What's the scariest book you've ever read?

Insomnia by Stephen King I read it years ago, bit I still sometimes wonder if there's a wee bald man standing ing the corner of the room with some rusty scissors

Has Dark Matter been mentioned? That's not too bad; set in the Arctic, nice and atmospheric and a quick read.

Clive Barker - The Books of Blood.
These are all short stories (Dread & The Book of Blood being faves) and still up there with some of the best stuff he has ever written (he seems to have gone more into fantasy than horror nowdays). God alone knows what goes on in that mans head but his ability to put it down on paper is incredable &....sinister!!
I agree with Zombies about Lovecraft, wonderfully dark stuff his bleak descriptions are second to none.

Great thread!

Lots Stephen King here too - IT, and The Shining in particular.

When I was a teenager I read MR James ghost stories and terrified myself so much I had to run to a friends house to stay the night because my parents were away.

I find the vaguest hint of ghostly terrifying and generally leap into bed from a distance so the hand can't grab me - harder now 35 weeks pregnant. My Dad (75) also admitted to doing this!

The Woman In Black was very scary, far more so than the film.
yy to The Yellow Wallpaper as well
And The Turn of the Screw

Lovecraft, I always start his collected stories chuckling to myself about how ridiculous some if his stories were and it always ends at 4am with the book stored in the freezer and all the lights in the house on.

World war Z and anything with zombies generally, but I cannot resist. There is one I read a year or so ago with the most horrifying opening scene that I have never forgotten.

MR James and books of ghost stories generally. There is one about Room 13 in a hotel that only appears at night and 'steals' the space from other rooms. Oh and another about a picture where the Image changes slightly over time to give the story of a horrific tragedy/mystery.

All of these are probably responsible for the fact tht I am 31 and still afraid of the dark.

Not sure of the author but - The Entity. Has that classic supernatural/mentalhealth ambiguity.

I'm reading Birdman Mo Hayder atm, does it get more scary? Am quarter of the way through.

Your Pregnancy and Birth by Miriam Stoppard.

Only kidding. I can't handle the horror genre in any format, as a teen I read Rosemary's Baby and couldn't sleep for a month.

I love a bit of Lesbian Victoriana so have braved Affinity by Sarah Waters but it bloody terrified me. I'm too scared to attempt The Little Stranger. Wish she would write a good old romp again and leave out the ghoulies.

I read the first five or so pages of The Wasp Factory when I was a student, wish I could get my hands on some brain bleach. I still remember how sick it made me feel.

Yes, yes to The Yellow Wallpaper. What a story.

Im not keen on a lot of stephen kings. Find them a bit 'wordy' sometimes but i do love his short stories. Theres one about a guy who ends up with eyes on the ends of his fingers that always made me feel a bit 'itchy'.

Theres one though which still always terrifies me. I have to have all the doors locked when i read it. I like being scared but this one gets me every time. Its about a guy who buys a painting at a yard sale of a strange man with a fast car. As he drives across country with the painting it changes to show that the stranger is following him!! I wont give the ending away but the finale always gives me the heebie-jeebies.....

Right, im off to check that the front door is locked

Oh yes, the Yellow Wallpaper is good read.

I'm amazed. I came on to post about a book I read about 30 years ago which I thought nobody would ever have heard of, only to find 2 MNers were also disturbed by it.

Let's Go Play at the Adams. Babysitter is tortured and killed in a horrible way by group of kids.

Shocking.

Just remembered, 'The Woman In White.' That is scary, because it was so easy to have a woman declared insane. Terrifying.

Concerned. There's just such a feeling of evil about it.

It's the bit in The Handmaid's Tale where they just stop women getting money out of the ATM that's so frightening. I kept £20 in a margarine tub all the way through university, even when I didn't have any other money, just in case.

The Turn of the Screw properly gives me the willies as far as supernatural scares are c

Mo Hayder- pig island brilliant but shit me up
Anything by graham masterton particularly hymn,ritual,mirror and family portrait.

The short story is, 'Survivor Type' and is my v favourite King short story.

I didn't find, 'Pet Sematary' scary at all; I thought it was really, really silly. The Stand is King's scariest, imho.

Another vote for House of Leaves. Twice I've tried to read it and twice I've had to stop about quarter of the way in.

I read The Amityville Horror when I was about 11 or 12. The blurb made it out to be factual so I totally believed it. I couldn't put it down, then I didn't sleep for about a week afterwards.

Read I.T. when I was 15, it shit me up.
The only thing that's scared me since is The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood, just because it could happen in a flash

I think I should get some of these King and Koontz books to read, I get so bored of novels!