Really scary books please.

Prey by Michael Crichton

Its a Sci-Fi thriller really but it creeped the hell out of me and I'm pretty de-sensitized to horror.

Just read Dark Matter by Michelle Paver, thanks to Jackyourbody for the recommendation!

It was brilliant!

Tana French's last one really got under my skin, bleak and terrifying. What's it.. ehm, Broken Harbour!

Peter Hamilton's Reality Dysfunction books were not scary at all. Starts off at sci-fi, then becomes a zombie book. Meh.

OP - Try "Duma Key". It's one of Stephen King's newer books.

I recently read FG Cottam The Waiting Room. Really enjoyed it. It's rekindled my interest in the First World War and the War Poets too.

I've picked up Brodmar Bay (i think it's called) and thought i might give that a try.

I prefer ghost stories and psychological terror to really heavy gore.

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. Very good and VERY scary!

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Anything by Nicci French - especially 'Killing Me Softly'

Had to hide the book in a cupboard, scared the pants off me.

Jonathan Aycliffe - Naomi's room. Bloody hell it's horrific. There's a part midway through that really sacred me. The ending spoilt if for me though.

And of course The Little Stranger - ooh the bit in the Nursery. I was on the edge of my seat, literally. (Awaits the film)

Have you read Brodmaw Bay yet, Georgina and Nowweknow?

Remus, it was me who loved FG Cottam! Brodmaw Bay, his latest, is just brilliant. So scary without resorting to blood and guts. Also just read Florence and Giles which, once I'd become accustomed to the narrators rather idiosyncratic vocabulary, was great. Spooked me when I had a rare moment to myself.

I like FG Cottam.
The Waiting Room is my favourite,followed by Dark Echo.
Quite enjoyed House of Lost Souls,found The Magdalena Curse rubbish.

I haven't read, 'The Magus.' In fact, I know nothing at all about it. Thank you so much for reminding me, as I'm always on the look out for something new to read and (as is clear from this thread!) am horribly fussy. I will look out for it. 'The Collector' completely freaked me out though - to the point of nightmares.

'Bag Of Bones' is great - that scene when the guy (have forgotten his name) goes to drown the girl - arghhhh.

Can't wait for the new Dark Tower book, which is out v soon.

Please tell me more books you love, as it seems we tend to go for similar things. :)

Hi Remus..Oh dear, no it wasn't moi. It was really because of a mn thread ages ago suggesting it that made me read it at all. I thought it was very scary but it just goes to show that we all have different ideas about what's scary. I do prefer a psychological rather than a gory scare wrt to books though.

I must agree with you about Stephen King. He's really very hard to beat. Someone mentioned Bag of Bones earlier - I thought that was exceptionally good. You also mentioned John Fowles The Collector. Now that is a good book, disturbing rather than horror and like nothing else. Have you ever read The Magus by him? I always put that in my list of all time favourite books if the subject comes up. It's so hard to describe it. Like a book about a surreal painting I loved it.

Now re: The House of Lost Souls by F G Cottam - is it you I've talked to about this before? I hated it and thought it was really silly, cliched (can't do accent thingie) and completely unscary but if it wasn't you, somebody else on MN found it terrifying too. I was disappointed, as I thought it seemed a perfect book for me on picking it up. It reminded me of 'The haunting Of Hill House' which I also really hated.

I was recommended "Come Closer" by Sarah Gran by another Mumsnetter on a similar thread. It's not keep-you-up-at-night scary, but it's a great read - a sort of thoughtful horror story.

(I reviewed it here if you'd like to see what I made of it.)

I know it's technically sci-fi, but I thought Peter Hamilton's REality dysfunction trilogy was pretty scary in places. Think it's actually described as sci-fi/horror.

The House of Lost Souls by F G Cottam.

It's a really good story and terrified me but I couldn't put it down. It's frightening in a psychological way which is much more disturbing imo than gory stuff which doesn't appeal to me.

Mmmmm. I'm a big fan of Neil Gaiman's stuff, so I suspect I'd have remembered/noticed if it was one of his.
I'll go check out Michael Marshall Smith, though. Thanks for the tip!

Can I offer "The Terror" by Dan Simmons (apart from the last 100 or so pages), and 'The girl who loved Tom Gordon" by King...

...and also ask aficionados of short horror and ghost stories if they have ever come across one story in a collection of short stories (I think they were ghost/horror, but I'm not sure) that featured a walk up One Tree Hill in SE London, and a change in time from present to past (with accompanying weirdness) as the walker moved up the hill? I live near the spot, read the story in the library one day, and could Never Find The Book Again*. woooo-ooooo, cue spooky music.

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*It's probably been transferred to Catford library.