to make a really entertaining and interactive experience for the reader.

I wanted to highlight six other books (plus one short story) that similarly experiment with form and structure to create an engaging and immersive experience that wholeheartedly sucks you into the story.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

One of the most widely recognized pieces of experimental literature. It focuses on found footage: a fictional documentary film called The Navidson Record which deals with the owner of a house discovering it is bigger on the inside than on the outside. Running commentary from the narrator occurs through extended footnotes throughout the text as they find themselves haunted by this story. It includes citations for works that don’t exist, appendices, and words written literally around the page. Truly a wild ride and one I suggest you try at least once.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Probably the most approachable item on this list. Emily Wilde is a curmudgeonly Cambridge professor and dryadologist, an expert on faeries. She travels to Norway to collect information on different species of faeries for the encyclopedia she’s writing with the help of Wendell Bambleby, a rival professor. It’s written in the form of Emily’s notes on faeries and what happens to her and Wendell on their exhibition, as well as footnotes of different faerie lore and culture that will help them survive their trek. It’s cozy and cute, but also a little spooky at times.

Possession by A.S. Byatt

This one follows two scholars researching the love life of two famous fictional poets. Following clues left inside diary entries, letters, and poetry from the nineteenth century attributed to the two poets, the scholars uncover the truth of their secret relationship. The novel flips between present day and past, culminating in a gorgeous narrative exploring art and ownership.

S by Doug Dorst and J.J. Abrams

This novel includes several inserts that supplement the text—postcards, newspaper clippings, and maps—to help puzzle together the mystery behind a book, Ship of Theseus, its fictional author, V.M. Straka, and the two college students leaving notes to each other in its margins. The book itself is aged and looks like a worn, used library book, and the notes in the margin are in different handwriting and colors that get more chaotic as you delve deeper into the mystery.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

A story within a story that spans time periods, continents, and characters, this follows a young historian who discovers a mysterious book and cache of letters in her father’s library, plunging her into her father’s past and a search for truth about Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler who inspired the legend of Dracula. Much of the story is told in letters by her father and historical research through ancient documents. You really feel like it’s all real as you dive into the different texts. 

Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko

Another dark academia, this one follows young girl Sasha who gets a strange invitation to attend a specialized university where she’s asked to complete nonsensical tasks and read books that are impossible to read. Her education becomes increasingly absurd and intense until she undergoes a transformation. A bit of a mind trip told with no chapter breaks. Think if Kafka went to magic school.

Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather by Sarah Pinsker

Experimentation is where short fiction really shines. If you’re interested in more, I suggest checking out SFF stories and poetry. This particular piece by Sarah Pinsker is one of my favorites. It’s written in the form of comments on a forum discussing a very old, very spooky folk ballad and the ensuing search to discover its origins. The piece is very interactive and even includes a hyperlink to a YouTube version of the song.

The post Seven Works That Push Narrative Boundaries appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Some of today’s most compelling stories are interactive, layered, and enriched with multimedia elements – from emails and text messages to police reports, podcasts, and more – offering an experience that goes beyond the page.

The six titles below exemplify this approach offering more than just a puzzle to be solved; they invite you, the reader, to step into the detective’s shoes and play an active role in uncovering the truth.

If you’re ready for a literary experience that pulls you into the heart of the mystery, then read on, dear Watson. The game is afoot.

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

It’s time to play detective and untangle the truth hidden within a small town’s web of deception in Janice Hallett’s debut bestseller, The Appeal.

The Fairway Players, a local amateur dramatics group, are rehearsing for their latest production while also supporting a charity fundraiser for a child’s life-saving treatment. Then, suddenly, the arrival of two mysterious newcomers and a brutal murder sends shockwaves through the community, making everyone a suspect. Soon, someone is arrested for the crime, however, it may not be all that it seems. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers meticulously shift through a series of unguarded emails, texts, and letters with a growing suspicion the real killer may be hiding in plain sight. The evidence is there, on paper, sitting between the lines. And it’s down to us, as the reader, to look through the documents and uncover the truth.

