Halloween Horrors from the Warwick's Staff

It’s Halloween. Time for ghosts, ghouls, witches, zombies and all things that go bump in the night. This year Warwick’s Staff put our heads together to come up with a new Halloween reading list. Instead of picking our favorite spooky books, the staff has compiled a list of the scariest books we have read recently. From horror to reality, these books span the gamut, and perhaps may give you that perfect read while awaiting those trick-or-treaters tonight. Happy Haunting!


Lydia, Assistant Children’s Book Buyer: 2030 by Albert Brooks. Although the story takes place in the near future year of 2030, many of its prescient issues and ideas affect us today. An earthquake has rocked Los Angeles. Can we afford to rebuild the city? Think creatively! Meanwhile, a huge grumbling underclass of young and middle-aged people staggers under the weight of supporting a fabulous lifestyle for seniors who are living into their 100’s. By turns hilarious and terrifying, this is the scariest novel I’ve read recently. It continues to haunt me.

Jolene, Gifts: The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. This one is an older book that I’ve recently read again. It always scares me, especially in a dark room!

Sam, Local Author Coordinator: Night Film by Marisha Pessl. I normally don’t get scared by books, but this one did! I had to sleep with the lights on—so scary, but so good I couldn’t put it down.

Sam also picked The Circle by Dave Eggers. Eggers depiction of the overwhelming influence technology has over us, and our blind willingness to allow it was spot on. It was really creepy.

Janet, Bookseller: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. Bundle up and keep warm while you read this dark and creepy novel set in Iceland during the 1800’s. It’s the tale of a woman awaiting execution for the crime of murder. To make it even more horrifying, the story is based on actual events. I could not put it down!

Jim, Bookseller: The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian. What starts as a lovely story about a country house becomes something much more…and horrific.

Lynn, Office: NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. Loved it! Too scary to read at night.

Heather, Marketing Coordinator: Night Film by Marisha Pessl. Not only is this book my favorite read of the year, but also by far the scariest. From page one the tension, and possibility of (I’m not telling) the supernatural, kept me engaged and literally white knuckled. This is one of those intense books that mess with your head in all the right ways. I might not have been scared stiff à la Paranormal Activity, but I was certainly on edge. A truly brilliant scary book freaks you out, but keeps you yearning for more, Night Film does just that.

Kim, Buyer: So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids by Diane E. Levin, Ph.D., and Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D. So Sexy So Soon is about how tweens grow up in our overly sexualized society. I was frightened page after page hearing real life stories about how our children seek to be "sexy" like their favorite characters of TV!

John, Book Buyer: What book keeps me awake at night, fearing what I might awaken to the next day? It's It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism. Truth is not only stranger than fiction, it's scarier. I doubt the combined talents of Poe, Shelley, and Lovecraft couldn't dream up anything more menacing than our present-day Congress. Boo!