Hoopla’s October Reading Challenge: Beware the Forest: Horror & Thrillers 

This October, Hoopla’s Reading Challenge theme is Beware the Forest: Horror & Thrillers, and it’s exactly as unsettling as it sounds. For long, chilly nights, we’ve got horror books that will keep you checking the locks, and for a single anxious sitting, we’ve got thriller books to read in between welcoming trick-or-treaters to your door. 

Every pick below leans into the same eerie setting: dense trees, isolated cabins, and roads that don’t lead where they should. Some are slasher-adjacent and gory. Others are slow-burn, psychological thriller novels that get under your skin without a drop of blood. All of them make a strong case for reading with the lights on. (Or maybe that’s just us?) 

eBooks

cover of One By one by Freida McFadden

One by One by Freida McFadden 
Claire just wants a relaxing getaway with friends to escape real life and patch things up with her husband. But when their van breaks down miles from anywhere, the group gets stranded and lost in the woods. One by one, they start vanishing. Only one may survive.

cover of The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay 
Young Wen’s family is enjoying a quiet lake vacation when a friendly stranger shows up and quickly befriends her. Soon more visitors arrive, insisting they need her family’s help to stop something catastrophic. What follows is a tense, emotional fight for survival with terrifying stakes.

cover of Buried in the Woods Below by Daniel G. Miller

Buried in the Woods Below by Daniel G. Miller  
After her career falls apart, Charlotte returns to the small town she’s avoided for years, one tied to a tragedy she’s never gotten over. Staying with old friends near a spooky abandoned amusement park, she starts noticing eerie signs that the past isn’t done with her yet.

Audiobooks

cover of What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall and narrated by Karissa Vacker 
As kids, Naomi and her two best friends spent one unforgettable summer playing pretend in the woods, until Naomi was brutally attacked and barely survived. Their testimony helped convict a killer, making them local heroes. But decades later, a friend’s confession threatens to unravel the truth they’ve hidden ever since.

cover of Hunted by Darcy Coates

Hunted by Darcy Coates and narrated by Angela Dawe 
When Eileen vanishes on a remote hiking trail, her friend Chris refuses to give up hope. After the official search stalls, he gathers a small group to comb the forest themselves. What they uncover suggests something far more sinister than an accident, and soon they’re in danger too.

cover of The Lamb by Lucy Rose

The Lamb by Lucy Rose and narrated by Emma Rydal 
Margot and her mother live a secluded life near the forest, welcoming in lost travelers with unsettling intentions. Their routine shifts when a striking stranger, Eden, arrives during a snowstorm. Margot suddenly finds herself questioning her mother’s ways and craving something more for herself.

Comics

cover of Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring written and illustrated by Patrick Horvath  
A cute, cuddly bear turned out to be a stone-cold serial killer…and got away with it for years. Now the internet’s helping her victims’ families dig up the truth she thought was long buried. Turns out you can’t hide forever, not even in a small animal town.

cover of Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire

Sweet Tooth Vol 1: Out of the Deep Woods written and illustrated by Jeff Lemire  
Gus is a rare hybrid kid, part human and part animal, who’s grown up alone in a world reshaped by a strange pandemic. After losing his dad, he teams up with a tough drifter for protection, and together they set off across a broken America, searching for a safe haven for hybrids.

cover of Trees by Warren Ellis and Jason Howard

Trees Vol. 1: In Shadow by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Jason Howard 
Ten years ago, massive alien structures landed on Earth, silent and seemingly indifferent to us. Now life goes on in their shadow, following a painter in China, a young woman caught up with a dangerous group in Italy, and researchers in the Arctic who start to suspect the Trees aren’t as dormant as everyone thought. 

Ready for scary books that linger long after the last page? Check out the full October Reading Challenge collection on Hoopla and borrow any of these titles with your library card, no waiting required. 

*Titles may vary by library. Check your local library’s Hoopla catalog for full availability.*