The Appeal is an intricately crafted whodunnit that explores how ordinary people manipulate – and can be manipulated by – the stories they create and consume, all while being unwittingly influenced by their own assumptions and biases.

Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter

Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter is a gripping crime thriller delivered in a quirky, and visually fun documentary-style format that took TikTok by storm.

Luke Ryder was brutally murdered in his home 20 years ago. Despite a high-profile investigation and endless media attention, the case went cold and remained unsolved. Now, the sensational, tabloid-esque true-crime TV show, Infamous, wants to crack the notorious case wide open. Supported by a panel of experts, including detectives, forensic specialists, and criminal psychologists, the production team re-examines testimony, re-interviews witnesses, and pulls apart every piece of evidence they can get their hands on. Key players are re-united on camera and buried secrets begin to surface leading to shocking revelations about Luke’s family and the events surrounding his death.

The story unfolds through transcripts, emails, graphs, pictures, and newspaper clips, offering an engaging and insightful exploration of family dynamics, the lasting impact of unresolved trauma, and the media’s influence on public perception in the pursuit of justice.

True Crime Story by Joesph Knox

True Crime Story by Joseph Knox is a dark, twisty novel that skilfully blurs the line between fiction and reality. It centres on the mysterious disappearance of 19-year-old Zoe Nolan, a university student who vanished without a trace after a party in Manchester, UK. Years later, author Evelyn Mitchell becomes fixated on Zoe’s case and begins her own investigation, interviewing friends, family, and other key figures connected to Zoe. As she pulls their conflicting accounts apart, the narrative spirals into a tangled web of secrets, lies, and unreliable memories.

True Crime Story is an original mystery, primarily composed of transcriptions and emails. The format is so convincing that you might mistake it for a work of non-fiction. This clever blend of fiction and non-fiction adds a layer of authenticity, making the narrative feel strikingly real as it weaves together a series of interviews that draw you into what seems like a genuine, tangible investigation.

Knox further enhances this sense of realism by breaking the fourth wall, injecting himself directly into the storyline. This approach not only bends the norms of storytelling but also unpicks the dark undercurrents that lie beneath seemingly ordinary lives.

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix is a clever and chilling novel set in the most unexpected of places – a furniture superstore. In a story that uses a horror-comedy framework to comment on consumerism, corporate culture, and the superficiality of modern life, we follow a group of employees working the night shift at Orsk, a knockoff IKEA store in Cleveland, Ohio. When strange and unsettling events occur in the store, the team decides to stay overnight and investigate. But, what begins as a simple slumber party soon escalates into a terrifying ordeal as they discover that the store is built on the site of a former prison, with its dark and malevolent history now returning to haunt them.

Incredibly imaginative and visually eccentric, Horrorstör is designed as an IKEA catalogue complete with product illustrations, French flaps, and sales copy. Its mash-up of horror and satire delivers laughs and scares simultaneously as the mundane turns menacing, starkly mirroring real-life anxieties regarding the underlying fears associated with modern life. A traditional haunted house tale wrapped up in a contemporary setting, Hendrix shines a light on how the corporate world dehumanises employees to mere cogs in a machine.

Six Stories  by Matt Wesolowski

Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski is the first instalment in a crime thriller series that unfolds through a fictional true-crime podcast, supported by eerie tales of murder, mystery, and the supernatural. Book one (or episode one as it is referred to) focuses on the mysterious death of a teenager whose body was discovered a year after he vanished during a camping trip.

Podcast host, Scott King, reopens the cold case by interviewing six individuals connected to the incident, each offering their perspective on what happened that fateful night. As the podcast progresses, buried secrets are unearthed, and the horrifying truth behind the young boys death slowly begins to emerge.

