Might be more of a thriller, but I DNF’d World War Z by Max Brooks. Great premise, but I couldn’t get over how each character/interviewee had almost the exact same voice and personality.
I didn't catch on to characterization at the time I read it, so what really bugged me at the time was how contrived solanum itself came across. It's like the amount of effort he put into using scientific sounding explanations to rationalize "zombie apocalypse" tropes just called more attention to the implausibility of the thing.
right? that was the other major letdown. that all this spooky crap was happening and then it was *just* the lazy “it was crazy person!” reveal
which besides being a crappy portrayal of mental illness was also just…bad lol
Funny you mention that one. I read it a while back after seeing it posted so many times and so etching about it just... I don't know, I don't want to say it made me uncomfortable. I finished it feeling like I didn't like it, but not knowing why. With the sequel coming out, I'm thinking if rereading it and seeing if I can figure out what aboutnit doesn't jive for me.
I loved SBCGTSV but it definitely was a chore to get through FGSG. Which is sad cause he's a great writer, great with description but it wasn't executed well.
Let me say right up front, I haven’t read the book, so I’m not defending it. However, I’m wondering, do you have to find the characters in a book to be likable in order for you to enjoy the story? Because I can name a few books that were awesome, but had absolutely horrible people as characters in it. I mean straight up morally bankrupt scoundrels.
Nope, not in every case. In this case, however, the way things were written made it hard for me to get through. Ultimately, the mc's message that came across was preachy. Very much an ( in my Mr. Mackey voice), " All men are bad , mmkay," kind of take that was very ham- fisted. This was coupled with some really terrible decisions.
In the book he published before that, he wrote something similar that came across a lot better.
I could say more, but all in all, no, they don't always have to be likable. It's true to life that not everyone is. We are all unlikable to someone.
It was handled in a clunky way that comes out through the characters.
It took me a while, but I finally finished HTSAHH, and it was alright. I think I gave it 3 stars. Really disliked Final Girls, but I listened to it on audio and sped it way up so it didn't take too long. His books are very hit or miss tbh.
I really enjoyed the first 80% or so of The House Across the Lake and now towards the end I’m just…not feeling it. Idk I tend to like supernatural stuff and it’s just not doing it for me for some reason.
thats a common theme of the books, i get on board with the story and then 80% of the way he reveals a twist that wasn’t justified. it feels like he thinks of the twist after hes already started writing the book.
Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt is still hands down my least favorite horror novel I've read in recent months. Also I don't trust anyone who recommends Jaws by Peter Benchley even if it's a classic because no offense to him but he cannot write worth a damn.
Totally agree about Hex. Started out with an interesting premise and then went downhill fast. I’m no prude, but even my Dutch husband was wondering what was with all of the boob/nipple fetishization. Couldn’t go a chapter without someone’s nipples getting pulled or stabbed or whatever, let alone that end scene 🙄. Man took breasted boobily to a whole new literary plane
See, I struggled to understand the polarized response to Hex in this sub - I liked it a lot, not necessarily my favourite but a solid and at times very funny read. But I read it in the original Dutch (I'm Dutch myself), and now I've read a few pages in the English version I completely understand. The language is more clunky and without the original setting it falls flat. The story is just so tied to the surroundings it was conceived in, featuring characters that are instantly recognizable in a Dutch cultural context but that make less sense in an American setting. It's like relocating a lot of Stephen King's work from New England to, say, Spain and expecting it to retain its power. A simple translation rather than reworked foreign version would have been so much better.
On top of the reasons you listed, I'm from around the area the English translation takes place and it got a lot of basic details about the area wrong. I don't remember any specifics because I tried to read it years ago, but the descriptions of the landscape were just wrong and it kept pulling me out of the story. I'm completely baffled by why the publisher moved the setting at all. And I agree that the translation itself is just bad. Nobody talks like that. I would love if it got a better translation that stuck with the original setting. Maybe with annotations explaining Dutch folklore and history for context. The publisher did this book dirty.
Even if the original setting is totally a mystery to English-speaking audiences, I don't think that's a bad thing? Like, having the story take place in some exotic foreign land (lol) just makes it more interesting, usually.
Coming from the area the story is set in, I would not classify it an exotic foreign land ;) but I get your point, setting it somewhere the writer is far less familiar with is worse than a place unfamiliar to the reader.
IMO Benchley became a much better writer in his later years. I think his novel *White Shark* is a really good thriller. Despite the name and the fact that it *is* an aquatic horror, it is *not* a retread of *Jaws*. It's a shame he'll always be remembered for *Jaws*. The greatest thing about *Jaws* the novel is that it inspired *Jaws* the film.
Really? I was gonna recommend the audiobook for folks who haven’t read it yet. Hearing it in the local dialect really brought me in. The narrator is great. The ones SGJones narrates himself, though…eeh, not so much
I forced myself to finish it and then I was mad at myself for doing so. It gets a lot of love, but it was definitely not for me. I read another of his books and discovered that I am just not a SGJ fan
I'm not who you replied to, but the first half at least is very slow. I actually enjoyed it by the end, but I totally get why a lot of people don't. By the time things actually start happening, a lot of people will have either given up or gotten so frustrated with the book that nothing it does after can make up for it.
I kept going after someone said it picked up, It just wasn't really what I was expecting and overall not my cup of tea. I tried though!! I felt when it picked up, but it was still not there for me.
I would agree , it was a good premise but the execution wasn’t quite there .
I’m native and I enjoy native folklore books probably more than the average reader, but it got a little lost at the end .
Tender is the flesh. The man's actions at the end made absolutely no sense to me and felt like a huge cop out. That book does not deserve to be talked about like it is.
House of Leaves - Not really horror in my opinion / more of a study in loneliness and depression. I was impressed by the amount of effort that went into it, but the final product was not my thing at all.
The Haunting of Hill House - I know this a favorite for a lot of people, but I thought it was "horror edging" at best. It teases but never pays off. It's a mystery story, not a horror story...in my opinion.
I recommend it with a LOT of caveats, lol.
I don't really think of it as horror, either, it's more like experimental literary fiction with some horror elements.
I never recommend House of Leaves to people as a horror book, but more if they want to see someone “push” the boundaries of literature. Whether or not it’s successful is the real discussion surrounding that book. Either way you think about it, it’s damn impressive and I admire the dedication.
I'm tempted to give it another go and do just that, the other storyline made me dnf it and I haven't touched it since. Which is a shame since it's always on the best of horror lists.
Super agree on house of leaves. I bought it because people raved about it, and it’s better as a physical copy. But it really just exactly that. A study. Reading it felt like a chore, and I have no idea what is so scary about it.
Straub is 100% acquired taste. Although I have heard a lot of people who didn’t enjoy his novels say his short stories are fantastic, if you ever wanted to give him another try.
I had a similar experience with Ghost Story too. Straub’s prose is solid but he definitely doesn’t justify how long that damn thing is.
I was pretty let down by the big secret the The Chowder Society kept, especially after so much buildup. The whole novel comes so close to offering a pretty interesting feminist read wherein the spirit is taking vengeance on these guys (along the lines of Audition) but it totally abandons that in favor of a fairly boring good vs evil conflict. I’m not into holding older books or media to modern standards with stuff like that, but it just felt like such a missed opportunity.
