Young Adult Reads to Give You the Shivers

The best books for Halloween 2025

Bev Humphrey
Literacy & Digital Media Consultant
www.bevhumphrey.com
Social media – https://linktr.ee/BevHumphrey

It’s the spooky season once again, when the contrast of reading a scary book in a cozy nook just feels right. In the spirit of the season, here are my top 10 disquieting reads of this year and one classic that I just couldn’t leave out:

House of Salt and Sorrows, Erin A. Craig
Based on the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, this book is suspenseful and spooky with an ever-building sense of menace.

Moonsick, Tom O’Donnell
Set in the aftermath of a pandemic that turns people into werewolves, this story has its fair share of jump scares and an interesting moral dilemma.

Burying Jericho, William Hussey
This is the second in the series about a showman turned private detective, raw, shocking with serial killers and some graphic scenes, older YA and so good.

A Grave Inheritance, Felicity Epps
A story with Ghosts, found family, and crime set in Victorian times with all of the society ‘rules’ that applied then, hampering our heroine in getting to the bottom of why she’s being haunted.

The Wintermoor Lights, Dan Smith
This is the second in a series of scary short read stories, has a great sense of impending doom, and is fine for readers that only want a frisson of fear.

Not Quite Dead Yet, Holly Jackson
This book is a great thriller with a very novel plot, has a fair bit of colourful language but nothing that would shock most YA readers.

They Own the Night, Amy McCaw
This one is a Dracula retelling with a retro 1980s Edinburgh setting. Also check out the Mina and the Undead trilogy from this author, loved them.

Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill
Not for the fainthearted, this ghost story gave me a few nights of sleeping with the light on when it first came out, an award-winning classic.

Scuttle, Barnaby Walter
Do not read this horror story if you have arachnophobia, it gave me all of the crawly skin feelings whilst reading it!

Traumaland, Josh Silver
This book is quite probably my top read of the year so far; dark, twisty, and with a shock ending that I haven’t yet forgiven the author for.

Read with the lights on!