What to read this year for Halloween? Find your favorite Halloween Horror Books here.
Updated April 29, 2026.
Halloween is almost here. And that means reading a lot of horror books. But for the seasoned horror fan, every day is Halloween. Horror is our thing, it’s what we always read. If you are a horror fan, you probably are a seasonal reader, and what better way is there to read horror books that are set during Halloween to get into the festive mood. It’s wonderful to read about trick-or-treating, making or searching for the best costume, eating candy, carving a scary pumpkin, decorate your house and get all excited for the big day.
There are a lot of scary, funny or adventurous Halloween Books you can choose from. From silly B-movie style slashers, creepy Halloween creatures, witches, demonic possessions, haunted houses, funny demons, magical fairytale adventures and more.
I have put together a list of Halloween Horror Books that I have read and personally recommend. It’s not a list with all the Halloween horror books out there or the best ones, but this is a selection of books that I enjoyed reading.
The list is set up by decade and by year. Starting with the most recently published books. Each time I have found a new book within this genre that I highly recommend it will be added to the list.
So save this post for more recommendations.
The list consists of 16 books at the moment.
The 31st Trick-or-Treater by Ben Farthing (2025)
(334 pages)
Genres: halloween, ghosts, liminal
It’s a Halloween Advent Calendar that brings you the spirit of Halloween. It’s about family, grief and social media versus face-to-face contact with a twist at the end nobody saw coming.
Last Halloween Bob Wilson took his 11-year-old son Sam, his 4-year-old daughter Mary and 2-year-old Emily out trick-or-treating. Then Mary vanishes, just like 29 other kids. A whole year Bob is looking for Mary, using YouTube and his online chat groups and community. Now a year later on October 1st, one of the missing children has come back and just walked out of the now abandoned Old Pine elementary school. Each evening another child comes back. They all claim that the one who took them and who calls himself the 31st Trick-or-Treater will come back on Halloween with a vengeance. But not every child comes back alive. Bob has to hurry to find the kidnapper before it’s too late.
Pumpkin Man 2: Origin by Penny Moonz (2024)
(196 pages)
Genres: halloween, monsters & creatures, fifties vibe, seventies vibe, novella
In this sequel we go back to the past to find out what the Pumpkin Man is and how he came to be.
It starts in 1950 with Betty and her 4-year-old son Timothy. When his mother finds out that there’s something wrong with Timothy, something terrible happens. That tragedy on that Halloween day follows Betty in 1970 when the Pumpkin Man rises and he is coming for her. We follow Betty, who’s a great character on her flight from the Pumpkin Man through the whole town of Birch Hollow, while the Pumpkin Man is chasing her and leaving bodies in his wake.
It’s written in a fun B-movie style and it takes itself never too seriously. You can read it separately from the first book, but I highly recommend reading Pumpkin man: Jane first. It’s a fun wild ride on the day of Halloween and just enjoy it.
All Hallows by Christopher Golden (2023)
(325 pages)
Genres: halloween, monsters & creatures, eighties vibe
The ultimate Halloween story with everything Halloween packed into one great nostalgic eighties tale of horrors. But it’s also a story with lots of themes, like change, being queer in the eighties, bigotry, racism, adultery, marital problems, being betrayed, growing up, family, friendship and bravery.
It’s 1984 and Tony organizes his last Haunted Forest tour for the neighborhood. Another family has a personal marital crisis. The children of Parmenter Road are going trick-or-treating or to a party. Four strange kids roam the street of Parmenter Road. A couple is up to no good. And the Cunning Man is coming for you. It’s a big story that plays out in one single night and follows multiple people, from adults, to kids. It’s therefore a multiple point of view tale that comes together at the end. You can Read the Full Review.
Continue reading below this announcement.
Did you know I also make Art & Designs.
This Trick or Treat design of a Green Witch Hand with a little pumpkin is made with pen and alcohol markers. You can buy this design on a Unisex Mineral Wash T-Shirt and other apparel in my shop at Printify.
Pumpkin Man: Jane by Penny Moonz (2023)
(204 pages)
Genres: halloween, monsters & creatures, seventies vibe, novella
In 1975 the Pumpkin Man monster roams the streets of Birch Hollow where they love Halloween. However they are unaware a killer is among them, thinking the Pumpkin Man just has a great costume. We follow 18-year-old Jane who has to babysit Billy during Halloween and we follow police officer Valerie Strauss who is desperately looking for the Pumpkin Man. But the Pumpkin Man cannot be stopped and has his eyes on Jane, while giggling and killing.
It’s a fun entertaining, silly story in a B-movie style that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It has fun with the kills, and the characters and creates a wonderful Halloween atmosphere. There are a lot of violent kills, but some people want to catch and destroy him, not only focusing on killing alone. And if you want to know how the Pumpkin Man came to be, you can read it in the sequel.
