I love reading about things that go bump in the night, and particularly enjoyed horror books when I was at secondary school.

This was partly because - let’s face it - being a teenager can be really, really hard. There’s quite a lot of stuff to stress about when you’re a teen. And, for me, horror books were a great form of escapism. They kept you engaged, and on the edge of your seat, even when you had real-life problems on your mind. They could also make it seem like your life really wasn’t that bad by comparison. Whatever issues you might be having at school or home, at least you weren’t being haunted by a vengeful ghost, or pursued by a demented axe murderer.

Horror stories give us the opportunity to explore the deepest, darkest “what-if’s,” all from the safety of our armchairs. There’s no other sane way to experience the awful thrill of running for your life, or being trapped in an asylum, or watching your life implode around you. And, for some reason, we humans rather enjoy the twisted excitement of flirting with darkness in this way.

The Point Horror books were my go-to series when I was a teen, and I tore through them very quickly. I think the Red Eye series is very much Point Horror for contemporary times, and have really enjoyed the books that I’ve read so far. I also have a new Red Eye book of my own being released later this year. It’s called Charlotte Says and is a prequel to my first Red Eye book, Frozen Charlotte. Expect Victorian séances, haunted dolls’ houses, chilling schoolhouses and, of course, demonic dolls.

BIO: Alex Bell is the author of several books, including Frozen Charlotte which was featured in the Zoella Book Club last year. You can find out more about Alex here.