• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Scariest Book Ever?

jasmine99 said:
The Stand - Stephen King
I know this isn't supposed to be a really scary story as far as there being a "booger" that will get you, but I read it when I was a freshman in college, living in the dorm. While reading the first part of the book where the super flu is killing practically everybody it got very late, my roomate was "dead" asleep and I couldn't find anyone on my floor who was awake! I even walked down the hall to the communal bathroom and couldn't find a soul. I felt like I was the only person left alive... VERY creepy!

Also Night Shift by S. King, caused me (from the age of 12) to keep one eye open and on my closet door while I slept . :eek:
Click to expand...

If you like The Stand, which I do, you should check out Swan Song by MacCammon.
 
Fro me, three tie for scariest:

The Shining by Stephen King
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
 
The Shinning

Ell said:
The Shining by Stephen King.

I was a few months pregnant when I started reading it and had to stop because it was so spooky I thought it would do wierd things to the baby! :eek: :eek: :D

Or maybe it was just my hormones run amok!!
Click to expand...

I have to agree, The Shining is the scariest book I have ever read. Salem's Lot would be a close second.
 
The Hitcher said:
You couldn't be any more right. This book will destroy you. I have never had a movie, book, song, poem, anything affect me the way this book did. I couldn't sleep. I felt sick. I felt angry. I was pacing around my house at 2am on a work night not knowing what to do.
Click to expand...

Was The girl next door written by Jack Ketchum??
I'm now searching for a copy on Ebay after seeing your reccommendation.
 
One that really got me paranoid was "Velocity" by Dean Koontz. I love his writing style, and the book is a bit of a mind trip for me.
 
AquaBlue said:
Yes. It is written by Ketchum.
Click to expand...


The review for the movie based on this on (This review has spoilers)http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/review/1033 is excellent. Basically says it is almost exact to what is in the book. The reviewer said the woman next to him was crying and kept repeating "Please God let this poor child die". It is based on a true story. I believe the girls name is Sylvia Liken. It is considered the worst crime in IN history. His first book Off Season is just straight horror but it is very well done. About a group of cannibals that live in Maine. You need the re-released version. It is uncut and has a much darker (and better) ending. I am fairly new to Ketchum so if there are any other recommendations for him I would appreciate them.

Also The Girl Next Door starts really slow. The best way I have heard it described is" I spent the first half wishing something would happen and the second half wishing it would stop". Pretty much sums it up.
 
House of Leaves

Martin said:
I don't read horror novels that often, almost never actually, but there is one that I just have to mention in this thread, considering it's just so scary and so good.

The novel I'm talking about is 'House of Leaves', which is the debut novel of an author named Mark Danielewski. The novel has a very simple and interesting premise. A couple buy a house which turns out to be a hole lot bigger on the inside than it appeared on the outside. Also, these mysterious rooms keep shifting and moving.

Sounds lame, you might say, but the interesting part is the way in which the novel has been written. It's about a guy who finds the written account of this aforementioned couple, and his estrangement from society as he reads all their experiences. The novel also recounts the events caught on several videotapes made in the mysterious rooms, and this is done in a very compelling and scary way. As you further progress through the novel you will actually physically notice the despair experienced by these people, simply because the layout of the pages will start to shift, making it more difficult to follow.

Give this one a go, it gave me quite a scare.

Cheers, Martin :D
Click to expand...

Going to pick it up at the library today.
 
I know someone already said this one, but I think the scariest book I've ever read has to be The Stand by Stephen King. Just the fact that it's a plausible situation that leads to the end of the world...it actually kept me up at night, worrying that the government was manufacturing a killer flu virus. It's believable. Also, King's descriptions of the plague are incredibly vivid and tragic, and his villain, Flagg,, is definitely scary.
 
The Demon by Hubert Selby, Jnr. It's a very disturbing account of a man's descent into insanity, with a pretty brutal climax. I read it years ago, and have forgotten the details; I'd love to re-read it, and see if it has the same 'shock impact'.
 
Until quite recently I firmly believed that very little in fiction could really frighten me. Then I read The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. This is shocking, without question. This novel validates and legitimises the phrase, “The banality of evil”. What makes this so potent is the way that vile acts perpetrated on a child and are written in an almost prosaic, nonchalant way. Absolutely harrowing, yet there is much of literary merit in this remarkable novel. At times the reader feels almost guilty of voyeurism and culpable in some way simply for reading it. It’s no exaggeration to say that this novel upset me for days after and left me with a mild depression I found difficult to shake off. So do I regret reading it? Very difficult to say.
 
In terms of an actual horror, scary novel I would have to say it is a toss-up between Pet Semetary and The Shining by Stephen King. Although I would give Gerald's Game an honorable mention, it is not a particularly great book, but it has a very good scary moment.

But the book I actually found the most frightening was 1984 by George Orwell. That book scared me to death. Too much of it reminded me of what the world is like to day and the idea that we could be headed down a path similar to Oceania scares the crap out of me.
 
The Girl Next Door is very scary. It's the only fiction book I read that disturbed me. I even talked to my boyfriend about it and he said "So why keep reading it?"

I was glad I did finish though. It's one of those books that gives some hope and then takes it away, and you just wish that things would go differently. It is based on a true story, which adds to the disturbing element, and there has also been a film of the true story made as well as an adaption of the book.
 
After pulling my hamstring while snow skiing, I was at a cabin in the mountains during a snow storm. I had already read the book that I brought with me, the power was coming and going so watching TV wasn't really an option, so I decided to read The Shining. Scariest book ever for me, especially given my surroundings at the time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top