What's the scariest book you've read?

[imaginative]

My two are 'the woman in Black' by Susan Hill - sooo creepy, and much more recently, and probably frightened me a bit more - 'What Laura Saw' by Sarah King. This one has a couple of really great twists and a very sympathetic lead character.

So which books scared you the most? I am looking for another one to read alongside 'The State We're In'. I like to have a couple of books on the go depending on my mood. Thanks

[TheEagle]

Ah I see, thanks daemon. It's also £19 which I couldn't justify at the moment!

[KellyElly]

Dark Matter. A great spine chilling book!

[ActionManEyes]

Agree with Dark Matter - I really felt horror while reading it, and awful dread.

All of Adam Nevill's books - I'm reading his most recent one at the moment, and only in small instalments over dinner as am too scared to read it in the evening.

Pet Sematary - not so much the supernatural stuff, but what happens to the boy and his parents' grief. I read it when my DS was a similar age and I really wished I hadn't

The Dark by James Herbert - I found an abandoned copy on my way to the supermarket, took it home and read it. There is a horrible, horrible bit near the start with a dog. Couldn't get it out of my head for days, and again, wished I had not read it.

Also find a lot of MR James' stories terrifying, and some Lovecraft.

Film would be The Grudge. I am never ever EVER watching that again. Shudder.

[marshmallowpies]

Never thought of A Handful of Dust as 'scary' but the end really is quite something, it did upset me a lot and was definitely unexpected, compared to the rest of the book!

MR James - don't even go there. Can't read it at all. Same goes for Turn of the Screw, I'm never reading that again.

On the other hand, if you want to be a bit shaken up and spooked without being really scared, The Music on the Hill by Saki always gives me a delicious chill.

I don't watch much horror but The Shining and the Exorcist both terrified me. I can watch the Wicker Man though - it's haunting and disturbing but not so scary that I can't watch it. Or rather, it's such a good film I can't resist watching it!

[SnotandBothered]

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251803235324

House of Leaves (second hand) £3 on eBay TheEagle

Doitdoitdoit

[TheEagle]

Ah, snot, the pressure !!!

I'm not in the UK so I imagine the postage would be expensive ...

[Eleanorann]

I read Dracula when I was a teen, and for weeks after I was so scared I couldn't even go the loo alone.
Into the Darkest Corner is seriously spooky, I guess because it's so plausible.

[magpieginglebells]

Pet Semetary by Stephen King. I can smell the earthy smell, and the end just terrified me.

[imaginative]

Bram Stoker's Dracula is my most read book. It didn't frighten me, but I really loved the book. I think I read it about nine times.

[ChocolateCherry]

House of Lost Souls by FG Cottam scared me a lot.

And SK's Bag of Bones.

I didn't find Dark Matter scary at all and I really wanted to.

[swamper]

Books: In Cold Blood. Do not read if you are alone at home in the countryside. And it's all too real.

Films: The old version of The Haunting did it for me in the creepy department. I also found the Blair Witch Project really frightening when it came out!

[Wickeswench]

Under the Skin - Michael Faber. Deeply disturbing.

[eddielizzard]

little stranger by sarah waters. absolutely freaked me out. stephen king mildly scary by comparison! although the shining did give me nightmares.

[imaginative]

I agree with 'the Grudge' being the most frightening film I've seen.

[EstherOnions]

The Stranger Beside Me, an autobiographical book by Ann Rule, who volunteered with the US serial killer Ted Bundy on a suicide helpline. She had absolutely no suspicions about him, finding him charming. I was pregnant at the time I read this book so my hormones were probably a bit chaotic, but I remember literally crying uncontrollable tears of fright as I read certain parts. One evening my then partner returned to our rented flat to find me sitting on the stairwell in the communal hall - I was too scared to be in the flat alone! Why I put myself through this during such an emotionally vulnerable time of my life, I have no idea. Just to add, horror - both film and books - is one of my favourite genres and I'm regarded as pretty hard-nosed/freaky by friends because of my enjoyment of it. So, pregnant or not, this book really hit the mark. Perhaps because it was about real events and the evil that another human being can be capable of - for me, far scarier than a monster in the wardrobe or a werewolf on the moor.

[swamper]

Someone mentioned The Ring, which reminded me of another really great film that freaked me out a lot: A Tale of Two Sisters. It's Korean. Some real watching-through-the-fingers moments.

[imgoodatpointless]

ive just bought house of leaves and was expecting it to arrive today! I cant wait!!!!

[OutrageousFlavourLikeFreesias]

Scariest book for me is "When The Wind Blows" by Raymond Briggs. A nuclear war story drawn in the style of The Snowman. It upset me so much I couldn't even have the book in the room with me.

[MyFriendlyDaemon]

Ah I see, thanks daemon. It's also £19 which I couldn't justify at the moment!

Oh definitely don't spend that much on it. It's a book you will either love or throw at the wall.

Marshmallows not the whole of a Handful of Dust but the chapter where Tony is lost and delirious in the jungle and is rescued by Mr Todd. And then doomed to spend the rest of his life reading Dickens to his rescuer.

[Cheesymonster]

swamper -the old version of the haunting -YES. I got so scared watching it I cried. The part where she thinks she's holding her roommate's hand and the lights come on and she's over the other side of the room! I am all shivery just thinking about it.

The book is excellent. "What walks in Hill House walks alone."

[Moniker1]

Pet Semetary, that was my last Stephen King, too scary.

[TheDinnerWitch]

A book has never scared me as much as Dark Matter by Michelle Paver did!

[emmelinelucas]

I don't like Mo Hayders books. I read one and the descriptions of a dog dying of thirst was just..sick. Not frightening, just horrible. I have tried again with her books and they are just, well, sickening.
I couldn't finish Dark Matter - too creepy ! but I will, eventually.
I thought that The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters was creepy, and frightening because it could really have happened at that time (trying not to give away the story)

[Cassns1]

The book that scared me most was Intensity by Dean Koontz. It's a long time since I read it (I used to read a lot while babysitting) but that was one book that had me checking under the bed for a while and wondering where to hide. I was young :)
Great post, must check out some of the books mentioned....