Top Ten Tuesday (99): Creepiest Book Covers

Top Ten Creepiest Book Covers

I’m not usually one to read scary books, friends. Not because I scare particularly easily, but more because I have to be in the right mood to want to be scared, and I’m not often in that mood. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t put together a list here! Some of these creepy covers are books I’ve read, some are books that aren’t out yet, and some are books I haven’t read yet and just think they covers are flat-out shiver-inducing. Creepiest book covers ahoy!

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

I just finished reading this one for All Hallows Read (thanks, Alyssa my dear!)! It was one of those books where the characters are just EFFED UP and totally cray, but look at this cover. Like, they look like corpses.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

This book just breaks my heart. It’s so funny when a book that isn’t creepy or even scary has such a scary-looking cover. This book is more sad than anything else, but that doesn’t take away from the freaky, unsettling vibe you get from the seeing the Monster on the cover approaching Conor’s house.

The Child Thief by Brom

Ooooh, creepy Peter Pan! Something about the pointiness of Peter makes me nervous. Also, are those souls or something floating in the background there? Not your mama’s Peter Pan, friends. This one has been on my TBR for ages; maybe one day soon I’ll read it and kind of ignore the cover.

Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves

So maybe this one is a little lame. It’s just blood, right? Blood dripping out of some dainty tea cups. Gives me just a little shiver, honestly.

Krampus by Brom

OMGGGGG WHAT. I almost can’t describe the freakiness of this cover. THE TONGUE. PUT IT AWAY. Alyssa, who loves creepy things, assures me that this cover is misleading and that this book is actually a great, folklore-based tale with a literal bad Santa. Consider me intrigued.

The Name of the Star: Shades of London #1

Oh, sure. Floating ghost of Jack the Ripper, staring over a sleeping girl’s body. NOT CREEPY AT ALL. For the record, this cover is way creepier than the paperback redesign. This is actually a pretty creepy book, too, so the cover does a good job of setting the tone.

Tighter by Adele Griffin

OMG it’s like claustrophobia up in here. WHY CAN’T SHE ESCAPE? I’m so agitated by this cover! The sensation of pushing against something and being crushed and not having enough air to breathe and OMG. I don’t even get claustrophobic, really, but this cover is just…*shudders*

The Strange Maid: United States of Asgard #2 by Tessa Gratton

So here’s one of the books on my list that isn’t out yet, but THE EYES. THOSE BIG, CREEPY EYEBALLS. I’m creeped out by close-ups of eyes. I used to work in medical publishing and we published a journal for ophthalmologists and I couldn’t even look at the pictures of eye surgeries. ICK OMG I can’t. I look at them and I just want to shut my own eyes to protect them.

The Seven Year King: The Faerie Ring #3 by Kiki Hamilton

Something about this mask unsettles me. You know what it is? I just realized it: There’s a face but WHERE’S THE BODY. Where is it? It’s a floating, deathly pale head, half covered by a mask with no discernable body. CREEPY.

Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff

Look at this creepy haunted house! This book isn’t out yet, either, but there’s something undeniably creepy about decrepit old houses. Nothing good ever happens in a house that’s falling apart and covered in creepy vines.