I want your best, pant wettingly scary novels please

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

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

Some John Connolly stuff (every dead thing is the first in a series) and his short stories (Nocturnes) are pretty scary.
Joe Hill (Stephen King's son) writes like his dad used to write.

I was v disappointed with Joe Hill - not a patch on his dad.

Just remembered The Picture Of Dorian Gray - v creepy.

I love John Connolly's early stuff, but he's gone a bit off the boil lately.

Not really any contribution but want to come back to look at some of the suggestions.

Has anyone read 'Then' it looks good on the link posted but not sure.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Nothing touches it.

Proper awake-all-night-peeping-over-the-edge-of-the-sheet scary.

And the writing is beautiful.

The Haunting Of Hill House is one of Stephen King's favourites but I'm afraid I didn't like it at all (and then felt strangely disappointed and let down by King, as his commenting on it was what encouraged me to read it in the first place!!). I was just really irritated by the two female central characters and therefore didn't care enough about them to want to know is it the house/is it in their heads etc etc and I wasn't scared by it. For me, the only way that horror works is if you are genuinely scared/worried for certain characters because you care for them. That's why King at his best is so good imho - because he creates 'real' characters who you can actually see breathing/hear screaming/engae with etc.

Then again, I'm coming to the conclusion that a lot of what King likes to read is pretty bad BUT he did like The Passage and I really enjoyed that (not quite horror but well worth a read if you like The Stand).

ConfessionsOfAnAchingMind - I agree with the Johnathan Aycliffe one, Naomi's Room - could hardly bear to finish it (but I did)

I liked The Passage by Justin Cronin

Roald Dahl's short stories
Val McDermid
Lisa Gardiner - like all her stuff.

Whispers in the dark by Johnathan Aycliffe was frightening. Only one I've read by him but, as he has been recommended by several people, will have to read more.

Loved Whispers as it is set in the North East and I knew places mentioned and that creeped me out even more.

Ooh yes - some of the Roald Dahl ones are really creepy.

[bridling/slightly pissed] Many apols, but there's no WAY HHH counts as 'bad'

Groundbreaking stuff, sorry it didn't work for you

try Mo Hayder. Pig island was really scary, as was Tokyo . the others less so but these are seriously menacing

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. Sooooo creepy.

I find 'And then there were none' by Agatha Christie very satisfyingly scary. Not a supernatural/ghost type thriller but still has good suspense imo.

I saw someone say it already, but Joe Hill is brilliant. I'm frequently underwhelmed by his dad, but Heart Shaped Box is possibly one of the best books I've read. Very creepy.

I always think FG Cottam is good for wet pants. The House of Lost Souls...Terrifying!

I think I must have a different radar to everybody else. I thought 'The House Of Lost Souls' was rubbish too. I just think with things like that - Hill House / Lost Souls - creepy house thing, it's all been done before and it's therefore easy to fall into cliche, especially if your characters aren't terribly well-realised.

We'll agree to disagree then, Remus, I loved it along with all his other books. But I also really like the HoHH and the Little Stranger :)
Having said that, I agree with you about Roald Dahl and King, at his best, can't be bettered.
I enjoyed the Yellow Wallpaper but didn't find it remotely creepy. And I'm a decorator...

Pmsl at 'I'm a decorator!' :)

I haven't read anything else by the 'Lost Souls' guy. Is there one you'd especially recommend?

The Yellow Wallpaper terrifies me because of the dreadful way that a woman with PND was treated at that time, rather than because it is conventionally scary as in horror. Creepy to think of her disintegrating like that, when actually some supported time with her baby and some novels etc would almost certainly have helped her.

Am really enjoying this thread and have in fact just ordered some suggestions on kindle - Turn of the Screw is free on there.

Plus got some MR James ghost stories on kindle- also free.

As for me, I found The Little Stranger a brilliantly scary and disturbing novel.

Oh and The Road (Cormac McCarthy) was also very scary in parts and suspenseful throughout

:) If you didn't like THOLS I doubt you'd like any of them, to be honest. I think he has quite a distinctive style, which really works for me but obviously not for you (and if I recommended something to you and you didn't like it, you'd tell me off. I've seen what you said about poor old Stephen King!) At a push, I'd say that Dark Echo is my favourite.
Also loved Lord of the Flies and Dorian Gray, so we shan't come to blows.

I was reading the Little Stranger alone in a hotel room. I'd just read the part where the telephone rings but no one is there. My hotel telephone rang and, guess what? No one there. That was very nearly the end of me.