Can anyone help me find a very very scary book?

[Bishalisha]

Hey! I’m struggling to find what I’m after. I am very fussy though

• Id like to to be ‘can’t open my eyes in the night in case there’s a ghost/demon standing next to me’ kind of scary
• set in current time period +\- 20 years
• not sci fi, post apocalyptic or dystopian
• easy to read
• doesn’t involve violence or torture against children (I liked the sound of Naomi’s House until I read an Amazon review that said it was a bit much)

Thank you

I second Adam Nevill. I'm hard to scare, but I had to set Apartment 16 aside for a while and switch to something lighter because it was giving me such intense heebie-jeebies.

I second 'Dark Matter'
Sarah Walters '''The Little Stranger'

Gerald's game was creepy

Domain by James Herbert scared the crap out of me but it is post apocalyptic.

The girl who loved Tom Gordon - it's not terrifying but I don't like walking in the woods alone because of it.

Not exactly as you describe, but I would recommend Shrine by James Herbert. Genuinely scary.

@OhButMyDarling I was going to suggest that too!

A part from that book has stayed with me and I think about every time I eat a steak 🙈🤯😂.

Any/all Stephen king

Not exactly as you describe, but I would recommend Shrine by James Herbert. Genuinely scary.

That's the only one I had to stop reading because it was so scary.

I was coming to recommend Dark Matter too. Glad others found it as scary as I did. I’m not normally a wimp but I genuinely had to sleep with the light on for days after reading it.

The Jaunt (mentioned above, from Stephen King's Skeleton Crew) is available to read online:
drive.google.com/file/d/0B5Mew0gEo47xMmFGc0owQXhfVWM/view

Shrine is.. Intense.

Dark Matter

Oh, I agree with others, this is a proper poo your pants daren't turn the light off because in the dark..... Aaarghhh!!

Op definately read this, it's bloody ace!

Another vote for Dark Matter. I listened to the audio book (narrated by the delicious Jeremy Northam) during my walks to/from the tube in the dark last winter...goosebumps and chills aplenty!

@medb22 YES to Marianne Dreams! Really creeped me out as a child and now

Agree with SymphonyofShadows

Magic cottage - was so scary , and was reading whilst home alone ,had to leave my house and go stand outside to calm myself down !

Ok going to start with Dark Matter sounds like it will scare the shit out of me (I’m an absolute wimp as it is!)

Stephen King Bag of bones.
I read so much SK as a teen but this one honestly terrified me.
I re read it recently and it had the same effect.
It's that building sense of dread/foreboding. I felt the same way with Dark Matter.

I really want a good horror, scare myself sleepless book to read now!

Good decision. Dark Matter is so scary! I've never found Stephen King scary tbh, neither books or films.

Just listened to pet semetary as an audiobook and it really unnerved me but very well done. The guy reading it sounds just right. Read it years ago but don't recall it being quite so gloom laden.

Have you read 1984?

Otherwise, Susan Hill's ghost stories are great. I was terrified by The Man in the Picture.

Dean R Koontz (Winter Moon, Night Chills, Whispers, the Strangers

Be aware that Strangers and Intensity are not horror as such, more thrillers. If you have run out of books in the future you may want to check out his Phantoms and The Taking.

Thanks for the recommendations everyone

Stella reading Woman in Black on a train at night was one of my less clever ideas. All the flashing lights as you speed past streetlamps and everyone's half reflections in the window...

And it was too scary to stop reading so I had to carry on until the end!

I second Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. I found it really unsettling. So well written!

www.amazon.co.uk/Phantoms-chilling-tale-breath-taking-suspense-ebook/dp/B009W32ZLI/ref=bmx_30?psc=1&pf_rd_p=e6320139-ba25-40b6-bdd6-62a5a343ed3d&_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_wg=LavRP&pf_rd_r=9J8EFCKKMMZJ59YQVHY5&pd_rd_i=B009W32ZLI&pd_rd_w=dSFjc&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&refRID=9J8EFCKKMMZJ59YQVHY5&pd_rd_r=44355a42-b3f4-42d7-baa1-2797546ad0ae

And The Rats by James Herbert is still a good read.