You'd think that with, well, everything this year has had in store for us, readers would flock to sweet stories with happy endings. But as we've peered into our data, we've seen a consistent trend of horror reading among Goodreads' members in 2020.
And it's been a great year to dig into the genre, with many of the biggest books serving up the terror and chills. From the creepiness of Mexican Gothic to the jump-while-reading scares of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, straight-up horror novels are having a moment. This darkness is also seeping into other genres, as hit mysteries including Home Before Dark and The Shadows fully embrace the trappings of the horror novel.
Below you'll find readers' most popular horror novels of the year, with a type of fright for every October vibe, from classic ghost stories to sci-fi–slanted dread to ghoulish mysteries to young adult wickedness.
