Utah's picture
Moderator
Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry December 6, 2011 - 6:52am

Something that's always bothered me about scary books is that, well, most of them aren't scary.  At least, not most of the ones I've read.  I know that the horror market really went to seed in the '90s, so maybe none of that is a good temperature gauge by which to measure the genre.  But when I'm reading a scary story, I want to be afraid to get up out of my chair, and I just don't find that very often.  Stephen King, the most prolific horror writer, ever, has written, in my opinion, two scary books (It and The Shining).  Blatty's The Exorcist.  Simmons's Summer of Night (the first couple hundred pages; after that it flattened out).

So what books have you read that have just scared the daylights out of you?  Maybe I can find some good reading ispiration in your esteemed wisdoms.

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. December 6, 2011 - 8:27am

Clive Barker's Books of Blood disturbed me when I originally read them, there are some good stories in there especially "Dread" about a psychology professor who does experiments on his students.  Barker's creations such as Pinhead and Candyman are disturbing, before all the sequels.  I love the idea of a puzzle box that opens doors to different dimensions.  That being said and I know this sounds terrible for a writer to say, books don't scare me that much, I guess because I grew up watching horror movies so I am more horrified by things visually rather than reading about it in a book.  What scares me is the absence of horror in a book, when horrible things are described in such an emotionally detached way that you know the narrator is a total sociopath like in Joyce Carol Oates' Zombie where the serial killer loves his victims and just wants them to love him back by giving them icepick lobotomies so they can be his "zombies".  In a short story by her called "Spiderboy", she lets you very subtly discover things like how a young boy realizes his father is picking up young hitchhikers and killing them because he starts finding articles of clothing in his Dad's house when he comes and visits him on weekends.  Then when he tells the police the truth, his mother blames him for 'ruining their lives'.   I think Joyce Carol Oates is really awesome in her short stories at showing the horror of everyday life like in another story called, "The Fish Factory", a woman learns her daughter was raped and murdered and her obsessive first thought is how all the men at the crime scene saw her daughter naked lying there like a piece of meat.  It's those subtle things that destroy people and drive them insane.  To me, it's those things that are horrifying.  Monsters in the dark, not so much anymore.

I recommend the short story collections of Joyce Carol Oates especially "High Lonesome" which covers four decades of her writing.  I think she is a genius at putting herself in people's heads and understanding the human experience.

 

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. December 6, 2011 - 8:31am

As far as Stephen King, I think Carrie is scary from a religious standpoint and how she crucifies her own mother at the end with her mind.  "Apt Pupil" is also good because of the whole Nazi lampshade thing.   Plus "The Mist" because it's deceptive, the monsters in the mist aren't the scary part, it's how the people in the supermarket turn because of their fear against each other and resort to human sacrifice to keep the monsters away. 

mutterhals's picture
mutterhals from Pittsburgh December 6, 2011 - 8:37am

American Psycho didn't scare me necessarily, but it most certainly disturbed me and I appreciated that. Too many writers try to do the same thing and fail so spectacularly that it becomes sort of humorous.

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters December 6, 2011 - 8:38am

I'm a chicken.  Everything scares me.  So I won't bore you with books you won't find scary.  Although House of Leaves more than scared me.  It left me with odd paranoid feelings that made me want to attach tape measures to the walls, so that was a win.

Pinhead: Those Cinna-bons always made me hungry....

(get it?)

 

 

...sorry...

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. December 6, 2011 - 8:41am

Uh, are you thinking of Princess Leia?

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters December 6, 2011 - 9:08am

No.  You know.....

Why are you trying to make me think I'm crazy?

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. December 6, 2011 - 9:13am

Pinhead has the needles in his head like accupuncture gone wrong.  I don't get the Cinnabons joke lol  Honestly, what do you mean?

Oh!!  You mean because they are called Cenobites?!  Okay, that joke was random ahahhaha.

R.Moon's picture
R.Moon from The City of Champions is reading The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion; Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schimdt PH.D; Creating Characters by the editors of Writer's Digest December 6, 2011 - 9:13am

The Exorcist. And Possession, the true story of the The Exorcist. Possession actually scared me more than The Exorcist.

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated December 6, 2011 - 9:14am

The Stand, and 2184. No that isn't a typo 21 no 19.

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters December 6, 2011 - 9:32am

Yes, because of the cenobites.  It wasn't just the joke, my brain is random. 

 

Utah's picture
Moderator
Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry December 6, 2011 - 9:39am

House of Leaves!  I forgot that one.  Yeah, averydoll, that book scared the shizzle out of me, too.  I hated the dark for weeks after that.

@Dwayne:  You mean 2148?  Isn't that the Stephen King short?

