As Halloween approaches, everyone knows there is nothing more thrilling than a good scare. A spooky book is just the thing you need as you get ready for the night of October 31. From frightening to eerie and sinister to silly, here are some of the best books for the spooky season. 

The perfect book for this time of the year is Disney’s “Hocus Pocus.” The clever and silly book follows Max Dennison as he moves from California to the creepy town of Salem, Massachusetts. After a dare, he accidentally releases the souls of the Sanderson witches who feed on the lives of children. This book is a great way to get into the Halloween mood, and the story itself is witty and bright as it retells the classic movie that is “Hocus Pocus.”

Stephen King’s “IT” is the perfect choice for the genre of classic horror when the need to read a classic arises. In “IT,” seven kids from the unsettling town of Derry, Maine, discover the presence of a clown who captures and feeds on children every 27 years. The 1,000 pages in “IT” are filled with disturbing, scary, and distressing scenes that go past the idea of Pennywise the Clown.  Along with death, torture, and things that haunt you in the dark, “IT” deals with the issues such as homophobia, sexism, and abuse. Just like “Hocus Pocus,” “IT” was transformed into a movie in 2017. 

Freshman Saylor Millhomme, a big horror fan, talked about her love for the IT story. 

“The storyline is a 10 out of 10,” Milhomme said. “There were talented actors as well as a great plot.” 

Although this book is not one for readers who are looking for a light and easy scare, “IT” is one of the best books to read during the month of October. 

One of my favorite genres to read during the spooky season is mystery/thriller. The lively feeling of an unexpected twist towards the end of a book is one that all readers should feel when they read a mystery. 

“A Woman in the Window” by A.J. Finn is the perfect book for that feeling. This novel is about Anna Fox, a recluse who spends her days drinking wine, watching old movies, and observing people through their windows. One night, Fox sees something she’s wasn’t supposed to see, a murder. She is left to wonder if what she saw was real or a drunken hallucination. “The Woman in the Window” is filled with plot twists that you would never see coming. Kimberley Ducato, a big fan of mysteries loved reading this book. 

“‘The Woman in the Window’ is suspenseful and definitely keeps you guessing to try to figure out the mystery,” Ducato said, “but the turn the story takes is completely unexpected which makes it even more thrilling than you initially thought.”

Reading is one of the most amazing ways to immerse yourself in an eerie and imaginative world. Whether you are looking for a silly, horror-like, or thrilling book, these novels are the perfect ones for the 2020 spooky season.