MR Carey does child narrators so well, and his stories are brilliant. This new book is even better, if that’s possible. Normally I wouldn’t like a zombie book, but by the time I realised Girl with All the Gifts was just that, I was totally hooked. I first picked up an MR Carey book – The Girl with All the Gifts – after seeing him at last year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival on stage with Joe Hill (above). How can a murderer be in two places at once? Find out in the Outsider. Really hard to choose just one Stephen King novel, but his recent novels have combined detective fiction with the supernatural (detective Bill Hodges, the books start with Mr Mercedes and end with End of Watch) and this latest one has a link up with that series. First time I read Joe Hill, he reminded me of early Stephen King, so it was no surprise to discover Joe is Stephen’s son. If you enjoy this book, I’d also recommend Horns (which was made into a film starring Daniel Radcliffe) and NOS4A2 about a woman trying to save her child from a supernatural killer. An ageing heavy metal rock star buys a ghost on eBay. I keep forcing it on other people because it is so good. One of the best ghost stories I’ve read for years. And of course at the end of the month it will be Halloween, so maybe it’s time for a good ghost story? There are so many creepy books out there I decided that in order to qualify for this list, it would have to involve something unexplained, something supernatural. Here are my top ten spooky books.

Time to curl up in front of the fire with a good book.

Dark matter michelle paver film