This week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is “Halloween Freebie”.
Usually, when I put my TTT lists together I only include books I’ve reviewed on my blog, but this time I decided to highlight some books I read long before I started blogging in 2009. To fit the Halloween topic, these are all horror novels, a genre I don’t read as much as I used to – I do still like dark, unsettling novels but I prefer not to be too frightened! I think I was braver when I was younger.
1. The Shining by Stephen King
Let’s start with probably the most famous horror writer of them all. I read quite a few Stephen King books as a teenager and I think my favourite was his 1977 novel The Shining, set in the lonely Overlook Hotel, although I also remember enjoying Misery, The Dark Half and Rose Madder. His fantasy novel, The Eyes of the Dragon, was another one I liked.
2. The Fog by James Herbert
I also read several James Herbert novels, but the only ones I can really remember are The Magic Cottage and this one, The Fog, about a sinister fog that descends over England and begins to drive people mad.
3. The Resurrectionists by Kim Wilkins
I read this one sometime in the early 2000s and loved it. It’s about an Australian woman uncovering family secrets in a small Yorkshire village and has a wonderfully atmospheric setting with a lonely cottage beside a clifftop cemetery.
4. Obsession by Ramsey Campbell
I really enjoyed this psychological horror novel about a group of teenagers who receive a letter from an unknown sender promising to make their wishes come true. Later, they find that there’s a terrible price to pay.
5. The Violin by Anne Rice
I never read any of Anne Rice’s more famous Interview with the Vampire books, but I did read this one, which I think was more of a ghost story.
6. The Point Horror series
I’m cheating slightly here and including this whole series of young adult horror novels, because I read a lot of them and can’t remember much about the individual books. They were written by a variety of different authors; I think my favourites were Richie Tankersley Cusick and R.L. Stine.
7. The Town by Bentley Little
This is a completely bizzare novel set in a small town in Arizona. All I remember about it is that a woman gives birth to a cactus and a church grows hair. I think I may have read other books by Bentley Little but this is the only one that has stayed in my mind.
8. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
I’m sure many of you will be familiar with this one, if not the book then the film starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins in which a young FBI trainee tries to catch a serial killer who removes the skin of his victims. I read it, but it wasn’t really for me!
9. The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson
This book terrified me as a teenager. It’s supposedly the true story of George and Kathy Lutz, who move into a house that was the scene of a mass murder the previous year and flee again four weeks later after experiencing paranormal activity. There have since been various lawsuits over the book’s accuracy and truthfulness.
10. Audrey Rose by Frank De Felitta
I often find books about reincarnation very creepy. In this book, Eliot Hoover becomes convinced that eleven-year-old Ivy Templeton is the reincarnation of his own daughter, Audrey Rose, killed in a car crash at the age of three. There’s a sequel, For Love of Audrey Rose, but I didn’t like that one as much.
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Do you read horror? Have you read any of these?
She Reads Novels 
I used to read H P Lovecraft books, but that was when I was a teenager and read absolutely everything. Now, I also avoid horror, but a few years ago I tried Dark Matter, by Michelle Paver, because I really like her books, and I found it so scary I couldn’t finish it.
I haven’t read Dark Matter but I’m currently halfway through Michelle Paver’s new book, Rainforest, and not finding that one very scary at all so far.
Oh, I remember reading ‘The Shining’. It was on a bright sunny day… and it scared the absolute *crap* out of me…. [lol]. LOVE the movie [ditto] and the homage scenes in (the movie version of) ‘Ready Player One’.
The Shining scared me too, the movie even more than the book, I think!
I attempted to read The Shining years ago but couldn’t get past how unlike an actual child the little boy was. I agree that any book by Thomas Harris is really scary. I was reading him way before anyone heard of Hannibal Lecter. I also remember being scared silly by The Amityville Horror. I haven’t read any of your other choices, however. I read quite a bit of Anne Rice before I got tired of her thing, but not this one.
Yes, I suppose the boy in The Shining was unrealistic, although I don’t think that bothered me at the time. The Amityville Horror was terrifying! I wouldn’t be brave enough to read that again now.
The other book that scared me so much I couldn’t go to the movie was The Exorcist.
The Amityville Horror terrified me when I was a kid. I couldn’t sleep with it in the house, so I threw it out the front door. (I did the same thing with The Exorcist–that one frightened me even more!)
I also read Audrey Rose, but I don’t remember much about it anymore. (Same goes for the sequel–read it, but no longer remember it.)
I can understand that! The Amityville Horror is terrifying! I never read The Exorcist, though.
The Exorcist had me so terrified, I was literally shaking. Granted, I was only about 12 years old at the time and I finished the book in the middle of the night… pretty sure those things contributed to the level of terror I felt.
I read more horror when I was younger too. The world is scary enough today. But I still like a book that gives me chills. I’ve read a lot of Stephen King and some Anne Rice, but haven’t read the others.
I would probably still enjoy some of these books today, though maybe not the very scary ones!
Horror’s not my thing 🙂 .
I like it now and then, but used to read a lot more of it.
I read The Resurrectionists earlier this year and liked it a lot. The Shining is also a horror favorite! I read a ton of the Point Horror series, but I can’t remember much about individual titles!
Here’s my list: https://franlaniado.wordpress.com/2025/10/28/top-ten-tuesday-friendly-ghosts/
I’m glad you liked The Resurrectionists. I found it very atmospheric. I can remember the titles of some of the Point Horror books I read, but almost nothing about any of the plots!
I do like to read horror on occasion. But the only one of these I’ve read is The Shining…and it is not my favorite Stephen King novel. But it’s one that definitely makes an impression. It’s fun to see what other horror novels you’ve read. I should make a list of some of my favs sometime. 😀
I haven’t read Stephen King for years, but I did used to enjoy his books. I would love to see a list of your favourite horror novels sometime!
I would never have guessed this about you!
When I worked for Stephen King’s publisher, I had to read some of his books but I did not enjoy them. Once he came to the office to watch the miniseries of The Stand with us. Someone bought enormous amounts of movie theater snacks but even that was not enough to make it a comfortable situation. He mostly ignored us and talked to the publisher.
My taste in books has changed quite a lot over the years! I did enjoy some of Stephen King’s books but am not sure what I would think of them now. Sorry to hear you had a disappointing experience with him.
Oh wow, some real classic horror here! I think the only ones I’ve read are Point Horror haha. I remember the Caroline B. Cooney ones being especially memorable – Twins and The Perfume immediately spring to mind!
I’m sure I read a few Caroline B. Cooney books too – Freeze Tag was one of them, I think. I can remember almost nothing about any of the plots, though!