Author Crush!

Can’t decide what you want to read to get in the mood for Halloween? Check out these strange and peculiar novels that are sure to give you the creeps!

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (TN RIG) is about 16 year old Jacob, who has a nervous breakdown when his grandfather is murdered, claiming that he was killed by a monster that only the two of them could see. On his psychiatrist’s recommendation, his father brings him to an island off the coast of Wales, where Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children existed during the war. With several creepy vintage photos throughout the book, it’s definitely one of my favorite eerie novels that I love rereading around this time of year. If you haven’t read it yet, definitely check it out!

Asylum by Madeleine Roux (TN ROU) is super creepy! If you’re looking for something to keep you up at night, this one definitely will! It’s about Dan, who is planning on spending his summer at the New Hampshire College Prep Program, where he hopes to meet other like-minded teens. The fact that his dorm was, at one time, an asylum for the criminally insane doesn’t bother Dan one bit. In fact, he enjoys exploring the old passages late at night with his friends. Though when he starts receiving ominous notes, begins having terrifying nightmares, and people start dying, Dan is convinced that the killer’s identity can be found somewhere in the history of Brookline Asylum.

Looking for something with a tie to real historical events? Try Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalo (TN MAN), which is a fantastic historical fiction novel about Audrey, who spends most of her time studying medical science by dissecting cadavers in her uncle’s laboratory. It’s definitely not what respectable young ladies of her station should be doing, but nevertheless, she manages to keep her double life hidden. When she gets drawn into a criminal investigation in which women are being brutally murdered by Jack the Ripper, it’s going to be difficult to keep her scientific pursuits hidden from society and continue helping with the investigation at the same time.

Black Butler by Yana Toboso (GN BLACK BUTLER 1) is a paranormal mystery centered around Ciel, the young orphaned Earl of Phantomhive, who is a servant to the Queen and aided by his demonic butler, Sebastian. The pair get much more than they’ve bargained for though, when they get called in to save a dinner party, but end up being drawn into London’s dark and dangerous underground. Both the manga and anime are really fun - I thoroughly enjoy reading this one whenever there’s a new volume out!

Project 17 by Laurie Faria Stolarz (OverDrive/Libby eBook) is one of my favorite creepy books - it’s relatively short and told through multiple perspectives, but it is a great one to read in one or two sittings! Five teens enter an abandoned mental hospital each hoping to get something different from their visit - one wants to make a film while another just is just in it for a laugh, while the others are interested in history or being in the film, but no matter their motivations for going, they won’t be getting out until the ghosts are ready to let them leave.

Happy reading!