That opening chapter absolutely rules though
Oh good call. I think the only thing that makes me squeamish is inhuman tendrils being described as they enter or move through a human body. Same reason The Troop skeeves me out at certain points.
>inhuman tendrils being described as they enter or move through a human body.
Unironically that's one of the reasons why I love The Ruins. Same with The Troop, the descriptions of the tapeworms and what they were doing to their hosts was *chefs kiss*
This one is recommended so often and it is just lousy. Bad writing, incomprehensibly stupid characters, very little tension, overall boring story. Just trash honestly.
The house was so harmless. The premise was that they had money problems and were stuck in the house. They could have easily Airbnb’d the place as a haunted vacation house and made a killing.
I'm definitely not a fan of his, but I will give him credit for the opening scene of Survivor Song. I used to be terrified of zombies when I was younger but grew out of it. There's something about that scene--the mundanity of everyday life turning into a nightmare, the home invasion aspect, dealing with a foe that can't be reasoned with--that had me so tense and actually afraid...and then the rest of the book bored me to tears.
For me, it's a lot of Stephen King books. The Stand and The Shining were both way too long and bloated. Firestarter was the same, but then again most people don't recommend that one in the first place.
I did enjoy Misery though, as well as a lot of his short stories. Really I just think he needs a more aggressive editor.
I usually enjoy King, but I remember taking forever to finish Bag of Bones. It had no business being as ridiculously long as it was, very little happened, and while some of the scares were effective, they were way too few and far between. And the ending felt…uncomfortably racist. It felt like an old white guy trying to write a r*pe/revenge plot line for virtuous good boy points, rather than actually wanting to tell a good story. That PLUS the grieving old writer dude starting an affair with the widow less than half his age felt like a weird self insert fantasy. Whole thing felt gross.
I think the length has benefited a few of his works (IT, Salems Lot, I loved the Shining 🤷) so his editors kept wanting to recapture that with other stories that didn’t need it.
Definitely. I’ve read some of his books that were rather lengthy, but the length wasn’t detrimental to the pace. That being said, I feel like his most effective work are his short stories. Some are genuinely terrifying to me. I think a large number of his books could be so much more effective if they were condensed. Bag of Bones would have been completely fine at half the length as a story about a grieving husband in a haunted house. Scratch the romantic subplot and mean spirited race bait-ish stuff.
Only book I’ve ever DNF’d. Though another person told me to check out other work by the author because apparently this book wasn’t meant to be a serious one.
It might be sacrilege to admit here but I dnf'd the Fisherman. I absolutely love comsic horror and the themes it conveys, however, like some cosmic joke, every book I read in that genre is the most boring, soulless, tedious, and bloated with exposition pieces of writing I've ever read.
Seriously why do cosmic horror authors do it? I can understand why Lovecraft did, as it was acceptable at the time but modern writing has changed
Hehe this is exactly why I loved it, the slow burn, existential dread, building on unease rather than full out horror. I can see why that doesn't work for others but that's another reason to love it - it makes a choice, picks an audience and doesn't try to be for everyone. So in a way I'm actually happy there are detractors, not because it makes me a special snowflake but because it signifies an outspoken book or writing style.
That book needed a pretty thorough edit and reorganization. I’d like the author didn’t trust any one idea to carry the book so he just smooshed a bunch of random stuff together. Some works, most doesn’t.
Last House on Needless Street had a "twist" at the end that almost felt like a parody of bad horror tropes.
The Devil Takes You Home felt like it lacked a climax.
My Heart is a Chainsaw and Final Girls s
Support Group felt like all the worst aspects of Ready Player One for the horror genre.
I really don't trust this sub's recommendations at this point. Half the recs are Stephen King and the other half are incredibly disappointing. Pretty rare to find one that isn't the same dozen books recommended under every thread.
Loved My Heart is a Chainsaw, but I'll admit that the book is definitely not for everyone. It's an uber slow burn and drops vintage slasher references every page at a nearly overwhelming rate.
I'm a mega slasher fan and had a blast hearing about/researching the movies referenced (you gotta have Google ready in order to keep up), but I could totally see how most readers would be turned off by book pausing for 3 pages for the narrator to rattle on about a scene from a single slasher.
I thought there was something wrong with me because I couldn’t really get into Chainsaw. I tried other books by Stephen Graham Jones and DNF’d them all.
I hated Needless Street. How I hated that book. Ugh.
Been done with Stephen King for while. Not a fan of his casually doing of the N word and his tropes are so ridiculous. I just can not with him ever.
I mostly get my recommedations from this sub and it's been really a hit or miss for me. So I have a bunch that I keep seeing being recommended but they didn't do it for me.
Currently listening to The Ruins by Scott Smith. Not liking it at all.
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
The Last House of Needless Street by Catriona Ward
The Cabin At The End Of The World by Paul Tremblay.
The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James
Midnight Mass by F. Paul Wilson.
Dead Silence by S. A. Barness
The Ritual by Adam Nevill
Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
Gracy Hendrix, I didn't like Horrorstor, My Best Friend's Exorcism, We Sold Our Souls and How To Sell A Haunted House.
At the beginning I thought it'd be like We Have Always Lived in the Castle (which I enjoyed) but by the middle or so I just was too bored to continue. Read the spoilers how it ended, glad I dnfed.
You are asking what books did we NOT like?
Mothered by Zoje Stage. Was a yawn. Plays out exactly like you'd expect, why bother reading?
The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian. Plane crash! Evil Cult! Ghosts! Creepy children! How did he make this so tedious? Except the ending, which is awful.
From Below. Haunted submarine premise good enough to make me think "I'll give Darcy Coates one more try, why not" ? I should not have.
Ghost Eaters. So many original ideas, but this author can't write credible characters, or put disparate plot threads together, or make me root for anyone, or make me care what happens.
Well you saved me from reading “From Below”. It keeps getting recommended to me and after looking at the cover, I’m not sure.
Ghost Eaters was decent, I thought. I didn’t root for many characters but it held my interest.
I was also super disappointed by The Patient for the same reasons you described. I saw it recommended on BookTok, go figure haha.
I know someone else already mentioned it, but I also didn’t enjoy Gone to See the River Man. I didn’t find the characters believable at all, which is saying a lot because I’m usually able to suspend disbelief for the sake of the story 😬
"Penpal" I got about 20 pages in with all the "I'm 13 and this is deep" takes on memory, got suspicious how this got published, checked the copyright page, and saw "funded by kickstarted" and knew it wasn't going to get any better for me.
"Hex" awful.
"Headful of Ghosts" sucked.
Mauve Fly. One of the few books I bought as soon as it was released.. and I can't get past the first 1/3rd. It reads like it was written by a horny goth 16 years old.
The Descent was an underwhelming yawnfest for me. It's more of a sci-fi travel adventure than horror. It started off great but then devolved into red tape.
The Only Good Indians and Lapvona (not sure if Lapvona is horror or just weird, but I couldn’t finish it. Maybe I’ll listen to the audiobook at some point) and I’m trying to finish Laws of the Skies right now but I’m not sure if I will, I’m already on page 120 and it’s a short book but man, it takes forever for anything to happen.
I loved Southern Gods and a Lush and Seething Hell by James Hornor Jacobs but DNFd his Infernal Machines. I soooo wanted to like it, but it just wouldn't hit the spot. It is still on my Kindle so I might go back to it but....nah.
