Ominous Book Covers to Get You in the Mood for Halloween!

I love reading scary books in October--what better way is there to celebrate and appreciate the Halloween season than to read things that are dark and spooky and will leave you constantly looking over your shoulder in your fully lit house? One of my favorite things from an aesthetic standpoint, however, is of course the deeply foreboding covers that accompany some books! The more foreboding and ominous the cover, the more likely I am to pick it up, so I've decided to share some covers from books I've read over the past few years that I find particularly well done and ominous in nature. Some are 'scary/horror' books, but some aren't as much and still manage to have a scary cover. 

Final Girls by Mira Grant

The hands, the blood, the creepy glass bubbles they are in...everything's pretty creepy about this one! And the story is equally disturbing.

Revenge by Yoko Ogawa

This one just has a fairly classic 'horror' style to it with the lettering style and the sort of dirty concrete vibe going on.

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

It took me far longer to figure out what this cover was than I'd like to admit, but regardless... I find the image of this woman with the starkly colored hair down deep in the water weirdly haunting.

The Deep by Alma Katsu

This moreso toes the line of 'haunting,' but I love the hulking image of the ship bearing down and the unknown ghost-like woman lingering in the water in front of it.

Inspection by Josh Malerman

Without those eerie trees silhouettes, this cover wouldn't be half as spooky as it is, but something about this lone tower with the teal-ish/green tone really makes me shiver. It feels incredibly ominous.

The Grand Dark by Richard Kadrey

This book isn't a horror story at all, but oh man does that cover scream horror-like danger to me. This is easily one of my favorite covers of the year. I'm just in love with that mirrored image of these dark, foreboding buildings and the way they drip down into a black ink-like (or blood-like) puddle. This cover is everything.

Little Darlings by Melanie Golding

There's just something about creepy tree branches that always gets me.

And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich

More creepy trees! Plus now a floating (?) girl!

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

I love this cover for so many reasons. Upon first glance, it just looks like a image of a girl. Then you notice the "stripes" on her face and pause, but then you see the flowers and question it again... and then you sit back and take in the whole cover and realize just how weird and unnerving it is to look at this oddly captivating image of a girl whose face/neck is like one spiral strip of skin. It's perfect.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

The eyes on these people are so haunting to me. The way everyone is just staring at your from this cover is wonderfully ominous and I think it fits the tone of the book to a T.

Small Spaces by Katherine Arden

It's not inherently spooky...until you see the awful leering scarecrow and then the entire field of scarecrows waiting in the background purple fog behind the school bus!

House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo

Old decrepit haunted mansion-like buildings are my kryptonite. I actually read this series years and years ago when I was younger and I had such a blast with the spookiness of the entire thing.

What are some of your favorite scary covers?