The novel unfolds through multiple perspectives on the same event, underscoring how truth can be elusive and shaped by whose account is being heard. This encourages readers to critically evaluate the reliability of the information presented, to consider the subjective nature of truth, and to reflect on the precarious interplay between guilt, personal responsibility, and the wider impact of one’s actions on others.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski is a genre-defying, mind-bending novel that is part horror and part psychological thriller. A young family moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane and discovers something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Of course, neither photojournalist, Will Navidson, nor his companion, Karen, were prepared to face this impossibility, until one day their two children wandered off. What follows is an increasingly bizarre and terrifying journey through the house’s labyrinthine hallways and shifting rooms, plagued by darkness, an ever-growing abyss, and an unholy growl that threatens to consume them.

Danielewski’s cult classic is visually impressive with its unconventional structure, including an academic study of a documentary about the house, the obsessive notes of a man deciphering the manuscript, and painfully detailed footnotes. The book requires readers to actively participate in piecing together the narrative – an experience that intensifies the initial sense of fear. It’s one thing to read a scary story, but having to construct it yourself is something far more unsettling. It’s a new level of sadistic! Though it may seem daunting, Danielewski’s work is a haunting exploration of fear, reality, and the unknown. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself questioning the very nature of reality presented in the book.

Do you have any other recommendations? Tell us in the comments below!

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Slamming doors, bad dreams, cold-spots, electrics shorting, items moving on their own… Are you living in a Haunted House? From friendly spirits to malevolent poltergeists, this list will have you shaking in your boots, peering round corners, and sleeping with the light on. Are you ready to be ghost hunters? We are about to set foot in Hill House, The Overlook Hotel, and Crickley Hall and you may not come out alive!

Trigger Warning: This article includes fictional themes of rape, sexual assault, child abuse incest, drug use and murder.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Would you go for a summer holiday in a haunted house? That is exactly what Eleanor, Theodora, and Luke do following an invitation from Dr Montague who is investigating the supernatural occurrences at Hill House. The group are tasked with living in the house for the summer, noting unearthly experiences.

Although dark and foreboding with a chequered past, Hill House is uninviting but apparently not haunted. However, malevolent events begin slowly unfolding leaving us to wonder what is the work of spirits and what may be the work of the group of ragtag inhabitants. The house comes to life, ensnaring its victims, particularly drawing in fragile, vulnerable Eleanor who is infatuated with the house. Will Hill House ever let her go?

For those that have watched the hit Netflix series, you’ll find that the show takes a lot of creative licence, further developing key themes from the book to stretch over a whole series. The novel is more compact with traditional haunted house tropes but still packs a frightening punch, made even more impactful by the shock ending. Come inside Hill House if you dare…

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Waters writes a ghoulishly Gothic piece of horror fiction in The Little Stranger that transports us to the postwar England countryside and the now dilapidated Hundreds Hall. Dr Faraday, a community physician, and the books narrator, reflects on Hundreds Hall in its heyday and is shocked to find its state of disrepair when he is called out to treat an unwell maid. Following this, Faraday becomes close to the family, falling in love with Caroline, treating her brother Roderick’s war injuries and having tea with their mother, the lady of the estate. Little does Faraday know, he is in for a shocking ride full of psychosis, mysterious accidents, and suicides raising the question: is Hundreds Hall really haunted or are the events a product of grief, shell-shock and the financial pressure of living in a house that’s falling down around them?

Waters explores the ideas of class and the breakdown of class barriers after the conclusion of the World War Two, as well as the effects of post traumatic stress disorder on soldiers and pilots using traditional horror tropes as metaphor for the real life horrors of the time. A bit of a slow-burner, you’ll have to give this book a bit of a chance but once it gets going, it will suck you in and keep you questioning until the last page!

The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson

If you like real life-scares, this is the one for you. Based on the experiences of the Lutz family who moved into the Amityville place after some horrific murders took place, the book chronicles the paranormal happenings that follow. Despite multiple blessings on the house, the Lutz family claim that supernatural events continued including night-time waking, swarms of flies, nightmares, hidden rooms, cold spots, imaginary friends, damaged locks and doors, slime, demons, and ghosts. The family end up being pushed to their limit and feel that they are going mad.