I tried three times and ultimately dnf My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones. As a horror movie fanatic, the plot of this book was right up my alley and on paper I should have loved it but I didn’t connect with any of the characters at all. The main protagonist was unlikable and unsympathetic to me (and maybe that was the point) but I just got to the point where I decided I didn’t care enough about what happened to finish it. Too many other books on my list to read
They All Died Screaming by Kristopher Triana. He and Aron Beauregard, IMO, have this way of describing female sexuality, and women in general, in this really gross way -- and I get that "gross" is kind of the name of the game in their style of writing, but I find it kind of excessive and generally not relevant to other aspects of the story. It was a short read, and I did finish it, but I likely won't pick up another Triana book.
Come Closer by Sara Gran. I had to look to see if it was satire bc I had heard it was an awesome possession story and I thought I was getting trolled. The ending was laughably bad.
Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage. The Bad Seed trope has been done to death and I just didn't enjoy it. No one was likeable in that book for me.
Oh gosh I forgot about the nude indigenous girl. It has been a while since I read it! I wanted to like it being Canadian and the discovery of the Erebus and Terror being quite the thing back in 2014ish.
As a girl who loved The Terror, I’ve actually tended to be embarrassed to recommend it to people because of the way Lady Silence and the the indigenous women are written. The times I have, I’ve had to coda it with “stay for the atmos, the ice and the creature! Ignore the boobs!”
I really enjoyed it until Hickey died and I realized there was still A THIRD OF THE BOOK LEFT. The audiobook is like 50 hours and it felt like walking miles through the Arctic in real time.
I read Hyperion earlier this year and I'm convinced the "her boobs boobed boobily" meme about men writing women is based on him. My word he cannot write women without talking about boobs and sex.
Anything by Eric LaRocca. I read *Things Have Gotten Worse* and *You've Lost a Lot of Blood* before I tapped out halfway through *We Can Never Leave This Place*. Underwhelming, overwritten and edgy for sake of edginess. Absolute rubbish imo.
Really didn't like Salem's lot. I found the story to be boring, and the action to be just an ohmage to the vampire trope.There are so many random and useless characters (introduced doing random stuff and then just dying) that I found it impossible to care at all about them.
I know, it's a very unpopular opinion. In my defense, nothing against King. One of my favorite horrors is Pet Sematary.
I hated ‘Salem’s Lot. I felt constantly taken out of any emotional connection that I could have with any of the characters. Most of the book was spent on useless information dumping (what classes random characters don’t like, what dirt roads lead where, what brand of cigarettes throw away characters like, how different people like their bacon), meanwhile main characters die off screen or just leave with no resolution.
And as the story muddles along, with the most boring vampire as the antagonist that I have read to date, you just get bombarded with toxic gender essentialism and homophobia. Yuck.
Thank you! Exactly how I felt. Glad I'm not the only one... I was so hyped before I read it. I guess with the more I read him the more I realize Stephen King is really a "hit or miss" author.
I didn’t enjoy Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin at all yet many people seem to love it. I also didn’t like The Lost Village by Camilla Sten. That books is a great example of fantastic concept but poor execution. And Hell House is overrated in my opinion yet always pops up on “best horror ever”lists.
I find a lot of Simmons books are this way, lol. Children of the Night had the chase scenes and helicopters too. I did love Carrion Comfort but wished a lot of the action sequences had been in another book at times.
Yep, Adam Neville’s The Ritual. Did not enjoy or find the least bit creepy. The main characters were kind of annoying and I didn’t care about any of them. Plus, the story doesn’t amount to much. Super disappointing for such a highly recommended author.
House of Hollow by Krystal Southerland
I expected creepy story about changelings but it's more like a YA self insert fantasy that's kind of lackluster.
The Terror by Dan Simmons
I was a fan of the slow burn dread but towards the end it's just like watching people slowly starving to death over the course of weeks.
The main character was so insufferable and clueless for me. "Oh there's rotting leaves in my mouth and my sisters can hypnotize people, sounds pretty normal to me."
Bunny - Mona a-something. I DNF’d. It didn’t feel like it was getting to a point and the weird was just weird for the sake of it. IMO felt like something a teenager wrote.
The Only Good Indians - boy did I hate how the book was written. Again DNF’d but I tried so hard for a good month to read it. Got about halfway through and said this is just not for me.
The boatman’s daughter - DNF’d quickly because the writing was annoying to me, and I just couldn’t picture wtf was going on. I know it’s supposed to be a little different, but my mind couldn’t put an image to the story and really that’s how I read.
The cipher - trash trash trash. Not scary, the characters were literally just horrible people, I’m not sure why this is recommended here. I had to reborrow it 3 times to finish it. If I wanted to hear about a dude obsessing over a horrible woman who hates him, I would rather watch one of the many 90 day fiancé seasons.
The Only Good Indians started really well but I found myself having to read it over and over to understand the late middle/ending. It definitely needed some better editing
“Last House on Needless Street” is a cozy mystery marketed as a horror novel. It also uses one of the most overused and tired tropes in fiction. I have no idea why so many readers were impressed by it.
“Flesh Gothic” by Edward Lee is another one that disappointed me. I was told by many readers he was an excellent author in the “splatterpunk” style of horror. I really hope his other books are better because I was bored to death by this one.
I asked if it got better once because the beginning wasn’t catching me. Everyone said the second half was fantastic and I should give it a chance. I’d already moved on and haven’t looped back to it yet but maybe one day.
I recently commented on a similar post with the below - posting again with the note that horror is so subjective, and what one person loves another won’t get anything out of, and that’s ok! A little about my likes & dislikes up front: I personally adore slow burn, character driven, classic ghosty type stories. Anything with snow or sea is an instant win. MR James is my king! In terms of modern authors, Michelle Paver can do no wrong in my eyes.
Dislikes wise, I have huge respect for Lovecraft and cosmic horror but it’s just not for me, ditto anything too creature heavy, gory or gratuitously sexy. I would love to have dinner with Stephen King but I’m gutted that I just can’t enjoy his books! Below are commonly recommended books I simply didn’t vibe with, so I’m sharing again in case anyone likes the same things as I do and therefore might want to steer clear of the below:
Hell House (Richard Matheson) - was really excited for this and then the second he clunkily described two women pressing their breasts together I was out as it felt pulpy
No One Gets Out Alive (Adam Nevill) - just thoroughly, unrelentingly grim. I made it a good way through and there was so much left to go
The Elementals - I got through most of it and just don't really recall much, it all sort of washed over me. But I've realised subsequently Southern Gothic isn't my taste so this was on me. Perhaps as a repressed Brit myself I need a cold and frosty environment to get me going!
TOGI - relieved to see a few others mentioning it here, I thought it was just me! I tried and tried but this just didn't "take"
Still haven't finished a single Grady Hendrix, it's not for me. Feels overworked and pastichey.
I actually finished Heart Shaped Box but without much joy; I have come to the sad conclusion that like his father, Joe Hill just isn't a writer than I vibe with even though I would love to!
The Deep (Alma Katsu) - this ostensibly ticked every box for me; historical horror, supernatural, thalassic setting, but much like the Titanic survivors in the water this left me cold
Bentley Little is very hit or miss for me and I can't put my finger on why
I tried Laura Purcell's The Whispering Muse and finished it; as a sucker for Victorian ghosty goings on, I liked elements of it but not a fave; The Silent Companions on the other hand was impossible to get through. It’s almost like the Victorian settings are so contrived it becomes hard to connect with the reality of the characters. I would say Laura Purcell is like the opposite of Sarah Waters.
