Want to scare yourself silly this Halloween? We recommend you try one of these unsettling, chilling, horrifying recommendations from our booksellers that kept them awake, long into the night.

Jo Case recommends Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

I’ve recently ripped through Louise Erdrich’s beautiful, terrifying, heartbreaking new dystopian novel. Future Home of the Living God is told from the perspective of a 26-year-old pregnant woman and set in a world where evolution is going backwards, and new generations of all species on earth (plant and animal) are appearing in throwback genetic variations. Life as we know it is ending, and the apocalypse is unfolding – by moment, by day, by week, by month, and so on.

This book kept me awake with its chilling parallels to the moment in which we’re living – as well as with the classic dystopian fiction currently resurgent. With controlled reproduction, a church state and systematic collapse at its core, this is The Handmaid’s Tale crossed with Children of Men, combined with Erdrich’s distinctive voice and vision. I dare you to read it before bed and not have your sleep troubled… and I double-dare you to resist doing exactly that. I found it impossible.

Fiona Hardy recommends The Passage by Justin Cronin

I can’t remember the last time I was as spooked by a book as I was by Justin Cronin’s The Passage. The first book in a sprawling epic, following the survivors of a world swept by horror, I dreamed of the book’s vampiric antagonists one night and woke up in a total state of terror. It’s the only book that has given me nightmares, and I was desperate to read what happened next.

Jan Lockwood recommends horror!

Horror was my genre of choice growing up. I started my early teens with The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson, in which a family are terrorised out of their new home, previously the scene of a gruesome family murder, by paranormal activity. Both the build up of suspense and the in-your-face demonic possession are described to chilling effect, with the added kicker that it claims to be a true story. Then I discovered the prolific Stephen King and I was hooked, racing my way through Carrie, Salem’s Lot, Cujo, Thinner and Christine – each one delving into a world of psychological and/or supernatural nasties. And then came IT, a new high (!) in terms of exposing human fears you didn’t know you had; coulrophobia, globophobia, haemophobia, etc, etc. King is still at it too, recently completing a Bill Hodges trilogy of novels exploring the depths of a sickeningly evil mind. Great holiday reading that was.

Though for sheer gruesomeness and genuine discomfort with just how messed up people can be, as opposed to straight horror, I can’t go past the gobsmackingly brilliant Iain Banks debut, The Wasp Factory.

Ellen Cregan recommends Gothic fiction

I read Helen Oyeyemi’s White is for Witching several years ago and haven’t been able to get it out of my head since. The story follows Miranda, a young woman who has an eating disorder called Pica, which causes compulsions to only eat non-edible things – in this case, chalk and other substances. Miranda lives with her father and twin brother in a house right beside the white cliffs of Dover in England. The house has some serious paranormal activity occurring within, including the presence of a ghostly figure whose fate seems to be intertwined with Miranda’s. This is a wonderfully creepy novel that plays with narration – certain parts of the novel are even spoken by the house itself. White is for Witching is a lingering, haunting read and an excellent example of contemporary Gothic fiction.

The Monk by Matthew Lewis is a sensationally terrifying Gothic novel from 1796. There are wicked nuns, swooning girls, evil monks and dungeons, as well as a healthy amount of supernatural interference. This book is seriously pulpy. Secret affairs abound, emotions run high, and pretty much everything is haunted. Its plot is extremely complex, and you will need to make yourself a chart to keep up with all the characters and their relationships, but I think this is totally worth it for the pure pleasure it brings. If you want to know what was scaring the pants off readers back in 1796, this is the book for you.

Finally, Beloved by Toni Morrison is one of my all time favourites, but isn’t one for the faint of heart. Sethe is an African American ex-slave who, prior to her escape, killed her infant daughter to save the child from a life of slavery. Years later, a young woman appears at Sethe’s home. It has been years since she gained her freedom, but the death of her baby has (understandably) continued to haunt her. Sethe becomes convinced that the mysterious young woman, who calls herself Beloved, is the spirit of her dead daughter. This book is incredibly chilling – Morrison overlays the human world with the ghost world excruciatingly well. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this novel is that Sethe’s character is based on a real woman – Margaret Garner – a slave who killed her child rather than let her grow up as a slave. This novel is equal parts brilliant, terrifying and historically significant.

Chris Gordon recommends Idaho by Emily Ruskovich

I have quite a strict bedtime ritual. I fuss around and then finally, just as my partner is falling asleep, I turn on my bedside lamp and start reading. He has become so used to my routine that he doesn’t even stir when the bright light hits his eyelids. No matter where I am, I always like to read for at least 20 minutes before ending my day, and while I can read pretty much anything, I always want to be transported by the words.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been reading Idaho thanks to a recommendation from a quite jovial friend. It’s beautifully crafted but I haven’t finished it yet because I just cannot read it at night. This story is a careful telling of a man’s insidious demise into an unknown violence and the prose generates such immense apprehension that I have found myself turning to literally any other book instead. Idaho is keeping me awake because the violence in this book could happen – it does happen. People lose their minds. Truly, I want to know what happens in this novel, but I simply can’t have that imagery on mind when I’m about to fall asleep. I become too scared.

Dani Solomon recommends A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge

Set during the start of the English civil War, A Skinful of Shadows tells the story of Makepeace, a girl plagued by nightmares of ghosts tearing her apart, looking for the chance to possess her. This novel is simply sublime. Frances Hardinge’s use of language paints vivid pictures, adding depth and bringing the simplest scene or statement to life. The descriptions of the ghosts entering new vessels genuinely made me press my back against my couch, check behind me and pull my feet up. Magnificent, haunting and thoughtful.

Lian Hingee recommends The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

I’m a big fan of the gorgeously surreal films of Mexican director Guillermo del Toro – Pan’s Labyrinth is easily one of the creepiest, most beautifully produced pieces of modern cinema. The Strain is the first in a trilogy of vampire novels that he co-wrote with crime writer Chuck Hogan, and it’s just as visceral and compelling as his movies.

Set in modern New York, The Strain reads like a cross between The Passage and the film Contagion. CDC officials Ephraim Goodweather and Nora Martinez band together with elderly pawnbroker (and amateur vampire hunter) Abraham Setrakian, pest exterminator Vasily Fet, and low-level gang member Gus Elizalde to try and stop the spread of a vampiric infection. You’ve got Nazis, rockstars, dodgy millionaires, good vampires, bad vampires, and some super, super gross (also well-conceived) action scenes. This is enormously good fun if you’re looking for a clever, creepy and totally over-the-top supernatural thriller.