What's the scariest book you've ever read?

[ThisAdamGuy]

Simple question. What's the scariest book you've ever read?

For me, it's probably Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. I've always loved Lovecraftian horror, and Annihilation was like if The Color Out of Space was extended into a full novel, and the color's influence had spread to cover an entire state. The movie's good too, but almost nothing like the book.

 

[HisDivineShadow]

The Shining by Stephen King
Such vivid, cinematic images - I clearly dreamed of that hotel and its residents. And yes… the predatory bushes.

 

[Vitriol]

Honestly not a fan of horror books or anything like that, so I don’t have a lot to pick from… I didn’t really get scared by those two (one of them isn’t even a horror book lmao)

One of them is a short story — “The feather pillow” by Horacio Quiroga, not that scary, but paired with my somewhat recent discovery of Dr. Nowhere’s fleshbeds I find it quite disturbing.

The other one is Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, specifically the scene where the mob kills a horse for no reason and it is quite vividly described. Can’t really handle animal abuse.

I’m more susceptible to visual horror like analog horror and such… now that I remember all the horrors I’ll have to go to sleep with my back facing the wall because otherwise I’ll feel too paranoid. I swear that thing in the mirror is out to get me.

 

[cabbag3]

A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck
I was in my edgy phase and read this coz I thought the title was cool.
After 2 hours of reading, I ended said edgy phase.

 

[Edeshei]

Simple question. What's the scariest book you've ever read?

For me, it's probably Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. I've always loved Lovecraftian horror, and Annihilation was like if The Color Out of Space was extended into a full novel, and the color's influence had spread to cover an entire state. The movie's good too, but almost nothing like the book.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

A horror story hidden in a romantic preface. Need I say more.

 

[l8rose]

I don't read horror that often so I'll have to say it was The Langoliers novella/short story by Stephen King.

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

I don't read horror that often so I'll have to say it was The Langoliers novella/short story by Stephen King.

You mean the one where a plane goes back in time and an army of mutant meatballs eat the planet?

 

[Dec]

What's the scariest book you've ever read

"The Fabric of Reality" by David Deutsch

 

[Goodmann]

The Long Walk, Bachman (Stephan King)

 

[Bartun]

I don't remember the author but the name was The Judgement Day.

It was about spies during the Cold War. Absolutely terrifying.

 

[RepresentingThree]

Hungry Hungry Cataplillar. Damn world eater.

 

[Rezcore]

The Scientology Recruitment pamphlet

 

[Echimera]

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

A horror story hidden in a romantic preface. Need I say more.

Romantic doing a lot of work here.

I think for me it's Anubis, Horus or Wyrm by Wolfgang Hohlbein.

I would love to list Lovecraft here, but I think I might be too science brained to be scared by air conditioning, UV light and intermediate level geometry.

 

[Indicterra]

Quantum Reality: Beyond the New Physics

Author: Nick Herbert

 

[CharlesEBrown]

I tend to get too wrapped up in the "cool factor" of longer fiction for it to be scary (for example, I think The Count of Eleven should probably have been one of Ramsey Campbell's most terrifying books, but I just got too caught up in the dark irony and the MCs continually more creative ways to murder people that it was not scary at all for me). Maybe "The Ceremonies" by T. E. D. Kline, or one of Dan Simmons' books (blanking on which ones I've read and which I haven't) for full length novels.
For short stories, though, "Do You Believe in Ghosts?" (by "Robert Arthur" - though the name was most often a "house" name used by new authors for the publisher) from Ghosts and More Ghosts was my introduction to horror. Another story in that collection had visual images that stuck with me even though the story itself didn't (IIRC the title was "The Wonderful Day" where a kid overhears grownups talking about other people - about one of them being such a windbag he should bloat up and float away, and another was such a beautiful person it was a shame she was so ugly on the outside, and four others - one nice, the other almost as dark as the bloating one - and the kid falls asleep wishing that what the adults said was true... and the next day all of it happens - the ugly girl becomes as pretty as her personality, the windbag bloats up and drifts off, horrible things happen to two other people, and another good person has a stroke of luck, and winds up with the girl with the nice personality) - that person bloating up just stuck with me (and is probably half the reason why the scene with the girl turning into a giant blueberry disturbed me so much while watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that it was over 20 years before anyone could convince me to watch the full movie).
Another short story had such a dark, ambiguous ending that it always stuck with me - Ray Bradbury's "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar!" (which I just found out was an episode of Ray Bradbury Theatre - and is also known by the less fun title "Come Into My Cellar"); his "Fever Dream" is also a bit unnerving; "The Illustrated Man" however is another one of those that just seemed too cool to be scary for me.

 

[LiteraryWho]

The Mist, by Stephen King, though the fact that I read it in the middle of the night, in the middle of the forest, while it was a bit foggy might have played into that.

 

[WhiteCrown]

Dead on mars, by Tian Rui Shuo Fu. The story telling of living alone in space, without contact and hope, is truly chilling. especially the way the story descripting the mc psychological burden and emotions, Oh my god, I'm gaining ptsd about space after reading this golden novel. Definitely recommended.

Edit: I think miss that 'Book' from the title, sorry lol. but still recommending that for breakfast read.

 

[Placeholder]

I would love to list Lovecraft here, but I think I might be too science brained to be scared by air conditioning, UV light and intermediate level geometry

Try Charlie Strauss's Laundry series. ?

 

[l8rose]

You mean the one where a plane goes back in time and an army of mutant meatballs eat the planet?

Yup. Like I said, I don't read a lot of horror or scary stuff so it was the scariest. I mean unless we count Twilight's terrible writing as scary I suppose...

 

[TASTYLEADPAINT]

Principles of anatomy and physiology by gerald J. Tortora and Nicholas P. Anagnostako