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Fall is finally here: the air is crisp, the leaves are changing colors and Halloween is right around the corner. Halloween may be different this year, but that does not mean you cannot still celebrate and curl up with a ghoulish book! From nonfiction to thrillers, there is something on this list for everyone!
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
In this short nonfiction book, Doughty writes about funerals, mortuary school and…death, of course. Just because this is a memoir, that does not make this any less spooky! Demystifying and destigmatizing this taboo topic, Doughty takes us on an adventure and answers some of the most burning questions we have about the funeral process — both here and around the world — and the interesting characters she meets along the way. Doughty is most well-known for her YouTube channel, Ask A Mortician, and makes funny and informative videos about death in pop culture, famous dead people and even funeral costs.
Mapping the Interiors by Stephen Graham Jones
When Junior sees a figure in full Blackfeet regalia, he reminds him of his father, who died mysteriously before their family moved off of the reservation. As his father keeps reappearing, Junior tries to communicate with him until he begins to realize that something more sinister lurks just beneath the surface. Rooted in the contemporary Native American experience, this is the least straight-forward book out of this entire list and is best to go in blind.
Lakewood by Megan Giddings
If Mapping the Interiors was weird, Lakewood is in another dimension. When Lena’s grandmother dies and her mother’s illness gets worse, she takes the opportunity to volunteer her body to a research facility in the remote town of Lakewood, Michigan. There, she is subjected to multiple rounds of strange tests and experiments as she loses more and more control of her body. Conversations about race, class and socioeconomic status also make this debut horror one not to miss.
Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
This speculative psychological thriller will keep you at the edge of your seat and force you to keep all the lights on. When Gyre goes on an expedition to map the caves and mineral deposits on a foreign planet, something sinister lurks below the surface. As she sinks deeper into paranoia and the unknown, she begins to lose sense of control of her body and the only way to get out alive is to face the ghosts in her head.
No Exit by Taylor Adams
Caught in a snowstorm while driving to visit her mother in the hospital, Darby is stuck at a rest stop when she sees a child locked in a cage in one of the parked cars. Stuck in the middle of nowhere with no cell service, she must figure out who the real kidnapper is and find a way out alive – all without getting caught. With questioning alliances, twists at every turn and action-packed, this thriller will be hard to put down.