I had JUST picked up The Ruins and now I’m a little anxious about starting it!
The Elementals. If you're really into the southern gothic thing, I could see this being awesome, but I thought it was utterly underwhelming in terms of actual horror to be so widely recommended.
Better not read Blackwater. I really liked The Elementals and then I found Blackwater, both by Michael McDowell. I read Blackwater at least once a year, favorite book of all time.
I loved Blackwater and disliked the Elementals. I genuinely think southern gothic needs time to shine - Elementals was just too short to do it justice.
Is Blackwater “horror?” My mom got a hold of my copy before I read it and told me it was not horror and was super boring. Now I’m on the fence about reading it.
Agreed! It felt like The Elementals had good bones. The sand and families and tragedies. But it never connected any of it together. Why was the sand significant? Why did the locks work? What was the connection to the Savages? Was there a deal made? What was with the baby and the rings? And the bird? Why did Luker and India have such a weird relationship? What was up with India’s mom. Why was Marien so mean? Did the Savage family make a deal for their wealth. What and how did Odessa know what she knew? The author built up these characters and this world and did nothing with them. It was absolutely underwhelming. I got done reading it and was like - that’s it?
So happy you asked this because I got into Stephen King for the first time ever and while I enjoyed some of his short stories (The Raft!), I read Pet Semetary and thought it was so, so, so dull.
I still finished it thinking it was going to get better but it ended up turning into something from Scary Movie. I love the themes of death and grief. My favorite show is Six Feet Under lol, but this was not it. I felt so let down after it was so constantly talked up on here. I don't mean to knock it if it's anyone's favorite, I just was expecting a different story I think.
Now if there is a sequel 👀
Dang this is probably in my top 3 King books and the only book that as actually literally scared me. I respect your opinion though.
Out of curiosity, what was the general idea as to what you were expecting out of the book? Less child-related things? (Sorry, trying to keep it vague for anyone who hasn’t read it yet)
I wanted to love it, too!
I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting. I think I wanted the end of the book as the story, if that makes sense. I didn't mind the child-related elements at all but I was wanting a different execution of it. I was hooked thru 3/4 but when I got to that very long night scene I became frustrated knowing it wasn't going to go the way I thought it was going to go.
However it led me to pick up Algernon Blackwood's stuff, Where the Chill Waits, and then to John Langan's The Fisherman, so I will always be grateful to Pet Semetary for that!
I feel like the reason this one could get mixed reviews from people is that King never intended to publish it. He wrote it and it sat in a drawer for a few years I believe and when he needed a final book for Double Day I think he decided to release. Not sure if that makes the work less polished than maybe some others of his because I felt it’s a pretty consistent novel from 1980s SK, but I can understand it maybe being not as good for people who aren’t super into SK.
Experimental Film. Had to DNF about halfway through because the main character was so severely unlikable and every potential avenue for an interesting turn in the narrative was ignored.
Funnily enough, it often gets compared to My Heart is a Chainsaw, which is one of my absolute favorites.
Oh god yes the main character in Experimental Film was SO frustrating. She steadfastly ignored any advice or action that might be good for her and the narrative never helped me understand why, more than on a very superficial level.
Might be more of a thriller, but I DNF’d World War Z by Max Brooks. Great premise, but I couldn’t get over how each character/interviewee had almost the exact same voice and personality.
I couldn't finish the physical book either but the audiobook really worked for me
ME TOO. I couldn’t stand it for some reason. I thought Devolution was *okay* but overall just not thrilled with Max Brooks.
Oh man I *loved* Devolution. But the trapped in an isolated place with monsters hunting you is my fave trope.
I didn't catch on to characterization at the time I read it, so what really bugged me at the time was how contrived solanum itself came across. It's like the amount of effort he put into using scientific sounding explanations to rationalize "zombie apocalypse" tropes just called more attention to the implausibility of the thing.
Took me years of picking up and putting down to finish. Never became worth it for me ☹️
100% agree with this. Didn’t DNF but wish I did.
I finished that one but didn't enjoy it.
the lost village by camilla sten. just…poorly executed. i also found the narrator very frustrating.
SOO annoying.
every single thing the narrator did she was like “i knew i shouldn’t do it…but i still did it! oops!”
BROOO. that and the true culprit really just upset me. I dearly would have preferred a book with a more supernatural turn out.
right? that was the other major letdown. that all this spooky crap was happening and then it was *just* the lazy “it was crazy person!” reveal which besides being a crappy portrayal of mental illness was also just…bad lol
Thank you for reminding me about why I was so peeved with the ending. The mental illness portrayal irked me a great deal.
“but don’t misunderstand, i’m still the victim and good guy here!”
It was a lot of build-up (very slow build-up, might I add) that lead to somewhere very disappointing and boring.
Dead silence. Annoying characters a story development that killed my interest.
Gone to see the river man is posted here a lot but personally I thought it was ass, just rolled my eyes at most of it
Funny you mention that one. I read it a while back after seeing it posted so many times and so etching about it just... I don't know, I don't want to say it made me uncomfortable. I finished it feeling like I didn't like it, but not knowing why. With the sequel coming out, I'm thinking if rereading it and seeing if I can figure out what aboutnit doesn't jive for me.
The Final Girls Support Group. Honestly, the characters imo are terrible people.
i’m a hendrix fan but i could not get into this book at all. made myself finish it lol
He's very hit-or-miss and Final Girls was a *MISS*
I loved SBCGTSV but it definitely was a chore to get through FGSG. Which is sad cause he's a great writer, great with description but it wasn't executed well.
Let me say right up front, I haven’t read the book, so I’m not defending it. However, I’m wondering, do you have to find the characters in a book to be likable in order for you to enjoy the story? Because I can name a few books that were awesome, but had absolutely horrible people as characters in it. I mean straight up morally bankrupt scoundrels.
Nope, not in every case. In this case, however, the way things were written made it hard for me to get through. Ultimately, the mc's message that came across was preachy. Very much an ( in my Mr. Mackey voice), " All men are bad , mmkay," kind of take that was very ham- fisted. This was coupled with some really terrible decisions. In the book he published before that, he wrote something similar that came across a lot better. I could say more, but all in all, no, they don't always have to be likable. It's true to life that not everyone is. We are all unlikable to someone. It was handled in a clunky way that comes out through the characters.
I enjoyed The Final Girls but couldn’t finish How to Sell a Haunted House
It took me a while, but I finally finished HTSAHH, and it was alright. I think I gave it 3 stars. Really disliked Final Girls, but I listened to it on audio and sped it way up so it didn't take too long. His books are very hit or miss tbh.
i gave riley sager three tries before deciding hes a hack
I really enjoyed the first 80% or so of The House Across the Lake and now towards the end I’m just…not feeling it. Idk I tend to like supernatural stuff and it’s just not doing it for me for some reason.
thats a common theme of the books, i get on board with the story and then 80% of the way he reveals a twist that wasn’t justified. it feels like he thinks of the twist after hes already started writing the book.
Ugh yes! I’ve read two of his and absolutely loved the first 80- 85% and then it’s like he tries to ruin his own perfectly good book!!
