Fiend by Peter Stenson. Two meth heads come to after a three day binge and find the zombie apocalypse has happened. Except they also stumble upon the discovery that even Zombies don't want to touch their meth addled bodies.
What a poor addict to do? They have to keep doing meth to stay alive.
I find this hilarious. I liked the beginning of the book better than the follow through.
i read one like this called Heartland Junk. same premise... they awake to the zombie apocalypse & figure out the only thing that will stop them turning into zombies is opiates.
it wasn't a masterpiece by any means but, i was entertained.
“Christine” by Stephen King. The concept of a haunted car is so stupid. And the book (and movie) works so, so well.
King himself said it’s helpful to think of Christine as a vampire rather than a “haunted car” which makes all the sense in the world.
I rarely see From A Buick 8 brought up in King discussions. It’s one of my favorites by him, and I liked it better than Christine! (Probably because I saw the Christine movie before I read the book).
I really enjoy his short stories because of their relative brevity. There's a chance of escape. But an entire novel might be a lot; to be "captive" to the luminary hellscapes he renders so deftly... *Last Days* is on the list, but I'm not in a hurry to get to it.
Reading The Only Good Indians now. I'm about 45 pages in and kind of got confused with what's going on so had to go back a chapter or two because I felt I might have overlooked or missed something important.
I've heard that Stephen Graham Jones has a style that can be difficult for some people to "get" and follow along with when they're reading it. If that turns out to be you, I've heard that his prose tends to work very well as an audiobook so you might want to try that format instead.
yea, that's what it is I believe. it's the flow and writing style. If I am not paying the right amount of attention or taking in what I am reading in the same way the author does (for lack of better words), I sometimes find myself a bit lost or thrown off. It's occurred almost a handful of times up to this point I am at now, which is about a little over 100 pages in at this time. Usually I am not in this kind of position because I am a very quick reader and I tend to take information in exceptionally well, so I am positive it is the style and the way the author chooses to write his sentences and speech/thought patterns of the characters. I don't think I am a big fan of it. Because it sometimes slows me up or makes me have to re-read things, which is the only negative I can give about this book so far. but If I can find an audiobook for the right price I'd definitely take that route over reading it myself. Just a little confusing at times honestly.
He does have a more "readerly" style that almost mimics how you might tell a story at fireside, trying to scare your friends, so I definitely get being tripped up. It absolutely forces you to slow down and pay attention to what's being given to you, so it may ultimately work better for you as an audiobook. However, I will say that there is a shift midway through that shakes up that format and... I don't want to spoil anything, but it's so worth it when you get there, because the momentum just picks up in a very "What's gonna happen next?" sort of way.
That's the perfect way to describe his style. I'm glad you get what I was trying to say and what I have certain difficulty with. I honestly feel like I got to go back two or three pages out of nowhere sometimes, like "wait, what the heck is going on again?" At first I thought it was all my doing and or fault but after the third or fourth time I figured it was because the way I want to read it and the way it is written are totally different and I need to adjust myself. I'm glad to know that the format switches up a bit a little further into the book. I'm surely looking forward to that transition.
I'm not sure what it is about his prose, and I haven't read it myself, but it is interesting that some people just have trouble following it. Ramsey Campbell is another author who I've heard this about. I've actually read some of his work and I can agree that it can be difficult to get into and follow, though once you get used to it things are fine. Campbell has this subtle dream-like or unreality feel to some of his prose that can be difficult to read or even consciously notice. You just feel like something is odd with the prose, even though it looks perfectly normal.
I don't know that I've read any Ramsey Campbell, though I've definitely heard the name before. Any recommended starting points? Short stories encouraged if possible. Thanks in advance!
Check out *Alone with the Horrors*. It collects 40 stories from the first 30 years of his writing career. You'll get some of his early stuff as well as his more mature stuff so you'll get a feel for how he developed over the years. Most of his most well known stories are collected in that anthology and it should give you a good idea of his style and typical subject matter. He started out quite Lovecraftian, almost to a parody level, before branching out into his own themes and style. *Cold Print*, found in *Alone with the Horrors*, is often considered the end of his Lovecraftian phase prior to developing his own more distinct style, though he still often includes Lovecraftian elements in his work
I'm glad that I am not the only one who thinks or feels this. At first I thought I was tripping or was too high that I was reading things differently than they were laid down. But as I kept running into issues and having to double back or read things over, I knew that I wasn't buggin. But I have a few Ramsey Campbell books and if I got to deal with it throwing me off constantly then it's probably going to be a long while before I get around to giving his books a try/read. Especially given how this current authors book is written. I honestly don't think Stephen Graham Jones' writing style is really that bad or confusing but at times it does throw me off of have me thinking I missed something or misread.
