As we approach Halloween at the end of the month, what are the best thrillers and/or horror novels to celebrate the spooky season?
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez (2021, adapted from a 2009 short story)
Collection of short horror stories, 187 pages
With ghost babies, Ouija boards and witchcraft, Enríquez puts a twist on the traditional scary story by placing them against a backdrop of contemporary Argentina.
What makes this collection so brilliant is the way Enríquez blends the supernatural with the conventional. Once the danger and the desperation of the characters have wholly gripped you, the climax is revealed, but not in the way you would expect. In a final twist, the ultimate horror does not necessarily lie in the monsters or ghosts, but in the nature of mankind.
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (2017)
Dystopian novel, 219 pages
A virus has contaminated animal flesh, and cannibalism is legalised. Marcus, a troubled overseer of the supply and distribution of such meat, is gifted a live specimen: a human bred specifically to become food.
Bazterrica has a beautifully poetic way of writing that makes Marcus’ inner monologues radiate pure anguish. His personal torments are a misery reminiscent of our society, and yet the horror of this dystopia is constant. The dystopian extreme feels like a society in the far future, and yet as we read through Marcus’ turmoil, it also feels crushingly close.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (1962)
Gothic horror novel, 214 pages
Mary Katherine ‘Merricat’ Blackwood lives with her agoraphobic sister and sickly uncle on a large estate. Six years prior, her family perished after being poisoned with arsenic, leaving the remaining family isolated until their estranged cousin turns up.
Merricat’s narrative voice is the highlight of the novel. Her dark humour bridges the gap between her deceptively childlike view of the world and the horrors she faces. Ultimately, Jackson uses Merricat’s somewhat unreliable narration to tackle the key theme of the book: how a home becomes a haunted house.
How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie (2021)
Contemporary thriller novel, 354 pages
Grace Bernard has murdered six members of her own family, but she is currently in Limehouse Prison for a crime she swears she did not commit.
Fast paced and witty with a Villanelle type anti-heroine, How to Kill Your Family is a wild and dark ride about betrayal, revenge, and belief-superiority. As Grace recounts her life up until the point she is writing in her journal in prison, we are treated to original and darkly comedic murders. This book is clever and subtly hilarious, and certainly packs a punch with its final twist.