10 books to terrify you this Halloween

Halloween is Christian festival, dedicated to remembering the dead. While it's origins are more to do with respectful penance, the modern customs have evolved into a tradition of frightening one another or one's self. One of the best things to do on this decidedly spooky night is to read scary stories. While movies have their audio-visual charm, they can never get under your skin or play with your deepest fears like a scary book can, so here are 10 books to terrify you this Halloween.

Most horror fans have read the book that all but introduced the genre- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. However this new book takes us back to the tale from a different perspective, that of Dr Frankenstein's wife, Elizabeth. After all, the true horror story would have been lived out by the monster's wife.
Photo: Penguin Random House

A nice spooky story that has many levels. A family gets together in Goa to celebrate a birthday but on the eve of the birthday, the electricity goes off. They decide to tell ghost stories and the book is compiled of the tales they tell. However, all the tales reveal a little bit more about the family history and the feelings of the narrating member. As the stories go on more and more about the family is revealed.
Photo: Rupa & Co

This book tells us of a haunting in layers. A woman who lives alone is haunted by her past and by a strange entity in her house. She is a retired school teacher who lives in the Himalayas. She's worried her past will catch up with her family but as the events of the book go on, more is revealed about her past and what haunts her in this spooky read.
Photo: Amaryllis

This book was published in 1967 and helped launch the 'horror boom', the time when horror novels did exceedingly well. It's an extremely clever novel about a couple who moves into a new home with welcoming neighbors. The husband was a struggling actor but soon their luck changes. He gets a good role and his wife becomes pregnant. However they discover the dark disturbing history behind their neighbors and their luck and realise the mess they've gotten into.
Photo: Pegasus Books

The story starts simply when a small family of three moves into a new house just inherited from a deceased uncle. However, it quickly turns dark when they're woken nightly by screams. With blood covered hands reaching from walls and a child only their son can see, it's a wonderfully scary book.
Photo: Penguin Random House

This is a collection of short stories by the author of the award-winning, 'Fight Club', in a frame story setting. The books contains 23 stories, most preceded by a poem. Each story tells us about the person writing it and it all ties together in a horrid way as the retreat gets sabotaged and you realise who really planned the retreat.
Photo: chuckpalahniuk.net

This book scares you using more than the usual of blood and big monsters. It scares one with the horrid worlds the author creates and the way they reflect our own world. It is a collection of short stories that will creep into the reader's mind and play on their fears. Though a collection of short stories, this book will last a while for each tale needs time to process.
Photo: Coffee House Press

For those who love Ruskin Bond or those who haven't read him, this collection of short stories is perfect. Set just close enough in the past in familiar settings, one can easily imagine the ghosts of the stories drifting around today as well. With his clear love of India evident in his simple language, Bond's tales take us into worlds we can believe.
Photo: Rupa Publications