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Original poster

Scariest book you have ever read!

117 replies

BookshowthatIcandrawupsidedown · 24/02/2024 15:04

I have just discovered discovered two new authors. Cj cooke and Michelle Paver..ghostly thrillers. Like their books but I would like to read something really scary. I read a couple of james herbert many years ago. The fog and possibly one about a magic cottage. Don't remember them being really scary.

Any recommendations?

OP posts:
LunaNorth · 12/03/2024 10:55

The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks. Horrific.

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay. A very convincing book about possession.

The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons. Quite hard to find, but a brilliant bit of 70s haunted house horror.

Carrie by Stephen King.

Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. About a guy who buys a ghost on eBay. Written by Stephen King’s son, but he’s got the writing chops in his own right.

Original poster
BookshowthatIcandrawupsidedown · 10/03/2024 16:23

NHSorAcademia · 10/03/2024 16:17

I couldn’t finish On The Road. Just the abject horror of it all.

I must admit it was a bit of a slog

OP posts:
NHSorAcademia · 10/03/2024 16:17

I couldn’t finish On The Road. Just the abject horror of it all.

Allthatwegotisthispalebluedot · 10/03/2024 16:09

Come Closer by Sara Gran freaked me out when I read it. I slept with the light on for a few nights after that!

CatherineMaitland · 10/03/2024 12:51

StellaAndCrow · 29/02/2024 01:16

Crikey, just the summary/blurb for the CJ Cooke Haunting in the Arctic book is scaring me - I think I might be too much of a wimp to read the book!

I have read about 5 pages and had full-on nightmares, so have paused for now. Nothing's even happened yet but the atmosphere got me so fast.

YouDidntEvenAskIfSheWasThereMoriarty · 10/03/2024 08:28

I adore Stephen King. But I couldn't finish Pet Semetary.

I don't even want to know what happened.

Terpsichore · 10/03/2024 08:23

Rosemary's Baby is scary as hell. Haven’t read it for years but the sense of creeping dread and ultimate horror is so well done.

thenightsky · 09/03/2024 22:42

@Reduxrabbit.... Oh, I think you're talking about That Book that I mentioned up thread. Lets Go Play at the Adams.

Reduxrabbit · 09/03/2024 22:09

Yikes, I now know what the horrifying book was called that I took from my local library as a teen about the unfortunate childminder, brought it back and I feel unsettled all over again some 40 plus years later…

Original poster
BookshowthatIcandrawupsidedown · 09/03/2024 17:59

So on the back of this thread I have just finished the road.....extremely depressing and very bleak.

I have a Graham Masterton next. The house of a 100 whispers. I get all my books from the library and have a few of the books mentioned on order

OP posts:
MaMisled · 29/02/2024 17:02

The Amityville Horror scared me so badly but I was only 11 at the time.

OccultGnuNew · 29/02/2024 12:19

WorkingFromHomeShite · 27/02/2024 18:42

A book by Gerald Durrell called ‘The picnic and suchlike pandemonium’ is ‘A third book of reminiscences describing the hilariously chaotic life of the Durrell family , and other matters’ according to Amazon. Whoever wrote that review did not read the final story in the book which traumatised me as a child. There is a certain aspect of it (I can’t say as it’s a spoiler) that affects me even now and I unconsciously avoid this thing in some situations. It genuinely put me off horror films and books for life.

Edited

Well that's just unlocked a memory for me. I'd forgotten I'd read this story until WorkingFromHomeShite's post. And yes the unexpectedness of the story amidst the rest made it significantly more scary. And I know what you mean about "that aspect"!

I 'd read a few by him and up to then really liked Gerald Durrell's writings about animals and family.

Didn't put me off horror as a genre though.

Judystilldreamsofhorses · 29/02/2024 11:35

This is a great thread. I think I have read pretty much everything mentioned and love that pps flagged up Graham Masterton’s Mirror which is a particular favourite of mine with its Alice parallels. I grew up on James Herbert, Stephen King and Shaun Hudson, and actually reread a load of those books in lockdown.

I’m intrigued so many people have mentioned The Little Stranger which I read when it came out and was my least favourite SW book. I might need to give it another go!

Panticus · 29/02/2024 10:55

I'll third The Little Stranger. There is one scene in particular that still gives me the heebie jeebies if I think about it.

JediKnightingale · 29/02/2024 10:00

171513mum · 29/02/2024 09:29

I don't read horror books but the scariest book I've ever read is We need to talk about Kevin. As a mother, the idea of your child turning out to be a monster is horrifying.

On a similar theme, Saving Noah is a hard read for any mother.

171513mum · 29/02/2024 09:29

I don't read horror books but the scariest book I've ever read is We need to talk about Kevin. As a mother, the idea of your child turning out to be a monster is horrifying.

StrikesAtticFlat · 29/02/2024 09:27

On the back of this thread I have started 'No one Gets Out Alive' (the title put me off but I decided to go ahead anyway!).

It is EXCELLENT and definitely scary so far.

alloutofcareunits · 29/02/2024 09:15

UtterlyButterly2048 · 25/02/2024 20:33

We Need to Talk about Kevin. By Lionel Shriver. Terrifying but absolutely possible, in no way is it science fiction! The film was crap (I read the book years before) but the book is amazing and the basic premise? Shit scary.

This is the first book that came into my mind too, I didn't mind the film but the book was much much better! It's years since I read it and I still think about it!

LondonBagpuss · 29/02/2024 08:41

The Exorcist - read it as a teenager and remember slamming it face down on my pillow as I couldn't go on.

And another one for The Road - think I've re-read that 4 or 5 times now and it doesn't get any easier.

Both these books are leagues above the films.

Namemchangeforthispostonly101 · 29/02/2024 08:26

This reply has been withdrawn

The OP has privacy concerns, so we've agreed to take this down now.

meatpie22 · 29/02/2024 08:23

Pet Semertary terrified me.

Also tried reading Desperation by Stephen King and stopped after the first few chapters as that was terrifying me too. I have a memory of a cop driving a stranded couple somewhere and casually dropping the words 'I will murder you' or similar into a normal conversation. For some reason it gave me chills and I gave up there.

LittlePudding1 · 29/02/2024 08:07

Jelliclecats · 27/02/2024 19:42

The Rats. James Herbert. Terrifying.

I agree with the Rats. I read it when I was around 18 and still think about it now every time I go to London and am in the underground. This is over 30 years on.

SpikeWithoutASoul · 29/02/2024 07:51

Like a pp, the Silent Companions terrified me. Read it on holiday in bright sunshine but it didn’t help! Haven’t read another spooky book since.

Original poster
BookshowthatIcandrawupsidedown · 29/02/2024 07:05

Oh my gosh..so many recommendations!! Thank you all. I have a lot of reading to get through!!

@StellaAndCrow. Yes..a haunting in the Arctic....certain elements of this book will stay with me..its not for the everyone. Let me know if you read it.

Edit: spelling!

OP posts:
Rifalo · 29/02/2024 01:58

Anything by Graham Masterton. That fella knows how to scare