Books
Alex North: 5 of the most chilling reads
There are always a few things I want to achieve when I sit down to write. I want the story to be compelling, of course, and for there to be characters the reader cares about. But – cards on the table here – I also want it to be a little bit spooky. There’s satisfaction in writing a scene that gives you a chill, because hopefully readers will feel that too.
Here is my choice of five very different books, each of which has given me a shiver over the years. There’s pleasure to be had in feeling the rational world unsettled and tipped slightly off-balance, and all of these books deliver that and more.
Ill Will by Dan Chaon
Ill Will by Dan Chaon
Thirty years ago, Dustin Tillman’s adopted brother, Rusty, was convicted of murdering their family. In the present day, Dustin is a psychologist, and the conspiracy theories of one of his clients have led him to investigate a series of drowning deaths. At the same time, Rusty has just been released from prison. The connections come together slowly, each piece building towards a whole that is blacker than you can imagine. Ill Will is beautifully-written and gripping, but it’s also a chilling portrait of fractured minds and memories in which even the text itself sets out to disorientate and disturb.
The Last House On Needless Street by Catriona Ward
The Last House On Needless Street by Catriona Ward
The elements might be familiar at first – a woman searching for her missing sister; a possible serial killer; a house near the woods in which an odd local man spends his days lost in thoughts and fantasies – but they’ve rarely been deployed as effectively as they are here. And while there are plenty of shudders to be had along the way, what lingers long after the end is the sense of compassion and humanity in the story and the writing. It’s a book that will make your heart race and freeze at times, but which will also break it and then mend it.
Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski
Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski
There are now six novels in Matt Wesolowski’s innovative and impressive Six Stories series, but it’s worth starting at the beginning. The books take the form of transcriptions of six podcast episodes in which the host, Scott King, investigates a mysterious event from different angles: in this case, the death of a teenager at an outward bound centre. The format allows Wesolowski to deliver complexity, nuance, and doubt, but it is also the perfect vehicle for exploring the skin-crawling local legends he deals with. This is ‘creepypasta’ come to life – and like all the best podcasts, you’ll want to binge the whole lot.
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
There’s a good reason this book finds its way onto lists like this so often: it is slowly and quietly and absolutely terrifying. The atmosphere settles in like a cold mist, reflecting the frozen, darkening climate in which the story takes place. We follow an ill-fated 1930s expedition to the Arctic, the protagonist eventually finding himself alone at an isolated, haunted site, faced with a winter of endless night and his own unravelling mental health. Except… perhaps he’s not really alone there at all. Dark Matter is the perfect chilling ghost story for a cold, snowy night. A modern classic.
The Best of Michael Marshall Smith by Michael Marshall Smith
The Best of Michael Marshall Smith by Michael Marshall Smith
Whether it’s his early science-fiction novels – Only Forward; Spares – or later crime novels like The Straw Men (as Michael Marshall), Smith always delivers emotional depth and glimpses of beauty to go along with the darkness. He’s also a prolific short story writer, and this collection is a great place to start. It includes many of his unsettling and award-winning older tales, but also more recent work such as What Happens When You Wake Up In The Night, a nightmare of a story that will chill you to the bone. Almost everything here will tip you off-balance in ways you won’t be expecting. And as I said at the beginning, there is real pleasure to be had in that.
There you have it – Alex North’s top chilling reads! What would make your list? Let us know in the comments below…
Alex North was born in Leeds, where he now lives with his wife and son. He studied Philosophy at Leeds University, and prior to becoming a writer he worked there in their sociology department. The Whisper Man was a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, and is being published in more than 30 languages.
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