The book has come under some criticism due to non-believers feeling that the Lutz family made up the events and exploited the family who previously lived in the house whom experienced the terrible murder tragedy. On the other hand, whether real or not, the book makes for a supreme scare and will leave you awake long into the night wondering… What was that sound? Did I lock the door? Was that a shadow?

The Shining by Stephen King

How could you write any horror list without including the King himself, Stephen King! Although not technically a ‘house’ the Overlook hotel is a building and it is most definitely haunted! When Jack Torrance moves his wife and young son Danny into a hotel in the mountains for the winter to work as a caretaker. Jack expected peace and quiet, family time to peruse his passion of writing… Boy was he wrong! When the hotel wakes up and tries to ensnare Jack and Danny, the psychological horror begins. With King’s usual themes of psychic abilities and supernatural occurrences, you’ll find yourself running for your lives down the corridors and through the snowy gardens with the Torrance family, promising yourself not to look back!

Exploring the dark themes of alcoholism, marriage problems, and child abuse, The Shining puts family life under the microscope when the Torrance family are completely isolated from the rest of the world. Alongside this, King begins to drip feed us elements of the paranormal and has us questioning, what’s in Danny and Jack’s heads and what is real. Read if you dare but you may never stay in another hotel again, especially not room 217.

Hell House by Richard Matheson

Four investigators, one haunted house, endless harrowing past events. Welcome to your nightmare! When Lionel, Edith, Florence, and Benjamin travel to the most haunted house in the world to investigate the paranormal happenings causing suicide, murder, and insanity in the previous investigators, they didn’t expect to find their own personal hells. When the house begins to target each member of the party individually based on their weaknesses, fears, and insecurities, the group become divided causing havoc and hellish mayhem.

Full of offensive themes including rape and highly sexualised, some might say perverse scenes, although written in 1971, Hell House still has the ability to repulse and frighten even today. Some have described the text as a bit of a slow burner but worth sticking with, revealing some of the most depraved and disgusting horror scenes ever written in its second half. It takes a strong stomach to read this one and even the most experienced horror connoisseurs have found Hell House too much. It really does push the boundaries on the horror genre, shocking the reader to their core.

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

Although a short story, The Fall of House Usher will stay with you long after with its creepy imagery and trademark Edgar Allan Poe poetic writing style. When the narrator (who’s name we don’t know) is contacted by his sick friends, siblings, Roderick, and Madeline, the narrator rushes to their side to help. Once he enters the house, haunting happenings began to take place. Madeline appears to die from her illness and is put into a family tomb by Roderick and our trusty nameless narrator, but the reader is left to wonder: is she really dead when Poe describes her as ‘rosy-cheeked’? Following this, the inhabitants of the house begin to hear strange noises and glowing lights, is it Madeline’s angry spirit wreaking havoc or is she alive and enraged?

Without being explicit, Poe uses his meandering writing style to hint at a range of troubling occurrences including vampirism, incest, and opiate usage creating a Gothic foreboding and melancholy atmosphere. The twins’ undiagnosed illness, inspected under a modern filter, is often seen by readers as hypochondria and anxiety making for a psychological thriller full of twists, turns and the age old question of psychology vs paranormal. Although a very short story, Shakespeare’s famous quote feels the only adequate way to describe The Fall of House Usher. ‘Though she be but little, she is fierce.’

House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski

Originally a bundle of papers passed from person to person full of footnotes, scribbles, and appendices, House of Leaves has now been compiled into a uniquely terrifying novel. Following the story of the young family who move into a house on Ash Lane, the book speaks of their supernatural experiences through a psychedelic trip of upside down text, coloured words, font changes, backwards sentences, and unreliable narrators. Inviting the reader to become Sherlock Holmes and put together the clues to find out what really happened on Ash Lane, the house that appears bigger on the inside than the outside.

It’s not an easy read and really makes you work hard for the story and scares but almost all who have read it have stated how absolutely worth it House of Leaves is. Keeping readers up long into the night due to the horror and mystery, this once underground text has been thrust into the limelight by Danielewski’s collation into a novel. The writing will get under your skin and the story will stay with you long after the last page, not only that of the Ash Lane family but also of the range of narrators whom we get to know through the footnotes. Make sure you set aside some serious time and brain power for this one!