.'s picture
. December 6, 2011 - 9:40am

American Psycho scares me still. It's not scary in the conventional sense but it scares me because I went through a serious Pat Bateman phase. I think I'm still going through it, getting engulfed into a materialistic lifestyle. Such a powerful piece of writing. 

It also scares me because I can relate everyone I know in person (mix AmPsycho with Trainspotting) to the emotionally unavailable characters created by BEE. 

.'s picture
. December 6, 2011 - 10:06am

EDIT 

Double post.

Dear lurkers, sign up as members and then sign up as premium members so you can spend money so we can have more broadband and the site won't lag and I won't double post anymore. Thanks. 

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated December 6, 2011 - 11:28am

@Utah - lol, I said it wasn't a typo man! 2184 by Martin Perish.

http://www.amazon.com/2184-ebook/dp/B004GEAPYW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=13...


It's a sci fi novella with the main character debating if he should stand up to the superhuman oppressors as a vehicle for living with our choices. Best writer I've come across in last 10 years.

 

ReneeAPickup's picture
Class Facilitator
ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig December 6, 2011 - 11:59am

I've been reading horror for so long, it just doesn't hit me anymore, but when it does it is absolutely thrilling. Personally, didn't find The Shining or IT to be that scary, I did find myself physically scared by Black House and Desperation, though. It's never the supernatural stuff that gets to me, but both of those books had situations and characters that were more realistic, and that was scary. I think Rose Madder had some pretty scary moments, too, but it's been years since I read it.

I can't get scared by horror movies any more, either. I think maybe a film about one of my phobias (roaches and ventriloquist dummies---please, no pictures to "fuck with me" it's real phobia) would get to me (and has) but other than that it is RARE for me to feel that I have to shut the blinds tight and sleep with the bathroom light on. 

The Exorcist did scare the shit out of me, though--and I read most of it in broad daylight. Blatty did an amazng job of combining the Priest's arguments with himself about the psychiatric vs. the demonic and really making the reader get sucked into that feeling of "Holy Christ we can't actually explain it can we?!!!?!!!" Close the book, I don't believe in demonic posession, but when it was open, it was hard not to.

ReneeAPickup's picture
Class Facilitator
ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig December 6, 2011 - 12:02pm

Alien--I think you make a good point, and I touched on it, too. King's books don't rely on the monsters to scare you. Usually, it is actual human characters and their reactions that are scary. There are exceptions, sure, but for the most part, his human characters are the real monsters.

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters December 6, 2011 - 12:15pm

I adore Rose Madder.  It's a book I read every year.  Like a tradition. 

bryanhowie's picture
bryanhowie from FW, ID is reading East of Eden. Steinbeck is FUCKING AMAZING. December 6, 2011 - 12:52pm

I think we've done this thread before... because I'm sure I reccomended The Cobra Event by Richard Preston.  That book scared the crap out of me.

Also, Knockemstiff, by Donald Ray Pollock.  I know those people, nestled in the backwoods waiting for a reason to come out and start shooting or for you to step on their property, giving them the right to do to you as they please.  Hillfolk.  

Lawrence's picture
Lawrence from Dallas, Texas is reading Mr. Mercedes - Stephen King December 14, 2011 - 10:03am

Reading IT as young killed scared the hell out of me.
There was a specific scene in the school shower where IT comes up through the shower drain and I literally didn't stand with my foot over the shower drain at home for years. To be honest, it still kind of creeps me out and even today when I'm in the shower if I notice my foot has met the shower drain I slowly withdraw it. Then I ridicule myself for being ridiculous.

PopeyeDoyle's picture
PopeyeDoyle December 14, 2011 - 10:26am

The only books I really remember being scared by were The Shining and The Exorcist.  Both really left me a bit nervous and I remember feeling creeped out while reading them and not really wanting to go to sleep afterwards.  That's especially true of The Exorcist.  Clive Barker I always found boring.  Dean Koontz never scared me in any of his books.  None of the other Stephen King books, including IT, particularly bothered me.  I guess there were parts of Pet Sematary that disturbed me, but none that really scared me.

Parts of Blood Meridian scared me.  The Apache attack scene I thought was pretty terrifying, and the character of Judge Holden was, to me, the most frightening character in all of literature.

Utah's picture
Moderator
Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry December 14, 2011 - 2:10pm

@Popeydoyle:  Blood Meridian, really?  I'll have to check that out.  Never really thought a western would be scary, but if it is that would make it double-awesome.

PopeyeDoyle's picture
PopeyeDoyle December 14, 2011 - 2:21pm

@Utah - It's not really scary as in "creepy."  It's scary in more of an "Oh my god, that just happened..." sort of way.  And Judge Holden is just flat-out horrifying.  You should definitely check it out either way.  It's an incredible book.

