I fancy reading something scary...

[bedelia]

I used to love the horror genre in my youth, but haven't really read anything scary for a while.

Ideally I'd like to read something by a great storyteller (in the form of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, etc), and not too lengthy, though not a collection of short stories either.

Any recommendations?

The LAst Days Of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.
Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Bloody brilliant.
Fellside by MR Carey.
Pet Sematary by Stephen King.

Dark matter by Michelle paver. Couldn't put it down.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/8350864-dark-matter

Just reading through the thread and everyones beat me to it

Anything by James Herbert

Yet another vote for The Little Stranger. One of my all time faves. Also didn't realize Michelle Paver (dark matters) had another one. Off to buy now!

Horns and heart shaped box by joe hill were quite scary and page turners.

House of Leaves - Mark Danielewski. Disturbing and written in a way that puts you on edge.

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin (don't read if you're pregnant).

Great thread! Thoroughly agree with recommendations for Dark Matter and Woman in Black, which reintroduced me to good horror fiction. I went back to Stephen king after: Salems Lot kept me properly up all night!

Phil Rickmans 'The Man in the Moss' or 'December' are really good, scary reads - but the sort where you scare yourself iykwim

Pig Island by Mo Hayder
I lent it to a friend of mine and I am under orders never to give him another of her books

Peter Straub's Ghost Story

Agree with james Herbert, particularly the Ash trilogy (Haunted, the Ghosts of Sleath and Ash) and The Secrets of Crickley Hall.

Also loved the Woman In Black and Dolly.

Now adding more to my amazon list

Nyctophobia by Christopher Fowler or Hell Train, both fantastic plots and genuinely scary.

Also Nos 4r2 by Joe Hill

Reading The Power by Niomi Alderman, genuinely unsettling and giving me nightmares, which is a good sign

All of HP Lovecraft. Old stuff that will give you the biggest creeps.

Read the newspapers if you want a Real life horror story.
Do you not have a TV or internet ?
Innocent people have had their throats cut and been stabbed to death in London by terrorists.

Don't look now, daphne du maurier

Another vote here for The little stranger, Dark Matter and Thin Air. Needed to sleep with a light on after reading Stephen King's Pet Cemetery.

Oops, Sematary not Cemetery.

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Relic (read it on a business trip and didn't really want to put the light out in the hotel)
Reliquary
Thunderhead
Still Life with Crows

Lincoln Child
Terminal Freeze
The Forgotten Room

Definitely The Woman in Black

The nastiest book I have completely read was Hell House by Richard Matheson.

M.R James wrote some chilling short ghost stories.

the exorcist?
and what was that other one from years ago...about a house that was haunted, in the USA, supposed to be a true story

amityville horror, I think
well it scared me when I was 14 :o

The Tory & UKIP Party Manifestos are the scariest things I've read recently.

I'm probably going to regret being on this thread but just downloaded a couple of kindle samples amd Mo Hayder does look like an interesting author