Top Ten Tuesday; Spooky Books For Armchair Travelers

It's Tuesday, which means it's time for another Top Ten Tuesday post courtesy of That Artsy Reader Girl and today's theme is (spooky) books for armchair travelers.

Here's my ten picks.

Blood Cruise by Mats Strandberg

Description from Goodreads

On the Baltic Sea, no one can hear you scream.

Tonight, twelve hundred expectant passengers have joined the booze-cruise between Sweden and Finland. The creaking old ship travels this same route, back and forth, every day of the year.

But this trip is going to be different.

In the middle of the night the ferry is suddenly cut off from the outside world. There is nowhere to escape. There is no way to contact the mainland. And no one knows who they can trust.

Welcome aboard the Baltic Charisma.

The Ritual by Adam Nevill

Description from Goodreads

When four old University friends set off into the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle, they aim to briefly escape the problems of their lives and reconnect with one another. But when Luke, the only man still single and living a precarious existence, finds he has little left in common with his well-heeled friends, tensions rise. With limited experience between them, a shortcut meant to ease their hike turns into a nightmare scenario that could cost them their lives. Lost, hungry, and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, Luke figures things couldn't possibly get any worse. But then they stumble across an old habitation. Ancient artefacts decorate the walls and there are bones scattered upon the dry floors. The residue of old rites and pagan sacrifice for something that still exists in the forest. Something responsible for the bestial presence that follows their every step. As the four friends stagger in the direction of salvation, they learn that death doesn't come easy among these ancient trees . . .

Loch Ness by Matt Shaw

Description from Goodreads

For decades the Loch Ness monster has been a creature of legend. Seen by only a few but doubted by many, is there really something lurking beneath the waters of Loch Ness? According to scientists who have studied the waters for years, the chances of Nessie being anything other than a giant eel are slim to none. Even so, that doesn't stop millions of people travelling to the loch on a yearly basis in the hope of seeing the creature for themselves.

Today, Reece Walker - an author in desperate need of a best-selling book after his recent ones haven't quite hit the market where they needed to be - is one such visitor. Staying next to the loch, he hopes to use the beautiful scenery - and legend itself - as inspiration for his own Nessie-based book. And, as if luck would have it, on the first day he's in town, a half-chewed-upon body washed up on the muddy banks. The culprit? A creature of unknown origin. Have the scientists missed something? Could the Loch Ness monster be more fact than fiction?

Hearthstone Cottage by Frazer Lee

Description from Goodreads

Mike Carter and his girlfriend Helen, along with their friends Alex and Kay, travel to a remote loch side cottage for a post-graduation holiday. But their celebrations are short-lived when they hit and kill a stag on the road. Alex s sister Meggie awaits them in the cottage, adding to the tension when her dog, Oscar, goes missing. Mike becomes haunted by a disturbing presence in the cottage, and is hunted by threatening figures in the highland fog. Reeling from a shock revelation, Mike begins to lose his grip on his sanity. As the dark secrets of the past conspire to destroy the bonds of friendship, Mike must uncover the terrifying truth dwelling within the walls of Hearthstone Cottage.

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

Description from Goodreads

From number-one New York Times bestselling author Victoria Schwab comes a sweeping, spooky, evocative adventure, perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

Ever since Cass almost drowned (okay, she did drown, but she doesn't like to think about it), she can pull back the Veil that separates the living from the dead...and enter the world of spirits. Her best friend is even a ghost.

So things are already pretty strange. But they're about to get much stranger...

The Haunting of Las Lágrimas by W. M. Cleese

Description from Goodreads

Argentina, winter 1913.

Ursula Kelp, a young English gardener, travels to Buenos Aires to take up the role of head gardener at a long-abandoned estate in the Pampas. The current owner wishes to return to the estate with his family and restore the once-famous gardens to their former glory. 

Travelling deep into the Pampas, the vast grasslands of South America, Ursula arrives to warnings from the locals that the estate is haunted, cursed to bring tragedy to the founding family of Las Lágrimas. And soon Ursula believes that her loneliness is making her imagine things – the sound of footsteps outside her bedroom door, the touch of hands on her shoulders when there’s no one there. Most strangely of all, she keeps hearing the frenzied sound of a man chopping down trees in the nearby forest with an axe, when all her staff are in sight. 

As the strange occurrences intensify – with tragic consequences – Ursula questions if there’s truth in the rumours about the cursed estate. The family’s return is imminent – are they in danger? And the longer Ursula stays at the estate, the more she realises that she too is in mortal danger.

The Skintaker by Frazer Lee

Description from Goodreads

YOU HAVE WHAT HE WANTS! Reclusive nineteen-year-old Rosie Shields hopes for a new lease of life that will free her from the stigma of her debilitating skin condition. Making a pilgrimage to the Amazon rainforest, Rosie experiences a new world beyond her wildest dreams among the mysterious Myahueneca tribe. But Rosie's dreams soon turn to nightmares when she embarks on a ritual vision quest that takes her to the very heart of darkness. Trapped between murderous hunters and raging forest fires, Rosie will be thrust into a fight for survival, a struggle that awakens an ancient evil stirring in the shadows...the demonic deity known as The Skintaker.

Suicide Forest by Jeremy Bates

Description from Goodreads

SUICIDE FOREST IS REAL - ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK

Just outside of Tokyo lies Aokigahara, a vast forest and one of the most beautiful wilderness areas in Japan...and also the most infamous spot to commit suicide in the world. Legend has it that the spirits of those many suicides are still roaming, haunting deep in the ancient woods.

When bad weather prevents a group of friends from climbing neighboring Mt. Fuji, they decide to spend the night camping in Aokigahara. But they get more than they bargained for when one of them is found hanged in the morning--and they realize there might be some truth to the legends after all.

Thin Air by Michelle Paver

Description from Goodreads

The Himalayas, 1935. Kangchenjunga. The sacred mountain. Biggest killer of them all. Five Englishmen set out to conquer it. But courage can only take them so far. And the higher they climb, the darker it gets.

The Resort by Bryce Gibson

Description from Goodreads

A fun and fast paced teen thriller… Imagine The Island of Dr. Moreau and The Ruins meets The In Crowd. With an island full of teenagers and no internet access, there is the overwhelming sense that all hell is about to break loose. Living on a tropical island is a paradise that most people dream of, but seventeen-year-old Mackenzie Walker is torn between staying there and the idea of having a normal life on the mainland. Spring Break is when boatloads of thrill-seeking high school and college students flood the resort, but it’s not an endless party for Mackenzie. He’s stuck working. When a frat guy winds up dead, the blame is placed on a dangerous hazing ritual, but Mackenzie’s eccentric father is convinced that it was murder. Mackenzie and his friend, Kristen, set off to discover the truth, but what the two of them uncover along the way is far more terrifying than either of them could have ever imagined. Because, on the resort… Something is out there. Something evil that is waiting for its chance to strike.