The Secret of Crickley Hall by James Herbert

Following a family tragedy, where one of the children is lost, the Caleighs decide to relocate from the city to a secluded house in Devon and have a fresh start. In a moment of foreshadowing, the family dog Chester appears terrified by the house, but putting it down to the stress of starting a new life, the Caleighs ignore this warning. The warnings become more stark when the children begin seeing and hearing things and the horror peaks when Eve Caleigh begins to have terrifying nightmares and hears her lost son Cameron talking to her.

Including many overdone haunted house tropes, this book is saved from being just another haunted house by Herbert’s weaving of the Caleigh family’s sorrowful back story with the horrifying backstory of Crickley Hall itself. Including tragic themes of child abuse, murder, and mutilation. At 634 pages, The Secret of Crickley Hall is a long read and can be repetitive in places, on the other hand, the length allows Herbert to fully develop the characters allowing the reader to form emotional bonds, leaving us reeling at the ended. Reading about the ghosts of mistreated children is not for everyone so be warned before you start reading.

Do you have any other recommendations? Tell us in the comments below!

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Fall is a season beloved by many around the world. The leaves change colour, the wind temperature drops, and pumpkin spice fragrance fills the morning air. Sweater season brings an onslaught of fashionable sweaters into the market and scarves are socially acceptable to wear. But best of all, this is the perfect weather to curl up with a book! Even though Halloween may now be behind us, there’s always time to enjoy a few books that may seep into your nightmares…

Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier
Goodreads

With beautiful illustrations to accompany the story, Ghosts is about two sisters, Catrina and Maya, whose family has just moved to a town on the Northern California coast in hopes that the cool air will help Maya with cystic fibrosis to breathe better. Turns out that the town is full of ghosts, but the thing that haunts Catrina more than anything is that her sister might soon become one of them. Raina Telgemeier writes about a tough topic in a humorous way from the perspective of a child. Follow Catrina through her journey as she learns that sometimes ghosts aren’t the scariest things around.

Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud
Goodreads

A middle-grade novel about ghost hunters with special abilities, The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud is a thrill and the first book in the Lockwood & Co series. Anthony, Lucy, and George have various gifts that allow them to see, hear, and sense ghosts. Anthony Lockwood, the founder of Lockwood & Co, leads the group to various terrifying investigations as the group strives to solve hauntings around London. Screaming Staircase may be the talented trio’s biggest challenge yet.

A Game for All the Family by Sophie Hannah
Goodreads

This psychological thriller will haunt your thoughts until all the answers are revealed. After quitting her job as a TV producer, Justine moves to the countryside for some peace and quiet in her life, but she finds none when her daughter grows visibly more upset when her best friend is unjustly expelled from her school. When Justine talks to the principal to reconsider, she’s told that George hasn’t been expelled because George doesn’t exist. What is real? Who is lying? A series of threatening phone calls increases the drama and suspense as Justine tries to make sense of what is happening around her.

The Lost by Natasha Preston
Goodreads

A heart-pounding story of torture, violence, and hope amidst it all. When teens in their small town go missing one by one, Piper and Hazel suspect that these teens aren’t simply runaways as the police suggest. Kidnapped by three wealthy boys, Piper and Hazel find themselves amongst the missing teens in a building far into the woods locked away from the outside world. They are forced to play a game of torture their goal only to survive in this thrilling book of twists and turns.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Goodreads

An instant New York Times Bestseller, The Thirteenth Tale has also been adapted into a movie of the same name. Winter has spent six decades of her life telling stories that have kept her from her own past. At last, she is ready to reveal the truth to the world. To write her biography, she invites Margaret Lea who finds that Winter’s story curiously takes a parallel of her own. Read as Margaret unveils the truth from Vida as she is transformed by her haunting stories.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Goodreads