Old Dark Houses by Tylor James (2023)
(260 pages)
Genres: halloween, haunted house
In Sweet Hollow three old houses are to be demolished on All Hallows Day. But the ghost of Charles Vallancy wants to bring the three Old Dark Houses back to life on Halloween Night. That night he opens the doors and lures in all the kids of Sweet Hollow to restore the houses with their youth and life force. We follow different persons who enter these houses and have to destroy its heart, brain and soul or it will will destroy them.
The story is told through multiple perspectives, with vivivd storytelling, exciting happenings and some gore at the end and characters you’ll root for. The whole story is filled with a Halloween vibe, from trick-or-treating and costumes, to an apple with a razor blade, ghosts, supernaturally enhanced animals, a cold wind, rustling leaves, pumpkins and of course three haunted houses.
Cabin Possessions by Judith Sonnet (2021)
(161 pages)
Genres: halloween, slasher, possession, demons, novella
It is Halloween and Fulton has invited his 5 friends to party at Halloween at his father’s cabin in the woods near the swamp. A swamp where his father has buried a box containing a demon. A box Fulton just dug up and unknowingly set the demon Jazazel free. When they arrive, all hell breaks loose. Because Jazazel needs a body and wants to kill just for the fun of it. The friends have to run and fight for their lives or die trying. At the church a Halloween cookout is going on with a lot of people to kill.
It’s a splatter punk slasher, with lots of gore, violence and gruesome kills. The kills are pretty graphic and gross and very violent. But it’s more than just a straightforward slasher. The end turns this slasher into a cosmic battle, when the three ultimate kick ass final girls who are out for revenge get help from an angel demon.
The Halloween Moon by Joseph Fink (2021)
(288 pages)
Genres: halloween, YA
Nobody loves Halloween more than 13-year-old Esther. But this year her parents tell her that she is now too old for Halloween because she’s not a child anymore. Esther doesn’t agree and secretly goes trick-or-treating with her best friend Augustin, who really doesn’t like Halloween.
That night a full moon is out and it’s orange. That night something strange is about to happen and Esther, Augustin, her bully Sasha and her dentist Mr. Gable are the only ones who can stop the Queen of Halloween and her minions, but at a cost.
It’s a fun and sometimes scary adventure for teenagers. There are creepy kids that attack them, two scary brothers who threaten them and the Queen who wants it to be Halloween forever. It’s about change, growth and how scary that can be but it also opens doors to other wonderful things.
Apartment Five is Alive by Russell Atwood (2020)
(144 pages)
Genres: halloween, haunted house, novella
This is not a haunted house story, this is a story about an apartment that just loves Halloween and the people who live in it through the years. This book is included in my Haunted House Book List (coming soon). Or you can Read the Full Review.
Continue reading below this announcement.
Did you know I also make Art & Designs.
This Halloween design of a Pumpkin Skull is made with pen and alcohol markers. You can buy this design on a Unisex Sweater and other apparel in my shop at Threadless.
Benny Rose, the Cannibal King by Hailey Piper (2020)
(164 pages)
Genres: halloween, slasher, eighties vibe, novella
It’s 1987 and Gabrielle has to live with her grandmother in a cul-de-sac that is turned into a retirement community. Three girls, Sierra, Desiree and Jesse invite themselves at Gabrielle’s house for Halloween night only to prank her with stories about Benny Rose, who is Blackwood’s legend and eats children and who comes to kill them. But the joke is on them as the real Benny comes after them. Trapped due to a storm they have to survive the night.
It’s a great nostalgic eighties slasher full with outdated ideas and state-of minds from the elderly people. It’s not only a battle between the girls and Benny but also between them and the elderly. It’s a story full of girl power during Halloween with lots of gore, violence, pranking and a very creepy and real urban legend.
The October Boys by Adam Millard (2019)
(353 pages)
Genres: halloween, coming-of-age, eighties vibe
In 1988 on Halloween night 12-year-old Ryan is taken by a mysterious ice cream van, leaving his three friends, Tom, Lucas and Marcus devastated. Now 30 years later the ice cream man has come back for them. But they need to fight back and find out what happened to their friend.
The story switches between the events in 1988 and the present, the days before Halloween and at Halloween when the final battle ends and focuses mainly on Tom. The story is more about the grown-up friends and former inspector Woods who worked on Ryan’s case and teams up with Tom to find out more about this children-eating-demon and how to defeat it, than about the time when they were kids. It’s a story about the battle between good and evil with a solid background story of the Ice Cream Man.
