Inside: Creepy teen books to curl up with this spooky season.
Now that the weather is getting colder, it’s the perfect time to cuddle up inside with a good book. I am talking about a real page-turning, goose-bump-giving, scary story. With so many different scary stories out there, how can you know which ones to get and which ones to not waste your time with?
Well, you have me. I have created an epic list of over 40 of the spookiest creepy teen books that will have you sleeping with one eye open. I made sure to include the classics as well as some newer novels that you’ll love as well. For some of the more obscure titles, I’ve included a 1 sentence synopsis to pull you in.
Because isn’t fall all about being cozy and doing our rituals? Why not make reading a scary book one of your traditions every year? The benefits of reading are unmatched, even when it is for leisure and not studying.
I mean, technically, you could use these books for studying… studying how to murder someone. Dun Dun DUNNNN!
Okay, all jokes aside, these are some really great books that I think will make your fall time that much more special. So take a look and give a few of them a read…if you dare.
Horror Books for Teens
These are some of the scarier thrillers out there, so if this is what you came for, then look no further. I made sure to add some of the classics like Stephen King and, actually, just Stephen King.
He is the king of horror, after all. What more could you want? But if you already know those stories and are in the market for something new, I have some options for that too.
1. Stephan King’s IT – Everyone knows how this story goes. But it is much scarier in the book than it is on the big screen.
2. The Shining – Another classic by Stephen King but it’s less well known in 2022 since it hasn’t gotten a new movie in quite some time.
3. Hidden Pictures – Mallory Quinn is fresh out of rehab when she takes a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy. Teddy loves to draw, and one day he draws something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman’s lifeless body.
4. Don’t Look Back – After the tragic death of their eleven-year-old son, Adam and Ella are fighting to keep their family from falling apart. Then comes an opportunity that seems too good to be true. They win a competition to live for free in a breathtakingly beautiful mansion on the Cornish Lizard Peninsula. There’s just one catch – the house is supposedly haunted.
5. Bad People – Bad people is a collection of terrifying short stories that you must read.
7. The Demonic
8. Dark Halls – Highland Elementary has a dark and disturbing past—so disturbing that locals ultimately burned the school to the ground.
Years later, Pinewood Elementary is the future, and for new teacher Ryan Herb, a chance at a fresh start.
9. Frightmares
10. TEN
Creepy Teen Books
For this next list, I have some of the best creepy books for teens that you need to get your hands on this season. I am not exaggerating when I say these are a MUST READ if you are a teen. Number 11 was even made into a movie that is on Netflix.
11. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
12. Merfolk – A renowned marine biologist’s search for creatures known only in myths and legends turns deadly when the hunters become the hunted.
13. Heaven’s Peak
14. Hawkins Horror – Prepare to visit the darkest and most chilling corners of Hawkins. Dustin, Lucas, Max, and their friends want to rent videos one night. But when a blackout changes their plans, they swap seven twisted tales based on their hometown.
15. Intercepts
16. Mosquito Man
17. The Haunting of Cabin Green
18. Escape Room
19. Anya’s Ghost – Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who’s been dead for a century.
Halloween Books for Spooky Season
This next lot is perfect for the month of October. They all vary in terms of scariness from thriller to horror to mystery but regaurdless your fingers are going to burn from turning the page so fast. Take a look.
21. Then She Was Gone – Ellie Mack was the perfect daughter. She was fifteen, the youngest of three. Beloved by her parents, friends, and teachers, and half of a teenaged golden couple. Ellie was days away from an idyllic post-exams summer vacation, with her whole life ahead of her.
And then she was gone.
23. The Locked Door
24. The Adoption – Claire Keller would do anything to have a child. Unable to conceive, she’s overjoyed when she and her husband bond with the five-year-old girl they adopt. But Claire’s hopes for a perfect family shatter when her daughter stands before her covered in blood and prophesying death…
25. The Vacation
28. The Guest List – You’d kill to be on it.
30. The Maze
Creepy Teen Books That are Thrillers
Now, these last books are thrillers rather than horror, but they will still have you on the edge of your seat I can promise you that. Number 33 is supposed to be super chilling, so check that one out!
32. The Wife Before – Samira Wilder has never had it easy, and when her latest lousy job goes south, things only promise to get harder. Until she unexpectedly meets a man who will change her life forever.
33. Watching You
35. The Maid – Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. She then minds a dead body in a hotel room.
36. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
37. The It Girl
39. I Am Watching You – When Ella Longfield overhears two attractive young men flirting with teenage girls on a train, she thinks nothing of it―until she realises they are fresh out of prison and her maternal instinct is put on high alert.
41. The Girl and the Last Sleepover
I hope you loved this list of creepy teen books. Did you find any that you want to buy? I bet you did! And if you didn’t, no worries. Just go down to the local library and check there. Even if there isn’t a horror story that you like, you’re still bound to be scared of that ghost town.
Fall and Halloween are some of the best times of year for reading. You don’t have the sun out, making you feel guilty for being indoors, it’s cold so you get to bundle up, and of course, the natural spookiness that swirls in the air just adds that special touch to any good book.
So get yourself one of these and a warm sweater, and bundle up on the couch!
I am Natalie, the eldest sister of two teens. I hope to bring not only a fresh outer perspective but an internal one as well when writing here.