We know: Nothing is more terrifying right now than the day’s headlines. But still. If you’d rather tuck into some fictional frights this Halloween, here’s a handful to get you started!

Motherthing: A Novel by Ainslie Hogarth (Vintage). Reviewed by K.E. Flann. “To crack open a horror novel is to have expectations about surprise — especially in the autumn, when jump scares provide cozy, familiar thrills via ghosts, serial killers, demons, and other monsters that lurk out of view. Ainslie Hogarth’s Motherthing, however, upends our expectations of the unexpected, complicating the horror experience by delivering a narrative that is delightfully unfamiliar. The story’s terror strategy might be characterized as ‘glide scare’ rather than jump scare, a build-up that is so masterful — and often comedic — that the inevitable events, ones coming straight at us, still catch us off-guard.”

The Hollow Kind: A Novel by Andy Davidson (MCD). Reviewed by Mariko Hewer. “Although he can’t know it, August faces challenges similar to those his granddaughter will endure: A rival attempts to bully him off the land, and a dark thing in the forest rears its many heads, tempting August into illicit actions he believes will keep his family safe. When Euphemia and one of their children nearly die of the Spanish flu, August makes his first sacrifice to the monster that apparently lives in a sacred hollow, in the roots of trees that grasp and bite, and even in the animals that roam the property.”

Night Side of the River: Ghost Stories by Jeanette Winterson (Atlantic Monthly Press). Reviewed by Tara Laskowski. “The collection consists of 13 stories, a fittingly spooky number. These are divided purposefully and attentively into four sections — Devices, Places, People, and Visitations — and at the end of each is a mini essay (or ‘personal intervention’) about the author’s own experiences with the supernatural and provocative thoughts about our humanity, our society, and what comes after. Big questions get asked here, both in the stories and in Winterson’s reflections. What is waiting for us in the afterlife? What are ghosts? What does being ‘haunted’ really mean?”

The Deading by Nicholas Belardes (Erewhon Press). Reviewed by Keith Donohue. “Truth is, Belardes somehow conjures a big monster out of a wee snail. There’s a scene early on, told lovingly and with grim detail, in which the snails consume a person or two. The owner of an oyster farm, having discovered the snails eating one of his workers, pours gallons of molluscicide into the bay. The oozy horde then attacks and makes him one with the slimy mass contagion. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the estuary…”

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle (Tor Nightfire). Reviewed by Nick Havey. “Without spoiling too much of the outstanding, spine-Tingling plot, I’ll report that Misha’s do-or-die decision culminates in a spectacular finale I didn’t see coming. Bury Your Gays is, at its core, a novel about queer love and the kinship that binds a community of people. Tingle does an excellent job weaponizing truly scary horror-movie tropes and draws clear inspiration from films like ‘Hellraiser,’ ‘The Ring,’ and ‘The Witch,’ while simultaneously making us love and root for Misha and his friends.”

The Haunting of Room 904: A Novel by Erika T. Wurth (Flatiron Books). Reviewed by Eliza Nellums. “The story bounces around a bit in tone, sometimes giving us a chill ‘Ghostbusters’ vibe, with a decidedly modern group of wiseacres tackling spirits in a workmanlike manner, and other times broaching serious topics like suicide, intimate-partner violence, and, of course, the historical massacre that looms over everything. As readers, we can’t always tell how much fun we’re supposed to be having.”

Eat the Ones You Love: A Novel by Sarah Maria Griffin (Tor Books). Reviewed by Tara Campbell. “Baby — this one particular orchid — thinks Shell will be a useful tool both as a distraction from Neve’s lingering attachment to Jen and in a more literal sense later on. But when Jen finds out through a mutual friend that Neve has hired a new assistant, she’s no longer able to ignore her misgivings about the darkness in the mall, especially given the unexplained disappearances that have happened in the past. Feeling obligated to step in before another innocent person is harmed, she races back to Dublin to investigate the plant, and the final showdown begins.”

The Macabre: A Novel by Kosoko Jackson (Harper Voyager). Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro. “The shock hasn’t even begun to wear off when Evangeline asks him to analyze the painting. Lewis’ examination proves erudite, but when he leans closer to the piece and touches it, he briefly disappears into it. While inside, he meets the vengeful Edgar Dumont, the creator of the duplicate painting. Upon exiting the artwork, Lewis learns from Evangeline that Dumont is a ‘node,’ a magician whose power is deployed via his art. His works, collectively known as ‘The Macabre,’ are capable of causing untold death and destruction. Lewis is asked to travel the globe — and back in time — to help locate and destroy the remaining pieces in Dumont’s collection.”

The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-Ran; translated by Gene Png (Bloomsbury Publishing). Reviewed by Alice Stephens. “The vampires in Cheon Seon-Ran’s The Midnight Shift choose their victims precisely for their lack of community, seeking out ‘the scent of lonely blood’ coming from those who have nobody to care if they live or die, or who wish for death due to age, addiction, or unbearable solitude. And in contemporary Incheon, South Korea’s third most-populous city, who’d believe that the deaths of dementia patients were caused by these mythical monsters?”