OT: Best horror/scary books of all time

[dahliaclone]

'Tis the season for being scared. Always looking for a great scary/horror/thriller novel I might not have read. What are your picks for best scary novels?

Mine would be 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King. Scared the crap out of me the first time I read it. I might re-read it this month as it's been probably 20 years since I read it last.

 

[Mr Janny]

The Exorcist is the cliche answer, but it is legitimately terrifying.

 

[Cyclonepride]

It.

The scary part is great (a monster than can manifest as whatever you fear most!), but the way the book conveys the magic and mystique of childhood, and what we lose as we become adults, is brilliant.

 

[CliveClone17]

The Stand by Stephen King has always been my favorite novel of his. On a little different tack, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis is not so much scary as it is disturbing. Seriously &*^%#@ up book.

 

[Mr Janny]

I'll also throw out anything by Lovecraft. His stories are terrifying because there's just no chance for any kind of happy ending in them. They're just so hopeless. The best a character can hope for in his stories is to not die, but "only" lose their mind. The antagonists are so powerful than the protagonists can't even get their minds around it. That kind of ancient, eldritch enemy is particularly scary, because not only do the main characters have no chance against it, it's hard to see how the entire human race could even stand up to them.

 

[Pickman]

So many good books that it's hard to choose the best: Nearly anything by H.P. Lovecraft or T.E.D. Klein, The Fisherman by John Langan, Notebook Found in a Deserted House by Robert Bloch

Bonus: Harrow County graphic novel is amazing.

 

[Mr Janny]

 

[Mr Janny]

This book and its sequel gave me plenty of nightmares when I was a kid

 

[cyclonpediaJoe]

Pet Semetary-King. Spooky book

 

[Cyclonepride]

Pet Semetary-King. Spooky book

Just saw a trailer for the movie remake due out in April.

 

[mikeiastat]

Just saw a trailer for the movie remake due out in April.

Non-conventional and not quite horror, but if we're talking Stephen King I loved the brain Jolts from 11/22/63. Scary and disturbing enough for me in its own way. Its one that the thoughts and disturbance just lingers in you brain and distracts you for weeks.

 

[weR138]

There are some good parts in The Amityville Horror...

 

[CascadeClone]

The Exorcist is the cliche answer, but it is legitimately terrifying.

That's because it's non-fiction.

 

[CascadeClone]

Not sure about horror/scary, and I don't read a lot of that genre. BUT, I tried The Stand. Could not finish it. About halfway through, it was so completely depressing, sad, and hopeless, I just couldn't do it anymore. Had to put it down, never wanted to pick it back up. Did watch the movie, it was ok.

So from a standpoint of "made me want to give up, lay down and die" it was super-effective.

 

[FOREVERTRUE]

Years ago I liked the book Watchers by Dean Koontz. At the time it seemed pretty scary. It may be different for me if I were to read it now.

 

[Psiclone]

The Stand by Stephen King has always been my favorite novel of his. On a little different tack, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis is not so much scary as it is disturbing. Seriously &*^%#@ up book.

At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft.

 

[KCClone1]

Ghost Story by Peter Straub

 

[CycloneNorth]

It’s hard to beat King. I think I was 19 when I read Pet Semetary and I had to put it down whenever it started getting dark outside.

 

[amishclone]

Dean Koontz is always a good read.

 

[HFCS]

'Tis the season for being scared. Always looking for a great scary/horror/thriller novel I might not have read. What are your picks for best scary novels?

Mine would be 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King. Scared the crap out of me the first time I read it. I might re-read it this month as it's been probably 20 years since I read it last.

I recently read Salem's Lot for the first time and really enjoyed the little vignettes at the end of the version I read that happened years before and after the story.