Atypical Halloween Reads

[ER]

I was telling someone yesterday that reality contains the truest horror, and surprisingly some of the deepest horror reactions I've felt from reading novels have come from British writer PD James, whose typically ultra-plausible mystery novels contain so many harsh revelations about death and crime procedure and the inhumanity of which common people are capable that I have often emerged from her novels horrified and shaken in ways someone like Clive Barker never approached when I used to read him.

What does Rawhead Rex have in his arsenal to jar the soul like reading a description of what an on-scene coroner has to do to a murder victim who but a moment before merited human dignity? Read those passages knowing any of us or anyone we love could become a murder victim and see if you aren't profoundly disturbed.

Her works may not at first seem ready-made for this unholy season but they're often horrifying, especially since she can write about even the most terrible things with a crisp British detachment that makes her literary prose smack you all the harder.

What books that might not be obvious choices do you think add to the fear and horror of Halloween?