Without going into specifics so the creature/entity/plot is given, I’m looking for horror that is keep-you-up-at-night level. A good wendigo or poltergeist or even disease epidemic book would be greatly appreciated.
I loved books like Pet Sematary, the Troop, The Quiet Boy (short story), Contagion. I try to go into horror blind so I am fully unaware of what to expect, so I’ve read a lot of duds lately. Psychological horror is ok, if it’s unpredictable/not just “normal person gaslit into thinking they’re crazy” type trope.
The only horror I was unable to finish was Tender is the Flesh. My kudos to you if you got through that one.
Thank you all for your advice
Daily newspaper
Any book by Clemens P. Suter.
The Fisherman by John Langan
The book that scared me the most was not actually a horror book. It’s a sci-fi novel, The Snail on the Slope, by Strugatsky brothers.
The repetitive dialogue is what a lot of people seem to hate about it, but that’s exactly what set the existential dread in me as I was reading it. Just wandering through life half-asleep, going through the motions in a brain fog… brrr
I really enjoyed Mexican Gothic, way more than I thought I would. It wasn’t mind blowing, but the prose was really solid and I enjoyed the characters and plot.
I liked the books that inspired The Ring movie Not really the genre you asked but something from Clive Barker could be different from the usual
You’re the second person to recommend Barker- I’ll definitely check out their stuff. Thank you!
I think you might like Dean Koontz. I haven’t read him in years, but I remember Phantoms being pretty good.
False memory too, very much a psychological horror
Thank you! I’ve read some of his action/thriller types, but that was years ago so I don’t remember much. I’ll give this one a try!
If you’re intro Star Wars, there’s Red Harvest and Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber.
Other than movie marathons, I haven’t engaged with anything Star Wars. You’ve piqued my curiosity with this suggestion-thank you!
Does a good job of holding up on its own characters. Iirc some of the main “cast” make a cameo in each, but it’s not centered on anyone you would know.
It’s a shlop and I love it, has some pretty corny lines, the guy even has a taken reference;
Tap for spoiler
Listen to me, Trace told him. I don’t know who you are, but I am in possession of a very special set of skills. If you bring my sister back right now, unharmed, then I’ll let you go. But if you don’t, I promise you, I will track you down. I will find you. And I will make you pay.
I still have flashbacks to King’s Salem’s Lot, even though I only read the book and didn’t watch the movie.
Shirley Jackson’s Haunting of Hill House is also a good one.
- The Stand
- The Girl With All the Gifts
- Infected by Scott Sigler
Love this list, I have read the first two but not Infected. Thanks for the recs!
Infected is a cool book and the first of a trilogy.
The main character is a super star College Football who gets this odd triangular bump on his leg and things go from there. I think I am going to re-read now!
Cycle of the Werewolf - Stephen King
Cujo- Stephen King
The Music of Erich Zann - HP LovecraftThank you for the recommendations! Which of these is your favorite? I’ll start on that one first
Music of Erich Zann is a short story, like basically everything of Lovecraft’s. It is tied for favorite with Cycle of the Werewolf, which by Stephen King standards is also a short story, I think it is under 200 pages. It is also illustrated, as it was originally a calendar. The artist approached Stephen and asked for a blurb about each month’s illustration. Instead King wrote a book.
Cujo is great because it is a horror with no magic, no supernatural, just woman vs nature. To me that is far more scary, as it could happen to you or me today. It is also the longest of the 3 works.
I recommend James Herbert’s books. There are quite a few standalones but if you’re ok with a trilogy I’d start with The Rats, Lair and Domain (The Rats being his first book).
Thank you for your recs! I haven’t read anything by James Herbert (or if I did I don’t remember)
Duma Key by Stephen King is good. I saw it on a patient’s shelf once and commented that I loved it and he said “it scared the shit out of me”. It takes a bit to get into the horror part of it, but it’s worth the ride.
It got really bad reviews, but one of my favorite King books is Lisey’s Story.
I mean, there are so many kind of horrors.
The most obvious pick would be Stephen King: his best-sellers are so for a good reason: they’re good. Maybe consider Bags of bones, or his classics: Carrie, The Plague, It,… I mean is much longer Dark Tower (not really horror, imho) is something I would love to not have read already… so I would be able to read it for the first time one more time ;)
Haunted house story: like King, I consider the Shirley Jackson ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ a masterpiece. In French, Jean Ray ‘Malpertuis’ (sorry I’ve not read any English translation). I think I prefer Jan Ray but being French myself I may be biased, here, and I still love Jackson’s novel.
Another classic in his own kind: Edgard Allan Poe. I mean, come on :)
Edit: as suggested already: +1 for Clive Barker short stories.
Since you’ve be careful enough to put limits on what you’re looking for, I won’t mention the real ‘horrifying’ horror writers I can think of, but be aware horror stories do not end to best-sellers nor to classics.
Among the most… intense, there a few writers that come to mind whose names I will never publicly suggest to anyone, even though they’re wonderful craftsmen, like really… but they can also be deeply and utterly disturbing which, in our age filled with angry self-appointed vigilante always on the lookout for someone they don’t like to lynch, is something I would never want to happen to them. But they’re there, alive and writing masterpieces, some of which will undoubtedly become tomorrow’s classics… if there is anyone left to read books, that is.
To your last paragraph, tender is the flesh is that book/author for me. I love horror to distract from real life horror, but Tender is the Flesh was fleshed out (lol at the pun) like a normal next step in a world with limited resources. It should be a cautionary tale, but I can see how close we are to the logic already. Thanks for the French rec, even if the translation is meh, I try to enjoy different cultures’ “boogymen”, so I’ll give it a go!
Thanks for the French rec, even if the translation is meh, I try to enjoy different cultures’ “boogymen”, so I’ll give it a go!
The pleasure is mine, I wish more people would read that way :)
I could not tell if the translation is meh as I only read in French.
kudos to you if you got through that one
Cheers!
One with a somewhat similar theme that you are more likely to get through is Under the Skin as its more sci fi than horror, but still pretty creepy
Thank you for the rec! I’m heading to the library this week, can’t wait to give this one a try
Hope you like it, I think you will. I forgot to include the author and year, it’s Michel Faber, 2000