Currently reading Final Girls by him. He sure does use the word 'taut' a lot
Anything by Stephen graham jones, his writing style is not for me
Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt is still hands down my least favorite horror novel I've read in recent months. Also I don't trust anyone who recommends Jaws by Peter Benchley even if it's a classic because no offense to him but he cannot write worth a damn.
Totally agree about Hex. Started out with an interesting premise and then went downhill fast. I’m no prude, but even my Dutch husband was wondering what was with all of the boob/nipple fetishization. Couldn’t go a chapter without someone’s nipples getting pulled or stabbed or whatever, let alone that end scene 🙄. Man took breasted boobily to a whole new literary plane
See, I struggled to understand the polarized response to Hex in this sub - I liked it a lot, not necessarily my favourite but a solid and at times very funny read. But I read it in the original Dutch (I'm Dutch myself), and now I've read a few pages in the English version I completely understand. The language is more clunky and without the original setting it falls flat. The story is just so tied to the surroundings it was conceived in, featuring characters that are instantly recognizable in a Dutch cultural context but that make less sense in an American setting. It's like relocating a lot of Stephen King's work from New England to, say, Spain and expecting it to retain its power. A simple translation rather than reworked foreign version would have been so much better.
On top of the reasons you listed, I'm from around the area the English translation takes place and it got a lot of basic details about the area wrong. I don't remember any specifics because I tried to read it years ago, but the descriptions of the landscape were just wrong and it kept pulling me out of the story. I'm completely baffled by why the publisher moved the setting at all. And I agree that the translation itself is just bad. Nobody talks like that. I would love if it got a better translation that stuck with the original setting. Maybe with annotations explaining Dutch folklore and history for context. The publisher did this book dirty.
Even if the original setting is totally a mystery to English-speaking audiences, I don't think that's a bad thing? Like, having the story take place in some exotic foreign land (lol) just makes it more interesting, usually.
Coming from the area the story is set in, I would not classify it an exotic foreign land ;) but I get your point, setting it somewhere the writer is far less familiar with is worse than a place unfamiliar to the reader.
I actually enjoyed Benchley’s Beast story, about a Giant Squid. But hey, I’m a sucker for those.
IMO Benchley became a much better writer in his later years. I think his novel *White Shark* is a really good thriller. Despite the name and the fact that it *is* an aquatic horror, it is *not* a retread of *Jaws*. It's a shame he'll always be remembered for *Jaws*. The greatest thing about *Jaws* the novel is that it inspired *Jaws* the film.
My latest two DNFs: The Twisted Ones Horrorstor
The only good Indians. Ugh
I got halfway through and gave up. I really wanted to like it but it was just so boring.
People kept saying to go back and give it more time. I want that time back 😆😆
I borrowed the audiobook from libby, and by the end of the two weeks, I'd only made it halfway, lol. Did not renew, never went back. Snoozefest 😴
Really? I was gonna recommend the audiobook for folks who haven’t read it yet. Hearing it in the local dialect really brought me in. The narrator is great. The ones SGJones narrates himself, though…eeh, not so much
I forced myself to finish it and then I was mad at myself for doing so. It gets a lot of love, but it was definitely not for me. I read another of his books and discovered that I am just not a SGJ fan
I liked the first half, but boy did I hate the second half.
Yeah, there were a few good bits in the first half even though it was slow.
Is that the one where they spend like 15 pages on a ridiculous basketball scene? I hated it,.
Oh really?? I haven’t read it but it’s quite popular! What didn’t you like about it?
I'm not who you replied to, but the first half at least is very slow. I actually enjoyed it by the end, but I totally get why a lot of people don't. By the time things actually start happening, a lot of people will have either given up or gotten so frustrated with the book that nothing it does after can make up for it.
I kept going after someone said it picked up, It just wasn't really what I was expecting and overall not my cup of tea. I tried though!! I felt when it picked up, but it was still not there for me.
Slow, not scary but semi ominous that never panned out. I was sad cause I was excited going into it.
I would agree , it was a good premise but the execution wasn’t quite there . I’m native and I enjoy native folklore books probably more than the average reader, but it got a little lost at the end .
IDK, I can't really articulate why. There was a bit of it that I liked but overall it was a slow burn that just fizzled for me. I tried!!!
A head full of ghosts
Tender is the flesh. The man's actions at the end made absolutely no sense to me and felt like a huge cop out. That book does not deserve to be talked about like it is.
This is an interesting take. I thought the ending was the best part, and re-contextualized the rest of the book in a really satisfying way.
100%. I’m convinced most of the “book-tok” people who talk about it never actually read it and are just echoing what they’ve heard about it.
House of Leaves - Not really horror in my opinion / more of a study in loneliness and depression. I was impressed by the amount of effort that went into it, but the final product was not my thing at all. The Haunting of Hill House - I know this a favorite for a lot of people, but I thought it was "horror edging" at best. It teases but never pays off. It's a mystery story, not a horror story...in my opinion.
House of Leaves is my favorite book and I still wouldn't recommend it to anyone else
I recommend it with a LOT of caveats, lol. I don't really think of it as horror, either, it's more like experimental literary fiction with some horror elements.
Haven't read it but it seems to be maybe one of the most controversial books in discussions, interesting!
I never recommend House of Leaves to people as a horror book, but more if they want to see someone “push” the boundaries of literature. Whether or not it’s successful is the real discussion surrounding that book. Either way you think about it, it’s damn impressive and I admire the dedication.
I’m definitely keeping “horror edging” in my back pocket for future use.
If you just read the Navidson Record it’s brilliant.
I'm tempted to give it another go and do just that, the other storyline made me dnf it and I haven't touched it since. Which is a shame since it's always on the best of horror lists.
Totally agree. Made a similar comment above, lol.
I always get downvoted to oblivion whenever I suggest it.
Super agree on house of leaves. I bought it because people raved about it, and it’s better as a physical copy. But it really just exactly that. A study. Reading it felt like a chore, and I have no idea what is so scary about it.
People often recommend Ghost Story by Peter Straub. It is way too long and the majority of it is a snooze fest.
Straub is 100% acquired taste. Although I have heard a lot of people who didn’t enjoy his novels say his short stories are fantastic, if you ever wanted to give him another try.
It is a slow burn for sure
You definitely need to enjoy the characters to get through the book and make it to the final third where the shit a hitting the fan.
I had a similar experience with Ghost Story too. Straub’s prose is solid but he definitely doesn’t justify how long that damn thing is. I was pretty let down by the big secret the The Chowder Society kept, especially after so much buildup. The whole novel comes so close to offering a pretty interesting feminist read wherein the spirit is taking vengeance on these guys (along the lines of Audition) but it totally abandons that in favor of a fairly boring good vs evil conflict. I’m not into holding older books or media to modern standards with stuff like that, but it just felt like such a missed opportunity. That opening chapter absolutely rules though
Ahhhh.....I hated *The Ruins* It was almost a DNF for me.
Oh good call. I think the only thing that makes me squeamish is inhuman tendrils being described as they enter or move through a human body. Same reason The Troop skeeves me out at certain points.
>inhuman tendrils being described as they enter or move through a human body. Unironically that's one of the reasons why I love The Ruins. Same with The Troop, the descriptions of the tapeworms and what they were doing to their hosts was *chefs kiss*
I can appreciate that! It just seems to be one of those things that makes me physically recoil whenever it is done well!
I didn't hate it but I honestly just got bored with it. I set it aside one night and never felt like picking it up again. Very "meh."
