Scariest Book Ever?

[Sazón]

The Alienist by Caleb Carr was kind of creepy. Great book though. One of the best suspense/thriller books I've ever read.

 

[Themistocles]

'Brave New World' by Auldous Huxley-it isn't a horror novel but anyone who has read it will know just why it's so scary.

 

[Wabbit]

Scary coz we are almost there

Great novel!

 

[TimmyEatCrisps]

What is it about clowns?

Does anybody actually like clowns? I'm sure they really are scary. Annoying at best.
The scariest book I ever read was the ladybird print of The Three Billy Goats Gruff, purely because of the pictures of the troll. They freaked me out.

I've just finished reading Brave New World. I can't say that I personally found it scary, saddening perhaps. The perceptions about our possible futures do appear to be very sharp, and they do seem to illustrate that any end to social unrest would demand a heavy price, but it's not such a dystopian view as to be scary.

 

[Themistocles]

I've just finished reading Brave New World. I can't say that I personally found it scary, saddening perhaps. The perceptions about our possible futures do appear to be very sharp, and they do seem to illustrate that any end to social unrest would demand a heavy price, but it's not such a dystopian view as to be scary.

The thing for me was that the idea of an utterly materialist society, and one in which so much art and literature is discarded and there is no place for higher thought and even suggestions of spirituality, is perhaps even more scary than the up-front and terrifying threats of totalitarianism.

 

[TimmyEatCrisps]

I guess it's scary in a way, but to me mainly just depressing that it's almost certainly the sort of world we're facing in a future that's certainly not so distant as 600 years, as Huxley suggested.

Anway this thread isnt a BNW dscussion so I'll stop it now. Slap my wrists.

 

[mr_michel]

im not a fan of horror genre, but i have some of king, barker, etc... and never get scared, by the way i didnt find the "exorcist" scary (well not the book), and didnt like rosemary baby, in fact i end laughing at the ending (really).
the only time i remember gettin at my nerves its with a particular chapter of queen of damned by anne rice, when jesse its alone in the new orleans house and sees claudias ghost. thats all. but now im looking foward to buy house of leaves.

on the "indignation scary" i would put "lo negro del negro" by jorge gonzales (i dont think its translated in english), and the feast of the goat by vargas llosa.

 

[{Tigress}]

HP Lovecraft. Just about anything by him. And why do I find it so scarey? Because his characters don't "defeat" the thing that terrorizes them, they simply run away! Not cool. Very not cool. Don't tell me about some terribly evil god and not find a way to defeat him!

 

[emc_78]

Call me weird.. but the only 2 books that have ever given me nightmares were The Wise Woman by Philippa Gregory and Faerie Tale by Raymond E Feist.

 

[Martin]

You're weird.

Cheers, Martin

 

[Themistocles]

I actually had nightmares for a while after reading "The Terrible Tudors" from the Horrible Histories series. I kept thinking that Tudor-style executioners would chop off my head when I was asleep. I was, however, around 6 years old at the time.

 

[Bernard]

The scariest book that I've ever read was probably The Regulators by Stephen King (Richard Bachman).

 

[Sapphire]

Personally I believe that most Steven King books are pretty freaky but I have to admit, the scariest book I've ever read would have to be Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (the guy who wrote Mystic River) and even though it doesn’t actually classify as horror it scared me a lot because you could be insane and not even know it , like your whole life could just be a very complex delusion that you made up....so yeah it makes you think....

 

[Dudette]

Henry James...

Edgar Allen Poe freaked me out too, can't really remember any of the story that I read, except that there was this picture of teh devil involved somewhere....bit cliched i suppose, but it scared me when i was about 11, reading it in the supposedly haunted school library. I read The Turn of The Screw by Henry James, and was sooooooooo jumpy when the nanny (can't remember her name I'm afraid) first saw the dead ginger haired dude at the window...........for days I was afraid to look outside in case someone was looking back at me. I'm told that this isn't a scary book, but then I am quite a wimp, and my Mum hates horror stories..............(just adding to your theory)though I think i've inherited my Dad's taste for action books/movies....

 

[graydaisy]

I read The Turn of The Screw by Henry James, and was sooooooooo jumpy when the nanny (can't remember her name I'm afraid) first saw the dead ginger haired dude at the window...........for days I was afraid to look outside in case someone was looking back at me.

Me too! i love Henry James. That particular story was eerie because it wasn't quick paced and the ghosts or whatever they were, hallucinations?, were not the main theme of the story. it was told like a truly terrifying campfire ghost tale. i know what you mean about the window thing. Another book that keeps me afraid of darkened windows is Salem's Lot by Stephen King. Yikes!

 

[josiespencer]

Scariest Book Ever

I am with Kasstorr on this one... I have found nothing scarier than Hell House. Julian's House by Judith Hawkes and Haunted by Tamara Thorne were semi-scary but Hell House is still the champ!

 

[Billy Oblivion]

Out of my mind by Jack Bilbo. I read it when I was about 10 (sneaked from my father's bookcase - I knew where the key was hidden). I can still remember some of the stories now - the girl put inside a piano with needles fixed to the keys! If my life hadn't been such a nightmare I'd have had bad dreams.

 

[musiqueperson]

Not really scary for some people i guess but to me it's the ultimate horror... The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien... I hate the feeling of being caught up in a dream where things don't make sense (e.g. the police station is out of proportion or something like that)... plus i hate the part where he couldn't find the room with the light on even though he knew where it was... argh... i freak out whenever these kind of subtle things happen...

You can have those horror books where monsters eat humans or something like that... you know, all the very big scary events... but nothing's worse (to me) then having to find myself trap in small weird happenings...

And the ending was the most freaky... I won't say it 'cos it will be a spoiler but yup, the ending was a nightmare to me... *hint: what happens when the sun sets today?*

 

[Vespertilio91]

*hint: what happens when the sun sets today?*

Night comes. ^^

Umm, scariest book ever. That's tough. I don't get scared easily except, ahh, It. Scary evil clowns, find a happy place, free of scary evil clowns.

 

[Peronel]

I believe I may have said this somewhere before (but who can be bothered checking, am I right?) but I think that King's "Night Shift" collection is the scariest collection of stories I've read. It has prompted me to change my bedtime behaviours in a number of ways:

1. close cupboard doors lest boogeyman is inside (my theory is...he can't open doors)
2. check fingers for extra sets of eyes
3. ignore impulses to visit nearby abadoned hamlets
4. mow the lawn (not at bedtime, but..you know