BW40: October Spooktacular

 

Welcome to October and our spooktacular reading month. Spooky to me doesn't equal horror. I detest blood and guts horror books or movies. Give me emotion, give me pee in your pants scary moments.  Give me tense moments that make you laugh or cry. Give me mind bending stories with devious and conniving characters and lots of twists and turns.  Give me stories that make me think and go whoa, I didn't see that coming.  Entertain me, thrill me, shock me. 

If you haven't read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or Bram Stoker's Dracula, now would be the perfect time.  Put away all your preconceived notions as the books are very different from the movies and will shock and amaze you.  If you have read it, dip your toes into retellings of the story as well as the reimagining's of  Bram Stoker's Dracula. 

There are a number of ways to go with psychological thrillers, gothic, science fiction, supernatural, apocalyptic and dystopian as well as reads full of bad guys, vampires, werewolves and monsters of the deep. 

Unmissable new thriller books of 2026, vouched for by the experts

20 Must-Read Mysteries & Thrillers Heating Up This Winter

Audible's Psychological Science Fiction

The 10 Most Captivating Apocalypse Novels

The Most Anticipated Gothic and Dark Academia Novels of Fall 2026

12 Scary-Good Supernatural Thrillers

Currently on my TBR shelves for October is Dean Koontz's The Friend of The Family about a girl liberated from a carnival sideshow who discovers her mysterious purpose.  

Also Mervyn Peake's Ghormengast trilogy starting with Titus Groan in which "a grand miasma of doom and foreboding weaves over the sterile rituals of the castle. Villainous Steerpike seeks to exploit the gaps between the formal rituals and the emotional needs of the ruling family for his own profit."   

I'm contemplating a reread of Elizabeth Kostakova's The Historian since she is returning to a story about Dracula with the soon to be released  Mystery Play in which "the youngest son in a family of historians who has been hunted by dark forces associated with Dracula finds himself in peril at the hands of a new threat."

Have a thrilling, chilling, spooktacular October! 

BW42: K is for ...

 

Happy Sunday!  I just finished The Forest of Lost Souls by Dean Koontz which was amazing. I couldn't put it down and kept reading long into the night until I finished it. A psychological thriller about a woman against a megalomaniac and his cohorts.  Wonderfully written characters, descriptions, and images which made sleep lost well worth it.  Every story written by Koontz is unique and charming as well as horrifying. Not blood and guts horrifying, but psychologically, thought provoking, fear producing, scary.  I have read many of his books over the years, starting with By the Light of the Moon, then the Odd Thomas series which are good starting points, if you haven't read any of his books. 

Another author I never thought to approach is Stephen King until I read his non fiction book - On Writing. It fascinated me enough to try reading one of his stories.  I picked out Duma Key and read the back cover, then a few random pages and liked what I read, so decided to get it. Duma Key wasn't so much a horror story as it was a supernatural, psychological thriller.  A man's painting take an eerie turn when he discovers that whatever he paints becomes reality.   The story totally captured my attention and kept me reading long into the night.  Which lead me to reading Under the Dome as well as his Gunslinger series which are good starting points as well.

Books that contain Underground Knowledge or non fiction books that will expand your knowledge

Knock Offs - Books that imitate J.R.R. Tolkien stories

Books about Knitting - Fact or Fiction

Killer espionage novels 

Books with Kiss in the title 

Books with Keyholes and Magic Keys 

Read a book by authors whose names start with K or have a word in the title start with K.

Have fun! 

BW40: October Spooktacular

 

Happy Sunday!  The first of October means it's time for our October Spooktacular! Once again, I have the Adam's Family theme song along with their snapping fingers, running through my mind while I write this. 

Everyone's definition of what is spooky is different. Some people can handle higher levels of outright horror to those who can barely handle the kid friendly ghost stories.  From all out horror to horror lite, from psychological thrillers to gothic, from the paranormal to the supernatural, there are stories for every level of spookiness. 

If you're like me, I can't stand horror books filled with blood and guts.  I prefer psychological thrillers, tales with nail biting, spine chilling suspense, creepy settings, and characters you certainly wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.  

