Isobel Miller investigates the best books for a haunting Halloween in.

 

The Collector by John Fowles

Pre-meditating The Lovely Bones, this is a chilling tale about a lonely man who captures a pretty, young art student. He becomes fascinated with, adding her to his collection of petrified objects in the hope she will grow to love him.

 

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

This harrowing tale of a brutal family murder in 50s Kansas is horrifyingly based on a true story – what makes it most compelling is Capote’s psychological analysis of the killers, when they are caught six weeks after he started writing the book.

 

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

The 1967 bestseller, which follows the attempts of a satanic coven to use Rosemary as a vessel to carry the spawn of Satan is horror writing at its darkest.

 

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewksi

With two narratives; one centred on a house which drives its residents to murder and the other on a sex-crazed drug-addict, as well occasional upside down writing, this is not your average thriller.

 

 

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

Elizabeth Bennett and Darcy are joined by a cast of blood-sucking zombies, and Miss Bennett is forced to put romance to the back of her mind as she attempts to vanquish the spawn of Satan.