Reviews & Views: Chilling and thrilling spooky-season reads

The weather turns just a few degrees cooler, the light fading, the leaves falling, and suddenly the world has shifted. It can be a strange time, and the desire to read something a little different becomes a good way to take a walk on the wild side. 

There are those who don’t mind being scared, and those who do. You know what kind of reader you are.

I sometimes find that reading about terrible people is an exercise in confronting real-life trauma. My Scottish mother admitted that Muriel Spark was a difficult personality, but she insisted that anyone who could write “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” (Penguin) and engender the film with Maggie Smith was inspiring. Smith will forever embody Brodie’s particular weird charisma, but the new biography “Electric Spark: The Enigma of Muriel Spark” by Frances Wilson (Farrar) explains these women’s peculiar appeal, while not making light of Spark’s less-endearing qualities. 

“Edgar Allan Poe: A Life” by Richard Kopley (University of Virginia) also tackles as its subject a stressful person who just couldn’t stop producing great, horrifying literature. I admire the scholarship in the doorstopper biography of “The Brothers Grimm” by Ann Schmiesing (Yale University Press) but came away believing they robbed credit from many smart storytelling women who taught them all those folk tales.

I’ve heard great things about the Royal Shakespeare Company’s recent production of “Born With Teeth,” a play by Liz Duffy Adams about Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare, two playwrights ahead of their time, flirting with death, fame, and each other. While we wait for the production to come to the States, “Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival” by Stephen Greenblatt (Norton) is a fantastic read about Marlowe’s influence on Shakespeare.

To remind us that there is real horror in the world that some face with courage beyond imagining, “The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück: How an Intrepid Band of Frenchwomen Resisted the Nazis in Hitler’s All-Female Concentration Camp” by Lynne Olson (Random House) is history that terrifies and inspires. 

I can’t resist a thriller that runs on plot rather than violence, and “No Rest For the Wicked” by Rachel Louise Adams (Minotaur) is a doozy about a forensic pathologist coping with all hell breaking out in her Halloween-obsessed town. I hope this can be the start of a series as good as Rachel Howzell Hall’s “Fog and Fury” (Thomas & Mercer) which has PI Alyson “Sonny” Rush going back to her hometown to find a dog and discovering Haven’s dark secrets. “Cursed Daughters” by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday) is a read with buzz by the author of “My Sister, the Serial Killer.” The Falodun women live under a curse in Lagos: “No man will call your house home. And if they try, they will not have peace.”

So what happens when sisterhood solidarity clashes with attraction and the chance for true love? This plot reminds me of another witchy book, “Practical Magic” by Alice Hoffman (G.P. Putnam’s). It has turned into a New England cozy classic with a fervent following, as has the film adaptation, with its sequel about to be released. Use the old book-and-flick trick to get a teen engaged with reading by watching the film, and simultaneously offering to read — or listen to — the book. Seize the day, and pull out your copies of “Wuthering Heights” and “Frankenstein” to read and compare against old and new adaptations, then go to the movies with your young adult. Both of these Gothic romances feature Jacob Elordi, playing Heathcliff in one, and the Monster in the other. I’m betting on the latter as the one to see because Guillermo del Toro is a genius director, but Heathcliff’s — and Elordi’s — appeal should never be underestimated.

“Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy” by Mary Roach (W.W. Norton) is a surprisingly humorous take on the field of medical science that replaces our anatomically broken bits with new parts, a la Frankenstein. “Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI” by Karen Hao (Penguin Press) examines OpenAI, the company leading the large language model revolution, while recognizing the environmental impacts and forecasting where these technologies might take us. Some non-fiction journeys are scarier than any horror tale.

Your mood can be improved by a visit to the library or a bookstore to enjoy the Halloween decorations. If you are thinking of how to make this holiday less scary for a child, pick up “Chicka Chicka Tricka Treat” by Julien Chung (Beach Lane Books) for a fun introduction to the alphabet. I loved “This Year, A Witch!” by Zoey Abbott (Atheneum) a picture book about a little girl who rebels against cutesy costumes. “Wild Moon: How the Lunar Phases Light Up Our World,” by Andie Powers and illustrated by Lucy Rose (Gibbs Smith), is a gentle look at how the moon, that mysterious orb, influences our lives. 

For older children curious about the origins of the commercial juggernaut that is All Hallows’ Eve, “The Halloween Tree” by Ray Bradbury (Knopf) is a classic tale of trick-or-treaters exploring the different ways that Days of the Dead are celebrated in different cultures. There is a terrific audiobook, too. “Another,” by Paul Tremblay and illustrated by Sam Wolfe Connelly (Quill Tree), is a creepy horror read for tweens about a boy who must confront the intruder in his family’s midst who is becoming his doppelganger. Connelly’s drawings add so much to the story, for those of us who never tire of reading visually.

On Monday, October 27, from 6-7:30 p.m., the Friends of the Acton Free Public Library present Acton Festival of Authors: Mystery Night 2025, moderated by Kate Flora. This year’s event features authors Nicole Asselin, Richard Cass, and Kim Herdman Shapiro. Check out ticket information and the full schedule at the CFPL’s website — and Happy Halloween!