Top Ten Tuesday: Halloween Books To Read

Well, I wanted to get back into writing entries after a month or so of being ridiculously busy in my real job, but my tastes don't run that much to horror, so this may be interesting...

Links go to reviews on The Bookbag.

1. The Monstrumologist series by Rick Yancey - As if I could start anywhere else. This is a sequence which just gets better every book, and has a unique mixture of gore and wonderful writing. As I said, I'm not that big a horror fan - but this would win anyone over.

2. By Midnight by Mia James - British vampire story which stands out from the crowd thanks to an awesome setting in London and some really tense moments.

3. The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate - The obvious Kate recommendations for this time of year are the Fallen series, but I think her non-supernatural first book - a high school Macbeth - is perhaps more fitting.

4. Forbidden Game trilogy by LJ Smith - Heart-stoppingly terrifying. Group of friends start playing mysterious game which transports them to a world where the sinister Shadow Man is in charge. First is very good, the other two are staggeringly great.

5. Dark Secrets: Don't Tell by Elizabeth Chandler - Seventeen year old girl returns to the town where her mother died to live with her godmother and cousins, one of whom is rather strange. Seriously chilling.

6. Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine - I'm only a few books into this series but it's definitely an interesting one, as new student Claire Danvers finds out that Morganville is a dangerous place to live.

7. Bang Bang You're Dead by Narinder Dhami - Mia is having enough trouble coping with her mother, who suffers from manic depression, without having to deal with her twin brother's problems as well. But then a rumour spreads that someone in her school has a gun - could it be Jamie? Very different from everything else on the list but still incredibly tense.

8. Mortlock by Jon Mayhew - Imagine Roald Dahl listened to a LOT of traditional folk ballads and then set to write an 1850's adventure. Some fabulous stuff here. (The Demon Collector, by the same author, is worth checking out as well.)

9. Evernight by Claudia Gray - Another vampire book. Except EVERYTHING here is different. Superb.

10. Caster Chronicles by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - I was planning on leaving this one out as it's YA paranormal rather than being horror as such. Then I decided that since it's probably the best sequence going - only the Monstrumologist comes close - it would be stupid to waste time arguing about the exact genre and I should just encourage anyone who hasn't already got started on Beautiful Creatures, book 1, to go out and buy it now.