In those chilly (not in Roseville), rainy autumn days, everyone’s looking for a cozy activity. You can bake fall treats, you can watch some scary movies, and you can visit a pumpkin patch. But even better, you can read some amazing fall books. Here’s a list of three fall favorites to get you through this spooky reading season.
“The Mary Shelley Club” by Goldy Moldavsky
Goldy Moldavsky’s “The Mary Shelley Club” is a novel that draws from the iconic slasher films of the 80s and 90s. It follows Rachel Chavez, the new girl at Manchester Prep, who struggles to find her place at her new school.
Rachel falls into a prank gone-wrong and ends up with more enemies than friends. Rachel encounters a group of students who call themselves “The Mary Shelley Club” and joins them in their endeavors. Inspired by Mary Shelley’s horror novels, the group of students devote their time to conjuring up the scariest pranks to play on their peers.
As the story progresses, the pranks get more serious, more dangerous, and get Rachel and her friends into a lot more trouble. If you’re a fan of films like Scream (1996) or author Karen McManus’ “One of Us Is Lying”, picking up “The Mary Shelley Club” on your next trip to the bookstore would be perfect for a spooky vibe this season.
“The Woman in the Window” by A.J. Finn
An agoraphobic peeping-tom who spies on her neighbors gets wrapped up in a mixture of her own lies, others’ deception, and the cruel misbelief of those around her. Who should you feel bad for? Read and find out.
A.J. Finn’s “The Woman in the Window” is a psychological thriller that follows main character Anna Fox, a widowed former mother and ex-psychologist, through her interactions with her neighbors in her New York district. To get her social fix, agoraphobe Anna takes photos of her neighbors and gets to know them that way.
One of her favorite families moved away and another came to take their place. Anna soon becomes infatuated with their family; the father, Alistair, the mother, Jane, and their teenage son, Ethan. Quickly, the novel spirals into a web of confusion, lies, and untold stories.
If you’re a fan of mind-boggling films like The Sixth Sense, or you enjoyed “The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides, this would be a hypnotizing option for your fall read roster.
“The Final Girl Support Group” by Grady Hendrix
Much like “The Mary Shelley Club”, in this riveting novel, Hendrix takes after the quintessential slasher films of the twentieth century. He draws from the infamous trope of the “final girl” and redirects the narrative, letting them take control of their own.
The book is centered around a group of women who have lived through devastating encounters with psychos and murderers, which reflect the themes of thrillers and slashers from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. These women were the sole survivors of their massacres, making them the “final girls” in their stories. Those “final girls” reunite, thanks to the efforts of main character, Lynette Tarkington, and become the prey for a new, vengeful murderer.
Hendrix encapsulates the suspense and gore necessary for a novel to be as thrilling as its pioneering predecessors. With page-turning plot lines and infuriating yet willful protagonists, this book is one that pays respects to its forerunner.
If you’re in need of a good book to cozy up with this autumn, adding these recommendations to your ‘to-be-read list” wouldn’t hurt you one bit.
