Beneath the Book Club: Spooky season arrives. It’s time to choose October’s read.

12 hours ago

3 min read

Halloween means October’s book has to be a little creepy, right?

Our next selection of books includes disappearing women, a true story about a “witch” and a book that will soon become a Hulu television series starring Lindsay Lohan.

Keep scrolling to learn more.

1. The Unknown by Riley Sager

3.9 on Goodreads

WHAT GOODREADS SAYS: “In 1926, five women disappeared from a remote island in Vermont. Now, one hundred years later, it’s happening again.

“Struggling actress Marin Keane is shocked when she lands a role in a major motion picture about the unsolved mystery of New Avalon, an island on sprawling Lake Faraday in Vermont.

"She’s even more surprised when she learns that the role requires a weeklong research trip to that very spot.

“Because New Avalon isn’t your ordinary island. A century ago, it was a commune for spiritual mediums—until they all vanished in 1926.

“The only trace of them was five dresses hanging from the branches of an old oak tree in the middle of the island, one for each missing woman.

“Some locals say they simply left. Others think they were murdered.

"But the prevailing opinion, thanks to a diary left behind by one of the vanished, a young woman named Daisy Rue, is that a séance gone wrong conjured something supernatural that took them all one by one.

“Not long after arriving, Marin and her castmates, including legendary actress Violet Wright and white-hot director Ronan Peters, begin to realize all is not right with New Avalon.

“They hear strange noises in the night and notice mysterious symbols left behind by the island's previous occupants.

"And after a sudden health emergency leaves Marin, Ronan, and the other actors stranded on the island, the disappearances begin again.

“Is it the work of someone trying to derail the movie? Or is the island’s alleged supernatural past catching up with the present?

“As fear and suspicion mount, Marin turns to Daisy’s diary, hoping it holds the key to figuring out what really happened to the women of New Avalon—and how to keep the island’s terrible history from repeating itself.”

2. The Last Witch by C.J. Cooke

4.1 on Goodreads

WHAT GOODREADS SAYS: “Innsbruck, 1485. Helena Scheuberin should be doing what every other young wife is doing: keeping house, supporting her husband, and bearing his children, but as an outspoken, strong woman, she sometimes has difficulty fitting in.

“Then she draws the unwanted attention of a malign priest who is just starting his campaign to root out ‘witches’ from among the women of her town, and when her husband’s footman dies, she finds herself accused not only of murder but of witchcraft.

“Helena must find the courage to risk her life and the lives of others by standing up to a man determined to paint her as the most wicked of all....

“Based on the incredible true story of a woman who challenged a man who went on to become one of Europe’s most notorious and cruel witchfinders, this novel offers a jewel-bright portrait of female power.”

3. Count My Lies by Sophie Stava

3.7 on Goodreads; soon to be a Hulu television series starring Lindsay Lohan.

WHAT GOODREADS SAYS: “Sloane Caraway is a liar.

“Harmless lies, mostly, to make her self-proclaimed sad, little life a bit more interesting.

“So when Sloane sees a young girl in tears at a park one afternoon, she can’t help herself—she tells the girl’s (very attractive) dad she’s a nurse and helps him pull a bee stinger from the girl’s foot.

“With this lie, and chance encounter, Sloane becomes the nanny for the wealthy, and privileged Jay and Violet Lockhart.

"The perfect New York couple, with a brownstone, a daughter in private school and summers on Block Island.

“But maybe Sloane isn’t the only one lying, and all that’s picture-perfect harbors a much more dangerous truth.

"To say anything more is to spoil the most exciting, twisty, and bitingly smart suspense novel to come out in years.

“The thing about lies is that they add up, form their own truth and a twisted prison of a world.

“And in Count My Lies, Sophie Stava spins a breakneck, unputdownable thriller about the secrets we keep, and the terrifying dangers that lurk just under the images we spend so much time trying to maintain.