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I Need Suggestions For A Good Unsettling Read

J

Jragon_Jream

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Hello all! Well, up to this point most of my reading has been in science fiction/fantasy and black humor, i.e. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. However, I'm looking to dive into an engaging horror novel and I'm looking to you, friends, for suggestions. Please, no Steve King, I'm a fan and I've read most of his best and some other little knowns. Same with Mr. Koontz. What I'm searching for is a book that's going to leave me unsettled and with an overall feeling of dread. I'm sure you all understand this desire. Things to know; I do not find violence or gore scary in the least, I don't mind it but it doesn't frighten me at all. I suppose I'm looking for something along the lines of extreme psychological terror/thriller or supernatural. True life stories, i.e. serial killers and the like don't much frighten me either. Anyway, I hope you all can lend me a hand, er, book!!
 
there's a passage from A Day Well Spent in writer's showcase. it's got lots of violence, it's a villain book, like clockwork orange or Richard III
 
If you can get hold of a copy, try William Hallahan's The Search for Joseph Tully. It is not Stephen King type of horror, nothing flashy, but seriously creepy. The story is set in winter in an underheated house scheduled for demolition, and the chill seems to come out of the pages. The most amazing thing for me was realizing after I finished the book how few scary things actually happened until almost at the end. No monsters, no serial killers or axe-murderers, just that atmosphere through the entire book of something really, really bad waiting to happen. And it does.
 
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane gave me the creeps! Some of Robert McCammons books are very good, also (try "Mine").
 
About three years ago I accidentally ran into a writer named Ted Dekker. I picked up his book Three. It's been one of the most disturbing and thought provoking books I've read in a while. You might like it. I can't explain the plot without giving it away, but you end up questioning your sanity at the end. It took me few days to get over it. No serial killers, no monsters, just a true spychological thriller. He knows how to play with your mind. . . You should try him.
Also Anne Rice. I found The Witching Hour a wonderful read. Maybe you've read it, so I mentioned it last. I suppose if you've read King that you've read Rice?
 
I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread. I'll be making a list of all your suggestions myself because I RARELY (IF EVER) get creeped out or frightened.
 
ohhh....i have the perfect books for you

its a 10 book seiries(7 books are out)called 'The Demonata',its about...drum rolls...demons!..mwahaha....its rly scary and everything,there are three different narrators,grubbs(the main one)which is short for something,kernel,and bec,heres a list of the books(from first to last)and the chars who narrate them

1-Lord Loss-Grubbs
2-Demon Thief-Kernel
3-Slawter-Grubbs
4-Bec-Bec
5-Blood Beast-Grubbs
6-Demon Apocalypse-Grubbs
7-Death's Shadow-Bec
8-Wolf Island-Grubbs(unreleased)
9-Unknown-Kernel(unreleased)
10-Unknown-Grubbs(unreleased)

its a great series full of death,gore and that sort of stuff,what i rly like is that none of the books(exept possibly the first)have a happy ending,i like that,im sick of books where its dire situation blah blah blah,then somehow the main char foils the plot,and his supoosedly dead freinds appear and say they where only sleeping,blah blah blah blah(a prime example of this is H.I.V.E. Overlord Protocol,its a great book but the ending....)youd be intrested to know that bec actually dies at the end of the fourth one......
 
DUSK and DAWN are both pretty dark. They're a two book series by Tim Lebbon.

Also, Terry Goodkind's books have a LOT of sexual deviance in them, but you're talking a 13 book series.

Can't think of any other's off the top of my head. I don't actually go looking for that sort of book.

Mathius
 
Try Reading The Shady Corner

Hi, Try Reading the shady corner by matthew Williams.
kept me on the end of my seat.
Check out his website. theshadycorner.co.uk
There it will tell you where you can buy it from, Also it tells you about the Author, How he began writing, And so on.
I hope that helps you.
 
Softspoken by Lucius Shepard is very unsettling. It has echoes of The Haunting of Hill House and The Shining but it's not derivative.

It definitely unsettled me. I was actually a bit nauseated at the end. "Oh dear, this can't be happening." For a book with no explicit gore or violence, that's a neat trick.
 
Interesting thread. I suppose I'm more interested in books that basically creep you out without the regular horror trappings.

One book that definitely left me pretty damn dreadful was 1984 by Orwell.

ds
 
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