Dean Blake's picture
Dean Blake from Australia is reading generationend.com December 14, 2011 - 2:49pm

Not really a book, but a short story. I forgot the title, but it was by Haruki Murakami. I don't think it was intentionally meant to be scary - the protagonist looked out her window and saw herself with another man. Something about the way it was written creeped the shit out of me.

Utah's picture
Moderator
Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry December 14, 2011 - 3:46pm

@PopeyeDoyle:  Yeah, I'm definitely down for that.  I've recently discovered that McCarthy is amazing, so it was just a matter of time before I got to it.  All the Pretty Horses was good, and so was The Road, despite Oprah Winfrey's attempt to only let it be good for fans of Oprah Winfrey.  So Blood Meridian it is!

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. December 14, 2011 - 4:30pm

The original Exorcist still holds up. I still think Linda Blair is secretely evil.

Scott Williams's picture
Scott Williams from Brooklyn, NY is reading 11/23/63 December 28, 2011 - 9:12am

I know this thread is long past its date, but I felt like contributing.

Books that scared me:

Aestival Tide - Elizabeth Hand.  There's a scene towards the end that, at the time, terrified me to the point of despair.  I won't spoil it, except that I don't know that it would have the same effect on me these days, and it involves and extraordinary number of skulls.

A History of the People's Republic of Antartica - John Calvin Batchelor.  Again, not so much fear as existential despair, which, to me, is way more terrifying.  The idea of a meaningless existence, bereft of compassion or human kindness, is the most terrifying concept of all.

Arkadia's picture
Arkadia from Australia is reading Selected Poems by W.H. Auden December 28, 2011 - 9:42am

Renee -- I'm with you in that I've been reading/watching horror for so long that it's rare to find anything that scares me anymore. Not saying that in the 'I am super tough' way, just the 'sucks that my favorite genre is no longer doing it effectively for me' way.

I think King's Misery is his scariest (or at least most tense and disturbing). I have so much respect for that novel. One guy in a room. Fucking terrifying whenever he tries to make it out. Desperation was great too, and I agree with Rose Madder -- I think that novel is maybe more effective for female readers, since it's mentioned like half as often as all his other books. Rose Madder was the first King and the first adult novel I ever read (I was six or seven?) and it freaked me out bigtime. Really ignited my passion for ohgodthatisfuckedup things.

I want to say House of Leaves because I perceive in it the ability to be superscary but I wasn't actually scared by it. Mostly just impressed and riveted. But for others, or maybe me in a different state of mind -- def fear potential.

I'm not religious but Anne Rice's Memnoch the Devil freaked me out big time because of its persuasive premise -- what if Satan is the good guy and God the bad guy? Rice presented the theory in such a compelling way that I dreamed about it for a few nights, had nightmares even, about how the whole world was wrong to worship God instead of the Devil -- and poor Satan, being so villainized when he was trying to do the right thing! Oh yeah, that shizz freaked me out, even though I've never been anything close to Christian or religious or whatehaveyou.

Oh, and anything Edgar Allan Poe. Seriously. Anything. Seriouslyseriously. Guy is a fearGOD.

Short stories (or in some cases, novellas/novelettes) by far freak me out the most. King's The Raft and Apt Pupil, Peter Straub's The Juniper Tree and Blue Rose, Joyce Carol Oates's The Ruins of Contracoeur, Chet Williamson's Excerpts from the Records of the New Zodiac, Ray Bradbury's The Next In Line... I don't know man, so so many. I collect horror anthologies because there are maximum chances of 'scare' there.

Somebody Named Charles's picture
Somebody Named ... from The Gulf of Mexico is reading The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath March 10, 2012 - 12:03am

I wouldn't ever think of books or stories "scaring" me exactly. Only horror movies have been able to "scare" me and only some. I just think of it as a different feeling when I read Poe, or King, or etc. Its more of a "creep" factor. The thing that creeps me out the most is when the most horrific events are being described matter-of-factly. Lovecraft does that really well. James A. Moore's Serenity Falls is one that sticks in my mind that hasn't been mentioned yet. Yeah sure, its totally normal that this woman is being raped and skinned alive by her possessed husband. Totally normal....I needed lots of sunshine after reading that.

Cartersdaddy's picture
Cartersdaddy from Pennsylvania is reading Room March 10, 2012 - 2:05pm

Sarah Gran's Come Closer. It can be read in a day and it will carry you through to the ending that is like a knife in all your hopes for the main character. I'm all over horror and this was one of the few stories that had me sitting up late disturbed and checking the shadows.  It's a home run in a small package and I recommend it to anyone who loves the genre. The opening will hook you and the pace carries through. It is one of those books that just works on all levels.