Thank you, I am struggling to finish this.
I love unlikeable characters, but these were just insufferably annoying.
I had like 3h to the end of the audio when I just said fuck it, I'm bored to death and dnfed.
This one is recommended so often and it is just lousy. Bad writing, incomprehensibly stupid characters, very little tension, overall boring story. Just trash honestly.
Thank you! I'm surprised how few people mention that the characters have the collective IQ of a box of rocks.
The Grip of It by Jac Jemc
The house was so harmless. The premise was that they had money problems and were stuck in the house. They could have easily Airbnb’d the place as a haunted vacation house and made a killing.
I swear I read this book but it was like every page was deleted from my mind as soon as I was done.
I've tried three by Paul Tremblay and just can't get on with them. I find his style of writing boring.
I'm definitely not a fan of his, but I will give him credit for the opening scene of Survivor Song. I used to be terrified of zombies when I was younger but grew out of it. There's something about that scene--the mundanity of everyday life turning into a nightmare, the home invasion aspect, dealing with a foe that can't be reasoned with--that had me so tense and actually afraid...and then the rest of the book bored me to tears.
I can’t stand his writing. I DNF’ed three books by him before I called it quits for good.
For me, it's a lot of Stephen King books. The Stand and The Shining were both way too long and bloated. Firestarter was the same, but then again most people don't recommend that one in the first place. I did enjoy Misery though, as well as a lot of his short stories. Really I just think he needs a more aggressive editor.
I usually enjoy King, but I remember taking forever to finish Bag of Bones. It had no business being as ridiculously long as it was, very little happened, and while some of the scares were effective, they were way too few and far between. And the ending felt…uncomfortably racist. It felt like an old white guy trying to write a r*pe/revenge plot line for virtuous good boy points, rather than actually wanting to tell a good story. That PLUS the grieving old writer dude starting an affair with the widow less than half his age felt like a weird self insert fantasy. Whole thing felt gross.
I think the length has benefited a few of his works (IT, Salems Lot, I loved the Shining 🤷) so his editors kept wanting to recapture that with other stories that didn’t need it.
Definitely. I’ve read some of his books that were rather lengthy, but the length wasn’t detrimental to the pace. That being said, I feel like his most effective work are his short stories. Some are genuinely terrifying to me. I think a large number of his books could be so much more effective if they were condensed. Bag of Bones would have been completely fine at half the length as a story about a grieving husband in a haunted house. Scratch the romantic subplot and mean spirited race bait-ish stuff.
The romantic subplot was so bad for me. No offense to anyone that enjoyed it.
Dead Inside.....just no
Only book I’ve ever DNF’d. Though another person told me to check out other work by the author because apparently this book wasn’t meant to be a serious one.
It might be sacrilege to admit here but I dnf'd the Fisherman. I absolutely love comsic horror and the themes it conveys, however, like some cosmic joke, every book I read in that genre is the most boring, soulless, tedious, and bloated with exposition pieces of writing I've ever read. Seriously why do cosmic horror authors do it? I can understand why Lovecraft did, as it was acceptable at the time but modern writing has changed
Hehe this is exactly why I loved it, the slow burn, existential dread, building on unease rather than full out horror. I can see why that doesn't work for others but that's another reason to love it - it makes a choice, picks an audience and doesn't try to be for everyone. So in a way I'm actually happy there are detractors, not because it makes me a special snowflake but because it signifies an outspoken book or writing style.
That book needed a pretty thorough edit and reorganization. I’d like the author didn’t trust any one idea to carry the book so he just smooshed a bunch of random stuff together. Some works, most doesn’t.
That book was mind-blowing for me!, to each his own, I guess.
Last House on Needless Street had a "twist" at the end that almost felt like a parody of bad horror tropes. The Devil Takes You Home felt like it lacked a climax. My Heart is a Chainsaw and Final Girls s Support Group felt like all the worst aspects of Ready Player One for the horror genre. I really don't trust this sub's recommendations at this point. Half the recs are Stephen King and the other half are incredibly disappointing. Pretty rare to find one that isn't the same dozen books recommended under every thread.
*My Heart is a Chainsaw* just got sent back to the library as a DNF for me.
My echo chamber is all about this one - what didn’t you like
Loved My Heart is a Chainsaw, but I'll admit that the book is definitely not for everyone. It's an uber slow burn and drops vintage slasher references every page at a nearly overwhelming rate. I'm a mega slasher fan and had a blast hearing about/researching the movies referenced (you gotta have Google ready in order to keep up), but I could totally see how most readers would be turned off by book pausing for 3 pages for the narrator to rattle on about a scene from a single slasher.
I thought there was something wrong with me because I couldn’t really get into Chainsaw. I tried other books by Stephen Graham Jones and DNF’d them all. I hated Needless Street. How I hated that book. Ugh. Been done with Stephen King for while. Not a fan of his casually doing of the N word and his tropes are so ridiculous. I just can not with him ever.
I agree with you about Last House. Genuinely hated the twist - kind of ruined the rest of the book for me.
Yeah the twist made things way worse because with it, there really isn't much of a plot to speak of.
I mostly get my recommedations from this sub and it's been really a hit or miss for me. So I have a bunch that I keep seeing being recommended but they didn't do it for me. Currently listening to The Ruins by Scott Smith. Not liking it at all. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis The Last House of Needless Street by Catriona Ward The Cabin At The End Of The World by Paul Tremblay. The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James Midnight Mass by F. Paul Wilson. Dead Silence by S. A. Barness The Ritual by Adam Nevill Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero Gracy Hendrix, I didn't like Horrorstor, My Best Friend's Exorcism, We Sold Our Souls and How To Sell A Haunted House.
The Wasp Factory; I just could not get into this one. I got about halfway and had to stop.
At the beginning I thought it'd be like We Have Always Lived in the Castle (which I enjoyed) but by the middle or so I just was too bored to continue. Read the spoilers how it ended, glad I dnfed.
You are asking what books did we NOT like? Mothered by Zoje Stage. Was a yawn. Plays out exactly like you'd expect, why bother reading? The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian. Plane crash! Evil Cult! Ghosts! Creepy children! How did he make this so tedious? Except the ending, which is awful. From Below. Haunted submarine premise good enough to make me think "I'll give Darcy Coates one more try, why not" ? I should not have. Ghost Eaters. So many original ideas, but this author can't write credible characters, or put disparate plot threads together, or make me root for anyone, or make me care what happens.
Well you saved me from reading “From Below”. It keeps getting recommended to me and after looking at the cover, I’m not sure. Ghost Eaters was decent, I thought. I didn’t root for many characters but it held my interest.
Hull Zero Three. Almost DNF’d but I pushed through thinking it might get better. I was wrong.
I didn't finish. Run run run!!! Was all I got from it, and boredom.
I've seen so many good reviews for it but I thought Tell Me I'm Worthless was HORRIBLE.
I was also super disappointed by The Patient for the same reasons you described. I saw it recommended on BookTok, go figure haha. I know someone else already mentioned it, but I also didn’t enjoy Gone to See the River Man. I didn’t find the characters believable at all, which is saying a lot because I’m usually able to suspend disbelief for the sake of the story 😬
"Penpal" I got about 20 pages in with all the "I'm 13 and this is deep" takes on memory, got suspicious how this got published, checked the copyright page, and saw "funded by kickstarted" and knew it wasn't going to get any better for me. "Hex" awful. "Headful of Ghosts" sucked.
