As the air outside gets cooler and crisper, and the sun sets sooner, it’s the perfect time to get cozy with a good book! This October reading list includes vampires and psychological thrillers to get you in the spooky mood this season. We also recognize this month for breast cancer awareness with compelling novels that sensitively explore the battle with cancer that has affected so many women.
End of Story by A.J. Finn
A new age noir unfurls from the San Francisco fog in A.J. Finn’s second novel, End of Story. The infamous mystery novelist Sebastian Trapp must finally face his own mortality after so many years of crafting murder plots for a global audience. Trapp also reckons with his own personal mystery that has never been solved: the disappearance of his wife and son. In his dying days, signs of his son begin popping up around his vast Victorian mansion, and one morning, the Trapp family awakes to another mysterious tragedy.
This is a much slower burn than Finn’s first novel, but that’s because it’s far richer with characters and scene setting along the Pacific than The Woman in the Window with its isolated, unreliable narrator who scarcely left her house. And that’s not to say I wasn’t enraptured by his first novel! Finn’s quick-paced and vivid prose are what brought that lonely house to life in The Woman in the Window, but this new and complex psychological thriller takes his writing to new heights.
And as hard as I tried to piece together the puzzle, I couldn’t guess the shocking ending of either of these books!
The Monster and the Last Blood Match by K.A. Linde
I ended up reading something completely new to me when I picked up a mystery book at a farmer’s market in Grand Prairie. They wrap up the book so you do not know what the book is, just the genre. I told them I loved the Hunger Games, so the gal recommended this vampire book.
This is something I definitely wouldn’t have picked out on my own. Much to my surprise, it’s a page-turner! It’s a gloriously weird, chaotic ride that makes you forget you were planning to go to bed early. If you like your horror with a side of “well, that escalated quickly,” add this one to your list. Full disclosure, it gets rather naughty about 80% of the way in.
Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros
For fans of the utterly addicting Empryean series by Rebecca Yarros, today is your lucky day! No, it’s not technically the fourth book in the series we’ve all been desperately yearning for since Yarros left us with that devastating cliff-hanger. Instead, it’s a collection of 13 stories from the beloved characters within the fantasy universe of dragon riders and venin. Even though the book just dropped two days ago, reviews are already coming in fast — and they’re good!
If you haven’t already started reading this fast-paced, violent, sexy series, then you’ll need to start here with Fourth Wing. I can be a skeptic of romance and fantasy books, but I was quickly hooked and tore through all the books that have been released so far.
Just Playing House by Farah Heron
Just Playing House by Farah Heron tackles some serious subjects while still delivering the fun, escapist appeal of a second-chance romance. Marley is a Toronto department-store stylist facing a preventative mastectomy after learning she carries the BRCA1 mutation, which puts her at a significantly higher risk for breast cancer. Then her former prom date, Nikhil Sharma, unexpectedly comes back into her life. Now an actor who has landed a role in a major comic book movie, Nikhil hires Marley to style him as he navigates the pressures of fame. Old feelings begin to resurface, and the two find themselves confronting both their past and the challenges in their present lives.
Heron balances heavier themes with plenty of chemistry, humor and celebrity-world drama. Marley and Nikhil’s relationship develops naturally as they support each other through difficult and very personal experiences, and I especially appreciated the thoughtful discussions about cancer risk, preventative surgery and reconstruction.
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
Have you ever wanted to be in a band? To meet all the rockstar icons who’ve long retired or passed? David Mitchell creates the fictional 1970s rock band of everyone’s dreams that you can live vicariously through as they go from nobodies to a global success, playing historic venues, and meeting legendary musicians along the way. It’s as much fiction as it is rock ‘n roll history. You may even find a new favorite song or two as you read!
