Synopsis:
A young man is haunted by a mythological specter bent on stealing everything he loves in this unsettling horror from the author of Indian Burial Ground and Sisters of the Lost Nation.
For fear of summoning evil spirits, Native superstition says you should never, ever whistle at night.
Henry Hotard was on the verge of fame, gaining a following and traction with his eerie ghost-hunting videos. Then his dreams came to a screeching halt. Now, he’s learning to navigate a new life in a wheelchair, back on the reservation where he grew up, relying on his grandparents’ care while he recovers.
And he’s being haunted.
His girlfriend, Jade, insists he just needs time to adjust to his new reality as a quadriplegic, that it’s his traumatized mind playing tricks on him, but Henry knows better. As the specter haunting him creeps closer each night, Henry battles to find a way to endure, to rid himself of the horror stalking him. Worried that this dread might plague him forever, he realizes the only way to exile his phantom is by confronting his troubled past and going back to the events that led to his injury.
It all started when he whistled at night....
Most want to read: I spied this one last week in the new release section. It sounds delightfully creepy and terrifying. I had a peek at the audiobook narrator and I have listened to a spooky book by him before and he did an amazing job of setting the tone. I started this one earlier today and so far it is creepy! I am not sure I’ll easily fall asleep tonight.
Synopsis:
Vienna, 1893. A gravedigger at the city’s famous Central Cemetery, Augustin Rothmayer is aan unorthodox yet highly educated oddball who finds solace amongst the dead as well as in the writing the pages of the first almanac of his profession. But his fragile peace is abruptly disturbed when young inspector Leopold von Herzfeldt, an ambitious young transfer from Graz, arrives in need of help from someone expert in death. No one knows the subject better than Augustin Rothmeyer.
A superstitious killer is on the loose. His victims include several maids, each brutally staked. Recognizing the killer is using an ancient ritual for keeping the undead buried, the gravedigger joins the inspector on a journey that will take them deep into the underworld of their glamorous cosmopolitan city. In their search for a depraved monster, they receive unexpected help from telephone operator Julia Wolf, who impresses them with her unusual insight even as she fights her own personal demons.
Want to read: Going on a hunt for a serial killer in 1893 Vienna, sounds delightfully spooky to me! This is from the same author as The Hangman’s Daughter, which had a lot of buzz and got very good reviews. I definitely have this one on my spooky season list.
Synopsis:
In the wealthy and vain hedonist Dorian Gray, London painter Basil Hallward has found his muse. Only when the portrait of Dorian begins to age, while the man himself remains untouched by time, do they realize they may have made a deal with the devil.
Oscar Wilde’s only novel takes a witty, philosophical, and harrowing look at our obsession with youth and the price we pay for it.
Favorite Read: If you haven’t read The Picture of Dorian Gray before then you should. It is one of the best horror novels of all time. I re-read it constantly because it is just that superb. And I am not even a big fan of Oscar Wilde, but this book is in its own class.
Synopsis:
When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the ‘Master’ and his imminent arrival.
Favorite Read: This novel should be on every list of best horror books ever. Every word is perfect. Every sentence is horrifying. It is the vampire tale that launched a phenomenon.
There are so many more that I could put on both of these lists. Perhaps I’ll do a part two later in the month. What are your favorite horror reads? Let me know, maybe it will become my next favorite.