I've grown to love psychological thrillers, scary supernatural fiction, and more, and have a library full of Dean Koontz, Ted Dekker, Bram and Dacre Stoker, Charles De Lint, Frank Peretti, and more.  

Currently on my nightstand for October are House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski,  The Last Man by Mary Shelley, Graham Moore's The Sherlockian, as well as several Dean Koontz's books including 77 Shadow Street, The House at the End of the World, and Fear Nothing.  No, I won't get to them all this month, but love having the choice. 

If you dig through the classic to the modern authors such as Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Neil Gaiman,  Edgar Allan Poe, or Shirley Jackson's Bibliographies, to name a few, you'll find gems that are more psychological thriller or just plain scary, rather than outright blood and guts horror.  

If you haven't read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or Bram Stoker's Dracula, now may be the time to dip your toes in. Put away all your preconceived notions and be prepared to be surprised, because the books are very different from the movies.  

Part of the fun is in the search and a quest for a scrumptious scary read, so leaving out the links. 

What is one of the spookiest or most thrilling book you have read?

This post is brought to you by the letter M and macabre, mad, mayhem and mundane. 

BW41: Vampires, Werewolves, and Ghosts! Oh My!

 

Happy Sunday! Our spooktacular reading month continues and it isn't all about horror.  Oh no! Especially since I'm not into blood and guts violence.  I like the type of books that get your adrenaline going, keeps you guessing, finger nail biting, keep you up all night reading suspense.  There are a number of ways to go with psychological thrillers, gothic, paranormal reads that run the gamut from the supernatural to urban fantasies. Books full of bad guys, ghosts, and scary as well as delicious vampires, and werewolves.  

Authors whose books I've enjoyed:

Stephen King's World of the Dark Tower or his psychological thriller Duma Key.  

Dean Koontz's series: version of Frankenstein or take a trip with Odd Thomas who communicates with the dead. 

Christian writers that will scare the pants off you: Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker. I've read all their books which are chilling and thrilling.

Take a tour through stories about haunted houses.

Psychological thrillers that will play with your head. 

The Best Gothic Horror Books Of All-Time.

30 Best Vampire Romances to sink your teeth into. 

17 Werewolf Romance Books That Will Have You Howling for More.

Need something a little lighter? Check out Cozy Mystery's Halloween Mystery Book list

This week's A to Z and back again letter and word of the week are L and Looming.

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BW40: October Spooktacular

 

Welcome to our October Spooktacular reading month.  It's time to dip your toes into the water and scare yourself silly.  Read thrilling stories stocked with the mysterious and shocking, paranormal stories brimming with ghosts and goblins, or urban mysteries packed with vampires and werewolves.  If you are anything like me, I can't stand horror books filled with blood and guts.  Give me a psychological thriller any day, roiling with nail biting, spine chilling suspense, creepy settings, and characters you certainly wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.  

Choose from a wide variety of classics to the contemporary, or the Hitchcockian and Lovecraftian to Stephen King and his son, Joe Hill, to Dean Koontz, to the men and ladies of suspense.

If you haven't read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, now would be the perfect time.  Put away all your preconceived notions from the movies as the book is very different and will shock and amaze you.  If you have read it, dip your toes into retellings of the story as well as the reimagining's of  Bram Stoker's Dracula. 

From the really scary to the mild:

The 20 Most Anticipated Horror Books of 2020

Best Horror of 2020

31 Psychological Thriller Books That Mess with Your Head

Lock Your Doors: 8 Young Adult Thriller Books 

2020 Halloween reads for Kids and Teens

Currently on my night stand are Dean Koontz's Devoted, Josh Malerman's Bird Box, Dan Simmon's Hollow Man, and Marisha Pessl's Night Film, to name a few. Hmm! Which should I read first?

~Cheers to a spooktacular reading month~ 

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BW19: Dean Koontz

I just read my first Dean Koontz called By The Light of the Moon and was totally blown away.  His writing voice is unique and takes a bit of getting used to. It is very visually descriptive and intense and sets the mood for the story.