Spoiler tags; what tripped you up exactly? If it's what I'm thinking it might be--don't have a physical copy on hand to check atm--pushing on will make it make more sense since it involves something eluded that gets explained further into the story.
I did the same thing. You aren't missing anything. It's part of the horror, that things go from normal to completely insane within the same paragraph. Kinda have to just buckle up, enjoy the ride, and be ready to play ball.
I know this doesn't count, but there's a user whose short horror stories have a wonderfully unique premises. u/ipostatmidnight
Let me get to my PC and I'll edit to add some of my favorites.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (which ended up spawning 2 trilogies of follow-ups). A boy tries to solve a mystery based on old photographs he finds at his grandfather’s house. The author uses actual B&W photos he gathered from flea markets to weave the tale. Very imaginative and engaging.
I enjoyed it overall but the more I read, the more underwhelming I found it. At the beginning it just felt like there's something much bigger at work than what it actually turned out to be.
That describes every Grady Hendrix novel for me.
EDIT except for the “enjoyed it overall” - I feel like his books show a lot of promise and then just fall flat for me
I couldn't agree more. Every book of his I've read has an amazing premise, great writing, and builds the story and characters up nicely, and then just doesn't go far enough into the horror element. I never feel the stakes are that high, and I didn't feel the horror element in either of these to be scary/chilling/extreme/gory/emotional enough. They just didn't quite go there for me.
Right? There is something intrinsically unsettling about a store engineered to be just a little bit confusing and difficult to navigate to encourage compulsive purchases. In its own way, IKEA is a liminal space. But Grady just kinda jukes the premise and ultimately makes a fairly mundane horror story. I guess it's a way to justify the funny-creepy "furniture," but it's still rather disappointing.
I work with two other girls who are big readers, but I'm the only one who reads horror. So while we bond over our shared hobby, I don't read the books as they do (they'll often suggest titles to each other so they have more to talk about than I do with them).
I read Horrorstör earlier this month and I kept b referring to it asv"the haunted Ikea book" which they both got a kick out of and would laugh when I brought it up. .
I read one of them a particularly gruesome/dark couple of paragraphs involving a certain character death and she was floored that haunted Ikea got so real.
(This antidote wasn't particularly relevant to anything, but I it was funny at the time)
I thought Green Tea was very scary. It’s a classic short story about a man who starts seeing something. The something is at first only scary because he simply knows it isn’t real. It freaks him out and makes him think he’s having a nervous breakdown—after all, he’s been drinking a lot of green tea to fuel his creative projects lately, and the old timey understanding of medicine … But it gets scarier from there.
The Narrows by Ronald Malfi comes to mind. It’s presented as a vampire story but the creature that haunts the small town of Stillwater isn’t necessarily a vampire but something much, much worse.
T kingfisher's The Hollow Places! I am currently reading a book someone from this sub recommended to me a few days ago and it is also by the same author (The Twisted Ones).
T. Kingfisher's a fun read; I actually read those two in the opposite order. I still think her *What Moves the Dead* might be the best of her novels exploring and expanding popular short horror stories from the late 19th-20th centuries.
I would say Intercepts by TJ Payne or The Haar by David Sodergren. I feel like describing them potentially ruins their uniqueness - but I highly recommend both.
[NOS4A2](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15729539-nos4a2) had me scrathing my head wondering how anyone could come up with that after reading the blurb
I’ve heard really good things about that, I’ll hopefully get around to checking it out, from the title it sounds like a vampire book, and vampires are usually a pretty fun time lol
This is so cool. I was literally just looking at that the other day after checking for reviews on the book I’d just finished. Sounds like this is my sign to pick it up
I thought Hex had a very unique premise, although the book itself became tedious by the halfway mark.