A stunning classic about a man, a woman, and another woman’s shadow. When Maxim de Winter proposes to the heroine, she is ecstatic as she is swept away to his massive country estate. She can’t believe her luck. But only when they arrive does she realise the part Maxim’s late wife plays in her new life. Rebecca although dead still feels very much alive to our heroine as she fears the death of her marriage at the hands of a dead woman.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Goodreads

The Blackwood family is met with distrust, fear, and hatred by the village people in New England where this story takes place. Everyone in the wealthy Blackwood family is dead except Mary, her sister, Constance, and her Uncle Julian. Six years ago, half the family was poisoned with arsenic in their food. This little family survives in complete isolation as the reader explores them through a set of events while the mystery of the murders hangs in the air.

The Diviners by Libba Bray
Goodreads

With supernatural powers and murder set in 1920s New York, The Diviners is the perfect binge read! Evie O’Neill is banned from her old hometown, so she packs her bags and heads for New York City to live with her Uncle Will, but Evie has a dark secret she is determined to keep: a supernatural power that has brought her nothing but trouble. But when a girl is murdered with a cryptic mark on her arm, she realises that her powers could be used to catch a serial murderer.

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
Goodreads

“Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.” Roger and Dodger are twins containing talents beyond human ability. Roger is skilled with words while Dodger is a magician with numbers. These abnormally talented beings aren’t quite human as they were made by an alchemist, Reed, who monitors their life from afar. He has a dangerous plan. A plan to raise the children into their highest power and claim their authority as his own. This book of fantasy breaks all rules, plays with the mind, and tells a story unlike any other.

Find Her by Lisa Gardner
Goodreads

Flora Dane was kidnapped and kept for 472 days where she learned just how much a person can endure. After surviving the ordeal, Flora learns to navigate life and strives to find a new sense of normal. When it is revealed that Flora has tangled with three other suspects since her return to society, it brings up the question: is Flora Dane a victim or a vigilante? The gruesome details of Flora’s kidnapping and the reality of the situation haunt readers worldwide in this fast-paced thriller.

You by Caroline Kepnes
Goodreads

One of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of 2014, You by Caroline Kepnes is a terrifying novel for the 21st century. When Guinevere Beck enters a bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, Joe is immediately taken by her. He googles the name on her credit card to find her public Facebook account learning everything he needs to know about her there. Since then, Joe obsesses over Beck going to extreme lengths to make his presence known in her life even if it means getting rid of a few obstacles.

Pet Sematary by Stephen King
Goodreads

A ground-breaking piece of horror fiction, the Pet Sematary by Stephen King is a scare like no other. Rather than lots of blood and gore, this novel is a slow-burning unease that explodes in the final chapters. Dr. Louis Creed’s home is located near a road that is often claims the lives of animals. Children in the area have created a growing cemetery for the animals killed on that road, but even further into the woods, Dr. Creed discovers an ancient Indian burial ground with sinister properties that are better read than said. The less you know going into this book, the better.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Goodreads

House of Leaves is a complex book that makes your mind work for it. It never hands you the information directly. It has an incredible way of crawling under your skin and taking root in your mind. This book will elicit a reaction from you. Anyone who has ever read this book always has something to say about it. House of Leaves is not an easy book which makes it the perfect for a spooky read.

Do you have any other spooky suggestions? Tell us in the comments below!

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I’ll be the first to admit, I love a good scare. It is fun to be scared sometimes! That being said, I’ve read my fair share of horror books. While I love the genre, there are a few titles in particular that stick out in my mind as the most spine tingling, sleep-with-the-lights-on books I’ve ever read. This following list contains these titles. Fair warning: you may want to read these in the daylight hours…

Read on to discover eight horror novels guaranteed to keep you up all night!

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from. Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remains, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now that the boy and girl are four, it’s time to go, but the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat–blindfolded–with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. Something is following them all the while, but is it man, animal, or monster? Interweaving past and present, Bird Box is a snapshot of a world unraveled that will have you racing to the final page.

Spooked Rating: 10/10 – I listened to this book on audio and became nearly obsessed with it. I couldn’t stop talking about it for a long time, and it’s still never fully left my mind.

