Looking for a book that is scary – like creepy give you nightmares scary!
Looking for a book that is scary – like creepy give you nightmares scary!
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The Shining. I have yet to find a book that’s scarier.
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The early novels written by John Saul
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Pretty Girls
This book was more horrifying to me than it was creepy. Does that make sense? LOL
@Kelly absolutely- I had nightmares and also kind of felt queasy at times
I listened to it on audiobook and there were parts that were ROUGH. It didn’t give me nightmares, but it did make me feel physically sick a few times.
Baby teeth
I think Bram Stoker’s Dracula was very scary.
Yes! and I assumed, ha, old fashioned writing won’t be scary. There’s a reason it’s been around so long! It gave me nightmares and I couldn’t finish it. (I was 14 but still don’t want to try again!)
I’ve never tried Dracula, but same with Frankenstein. I mean, he made a monster out of dead body parts, which is bad enough, but then the whole monster’s revenge thing was pretty messed up too.
@Clare I read it in middle school in the 70s for English class. We thought oh no but we loved it.
Anything by Gillian Flynn. I also loved Bird Box.
The Shining
Intensity by Dean Koontz
@Michelle OMG, yes! I read it when it came out, and I didn’t sleep well for a week.
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill.
Yes to Heart-Shaped Box. I couldn’t read it when I was home alone. I put it down for a week and waited for my husband to come home from a trip he was on.
@Tammy I love all his books.
The Exorcist scared me to death
IT
@Liz I read like 40 pages and I couldn’t continue. I’m such a baby
NOS4A2 or Baby Teeth
I found Then She Was Gone extremely scary as a mother. And just the general “wow, some people are really really really messed up and walking around like normal people” got under my skin.
Necroscope.
Brian Lumley
IT ?
@Amy i’ve heard it is straight up traumatic lol *puts on my list anyway*
@Priscilla I read it in high school and still remember it. I couldn’t get through the latest movie though. Lol
@Amy i really enjoyed the original tv mini series but i found the remake from 2017 lackluster (tho the kid actors were stellar)
The Shining is the scariest book I have ever read! Don’t go by what happened in the movie. It was changed. So glad I read the book girst!
First!
Nocebo Effect
Into the Darkest Corner
@Leslie I read that one years ago and it has never left me. Such a haunting book.
@Leslie great recommendation!
Katie Nash Llewellyn Stephanie Patterson I read it a couple of years ago. I was reading it at night after everyone had gone to sleep and I wanted to get some water from the fridge downstairs and I was freaking out about going downstairs. I turned on every light on our second floor before I would go downstairs. I kept imagining that pyscho sitting on the couch waiting for me?
Interview with a Vampire. The Anne Rice witch books are super creepy too.
@Joan I was going to recommend 50 Shades….that writing is TERRIFYING! ?
@Tracy clunky as hell
The Road Out of Hell by Anthony Flacco – even creepier that it is true. I had nightmares for weeks after reading this
Color me intrigued! *heads off to Goodreads to check it out*
Any of Michael Slade’s “mountie noir” books. No joke, I never finished the third in the series- I burnt it on the BBQ because it literally terrified me. Never touched another one. They are so frightening.
The Stand, Stephen King
It by Stephen King
Stranger beside me
Ann Rule
Night Film, Marisha Pessl
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
@Shawna yep. That’s one creepy book?
@Shawna All Joe Hill’s books!
I’m with her ☝?
Jimmy: William Malmborg is the darkest, most f’d up book I’ve ever….EVER read.
If this is tooooo much… how about The Amityville Horror: Jay Anson or The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon or Gerald’s Game: Steven King
Don’t tag me, I don’t want a scary book! ???
Jar of Hearts is really good and scary.
The Shining
I’ve heard Winter People is scary, but I haven’t read it yet. It’s in my TBR pile.
@Stacy I loved the writing but I didn’t think it was that scary
„The Homecoming” by Andrew Pyper
Communion by Whitley Strieber scared the bejesus out of me.
@Tamara I made it mid-way through and then shelved it. Does it eventually pick up the pace and get more intense?
@Lori Gosh, it’s been over 20 years since I read it but it’s “supposedly” a true account so…
I don’t remember it being fast paced or intense. Just creepy as hell.
Pet Sematary?
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I read it 12 years ago and still have nightmares about it. It is making my stomach hurt just thinking about it!! ?
I just finished Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon. Definitely gave me nightmares!!
Yes! Plus you’ll never think about a Kmart the same way again!
@Stephanie Yes! I don’t even like to think about that scene!
The Stranger Beside Me – Ann Rule. Scared the bejesus out of me.
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Patricia Cornwall potters field. I had to keep it in a different room at night
Read anything by John Everson.
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For some reason I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara gave me nightmares anytime I listened to it on audio in the evening. I think I’m a wuss that can’t handle true crime.
@Jennica I cant wait to read that. Gonna have to order it now …. and possibly not sleep for a few days ?
It was such a thrill to read that and then wake up a few weeks later to the news that he was arrested!
I had to stop reading it in bed. I couldn’t sleep I was so creeped out.
@Valerie I’m glad I’m not the only one!
Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter. Creepy!!!
@Elizabeth yes!
@Elizabeth I second this!
Thank you everyone!!! @Lindsay we have to do scary for our next book come on!!
The Shining!!! Or Sharpe Objects!
It!
Dean Koontz, Intensity
Nightshade by John Saul
Heart-shaped box by Joe Hill, couldn’t read it when I was home alone.
Following!
The Outsiders by Stephen King
World war Z. Couldn’t read it after sunset because it was so freaky!!!
Check out Author Willow Rose or Pamela Crane
Anything by Meghan O’Flynn.
Wonderland by Jennifer Hillier. Super disturbing thriller set in an amusement park.
@Rachel
I love all her books!
Did you read the series Creep and Freak by her?
Yes, I’ve now read them all, started with Jar of Hearts last year when I saw a lot of people praising it. Wonderland is my favorite, but I love the recurring characters and setting across titles.
@Rachel
☝?Everything ypu said
So many to choose!
My MIL swears that Pet Sematary is the scariest book she’s ever read. She’s nearly 75!
Christine McGrath I just gave my daughter the green light to read this (she is 15).
So what I am saying is that I’m pretty sure my 15 year old might be sleeping with us soon ?
@Christine oh boy!!!! I want to get it for myself. I’ll be sleeping with my 15yr old daughter soon!?
The Shining, “Salem’s Lot, Pet Sematary by King were extremely scary in my view.
I really enjoyed survive the night by Daniela Vega
Oldie but goodie- Dean Koontz Intensity
Anything by Joe Hill… he’s Stephen King’s son and his writing reminds me of older King.
No Exit by Taylor Adams was super creepy to me.
Really good!
It’s not necessarily scary, but “Haunted” by Chuck Palahniuk (of “Fight Club” fame)is probably the most disturbing and disquieting thing I’ve ever read. It left me feeling bothered for days. I’m a chronic reader of horror, everything that Stephen King has written, almost all of Dean Koontz and also a big fan of HP Lovecraft. None of them made me as uneasy as “Haunted.”
Amityville Horror by Jay Ansen
It’s an old one, Spirit Lost, by Nancy Thayer
Three by Ted Dekker was so bad I put it in the freezer ala Rachel from Friends with Cujo…….