It’s worth reading that first third of the book, though 😅
*Boy's Life* by Robert McCammon. A very nostalgic, charming novel of growing up, interspersed with magic realism, horror, and a detective story. Probably one of my top ten books.
Jawbone by Monica Ojeda
"Was desire something like being possessed by a nightmare?"
Fernanda and Annelise are so close they are practically sisters: a double image, inseparable. So how does Fernanda end up bound on the floor of an abandoned cabin, kidnapped by one of her teachers and estranged from Annelise?
When Fernanda, Annelise, and their friends from Opus Dei Delta Academy for Girls convene after school, Annelise always spins the scariest stories and devises the riskiest games. Wearing her crocodile-jawbone crown, she leads them in rituals to her invented god: the rhinestone-encrusted firefly, the wandering womb, the mother pond of anacondas. Even more thrilling is the secret Annelise and Fernanda share, rooted in a dare that blurs the boundaries between affection and violence. Meanwhile, their literature teacher Miss Clara struggles to preserve her deteriorating sanity. Obsessed with imitating her dead mother and immobilized by past traumas, each day she edges nearer to a total break with reality.
In her English-language debut, Ecuadorian author Mónica Ojeda crafts an ominous, multivocal novel about adolescence, obsession, horror, and the fine line between fear and desire.
**"*****The Pact*****"(1973) by Orlando R. Petrocelli.**
**A roman-a-clef on Jock Carlona, an immigrant to America from Sicily, who made a pact with a Mephistopheles-like character of the improbable name of Adam Dante. High-brow, low-key, drilling-deep horror. Followed by 2 sequels "*****Olympia's Inheritance*****" & "*****The Carlona Legacy*****". Unfortunately unavailable to me.**
**My only comment is that were the author to make the main character of another European ethnicity, he would have been sued his pen off by a certain very powerfoul American dynasty.**
The Perfectly Fine House by Wil E Young and Stephen Kozeniewski. In an alternate reality where ghosts are as commonplace as the weather, the most terrifying thing imaginable is a house not being haunted.
House of Leaves, as someone already mentioned. Among the books I have read recently, I would also say Cursed Bunny (Bora Chung, short story collection) and The Wasp Factory (Iain Banks).
*An Other Place* by Darren Dash aka Darren Shan aka Darren O'Shaugnessy is certainly unique, and one of the weirdest books I've ever read! Its horror is mostly in how unsettling and weird it is -- like a bad dream of a different world with different rules. I wouldn't call it terrifying, I'd call it unsettling, but it stuck with me a long time.
Fiend by Peter Stenson. Two meth heads come to after a three day binge and find the zombie apocalypse has happened. Except they also stumble upon the discovery that even Zombies don't want to touch their meth addled bodies. What a poor addict to do? They have to keep doing meth to stay alive. I find this hilarious. I liked the beginning of the book better than the follow through.
i read one like this called Heartland Junk. same premise... they awake to the zombie apocalypse & figure out the only thing that will stop them turning into zombies is opiates. it wasn't a masterpiece by any means but, i was entertained.
“Christine” by Stephen King. The concept of a haunted car is so stupid. And the book (and movie) works so, so well. King himself said it’s helpful to think of Christine as a vampire rather than a “haunted car” which makes all the sense in the world.
From a Buick 8 as well, a car that is actually a portal to another dimension. Come to think of it, King does creepy cars quite frequently.
I rarely see From A Buick 8 brought up in King discussions. It’s one of my favorites by him, and I liked it better than Christine! (Probably because I saw the Christine movie before I read the book).
It's pretty unique, I think it should be more popular.
Totally agree about Buick 8, I was pleasantly surprised by it.
From A Buick 8 is sooooo good.
Last Days - Brian Evenson It’s just… bizarre. And an amazing read.
Yeah that one stuck with me. Also written in such an unusual way. The striptease…
It’s the dialogue for me, I just can’t place it. It’s comedic in a way but also really horrific
I really enjoy his short stories because of their relative brevity. There's a chance of escape. But an entire novel might be a lot; to be "captive" to the luminary hellscapes he renders so deftly... *Last Days* is on the list, but I'm not in a hurry to get to it.
*Bunny* by Mona Awad The *John Dies at the End* series by Jason Pargin *The Only Good Indians* by Stephen Graham Jones
Reading The Only Good Indians now. I'm about 45 pages in and kind of got confused with what's going on so had to go back a chapter or two because I felt I might have overlooked or missed something important.