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin

A young woman named Amanda lies dying in a rural hospital clinic. A boy named David sits beside her. She’s not his mother. He’s not her child. Together, they tell a haunting story of broken souls, toxins, and the power and desperation of family. Fever Dream is a nightmare come to life, a ghost story for the real world, a love story and a cautionary tale. One of the freshest new voices to come out of the Spanish language and translated into English for the first time, Samanta Schweblin creates an aura of strange psychological menace and otherworldly reality in this absorbing, unsettling, taut novel.

Spooked Rating: 10/10 – I read this unnerving novel in one sitting while home alone, and afterwards I couldn’t stop checking my locks and windows.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

In Coraline’s family’s new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close. The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own. Only it’s different. At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there’s another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself.  Critically acclaimed and award-winning author Neil Gaiman will delight readers with his first novel for all ages.

Spooked Rating: 7/10 – This is the scariest children’s book I’ve ever read, and I know many adults who think the same thing. Kids absolutely love it, and I do as well, but this book is certainly not lacking in creepiness!

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth — musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, environmentalists, and adrenaline junkies — the book eventually made its way into the hands of older generations, who not only found themselves in those strangely arranged pages but also discovered a way back into the lives of their estranged children. Now, for the first time, this astonishing novel is made available in book form, complete with the original colored words, vertical footnotes, and newly added second and third appendices. The story remains unchanged, focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story — of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.

Spooked Rating: 8/10 – This book is a cult classic, and for good reason. It’s entirely consuming. House of Leaves had me questioning reality while I read.

Misery by Stephen King

Novelist Paul Sheldon has plans to make the difficult transition from writing historical romances featuring heroine Misery Chastain to publishing literary fiction. Annie Wilkes, Sheldon’s number one fan, rescues the author from the scene of a car accident. The former nurse takes care of him in her remote house, but becomes irate when she discovers that the author has killed Misery off in his latest book. Annie keeps Sheldon prisoner while forcing him to write a book that brings Misery back to life.

Spooked Rating: 7/10 – Misery is terrifying because it is entirely realistic. There are no supernatural elements. It is a truly horrifying psychological thriller.

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia. To her parents’ despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie’s descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts’ plight. With John, Marjorie’s father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming, the family agrees to be filmed, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend. Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie’s younger sister, Merry. As she recalls the events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television begin to surface–and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising vexing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.

Spooked Rating: 9/10 – Master of horror Stephen King himself read this book and tweeted “A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS, by Paul Tremblay: Scared the living hell out of me, and I’m pretty hard to scare.”

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz, Illustrated by Stephen Gammell

This spooky addition to Alvin Schwartz’s popular books on American folklore is filled with tales of eerie horror and dark revenge that will make you jump with fright. There is a story here for everyone — skeletons with torn and tangled flesh who roam the earth; a ghost who takes revenge on her murderer; and a haunted house where every night a bloody head falls down the chimney. Stephen Gammell’s splendidly creepy drawings perfectly capture the mood of more than two dozen scary stories — and even scary songs — all just right for reading alone or for telling aloud in the dark.

Spooked Rating: 10/10 – While this isn’t a novel, it is by far one of the scariest books I have ever read. The short, creepy tales partnered with horrifying illustrations have stayed etched into my brain since first reading this book as a child.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Merricat Blackwood lives on the family estate with her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian. Not long ago there were seven Blackwoods—until a fatal dose of arsenic found its way into the sugar bowl one terrible night. Acquitted of the murders, Constance has returned home, where Merricat protects her from the curiosity and hostility of the villagers. Their days pass in happy isolation until cousin Charles appears. Only Merricat can see the danger, and she must act swiftly to keep Constance from his grasp.

Spooked Rating: 10/10 – This book is truly a classic of the genre. It is a quick and twisting read that left me feeling claustrophobic and entirely on-edge.

Will you be picking up any of these horror novels? Did we miss any of your favourite books to read for a good scare? Let us know in the comments below!

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