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Original poster

Looking for scary books

56 replies

TodaysAGoodDay · 01/06/2014 22:40

Hi,

In January I decided to do the '52' challenge, i.e. read 52 books in a year. I am 32 books into a wonderful year, I haven't read so much in over 10 years. However, most of the books I am reading are intricate stories, beautifully written, as recommended on several threads here on MN.

I digress. What I particularly lack is scary books, in particular psychologically scary books. The only 'scary' ones in my bookcase are 'Outpost' by Adam Baker and 'The Abominable' by Dan Simmons. So I am looking for recommendations, but with three exclusions please:
-no zombies
-no blood, guts and gore
-no vampires

Yes, I know 'Outpost' is zombies. However, no more suggestions for that particular genre please.

All other ideas welcome, thank you!

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Cheboludo · 18/06/2014 22:18

Ooooh yes, The Collector is great.

GrouchyKiwi · 18/06/2014 21:43

The Collector is an excellent book. Fowles is a very talented writer. It definitely disturbed me too.

LavenderCakes · 18/06/2014 21:38

I'm not scared by kiddie vampires or nuffin like that but can recommend The Collector by John Fowles if you want your mind to be messed up. That might depend if your nightmare is the whole being kidnapped-and-locked-up thing as mine is!

Second (or third) The Woman in Black as a great ghost story.

Original poster
TodaysAGoodDay · 18/06/2014 21:30

Something Wicked rather!

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Original poster
TodaysAGoodDay · 18/06/2014 21:29

I agree with Something Scary Rebekah, I really enjoyed that one, I may have to have a re-read.

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RebekahMacd · 15/06/2014 16:07

Seconding Jeremy Dyson's The Haunted Book. It starts off sort of odd, you wonder what's going on, and the stories get more and more bizarre and unsettling. I loved it.

One of the scariest I've ever read is Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. Utterly brilliant.

And Mr Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett, and The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes were both disturbing. (The latter is a little gory.)

FlossieTreadlight · 09/06/2014 21:18

This thread has some top tips, thanks. I also loved Joyland - thought it was great.

Rebekahlr · 09/06/2014 20:04

Sarah Pinborough is also excellent!

Rebekahlr · 09/06/2014 20:03

Meat by Joseph D'Lacey is one of favourite novels. It's post-apocalyptic what can we eat horror. To say more would spoil it. I have also written a novel about a corrupt care home which is certainly dark, called Home. I know you aren't meant to self publicise but it's published by Red Button if you are interested you could find it on the net. Definitely read Meat!

SarahAndFuck · 05/06/2014 21:43

NOS4R2 is good but I preferred Heart Shaped Box, which you should be able to get in paperback or on Kindle.

Original poster
TodaysAGoodDay · 05/06/2014 21:20

NOS4R2 has gone on my wish list as it is only available in hardback at the moment. Something to look forward to!

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CoteDAzur · 05/06/2014 19:34

Oh Gawd. Servant Of The Bones was terrible. And I had loved her first couple of vampire books.

BreakingDad77 · 05/06/2014 16:10

Forgot 'Servant of the bones', which is a non vampire book by Ann Rice of Interview with the vamp etc

Welshwabbit · 05/06/2014 10:49

Probably a bit late now, but possibly "The Little Stranger" by Sarah Waters or "I'm the King of the Castle" by Susan Hill (I know lots of people read the latter at school - I didn't, read it recently and thought it was properly disturbing).

Wellwellwell3holesintheground · 05/06/2014 00:52

Joyland is his best book, I think.

Wellwellwell3holesintheground · 05/06/2014 00:51

The scariest Clive Barker is books of blood. But very gory.

Hold My Hand by Serena Mackesy is v v scary. My sister had to sleep with the lights on when she read it.

McFox · 05/06/2014 00:25

I'd second NOS4RA2 by Joe Hill (he's Stephen King's son), his stuff is really creepy.

PaulinesPen · 05/06/2014 00:01

House of lost souls by FG Cottam is psychologically (very) scary.

SinisterBuggyMonth · 04/06/2014 23:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
TodaysAGoodDay · 04/06/2014 21:10

A sequel to Imajica? Fantastic, thank you! I just checked it out on Amazon, it's called Reconciliation, so into my ever-expanding basket it goes.

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BreakingDad77 · 03/06/2014 10:13

TodaysAGoodDay there is a sequel to Imajica, and maybe you might like Weaveworld, and also possibly The Thief of Always. There is the books of the Art (great and secret show/Everville) and also Cabal (of which the film Nightbreed is based)

SarahAndFuck · 02/06/2014 22:56

And an unexpectedly creepy book I read a while ago was 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad. It's a YA book but if you can get past that it's slowly builds in tension and creepiness.

Cheboludo · 02/06/2014 22:50

I have to agree with skinmysunshine - Pierre Lemaitre is terrific. They aren't "scary" books but they are absolutely superb crime fiction. skin I went to a Lemaitre event last week - he was very funny, modest and charming. He only published his first book aged 56. The translator got a bit confused but I think the 3rd book in the Camille trilogy is due to be published next year & then the book he won the Prix Goncourt with will be published 2017.

I couldn't finish House of Leaves because of the interminable boring footnotes! I think it's a great premise for a book but it didn't work for me.

I really liked Dark Matter but I didn't find it especially scary - I thought it dealt with the terror of isolation and dark and cold really well, but I didn't jump or shiver.

SarahAndFuck · 02/06/2014 22:39

Night Film by Marisha Pessl. It's not a standard horror but there are scary moments, weird happenings and supernatural aspects and if nothing else it's just a very good book. It has lovely illustrations and pages that look like news reports and internet print outs too.

I will second John Ajvide Lindqvist but if you don't want vampires or zombies then perhaps you could try Harbour or Little Star. He also has a book of short stories called Let The Old Dreams Die, which is quite good, bit of an odd mixed bag of stories.

I liked The Ritual by Adam Nevill best but one of his other books, Last Days, also really gave me the creeps. The Ritual is about being lost in the woods with something hunting you and Last Days is about a film crew investigating a suicide cult whose surviving members claim they are being haunted by the ones who died.

If you have a Kindle there's a very good short story called A Sincere Warning About The Entity In Your Home by Jason Arnopp that was very good.

FG Cottam is one of my favourite writers at the moment. The Waiting Room is probably my favourite but I also liked Dark Echo and Colony.

If you like psychological books without a supernatural aspect I enjoyed The Magpies by Mark Edwards and A Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth.

Original poster
TodaysAGoodDay · 02/06/2014 21:27

Nerf that's exactly the sort of scary I'm after.

And yes, no vampires please, although I have really enjoyed The Passage and The Twelve. I've just started Outpost, so no more vampires for a while.

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