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Original poster

Can anyone recommend a truly scary book?

39 replies

shimmy0 · 24/07/2012 08:46

I used to love a good horror, but lately I haven't been impressed with what horrors I pick up in the book shops. I want something that's really terrifying!

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SuperB0F · 05/09/2012 20:20

Gone Girl is fabulous. Her previous novel 'Dark Places' is even better, I think.

valiumredhead · 02/09/2012 19:17

I found Dark Matter extremely eerie especially as I read it when I was snowed in!

QueenofJacksDreams · 01/09/2012 14:25

SinisterBuggyMonth I didn't realize anyone else out there had read Wulf I ended up 'losing' it in a friends car as the book scared me so much and I do love a good horror novel it was just the fact that it could actually happen that really got to me.

sixp · 26/08/2012 19:31

Honestly, House of Leaves is quite chilling and totally different. Highly recommended.

LegArmpits · 21/08/2012 14:06

even thinking about Flesh and Blood has made me want to throw all the herbs out of the kitchen cupboard

LegArmpits · 21/08/2012 14:04

Also some of James Herbert's, I think there's one called The Dark that made me gibber a bit.

LegArmpits · 21/08/2012 14:03

Flesh and Blood by Graham Masterton is terrifying!

Also, Pet Sematary, Steven King. gulp

LastMangoInParis · 21/08/2012 13:55

Ooh, thanks for reminder, Brev - have been looking forward to reading that.

BrevetsDesposes · 21/08/2012 06:17

Try Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Enough said!

epeesarepointythings · 20/08/2012 21:08

If you want scary then I suggest Joe Donnelly - may be hard to come by though as I suspect they're out of print.

I'd also recommend early Phil Rickman - Crybbe, Candlenight, The Man in the Moss and December are all brilliant. (His Merrily Watkins books are fab too, but not quite what you're after here).

HarderToKidnap · 20/08/2012 15:42

Pet Sematary. It's TERRIFYING. Re read it last week, it's slipped under the bed today and I', going to have to get my husband to retrieve it as I can't possibly reach under there blind to get it it.

Viperidae · 19/08/2012 23:31

I thought Salem's Lot was terrifying, it gives me the creeps thinking about it years later

LastMangoInParis · 19/08/2012 23:31

I loved Dark Matter too - haven't been so creeped out in years!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 19/08/2012 23:28

And The Monkey's Paw.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 19/08/2012 23:28

Yes to The Red Room. The Telltale Heart is creepy too.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 19/08/2012 23:26

I didn't like Heart Shaped Box either. He isn't a patch on his dad.

Dark Matter I found rather silly and boring and not at all scary, though I liked reading about getting ready for the trip but that's because I'm a bit of a polar exploration geek!

The Snowman was terrible.

The Woman In Black also not scary and a total anti-climax imho.

The Collector is the creepiest thing I've ever read - shudder.

Chuck Palahniuk - I really liked Lullaby but I can't remember if it scared me or not.

ItsMeYourCathy · 19/08/2012 17:22

Sarah waters' 'the little stranger' properly scared me. A real creeper that one.

sixp · 04/08/2012 23:17

House of Leaves.

YouBloodyWolf · 04/08/2012 23:03

I seldom get creeped out by horror, but Hater by David Moody really disturbed me for quite a while - I wasn't sleeping well at the time which may or may not have had something to do with it.

ElizabethX · 03/08/2012 12:22

-1 for Dark Matter. Didn't find it scary at all; felt it read like a pitch for a movie. It even has 3 acts.

this I found scary.

Likewise this.

Just don't know where there's anything like this longer than short story length.

It's not supernatural but Thomas Harris' Red Dragon is genius and makes your hair stand on end.

SinisterBuggyMonth · 31/07/2012 13:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ElizabethX · 27/07/2012 14:51

+1 for Turn of the Screw.

-1 for Woman in Black; I thought it was formulaic and couldn't forget it was a just a book.

Thanks re Dark Matter, will check that out.

It's not scary, more disturbing, but The Collector by John Fowles.

Maamaa · 26/07/2012 15:08

Love Stephen King but I often think you can disassociate yourself from 'proper ' horror stories. The most scary and horrifying book I've ever read ( and I've read James Herbert, King, John Saul and Shaun Hudson ), was The Road by Cormac McArthy. Bloody vile book and still haunts me months later, not sure if that's a good thing or not! Confused

grinningbee · 24/07/2012 20:03

Just been reading through all the suggestions and downloading samples onto my kindle Grin

I do like a nice scary book. If you like something end of the worldy - Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon is a good 'un.

I'm a BIG fan of Stephen King, so look forward to seeing what his son can do in the writing department!

IfElephantsWoreTrousers · 24/07/2012 19:57

I clicked on this thread to say what Tomjoules said - Dark Matter was so terrifying I couldn't bear it.