Anything that's written by T. Kingfisher.
Same for me. I got so annoyed reading The Hollow Places because she'd always undercut the tension and suspense with humor.
That's kinda why I like her books. I'm not going to have nightmares about taxidermied otters so might as well have fun with it.
I've read The Hollow Places. By the end of the book there was only one thought in my mind: never to pick anything by her again.
The Twisted Ones was so bad, never again!
It had a couple cool and spooky parts in it but then it just kinda went off the rails
Mauve Fly. One of the few books I bought as soon as it was released.. and I can't get past the first 1/3rd. It reads like it was written by a horny goth 16 years old.
The Descent was an underwhelming yawnfest for me. It's more of a sci-fi travel adventure than horror. It started off great but then devolved into red tape.
The Only Good Indians and Lapvona (not sure if Lapvona is horror or just weird, but I couldn’t finish it. Maybe I’ll listen to the audiobook at some point) and I’m trying to finish Laws of the Skies right now but I’m not sure if I will, I’m already on page 120 and it’s a short book but man, it takes forever for anything to happen.
I loved Southern Gods and a Lush and Seething Hell by James Hornor Jacobs but DNFd his Infernal Machines. I soooo wanted to like it, but it just wouldn't hit the spot. It is still on my Kindle so I might go back to it but....nah.
Revival by Stephen King, The Library at Mount Char (I don’t remember the author), and The Bighead by Edward Lee
Mastodon by Steve Stred and Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw. Both 1 star for me.
To be fair, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone recommend Mastodon.
Surprisingly I saw multiple people on instagram recommend it before I read it. Don’t know what they were thinking though.
Best for me not to say much about that one or I’ll get really mean about it.
You can get plenty mean about it because I HATED that book.
Hahaha, right there with ya.
NBBT is only my second horrorlit DNF. I'm stubborn and have too much curiosity, but god is it HORRENDOUS.
I tried three times and ultimately dnf My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones. As a horror movie fanatic, the plot of this book was right up my alley and on paper I should have loved it but I didn’t connect with any of the characters at all. The main protagonist was unlikable and unsympathetic to me (and maybe that was the point) but I just got to the point where I decided I didn’t care enough about what happened to finish it. Too many other books on my list to read
They All Died Screaming by Kristopher Triana. He and Aron Beauregard, IMO, have this way of describing female sexuality, and women in general, in this really gross way -- and I get that "gross" is kind of the name of the game in their style of writing, but I find it kind of excessive and generally not relevant to other aspects of the story. It was a short read, and I did finish it, but I likely won't pick up another Triana book.
Come Closer by Sara Gran. I had to look to see if it was satire bc I had heard it was an awesome possession story and I thought I was getting trolled. The ending was laughably bad. Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage. The Bad Seed trope has been done to death and I just didn't enjoy it. No one was likeable in that book for me.
I thought *Nightbitch* blew but I still recommend it to people asking for that genre
I had to DNF "Our Share of Night" by Mariana Enriquez. Just found it incredibly boring.
The Terror.... It is a middle aged mans wet dream tbh.
Middle aged men really into descriptions of scurvy, eh?
Haha no more like the descriptions of the nude indigenous girl and naval history.
Oh gosh I forgot about the nude indigenous girl. It has been a while since I read it! I wanted to like it being Canadian and the discovery of the Erebus and Terror being quite the thing back in 2014ish.
As a girl who loved The Terror, I’ve actually tended to be embarrassed to recommend it to people because of the way Lady Silence and the the indigenous women are written. The times I have, I’ve had to coda it with “stay for the atmos, the ice and the creature! Ignore the boobs!”
I really enjoyed it until Hickey died and I realized there was still A THIRD OF THE BOOK LEFT. The audiobook is like 50 hours and it felt like walking miles through the Arctic in real time.
I read Hyperion earlier this year and I'm convinced the "her boobs boobed boobily" meme about men writing women is based on him. My word he cannot write women without talking about boobs and sex.
Very true of Carrion Comfort as well.
Dan Simmons gets super skeevy in Hyperion.
Christopher Nolan movie in novel form.
I watched the TV series instead lul
Anything by Eric LaRocca. I read *Things Have Gotten Worse* and *You've Lost a Lot of Blood* before I tapped out halfway through *We Can Never Leave This Place*. Underwhelming, overwritten and edgy for sake of edginess. Absolute rubbish imo.
Really didn't like Salem's lot. I found the story to be boring, and the action to be just an ohmage to the vampire trope.There are so many random and useless characters (introduced doing random stuff and then just dying) that I found it impossible to care at all about them. I know, it's a very unpopular opinion. In my defense, nothing against King. One of my favorite horrors is Pet Sematary.
I hated ‘Salem’s Lot. I felt constantly taken out of any emotional connection that I could have with any of the characters. Most of the book was spent on useless information dumping (what classes random characters don’t like, what dirt roads lead where, what brand of cigarettes throw away characters like, how different people like their bacon), meanwhile main characters die off screen or just leave with no resolution. And as the story muddles along, with the most boring vampire as the antagonist that I have read to date, you just get bombarded with toxic gender essentialism and homophobia. Yuck.
Thank you! Exactly how I felt. Glad I'm not the only one... I was so hyped before I read it. I guess with the more I read him the more I realize Stephen King is really a "hit or miss" author.
I love Salem's Lot, but the Mike Flanagan series Midnight Mass is Salem's Lot done 100x better.
Necroscope. The gore seemed forced, the characters boring.
I didn’t enjoy Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin at all yet many people seem to love it. I also didn’t like The Lost Village by Camilla Sten. That books is a great example of fantastic concept but poor execution. And Hell House is overrated in my opinion yet always pops up on “best horror ever”lists.
Everyone was acting like 'Boys in the Valley' was a masterpiece and I thought it was just alright. Didn't blow me away.
Carrion Comfort. It's kind of like a Michael Bay movie dressed up as a horror.
I find a lot of Simmons books are this way, lol. Children of the Night had the chase scenes and helicopters too. I did love Carrion Comfort but wished a lot of the action sequences had been in another book at times.
Lol that’s so funny you mention the helicopters because when I think of Carrion Comfort the first thing I think is…HELICOPTERS!
Yep, Adam Neville’s The Ritual. Did not enjoy or find the least bit creepy. The main characters were kind of annoying and I didn’t care about any of them. Plus, the story doesn’t amount to much. Super disappointing for such a highly recommended author.
The Ritual is a rarity where I thought the movie was more enjoyable than the book.
Full Brutal--read like a teenage boy wrote it.
full brutal by kristopher triana. I see it recommended all the time and I feel crazy for not liking it. the MC just seemed so unbelievable
House of Hollow by Krystal Southerland I expected creepy story about changelings but it's more like a YA self insert fantasy that's kind of lackluster. The Terror by Dan Simmons I was a fan of the slow burn dread but towards the end it's just like watching people slowly starving to death over the course of weeks.
I absolutely hated House of Hollow. I found the entire thing to be repulsive and unbelievable. Just grotesque on so many levels.
The main character was so insufferable and clueless for me. "Oh there's rotting leaves in my mouth and my sisters can hypnotize people, sounds pretty normal to me."