The Witch of Halloween House by Jeff DeGordick (2017)
(258 pages)
Genres: halloween, witchcraft, YA, middle grade
It started three years ago, when a little boy went missing. An old woman living in a house beyond town on a hill in the woods, was accused of being a witch and for kidnapping the boy. With no proof the townspeople formed an angry mob on Halloween night and eventually set her house on fire, killing her. But before she died she cursed the town. Now, three years later 19-year-old Carmen and her 9-year-old brother are the only ones who can stand up against the witch when she puts a spell on the town and more and more children are going missing.
It’s a great story about Halloween, complete with scary pumpkins coming to life, and a corn maze, attacking bats and much more thrilling events. Very well recommended for middle graders and young adults.
Continue reading below this announcement.
Did you know I also make Art & Designs.
This Happy Halloween design of a Skeleton wearing a Pumpkin costume is made with pen and alcohol markers. You can buy this design on a Unisex Baseball Shirt and other apparel and on other products in my shop at Redbubble.
A Halloween Tale by Austin Crawley (2015)
(179 pages)
Genres: halloween, haunted house, YA, novella
Tesha’s friend Philip, his brother Raymond and his friend Dylan and Dylan’s 14-year-old sister Ava want to break into a supposedly haunted and is guarded especially during Halloween. But now there’s only one guard and 17-year-old Tesha reluctantly goes along to keep an eye on Ava.
Once they get inside the rooms change and they are under attack by supernatural forces. At the same time the mayor has asked Father Michael to bless the house, because its evil force is stronger on Halloween. Will Tesha and her friends make it out alive and will Father Michael succeed?
It’s a novella about a group of friends that gets lost in a haunted house run by evil forces. It has a lot of characters packed into a novella and it also discusses several themes like religion, being gay and friendship. This is a great pick for young adults who love a good haunted house story at Halloween.
The Gates by John Connolly (2009)
(264 pages)
Genres: halloween, comedy, YA, middle grade
A comical adventure with a smart boy who takes it up against a horde of demons during Halloween who want to bring about the Apocalypse. A witty and smart book for smart teenagers and adults. This book is included in my Comedy Horror Book List. Or you can Read the Full Review.
Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge (2007)
(169 pages)
Genres: halloween, coming-of-age, folk horror, sixties vibe, novella
In 1963 Pete McCormick turns 16 and that means that he must participate in the town’s tradition. Every Halloween the October Boy comes to life and the hunt for him begins. It’s called the Run and whoever wins, meaning killing the October Boy, gets to leave town.
It’s a story written from multiple points of view, even from October Boy himself. The writer, the narrator addresses the reader oftentimes directly, breaking the fourth wall. This gives the story a unique voice. The kills are brutal, the story behind October Boy is horrifying and cruel and heartbreaking.
It’s about ancient traditions, about choosing your own path, breaking free of these traditions and bravery. It’s a thrilling story about two brave teenagers. An exciting rollercoaster with a monster, ancient Halloween traditions, that is fast paced, original and very well-written. You can Read the Full Review.
Continue reading below this announcement.
Did you know I also make Art & Designs.
This Halloween design of a Sphynx Cat Skull is made with pen and alcohol markers. You can buy this design on a Unisex Baseball Shirt and other apparel in my shop at Threadless.
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury (1972)
(145 pages)
Genres: halloween, magic realism, novella
A poetic fairytale ride about the meaning of Halloween. It’s Halloween and nine boys are going trick-or-treating. When they arrive at the old big house in the valley with an ancient Halloween Tree full with pumpkins, one of them is not there. Pipkin is taken by something and Mr. Moundshroud tells them they have to find him and go to the Undiscovered Country of Death and Strange Years.
They travel the world through time. Each decade and culture learns them something about the origins of Halloween and what their own costumes mean.
It’s a wonderful fairytale about eight boys in search of their friend and the meaning of Halloween. It’s wonderfully written and reads like a magical tale, a poem oftentimes. That means it’s not for everybody and the writing can be hard to read or to get into. But if you do, it reads like a flow, an ongoing fluid magical adventure.
Something Wicked This Wy Comes by Ray Bradbury (1962)
(293 pages)
Genres: halloween, coming-of-age, witchcraft, supernatural
A magical coming-of-age tale about two friends, an evil carnival and themes about aging with a beautiful writing style that enchants. This book is included in my Coming-Of-Age Book List. Or you can Read the Full Review.
Explore more Lists of Horror Books:
- The List of Christmas Horror Books
- The List of Coming-of-Age Horror Books
- The List of Summer Horror Books
- The List of Summer Camp Horror Books
Did You Know I Also Make Art and Designs?
you can buy my designs on apparel or stationary, mugs and more. You can learn more about it on my art & design shop page or go directly to one of my shops.