Has any book ever literally given you chills?

[CheerfulYank]

For me it's Stephen King's Dead Zone, about a man, Johnny, who wakes up from a coma with psychic powers.

(SPOILERS)

He's working as a tutor for a high school boy later on and he tells his student not to go to the graduation party as the restaurant will burn down. No one believes him, but the boy and about half the class come to an alternate party at the boy's house because they're scared. The rest of the class goes to the restaurant.

Johnny and the boy's father are playing cards while chaperoning the alternative party and a radio announcement interrupts to say that the worst fire in the state's history has broken out at the restaurant, and almost everyone there is dead.

I haven't explained it that well, but for some reason ( and I've read it a few times) I literally get goosebumps at that bit. Every time!

Anyone else have this or just me? :o

Stephen King again but I had read Gerald's Game where the lead recalls looking down a well and seeing a black lady staring back at her. Ages later I was reading Dolores Claibourne and she looks down a well and sees a child looking back at her. I slammed the book shut I was so shocked.

Recently read Life after Life, Kate Atkinson...

• sort of spoiler *

the bit where the mother untangles the cord from the baby's neck.. "practice makes Perfect... " and you realize it's been happening to her, too.

I remember that Jimmy except Dolores wasn't black :o

It was a well, you're right. I'm going to have to read that one again, I love it.

Another King moment (spoilers again) was in Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption when you realize Andy's been digging out of prison that whole time. It shocked me and I had to put the book down and laugh out loud.

The Road. After I finished it, I needed it out of the house.

Thirteen what has been happening to her? That sounds creepy!

"Let the right one in" by John Avide Lindqvist

"Under the skin" by Michael Faber

The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks. Some of that stuck with me for ages.

Seconded The Wasp Factory

Woman in Black. I read it while on a nighttime vigil with someone at a hospice. It was an big old creepy building with lots of shadows. I was sitting up with just my kindle light on in a pitch black room with a dear friend who was very ill. Winter, howly winds. And I chose to read that? FFS kitbit.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishigaro (not sure of spelling). When I realised what Hailsham was really about I was shocked. The mundane tone of the story made it even more chilling

I loved "Life after Life"

I remember that reading Birdsong really upset me.

The Stranger, by Sarah Waters

Who wrote The Road!?

"We need to talk about Kevin" freaked me out for a long time.

* Spoiler *

The bit about the eyes in the box has stayed with me ever since.

The Survivor by James Herbert. Got up in the middle.of the night to throw it out in the wheelie bin. Didn't want it in the house. No other book has made me feel like that. Was wierd.

Cormac McCarthy

I recently read Pamela Hartshorne's Memory of Midnight. Deeply disturbing and thoroughly engrossing. I had nightmares for two nights afterwards.

The heart shaped box, thought about that book long after I finished it.

Shirley Jackson's short stories - esp The Lottery and The Demon Lover.

American Psycho

seconding AF's Cormac Mccarthy. the road is truly chilling.....DH offers1984.

Agree with Wasp Factory - the kite bit had stuck with me.

Also agree Gerads Game - probably responsible for me not checking my rear view mirror as often as I should when driving dark country lanes alone at night!

'The Madness of a Seduced Woman' by Susan someone. I read it 14 years ago, it really haunted me. My (then) DH left me shortly afterwards totally unexpectedly. I kind of felt it was cursed. No book has ever affected me more. Sometimes I want to read it again but I don't dare, very very sad and haunting book. For the record, now have a lovely DH and two wonderful DC. I doubt i will ever read that book again though x

Oh yes the Road, I also thought that was awful!

Thirteen what has been happening to her? That sounds creepy!

the protagonist lives her life over and over again, each time getting better at dodging the lethal hazards that have ended it before.. Practice makes Perfect. It's not a horror book at all, but bits of it are a bit freaky, the Spanish Flu chapters gave me the chills too.

one that make me physically vomit was by John connelly
I picked it up by mistake in the shop because I love Michael Connelly books
and it wasn't until it was so awful that I realised I had the wrong author!