Chapter one:

Shortly before being knocked unconscious and bound to a chair, before being injected with an unknown substance against his will, and before discovering that the world was deeply mysterious in ways he’d never before imagined, Dylan O’Conner left his motel room and walked across the highway to a brightly lighted fast-food franchise to buy cheeseburgers, French fries, pocket pies with apple filling, and a vanilla milkshake.

The expired day lay buried in the earth, in the asphalt. Unseen but felt, its ghost haunted the Arizona night: a hot spirit rising lazily from every inch of ground that Dylan crossed.

Here at the end of town that served travelers from the nearby interstate, formidable batteries of colorful electric signs warred for customers. In spite of this bright battle, however, an impressive sea of stars gleamed from horizon to horizon, for the air was clear and dry. A westbound moon, as round as a ship’s wheel, plied the starry ocean.

The vastness above appeared clean and full of promise, but the world at ground level looked dusty, weary. Rather than being combed by a single wind, the night was plaited with many breezes, each with an individual quality of whispery speech and a unique scent. Redolent of desert grit, of cactus pollen, of diesel fumes, of hot blacktop, the air curdled as Dylan drew near to the restaurant, thickened with the aroma of long-used deep-fryer oil, with hamburger grease smoking on a griddle, with fried-onion vapors nearly as thick as blackdamp.

Doesn't that really capture your attention, make you think, see, imagine and want to read more.   He writes mainly suspense thrillers with elements of horror, science fiction and mystery.   I love psychological thrillers - the ones that chill you to the bone, make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.  I love to be scared, but not grossed out.   I don't love graphic, blood and gut, chop em up, horror novels.  However I loved Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Vampire Series so I just maybe able to handle some of Koontz more scarier books.  

Besides numerous stand alone fiction stories, Koontz also written two series.  A reworked Frankenstein in a series starting with Frankenstein: Prodigal Son which I'm kind of iffy about reading but want to. 

Book Description: Every city has secrets. But none as terrible as this. His name is Deucalion, a tattooed man of mysterious origin, a sleight-of-reality artist who’s traveled the centuries with a secret worse than death. He arrives as a serial killer stalks the streets, a killer who carefully selects his victims for the humanity that is missing in himself. Detective Carson O’Connor is cool, cynical, and every bit as tough as she looks. Her partner Michael Maddison would back her up all the way to Hell itself–and that just may be where this case ends up. For the no-nonsense O’Connor is suddenly talking about an ages-old conspiracy, a near immortal race of beings, and killers that are more—and less—than human. Soon it will be clear that as crazy as she sounds, the truth is even more ominous. For their quarry isn’t merely a homicidal maniac—but his deranged maker.

The other series is a story about a short order cook by the name of  Odd Thomas who talks to the dead. Or rather they talk to him and he doesn't quite know why.

 Book description:   “The dead don’t talk. I don’t know why.” But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy, if possessed of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and rapturously in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy Llewellyn. Maybe he has a gift, maybe it’s a curse, Odd has never been sure, but he tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want justice, and Odd’s otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo’s sympathetic police chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they can prevent one. But this time it’s different. A mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world’s worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd’s deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15.

The ninth book  in the series Odd Apocalypse is due to be released July 2012.

Book description: "The stallion reared over me, silently slashing the air with the hooves of its forelegs, a creature of such immense power that I stumbled backward even though I knew that it was as immaterial as a dream. . . .

The woman astride the ghostly mount reaches out desperately, the latest spirit to enlist the aid of Odd Thomas, the unassuming young fry cook whose gift—or curse—it is to see the shades of the restless dead, and to help them when he can. This mission of mercy will lead Odd through realms of darkness he has never before encountered, as he probes the long-held secrets of a sinister estate and those who inhabit it......

I've had fun perusing Dean Koontz website the past few days and added a few books to my wishlist including:  The Bad Place, Cold Fire, Ice Bound and  Dark Rivers of the Heart.   He has text and audio excerpts, book trailers and all kinds of neat stuff. Be sure to check it out.

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Authors with birthdays this week

Suzanne Brockmann  - May 6th

Peter Carey - May 7th

Thomas Pynchon - May 8th

 Richard Adams - May 9th

Barbara Taylor Bradford - May 10th

Robin Lee Hatcher - May 10th

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