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I want your best, pant wettingly scary novels please

102 replies

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 29/08/2011 20:58

I've run out of scary books. I've read all of Stephen King's work. So come on, share your scariest, most memorable books here

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bigkidsdidit · 29/08/2011 21:00

I always thought Woman In Black by Susan Hill was v scary. Haven't read it for years mind you so might be magnifying in my head!

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 29/08/2011 21:04

Is the play based on it? Because I've seen the play several times and I want an unexpected scare, iyswim. It is very good though.

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groak · 29/08/2011 21:06

Oh, what's that bloke's name... james herbert!
rats was a good one, v similar to stephen king!

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 29/08/2011 21:07

I'm not keen on Herbert. His writing style leaves me a bit cold

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ttalloo · 29/08/2011 21:09

I second the Woman in Black - you won't be able to sleep for a week after reading it. Even if you've seen the play, you will still find the book incredibly suspenseful and frightening. I read it after seeing the TV film and the play and I was astonished at how much it scared me.

Dracula is terrifying. I couldn't look in mirrors after dark for the longest time after reading that.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Walters gave me the willies.

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 29/08/2011 21:11

Dracula left me 'Meh'. I'm not keen on that era of literature. Far too wordy. I want to be entertained and terrified and possibly bamboozled. The Little Stranger was alright

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bigkidsdidit · 29/08/2011 21:14

Ruth Rendell as Barbara Vine makes me nervous but it's not scary. a judgement in stone the best one for nervousness I think

groak · 29/08/2011 21:15

sheridan le fanu? m r james?

jacob & wilhelm grimm selected tales? the fairy tales, original ones which are a lot nastier..

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 29/08/2011 21:15

Ruth Rendell is Barbara Vine? Coo. I did not know that.

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redrobin · 29/08/2011 21:18

just finished Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin...totally terrifying and gripping! loved it.

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 29/08/2011 21:19

I have Rosemary's Baby downloaded on to my Kindle but haven't started it yet. So it's worth a look then?

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notnowImreading · 29/08/2011 21:24

Wordy but terrifying: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Completely sets me off with the heebie-jeebies.

bigkidsdidit · 29/08/2011 21:26

Just asked my (lurking) sister and she says early Val McDermid

ConfessionsOfAnAchingMind · 29/08/2011 21:33

Naomi's Room, by Jonathan Aycliffe. The little girl on the cover is scary before you even read it!

RumourOfAHurricane · 29/08/2011 21:39

This reply has been deleted

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quirkychick · 29/08/2011 21:40

The Lost, also by Jonathan Aycliffe. Very scary, quite a spare style. I haven't dared read any of his others.

Oh, whistle and I'll come to you my lad by M R James televised last Christmas I think with John Hurt but original is a bit different.

Another vote for Turn of the Screw by Henry James.

ObviouslyOblivious · 29/08/2011 21:41

Mo Hayder - Ritual (or any of her Jack Caffrey novels)

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 29/08/2011 22:32

Agh - I came on to say 'It' or something else of King's.

I didn't like Woman In Black and wasn't scared by it - but lots of people on here really rate it. I also didn't like The Little Stranger, which felt like a huge anti-climax.

How about some Poe?

KurriKurri · 30/08/2011 13:12

Into The Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes is very suspenseful and menacing.

GiveSleepAChance · 30/08/2011 20:14

This scared me

TinkerTailorSoldierLibrarian · 30/08/2011 20:17

Definitely some Poe.

I very much like Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper.

In fact any Gothic classic such as The Monk, Turn of The Screw, Lord Of The Flies etc.

ChristinedePizan · 30/08/2011 20:17

Okay, this is going to sound odd, but Muriel Gray's novels are the scariest things I have ever read. So scary I couldn't sleep on a transatlantic flight.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 30/08/2011 20:55

Gosh yes to Lord Of The Flies and The Yellow Wallpaper - both terrifying.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 30/08/2011 20:58

I think Gothic stuff other than Dracula and Frankenstein is often funny rather than scary - The Monk, The Mysteries Of Udolpho and The Castle Of Otranto are pretty daft anyway but there may be others that I haven't read that are really scary. If so, please tell me what they are because I need to read them!

breaktime73 · 30/08/2011 21:03

The People Next Door by Christopher Hodgson (? check author name) was pretty effing scary....