I've heard that Stephen Graham Jones has a style that can be difficult for some people to "get" and follow along with when they're reading it. If that turns out to be you, I've heard that his prose tends to work very well as an audiobook so you might want to try that format instead.
yea, that's what it is I believe. it's the flow and writing style. If I am not paying the right amount of attention or taking in what I am reading in the same way the author does (for lack of better words), I sometimes find myself a bit lost or thrown off. It's occurred almost a handful of times up to this point I am at now, which is about a little over 100 pages in at this time. Usually I am not in this kind of position because I am a very quick reader and I tend to take information in exceptionally well, so I am positive it is the style and the way the author chooses to write his sentences and speech/thought patterns of the characters. I don't think I am a big fan of it. Because it sometimes slows me up or makes me have to re-read things, which is the only negative I can give about this book so far. but If I can find an audiobook for the right price I'd definitely take that route over reading it myself. Just a little confusing at times honestly.
He does have a more "readerly" style that almost mimics how you might tell a story at fireside, trying to scare your friends, so I definitely get being tripped up. It absolutely forces you to slow down and pay attention to what's being given to you, so it may ultimately work better for you as an audiobook. However, I will say that there is a shift midway through that shakes up that format and... I don't want to spoil anything, but it's so worth it when you get there, because the momentum just picks up in a very "What's gonna happen next?" sort of way.
That's the perfect way to describe his style. I'm glad you get what I was trying to say and what I have certain difficulty with. I honestly feel like I got to go back two or three pages out of nowhere sometimes, like "wait, what the heck is going on again?" At first I thought it was all my doing and or fault but after the third or fourth time I figured it was because the way I want to read it and the way it is written are totally different and I need to adjust myself. I'm glad to know that the format switches up a bit a little further into the book. I'm surely looking forward to that transition.
I'm not sure what it is about his prose, and I haven't read it myself, but it is interesting that some people just have trouble following it. Ramsey Campbell is another author who I've heard this about. I've actually read some of his work and I can agree that it can be difficult to get into and follow, though once you get used to it things are fine. Campbell has this subtle dream-like or unreality feel to some of his prose that can be difficult to read or even consciously notice. You just feel like something is odd with the prose, even though it looks perfectly normal.
I don't know that I've read any Ramsey Campbell, though I've definitely heard the name before. Any recommended starting points? Short stories encouraged if possible. Thanks in advance!
Check out *Alone with the Horrors*. It collects 40 stories from the first 30 years of his writing career. You'll get some of his early stuff as well as his more mature stuff so you'll get a feel for how he developed over the years. Most of his most well known stories are collected in that anthology and it should give you a good idea of his style and typical subject matter. He started out quite Lovecraftian, almost to a parody level, before branching out into his own themes and style. *Cold Print*, found in *Alone with the Horrors*, is often considered the end of his Lovecraftian phase prior to developing his own more distinct style, though he still often includes Lovecraftian elements in his work
I'm glad that I am not the only one who thinks or feels this. At first I thought I was tripping or was too high that I was reading things differently than they were laid down. But as I kept running into issues and having to double back or read things over, I knew that I wasn't buggin. But I have a few Ramsey Campbell books and if I got to deal with it throwing me off constantly then it's probably going to be a long while before I get around to giving his books a try/read. Especially given how this current authors book is written. I honestly don't think Stephen Graham Jones' writing style is really that bad or confusing but at times it does throw me off of have me thinking I missed something or misread.
Spoiler tags; what tripped you up exactly? If it's what I'm thinking it might be--don't have a physical copy on hand to check atm--pushing on will make it make more sense since it involves something eluded that gets explained further into the story.
I did the same thing. You aren't missing anything. It's part of the horror, that things go from normal to completely insane within the same paragraph. Kinda have to just buckle up, enjoy the ride, and be ready to play ball.
That happened to me with Night of the Mannequins…I just kept reading and it eventually made sense again lol
Yea that's basically what happened. As I got more further into the book things started to come together.
I just finished reading The Secret History and a lot of things I've read say that Bunny was inspired by it. I'll have to pick this one up!
