Looking for scary books

[TodaysAGoodDay]

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!

BreakingDad I have one of Clive Barker's books, Imajica, and it's one of my faves. I will check out the others.

Innocent 'The Three' is now in my basket!

Oh no, the paperback copy of Bird Box doesn't come out until March next year! Something else to go on the wish list along with Goldfinch and Stephen King's new one.

House of Leaves is so scary that I've never managed to finish it.

I also found The Influence by Ramsey Campbell creepily terrifying.

The girl on the landing
It starts off really benign and fine . By the end I had all the lights on and was standing by the bedroom door in case something came up the stairs.

John Connolly's short story collection 'Nocturnes' is properly scary and creepy.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, and also The Lottery by the same author although that is a short story.

I am also reading 'The Haunted Book' by Jeremy Dyson at the moment which is wonderful, a series of unsettling short stories all interwoven.

Also Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist is meant to be brilliant although you said no vampires, didn't you?

House of Leaves is in the basket too, but rather expensive for a paperback.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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

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

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.

Joyland is his best book, I think.

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).

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

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

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

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

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!

Sarah Pinborough is also excellent!

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