Book Smart: Dean Koontz and other picks for your Halloween reading list
Halloween, a day that celebrates creatures that scare us, is just around the corner. Although some of us go out of our way to avoid haunted houses, horror films and scary novels, some of us actually enjoy the feeling of being scared and are enthralled by the unnerving.
Science now tells us that this may not be just a matter of personal preference but rather a function of individual brain chemistry. When we are immersed in a scary or thrilling situation, our brains release dopamine, a chemical that can act as a reward. Some people’s brains lack “brakes” on both the amount of dopamine released and the length of re-uptake. In short, these individuals not only get more of a kick from the dopamine, but they feel more pleasure because the brain keeps the chemical around longer.
In addition, when you are startled or scared, you also experience an adrenaline rush in which your brain and body get highly aroused. This rush is a kind of natural high that blocks pain. Studies have further demonstrated that the stimulation experienced via fear can actually be transferred to other experiences that may not be similar in any way. Basically, scary things may make other things we experience feel more “vivid” or intense.
But let’s face it. Humans are complex beings and everything does not come down to hormones and chemistry. So why we are so obsessed with things that go bump in the dark?
Psychologists suggest that being petrified can be emotionally exhilarating because we like “novelty,” something that departs from our everyday experience. Part of the appreciation of being scared is that it is temporary. A terrifying story may fill us with fear and dread, but when it is done, we return to our world. The short-lived flood of fear paired with the return to safety offers us a sense of control over terror. Just like the characters who have survived something dark and terrifying, so have we, and this gives us a boost of self-confidence.
In our everyday lives, many of us expend a lot of energy pushing away uncomfortable emotions like anxiety, dread and fear. But, in reality, we need these emotions to access all the emotions that make us fully human. Immersing ourselves in horror stories gives us an emotional outlet for these feelings without seeking danger in real life or risking our well-being. It is a valuable way to confront and engage with potentially traumatic situations but from a safe distance.
As we engage with fear in controlled doses, we also have the opportunity to learn about ourselves. Reading a scary novel, in particular, offers a completely personal space that affords us the opportunity to explore even darker emotions. All of us on occasion have impulses or forbidden thoughts that we deem unacceptable. For example, have you ever stood on a tall building and imagined throwing something off or even pushing someone? Some psychologists argue that horror fiction provides an outlet for this kind of compulsive thinking, making us less likely to ever act on it.
Our particular fascination with vampires, ghosts and zombies highlights simultaneously our anxiety about death as well as our obsession with it. Many of us don’t like to think about death, let alone talk about it. Moreover, death is often removed from our daily lives, taking place in sanitized hospitals. “Horror” stories place mortality right in front of our faces. It allows us to confront our fear of death and privately explore our wishes and fantasies about what comes next.
Regardless of your choice of demons, the following novels allow you to momentarily revel in the adrenaline rush of a good scare.
"Daughters of the Lake" by Wendy Webb is an entrancing ghostly thriller about love, betrayal and family secrets.
Kate Granger has returned to her parents' home on Lake Superior to recover from the ending of her marriage. But peace and quiet are not to be had. Kate discovers the body of a woman and her newborn infant washed up on the shore. The police can’t identify her, but Kate recognizes the woman as someone who has been haunting her dreams.
The woman, it appears, may have been murdered and preserved by the cold lake waters for nearly 100 years. But why then is she reaching out now to Kate from beyond the grave? Is she seeking Kate’s help or does she herself have sinister aims?
"The Winter People" by Jennifer McMahon is an intensely chilling and suspenseful thriller about the indelible bonds between mothers and daughters.
Told in a dual timeline, this is the story of 19-year-old Ruthie who lives off the grid with her young sister and mother in an old Vermont farmhouse made infamous by murders there in 1908. But, one day her mother goes missing without a trace. Searching for clues, Ruthie discovers the diary of Sara Harrison Shea, who was found dead there a century ago just months after her young daughter’s death. As Ruthie seeks to find her own mother she discovers links between the horrors revealed in the old diary and her mother’s disappearance.
"Cold Fire" by Dean Koontz is a pulse-pounding, hair-raising, otherworldly thriller about a man who must come to terms with his past.
Jim Ironheart is a man who has been given either a gift or a curse. He can sense deadly catastrophes before they happen and save people in danger. His rescues, often of innocent young children, seem to be orchestrated by someone or something unseen. When one of his death-defying rescues is witnessed by female reporter Holly Thorne, his privacy and life are invaded by her unrelenting curiosity. She is determined to find out the source of Jim’s insight. Is it God? An alien? A malevolent spirit? Together they journey to Jim’s hometown to delve into his past, but will they survive to find the answer?
Book Smart is a monthly column by Nancy Harris of Scituate, a practicing psychologist and a former instructor of psychology at Harvard Medical School.
Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. Please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Patriot Ledger subscription. Here is our latest offer.
