16 Of The Best New Horror Stories To Read This October

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“Heaven doesn’t want me, and hell’s afraid I’ll take over.”

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October is the perfect time to curl up with a story that makes your heart race and your skin prickle. Whether you love chilling ghost tales, spine-tingling thrillers, or dark psychological suspense, horror books have a way of pulling you into the shadows and keeping you hooked until the final page. If you’re looking for something fresh to add to your Halloween reading list, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’ve rounded up the best new horror stories to read this October. All published within the last decade, these books offer everything from haunting atmospheres to terrifying monsters. These are the horror stories to read that capture the thrill of being scared in the safest way possible – between the pages of a great story. Ready to discover your next nightmare-inducing tale? Let’s dive into our best horror reads. 

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The Fisherman – John Langan

Kicking off our list of the best horror stories to read this October is John Langan’s The Fisherman. In upstate New York, in the woods around Woodstock, Dutchman’s Creek flows out of the Ashokan Reservoir. Steep-banked, fast-moving, it offers the promise of fine fishing, and of something more, a possibility too fantastic to be true. When Abe and Dan, two widowers who have found solace in each other’s company and a shared love for fishing, hear rumours of the Creek, and what might be found there, they dismiss it as just another fish story. 

Soon, though, the men find themselves drawn into a tale as deep and old as the Resevoir itself. It’s a tale of dark pacts, of long-buried secrets, and of a mysterious figure known only as Der Fisher: the Fisherman. It will bring Abe and Dan face to face with all that they have lost, and the price they must pay to regain it. 

Hungerstone – Kat Dunn

One of the best new horror books from 2025, Kat Dunn’s Hungerstone opens with Lenore, the wife of steel magnate Henry. Ten years into their marriage, their relationship has soured, and no child has arrived to fill the growing distance between them. Henry’s ambitions take them out to London and the imposing Nethershaw manor in the countryside, where Henry aims to host a hunt with society’s finest. 

The preparations for the event take a turn when a carriage accident near their remote home brings the mysterious Carmilla into Lenore’s life. Soon, girls from local villages begin to fall sick before being consumed by a bloody hunger. Torn between regaining her husband’s affection and Carmilla’s ever-growing presence, Lenore begins to unravel her past and, in doing so, uncovers a darkness in her household that will place her at terrible risk…

Dead Silence – S.A. Barnes

Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate. 

What they find at the other end of the signal is a shock: the Aurora, a famous luxury space-liner that vanished on its maiden voyage of the solar system two decades ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. However, a quick trip through the Aurora shows that something isn’t right. Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Words scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold onto her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora before she and her crew meet the same grisly fate.

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Check Out The Best Books Like Dead Silence 

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Hidden Pictures – Jason Rekulak

Mallory Quinn is fresh out of rehab when she gets a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy. Mallory immediately loves it. She sincerely bonds with Teddy, a shy boy who is never without his sketchbook or pencil. But one day, he draws something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman’s lifeless body. 

Then, Teddy’s artwork becomes increasingly sinister, and his stick figures quickly evolve into lifelike sketches well beyond the ability of any five-year-old. Mallory begins to wonder if these are glimpses of a long-unsolved murder, perhaps relayed by a supernatural force. Knowing just how crazy it all sounds, Mallory nevertheless sets out to decipher the images and save Teddy, before it proves too late. 

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Check Out The Best Books Like Hidden Pictures

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Into The Drowning Deep – Mira Grant

Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a “mockumentary” bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy. 

Now, a new crew has been assembled. Only, this time, they’re not going out to entertain. Some seek to validate their life’s work. Some look for the greatest hunt of all. Others are just looking for the truth. But for the ambitious young scientist Victoria Stewart, this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost. Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves. But the secrets of the deep come with a price. 

Bury Your Gays – Chuck Tingle

Misha is a jaded scriptwriter who has been working in Hollywood for years and has just been nominated for his first Oscar. But, when he’s pressured by his producers to kill off a gay character in an upcoming series finale – “for the algorithm” – Misha discovers that it’s not that simple. As he is haunted by his past and past mistakes, Misha must risk everything to do what’s right – before it’s too late. 

Tender Is The Flesh – Agustina Bazterrica

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans – though no one calls them that anymore. His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus had made all animal meat poisonous. Then, governments initiated the “Transition”. Now, eating human meat is legal. 

One day, he’s given a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little, he begins to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what he has lost – and what still might be saved. 

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Check Out The Best Books Like Tender Is The Flesh 

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Foe – Iain Reid

Severe climate change has ravaged the country, leaving behind a charred wasteland. Junior and Henrietta live a comfortable, if solitary, life on one of the last remaining farms. Their private existence is disturbed the day a stranger comes to the door with alarming news. Junior has been chosen to travel far away from the farm. But the most unusual part is that arrangements have already been made so that when he leaves, Henrietta won’t have a chance to miss him. 