Stacy Kear's picture
Stacy Kear from Bucyrus, Ohio lives in New Jersey is reading The Art of War March 10, 2012 - 3:08pm

I was desensitized to the genre as well. I think growing up watching horror movies over and over, I watched Poltergeist 16 times, will do that to a kid. The only book that I can remember scaring me was Michelle Remembers. It was supposedly a true story based on a pychiastist and his patient that repressed a childhood in a satanic cult that included ritualistic abuse and human sacrifice. I was probably around 11 or 12 so I doubt if it would leave the same impression if I read it today.

Michael Hodges's picture
Michael Hodges from Chicago is reading Oryx and Crake March 10, 2012 - 6:16pm

Yeah not too many books have "scared" me. Perhaps the ending to At the Mountains of Madness, or maybe the alter-reality of Lovecraft's From Beyond, where the main character's obsessed friend reveals to him a machine in his attic that peels away their layer of reality to reveal evil floating creatures that exist around us at all times, and if you make too much noise with that layer revealed, they hone in on you and suck you away. Creepy as hell.

Or maybe the scene in Shadow Over Innsmouth (again Lovecraft) where something in the hallway is trying to open his hotel room door. Another scary Lovecraft story is Dreams in the Witch-House. Also try The Colour Out of Space. So yeah, I'm basically leaning to Lovecraft as the creepiest writer.

I think King did a good job with that snowed-in playground tunnel scene in The Shining. Pennywise scared the shit out of me when I was in high school, too.

Typewriter Demigod's picture
Typewriter Demigod from London is reading "White Noise" by DeLilo, "Moby-Dick" by Hermann Mellivile and "Uylsses" by Joyce March 10, 2012 - 6:19pm

trainspotting, HoL, haunted and stuff howie and aylee wrote, desperation and also girl next door. those scared me.

Jackie's picture
Jackie March 11, 2012 - 10:11am

The book that comes to mind immediately is American Psycho. I read it four years ago and I still cringe when I hear the name Bethany.

bryanhowie's picture
bryanhowie from FW, ID is reading East of Eden. Steinbeck is FUCKING AMAZING. March 11, 2012 - 10:46am

I feel like a bad street magician... but... Typewriter, is this your card?

Stacy Kear's picture
Stacy Kear from Bucyrus, Ohio lives in New Jersey is reading The Art of War March 12, 2012 - 4:50pm

Beastiality, well done. I recommend The Painted Bird ~ Jerzy Kosinski, lovely book with just a touch of beastiality.

Daniel Brophy's picture
Daniel Brophy from Taunton, MA is reading The Power of One March 12, 2012 - 9:47pm

Last one that got me was Dreamcatcher by Stephen King. When the main character turns around and finds a big alien standing there, I threw the book at the wall. About 150 pages later, I threw the book again, for much different reasons.

Daniel Brophy's picture
Daniel Brophy from Taunton, MA is reading The Power of One March 12, 2012 - 9:48pm

Oh, and a bunch of Lovecraft. Particular stories escape me at the moment, as I just drank a large glass of Sprite and Boru vodka. Cheers.

Arturo Bandini's picture
Arturo Bandini from Denver, CO is reading Beautiful Ruins March 13, 2012 - 10:01am

The obvious answer would be American Psycho, which didn't so much as scare me as disturb me for a long time after I read it. It is still the only book that I've ever had to put down for a day or two because it was just too much.

 

Monster by Joyce Carol Oates is so menacing throughout that it could be considered scary.

 

The Shining also had its moments.

 

Also, while Blood Meridian was not scary so much as vivid and macabre, The Judge is one of the most terrifying characters ever created.

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters March 13, 2012 - 10:03am

Can I ask, what did people find disturbing about American Psycho?  Is it just the subject matter itself?

Arturo Bandini's picture
Arturo Bandini from Denver, CO is reading Beautiful Ruins March 13, 2012 - 10:10am

@averydoll - The minutely detailed scenes of Bateman's torturing and mutilating women that often lasted for several pages are what would cause the need to put it down at times and sort of clear my head before going back to it.

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. March 13, 2012 - 10:38am

Bryan's story about horse-fucking on Solarcide wins my vote for the month.

Typewriter Demigod's picture
Typewriter Demigod from London is reading "White Noise" by DeLilo, "Moby-Dick" by Hermann Mellivile and "Uylsses" by Joyce March 13, 2012 - 11:03am

It didnt exactly scare me, howie, all it did was gross me out

Dorian Grey's picture
Dorian Grey from Transexual, Transylvania is reading "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck March 14, 2012 - 8:10pm

Bret Easton Ellis's "American Psycho" -- not so much scary, but incredibly disturbing and also very well written

Stephen King's "It" -- that book played mind tricks on me