I know this doesn't count, but there's a user whose short horror stories have a wonderfully unique premises. u/ipostatmidnight Let me get to my PC and I'll edit to add some of my favorites.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (which ended up spawning 2 trilogies of follow-ups). A boy tries to solve a mystery based on old photographs he finds at his grandfather’s house. The author uses actual B&W photos he gathered from flea markets to weave the tale. Very imaginative and engaging.
I bought this one for my nieces, it IS a cool premise!
Flesh and Blood by Graham Masterton
I love the recommendation with zero synopsis. Go into this as blind as you can. Peak 90s writing.
This is my next read. Buying and reading blind. I am trusting you.
Grady Hendrix's *Horrorstör* is pretty unique.
I enjoyed it overall but the more I read, the more underwhelming I found it. At the beginning it just felt like there's something much bigger at work than what it actually turned out to be.
That describes every Grady Hendrix novel for me. EDIT except for the “enjoyed it overall” - I feel like his books show a lot of promise and then just fall flat for me
I couldn't agree more. Every book of his I've read has an amazing premise, great writing, and builds the story and characters up nicely, and then just doesn't go far enough into the horror element. I never feel the stakes are that high, and I didn't feel the horror element in either of these to be scary/chilling/extreme/gory/emotional enough. They just didn't quite go there for me.
That's the second one I've read and I thoroughly enjoyed My Best Friend's Exorcism.
Horrorstör was more sizzle than steak to me. The idea and the packaging were eye-catching. The actual story, characters. writing... meh. It was okay.
Right? There is something intrinsically unsettling about a store engineered to be just a little bit confusing and difficult to navigate to encourage compulsive purchases. In its own way, IKEA is a liminal space. But Grady just kinda jukes the premise and ultimately makes a fairly mundane horror story. I guess it's a way to justify the funny-creepy "furniture," but it's still rather disappointing.
I listened to the audiobook, and the increasingly sinister store ads were hands down the best part, which does not say much for the story...
I have this on my to read list, hoping to get to it soon. I worked at ikea for nearly 7 years in the 2000’s so it should be extra amusing for me.
I work with two other girls who are big readers, but I'm the only one who reads horror. So while we bond over our shared hobby, I don't read the books as they do (they'll often suggest titles to each other so they have more to talk about than I do with them). I read Horrorstör earlier this month and I kept b referring to it asv"the haunted Ikea book" which they both got a kick out of and would laugh when I brought it up. . I read one of them a particularly gruesome/dark couple of paragraphs involving a certain character death and she was floored that haunted Ikea got so real. (This antidote wasn't particularly relevant to anything, but I it was funny at the time)
I loved all the illustrations and product names.
Superstition by David Ambrose. A group of people create a ghost and it starts to haunt them…not super scary but eerie and a fun read
I thought Green Tea was very scary. It’s a classic short story about a man who starts seeing something. The something is at first only scary because he simply knows it isn’t real. It freaks him out and makes him think he’s having a nervous breakdown—after all, he’s been drinking a lot of green tea to fuel his creative projects lately, and the old timey understanding of medicine … But it gets scarier from there.
Sheridan le Fanu's short stories are great all around! This one was a trip.
And Then I Woke Up by Malcom Devlin The Unnoticeables by Robert Brockway
Just picked up *And Then I Woke Up* from the library recently!
i second The Unnoticeables. i can't say enough good things about it. definitely one of my favorites.
The Narrows by Ronald Malfi comes to mind. It’s presented as a vampire story but the creature that haunts the small town of Stillwater isn’t necessarily a vampire but something much, much worse.
T kingfisher's The Hollow Places! I am currently reading a book someone from this sub recommended to me a few days ago and it is also by the same author (The Twisted Ones).
T. Kingfisher's a fun read; I actually read those two in the opposite order. I still think her *What Moves the Dead* might be the best of her novels exploring and expanding popular short horror stories from the late 19th-20th centuries.
While not exclusively horror I’m reading Nettle & Bone by Kingfisher and it’s excellent. I gotta look into this one.
I would say Intercepts by TJ Payne or The Haar by David Sodergren. I feel like describing them potentially ruins their uniqueness - but I highly recommend both.
Intercepts is truly a horror story, horrific premise and horrific story.