She won’t be left alone – not even for a moment. Henrietta will have company. Familiar company. Delivered with Iain Reid’s sharp and evocative style, Foe is one of the best new horror stories to read that explores the nature of domestic relationships, self-determination, and what it means to be (or not to be) a person. An eerily entrancing page-turner, it churns with unease and suspense from the first words to its shocking finale. 

The Reformatory – Tananarive Due

Gracetown, Florida. 1950. Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens Jr. is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory. Thus begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory. 

Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the school. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but also how to survive. One of the best horror stories to read this spooky season, The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction that pieces together the life of a child and so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys. 

Our Share Of Night – Mariana Enriquez

A woman’s mysterious death puts her husband and son on a collision course with her demonic family. A young father and son set out on a road trip, devastated by the death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travel to her ancestral home, where they must confront the terrifying legacy she has bequeathed: a family called the Order that commits unspeakable acts in search of immortality. 

For Gaspar, the son, this maniacal cult is his destiny. As the Order tries to pull him into their evil, he and his father take flight, attempting to outrun a powerful clan that will stop at nothing to ensure its own survival. But how far will Gaspar’s father go to protect his child? And can anyone really ever escape their fate? 

A Certain Hunger – Chelsea G. Summers

Food critic Dorothy Daniels loves what she does. Discerning, meticulous, and very, very intelligent, Dorothy’s mastery of the culinary arts means that she is able to whip up a more heavenly meal than any of the chefs she writes about. She also enjoys sex, almost as much as she enjoys food. And whilst she’s yet to find a long-term partner to settle down with, she’s perfectly happy indulging both these pleasures whilst travelling between Manhattan and Italy. 

But there is something inside Dorothy that is different from everyone else. Having kept it hidden for long enough, she begins to embrace what makes her uniquely, terrifyingly herself. From an idyllic farm-to-table upbringing to plunging an ice pick into a man’s neck, A Certain Hunger is a satirical take on foodieism and a scathing exploration of how gender is defined, perfect for anyone looking for a chilling feminist horror tale. 

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Check Out The Best Books Like A Certain Hunger

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You Like It Darker – Stephen King

No list of the best horror stories to read this October would be complete without mentioning Stephen King. In this new collection of short stories from the greatest horror writer of our time, King delves into the darker parts of life. In ‘Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,’ a brief and unprecedented psychic flash upends dozens of lives, Danny’s most catastrophically. 

‘Rattlesnakes,’ a sequel to Cujo, sees a grieving widower travel to Florida for some restbite and instead receives an unexpected inheritance – with major strings attached. ‘The Answer Man’ asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unimaginable tragedy can still be meaningful. King once again demonstrates his ability to surprise, amaze, and bring us both terror and solace in equal measure. 

Ring Shout – P. Djèlí Clark

In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across the United States of America, swelling the Ku Klux Klan’s ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation, they ride, spreading fear and violence among the most vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die. 

Standing in their way are Maryse Boudreaux and her fellow resistance fighters, a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet, and bomb, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan’s demons straight to Hell. But something awful’s brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to heat up. Can Maryse stop the Klan before it ends the world? 

Mapping The Interior – Stephen Graham Jones

Walking through his own house at night, a fifteen-year-old thinks he sees another person stepping through a doorway. Instead of the people who could be there, his mother or his brother, the figure reminds him of his long-gone father, who died mysteriously before his family left the reservation. When he follows it, he discovers his house is bigger and deeper than he knew. 

The house is the wrong kind of place where you can lose yourself and find things you’d rather not have. Over the course of a few nights, the boy tries to map out his house in an effort that puts his little brother in the worst danger, and puts him in the position to save them… at a terrible cost. 

My Darling Dreadful Thing – Johanna Van Veen

Roos Beckman has a spirit companion that only she can see. Ruth – strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries – is the light of Roos’ life. That is, until the wealthy young widow Agnes Koop visits one of Roos’ backroom seances, and the pair strike up a connection. Soon, Roos is whisked away to the crumbling estate Agnes has inherited upon the death of her husband, where an ill woman still haunts the halls. Something dreadful festers in the manor, but the attraction between Roos and Agnes is still undeniable. 

Then, someone is murdered. Poor, alone, and with a history of ‘hysterics,’ Roos is the obvious culprit. With her sanity and innocence in question, she’ll need to prove who – or what – is at fault or risk losing everything she holds dear. 

The Burning Girls – C.J. Tudor

Five hundred years ago, eight protestant martyrs were burned at the stake at the small village of Chapel Croft. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace. And two months ago, the local vicar hung himself. Reverend Jack Brooks, a single parent with a fourteen-year-old daughter and a heavy conscience, arrives in the town hoping for a clean slate and a fresh start. 

Instead, Jack finds a town mired in secrecy. The more Jack and her daughter Flo get acquainted with the town and its strange inhabitants, the deeper they are pulled into their rifts, mysteries, and suspicions. And when Flo is troubled by strange sightings in the old chapel, it becomes clear that there are ghosts here that refuse to be laid to rest. But uncovering the truth can be deadly in a village where everyone has something to protect, everyone has links with the village’s bloody past, and no one trusts an outsider. 

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