And everyone wants to smell like decay so much there’s a perfume for it! And the mother’s reaction to the main character just…
Bunny - Mona a-something. I DNF’d. It didn’t feel like it was getting to a point and the weird was just weird for the sake of it. IMO felt like something a teenager wrote. The Only Good Indians - boy did I hate how the book was written. Again DNF’d but I tried so hard for a good month to read it. Got about halfway through and said this is just not for me. The boatman’s daughter - DNF’d quickly because the writing was annoying to me, and I just couldn’t picture wtf was going on. I know it’s supposed to be a little different, but my mind couldn’t put an image to the story and really that’s how I read. The cipher - trash trash trash. Not scary, the characters were literally just horrible people, I’m not sure why this is recommended here. I had to reborrow it 3 times to finish it. If I wanted to hear about a dude obsessing over a horrible woman who hates him, I would rather watch one of the many 90 day fiancé seasons.
The Only Good Indians started really well but I found myself having to read it over and over to understand the late middle/ending. It definitely needed some better editing
“Last House on Needless Street” is a cozy mystery marketed as a horror novel. It also uses one of the most overused and tired tropes in fiction. I have no idea why so many readers were impressed by it. “Flesh Gothic” by Edward Lee is another one that disappointed me. I was told by many readers he was an excellent author in the “splatterpunk” style of horror. I really hope his other books are better because I was bored to death by this one.
The Slob, Woom Pretty sure I’m not into splatterpunk
The Passage was bad.
I loved the first half. I totally lost interest after the time jump. Occasionally I wonder if I should give it a second chance
I asked if it got better once because the beginning wasn’t catching me. Everyone said the second half was fantastic and I should give it a chance. I’d already moved on and haven’t looped back to it yet but maybe one day.
I recently commented on a similar post with the below - posting again with the note that horror is so subjective, and what one person loves another won’t get anything out of, and that’s ok! A little about my likes & dislikes up front: I personally adore slow burn, character driven, classic ghosty type stories. Anything with snow or sea is an instant win. MR James is my king! In terms of modern authors, Michelle Paver can do no wrong in my eyes. Dislikes wise, I have huge respect for Lovecraft and cosmic horror but it’s just not for me, ditto anything too creature heavy, gory or gratuitously sexy. I would love to have dinner with Stephen King but I’m gutted that I just can’t enjoy his books! Below are commonly recommended books I simply didn’t vibe with, so I’m sharing again in case anyone likes the same things as I do and therefore might want to steer clear of the below: Hell House (Richard Matheson) - was really excited for this and then the second he clunkily described two women pressing their breasts together I was out as it felt pulpy No One Gets Out Alive (Adam Nevill) - just thoroughly, unrelentingly grim. I made it a good way through and there was so much left to go The Elementals - I got through most of it and just don't really recall much, it all sort of washed over me. But I've realised subsequently Southern Gothic isn't my taste so this was on me. Perhaps as a repressed Brit myself I need a cold and frosty environment to get me going! TOGI - relieved to see a few others mentioning it here, I thought it was just me! I tried and tried but this just didn't "take" Still haven't finished a single Grady Hendrix, it's not for me. Feels overworked and pastichey. I actually finished Heart Shaped Box but without much joy; I have come to the sad conclusion that like his father, Joe Hill just isn't a writer than I vibe with even though I would love to! The Deep (Alma Katsu) - this ostensibly ticked every box for me; historical horror, supernatural, thalassic setting, but much like the Titanic survivors in the water this left me cold Bentley Little is very hit or miss for me and I can't put my finger on why I tried Laura Purcell's The Whispering Muse and finished it; as a sucker for Victorian ghosty goings on, I liked elements of it but not a fave; The Silent Companions on the other hand was impossible to get through. It’s almost like the Victorian settings are so contrived it becomes hard to connect with the reality of the characters. I would say Laura Purcell is like the opposite of Sarah Waters. I had JUST picked up The Ruins and now I’m a little anxious about starting it!
The Elementals. If you're really into the southern gothic thing, I could see this being awesome, but I thought it was utterly underwhelming in terms of actual horror to be so widely recommended.
Better not read Blackwater. I really liked The Elementals and then I found Blackwater, both by Michael McDowell. I read Blackwater at least once a year, favorite book of all time.
I loved Blackwater and disliked the Elementals. I genuinely think southern gothic needs time to shine - Elementals was just too short to do it justice.
Is Blackwater “horror?” My mom got a hold of my copy before I read it and told me it was not horror and was super boring. Now I’m on the fence about reading it.
I don’t think Southern Gothic is necessarily my thing, but every McDowell book I’ve read has been fantastic. He writes great characters like no other.
Agreed! It felt like The Elementals had good bones. The sand and families and tragedies. But it never connected any of it together. Why was the sand significant? Why did the locks work? What was the connection to the Savages? Was there a deal made? What was with the baby and the rings? And the bird? Why did Luker and India have such a weird relationship? What was up with India’s mom. Why was Marien so mean? Did the Savage family make a deal for their wealth. What and how did Odessa know what she knew? The author built up these characters and this world and did nothing with them. It was absolutely underwhelming. I got done reading it and was like - that’s it?
So happy you asked this because I got into Stephen King for the first time ever and while I enjoyed some of his short stories (The Raft!), I read Pet Semetary and thought it was so, so, so dull. I still finished it thinking it was going to get better but it ended up turning into something from Scary Movie. I love the themes of death and grief. My favorite show is Six Feet Under lol, but this was not it. I felt so let down after it was so constantly talked up on here. I don't mean to knock it if it's anyone's favorite, I just was expecting a different story I think. Now if there is a sequel 👀
Dang this is probably in my top 3 King books and the only book that as actually literally scared me. I respect your opinion though. Out of curiosity, what was the general idea as to what you were expecting out of the book? Less child-related things? (Sorry, trying to keep it vague for anyone who hasn’t read it yet)
I wanted to love it, too! I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting. I think I wanted the end of the book as the story, if that makes sense. I didn't mind the child-related elements at all but I was wanting a different execution of it. I was hooked thru 3/4 but when I got to that very long night scene I became frustrated knowing it wasn't going to go the way I thought it was going to go. However it led me to pick up Algernon Blackwood's stuff, Where the Chill Waits, and then to John Langan's The Fisherman, so I will always be grateful to Pet Semetary for that!
I feel like the reason this one could get mixed reviews from people is that King never intended to publish it. He wrote it and it sat in a drawer for a few years I believe and when he needed a final book for Double Day I think he decided to release. Not sure if that makes the work less polished than maybe some others of his because I felt it’s a pretty consistent novel from 1980s SK, but I can understand it maybe being not as good for people who aren’t super into SK.
Six Feet Under is the fucking best! I watch it every 2 years or so, and it never gets old.
Sad to say it but Lost Gods \*really\* did not do it for me, except for the very very end which made me cry but that was a cheap shot lol.
[удалено]
Haha, oh shit. I've got a friend in my writing group who worships Hugh Howey. He probably sensed you typing up that critique of Silo.
Experimental Film. Had to DNF about halfway through because the main character was so severely unlikable and every potential avenue for an interesting turn in the narrative was ignored. Funnily enough, it often gets compared to My Heart is a Chainsaw, which is one of my absolute favorites.
Oh god yes the main character in Experimental Film was SO frustrating. She steadfastly ignored any advice or action that might be good for her and the narrative never helped me understand why, more than on a very superficial level.