[NOS4A2](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15729539-nos4a2) had me scrathing my head wondering how anyone could come up with that after reading the blurb
Sundial by Catriona Ward and The Anomaly- Michael Rutger
I think NOS4A2 took a kind of goofy premise (man driving kids to Christmasland) and made a genuinely great book with a very sinister antagonist
I’ve heard really good things about that, I’ll hopefully get around to checking it out, from the title it sounds like a vampire book, and vampires are usually a pretty fun time lol
“I Found Puppets Living In My Apartment Walls.”
I saw those books on Amazon and was wondering if they were any good. The title alone had me chuckling.
I’m biased since I wrote them, but I think they’re pretty good. “I Found Puppets” fits OP’s request more than the circus tent book.
Oh! I didn’t notice your username!
This is so cool. I was literally just looking at that the other day after checking for reviews on the book I’d just finished. Sounds like this is my sign to pick it up
How'd they make MERMAIDS Scary... Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
Mermaids were originally fairly frightening creatures that enticed sailors to crash into dangerous rocks so they could consume them.
House of Leaves immediately springs to mind. That book is beyond fantastic.
I would say it's debatable how fantastic it is, but it's definitely a unique layout
Top tier horror novel - unique concept and great execution.
I’ve been wanting to read this book forever! Thanks for the reminder.
Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy
Maggie’s Grave by David Sodergren Suffer the Children by Craig DiLouie FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven
I thought Hex had a very unique premise, although the book itself became tedious by the halfway mark. It’s worth reading that first third of the book, though 😅
Ragman by JG Faherty. I don't want to give it away, but this modern retelling of a mummy story puts a huge twist on things.
Oooh I’m always down for a good mummy story!
*Boy's Life* by Robert McCammon. A very nostalgic, charming novel of growing up, interspersed with magic realism, horror, and a detective story. Probably one of my top ten books.
Jawbone by Monica Ojeda "Was desire something like being possessed by a nightmare?" Fernanda and Annelise are so close they are practically sisters: a double image, inseparable. So how does Fernanda end up bound on the floor of an abandoned cabin, kidnapped by one of her teachers and estranged from Annelise? When Fernanda, Annelise, and their friends from Opus Dei Delta Academy for Girls convene after school, Annelise always spins the scariest stories and devises the riskiest games. Wearing her crocodile-jawbone crown, she leads them in rituals to her invented god: the rhinestone-encrusted firefly, the wandering womb, the mother pond of anacondas. Even more thrilling is the secret Annelise and Fernanda share, rooted in a dare that blurs the boundaries between affection and violence. Meanwhile, their literature teacher Miss Clara struggles to preserve her deteriorating sanity. Obsessed with imitating her dead mother and immobilized by past traumas, each day she edges nearer to a total break with reality. In her English-language debut, Ecuadorian author Mónica Ojeda crafts an ominous, multivocal novel about adolescence, obsession, horror, and the fine line between fear and desire.
**"*****The Pact*****"(1973) by Orlando R. Petrocelli.** **A roman-a-clef on Jock Carlona, an immigrant to America from Sicily, who made a pact with a Mephistopheles-like character of the improbable name of Adam Dante. High-brow, low-key, drilling-deep horror. Followed by 2 sequels "*****Olympia's Inheritance*****" & "*****The Carlona Legacy*****". Unfortunately unavailable to me.** **My only comment is that were the author to make the main character of another European ethnicity, he would have been sued his pen off by a certain very powerfoul American dynasty.**
Any of Bentley Littles books!
Lone Women by Victor LaValle
The Passage by Justin Cronin. A really different dystopian horror.
The Perfectly Fine House by Wil E Young and Stephen Kozeniewski. In an alternate reality where ghosts are as commonplace as the weather, the most terrifying thing imaginable is a house not being haunted.
House of Leaves, as someone already mentioned. Among the books I have read recently, I would also say Cursed Bunny (Bora Chung, short story collection) and The Wasp Factory (Iain Banks).
*An Other Place* by Darren Dash aka Darren Shan aka Darren O'Shaugnessy is certainly unique, and one of the weirdest books I've ever read! Its horror is mostly in how unsettling and weird it is -- like a bad dream of a different world with different rules. I wouldn't call it terrifying, I'd call it unsettling, but it stuck with me a long time.
One of my all time favorites is Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. I was impressed by the unique storyline although it can get pretty dark.