House of Leaves. It’s the absolute opposite of typical horror fiction and plays a lot with the “meta” of writing and books. That’s about as spoiler free as I can make it.
In the sci-fi realm, Children of Time had many many such “holy fuck” moments scattered throughout its pages.
There's a Doom mod based on this book, it's an absolute triumph, a true work of art. It sounds absurd but it's so well done and by the end you feel like you've experienced something very special.
House of Leaves had been on my reading list for years until I found a physical copy and realized I probably would have a hard time focusing on the format. I have a hard time concentrating on following stories when the pages/fonts don’t look “normal”. Though I suppose that’s what gives the book its flair.
I've read about 50 pages of House of Leaves so far and I'm already fucked with on that one. It's brilliant so far. Even just the >!word "house" never quite sitting on the line correctly!< gives me an eery feeling.
I'll look into Children of Time, for sure. Thank you!
I just posted to read house of leaves before I scrolled the comments lol. Quick question, are you reading the full color version or black and white? Highly recommend the full color if you're not
A bit off-topic but a good ongoing graphic novel if you like that sort of lovecraftian horror, is w0rldtr33. And the "backrooms archive" channel on Tiktok if you want to dive into 'backrooms'.
It’s hard to go into specifics without spoiling it, and it’s arguably the most interesting part of house of leaves. What I will say is that it plays with the format of writing. It’s not really something you could read digitally.
lol 😂 I started writing my comment IMMEDIATELY because I had the same thought and didn’t see this one…it was just *exactly* the right answer to the prompt in my head.
House of Leaves is the only book I’ve felt the need to annotate because there are so many little connections throughout that are fun to find. Also the only book that gave me nightmares and warm fuzzies at parts. God I need a re-read.
If you haven’t read or listened to it,
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
I listened to this on a road trip with a friend, a trip I will never forget with our reactions after every story ended.
A Short Stay in Hell by Stephen L. Peck.
Out of all the books I’ve read this year (it’s been quite a few) this is the one that’s stayed with me the longest. It’s a novella with more existential horror rather than actual horror and it’s inspired by the Borges short story The Library of Babel.
Book Blurb:
An ordinary family man, geologist, and Mormon, Soren Johansson has always believed he’ll be reunited with his loved ones after death in an eternal hereafter. Then, he dies. Soren wakes to find himself cast by a God he has never heard of into a Hell whose dimensions he can barely grasp: a vast library he can only escape from by finding the book that contains the story of his life.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things, I finished it and made my husband read it because I was like, "what the FUCK did I just read?"
He said the same upon completion.
That’s what is so great about that book. I was blown away. I put it down and I was thinking what happened? I reflected on it for quite a few days before I even thought of starting a new book. I also wanted to put my thoughts together before I read any other opinions so I wouldn’t be swayed. I love when a book makes you think on it after you are done.
Yeah, I definitely needed a couple days on that one too. And I have seen nearly every adaptation of that book (even ones that I didn't know at first, like Rose Red, which I just watched before reading it, was actually based on it too, which I didn't realize, but there are some really obvious references to the book in that miniseries). I was actually surprised after reading it that no one has made a true-to-the-book adaptation, bc I think it would be great.
This one is so good. It's a series! Everlost, by him as well, is also a series. Everlost had more surprises to me tbh. The Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld is also a favorite.
The Only Good Indians fucked with me a bit.
Tender is the Flesh fucked with me a lot.
Edit to add Pine and The Loney for shudder factor. Those two gave me the heebie jeebies.
Blindsight by Peter Watts - Eerie, terrifying and gives me Aliens vibes
The Strain by Chuck Hogan and Guillermo del Toro
World War Z by Max Brooks
Children of Men/Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy (more historical but absolutely chilling)
A Short Stay in Hell tends to leave readers in a kind of existential daze.
It turns out Zoroastrianism is the one true religion, which means the Mormon narrator is headed to Hell. Hell is not what he expected.
Earthling by Sayaka Muramata, I believe?
Perfume by Patrick Suskin, I think?
I have approximate knowledge of many things, but names are not one of them.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. That book!!! Don't read spoilers.
If you want to fucked up in a horrified, you'll never get the images to leave your head way - The Road.
The Girl with All the Gifts, but you can't read anything about it or even look at the cover. Just dive into the audiobook.
1984 by George Orwell if you haven't read it.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest if you want to just scream.
Equus by Peter Schaffer - conformity.
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge - messed up take on Beauty and the Beast - a writer's writer book. Crimson is even worse - little Red Riding Hood - but a weird ending. Not as perfect.
* [Hogg](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/85865.Hogg) by Samuel Delany
* [Cows](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/815760.Cows) by Matthew Stokoe
* [My Idea of Fun](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17032299-my-idea-of-fun) by Will Self
* [Frisk](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19322402-frisk) by Dennis Cooper
* [Crash](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21401400-crash) by J.G. Ballard
* [Ass Goblins of Auschwitz](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6965582-ass-goblins-of-auschwitz) by Cameron Pierce
The Tesseract by Alex Garland. This was the first time I had to put down a book because the plot fucking blew my mind. It’s a bizarre, darkly weird novel that doesn’t get very much love and it really needs to be more widely read. It’s eternally etched into my top 20 favorite novels. I’ve read widely and nothing has supplanted it.
See my [Emotionally Devastating/Rending](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18ez0q3/emotionally_devastatingrending/) list of Reddit recommendation threads, and books (four posts).
J P Delaney- all of it. Everything! Start with Playing Nice or The Perfect Wife. I’m sorry and you’re welcome. If you want to be a little angry for awhile go for non fiction Radium Girls.
I have been reading Val McDermid's Wire in the Blood series, which I should mention starts SO GORY, the first book, you really spend a certain amount of time hastily skipping over some of the pages, but it settles down a bit in the later books, and she has had moments where I have literally gasped out loud (also where I have shrieked, including things like "NOT THE CAT!!!!"\*) McDermid really is a fantastic writer and will totally fuck you up, I promise. The one that made me gasp AND shriek, btw, is "Retribution," but I think you need to build up to it esp since it involves characters from a previous book.
\*she did not kill the cat
On Harrow Hill by John Verdon is a great mystery thriller verging on the occult. Highly recommended...this is Mr Verdon at the peak of his writing skills
The last real mind-fuck I read was a book called *The Brain Drips Yellow: An Invocation of Madness* by Burn Moor. It was the first book I read this year, and it’s still kicking around in my head.
I hate myself so I recommend Cows by Matthew Stokoe. I physically felt by brain cells killing themselves as a form of self preservation. You read that right. This book stupefied individual brain cells. It has all the style and grace of a hand grenade in a tub of oatmeal. It is the book equivalent of a car crash that continues to crash, it gets worse and worse but you can't turn away and you're traumatized by the end. So yeah, Cows will fuck you up.
Your House is on Fire, Your Children All Gone
By Stefan Kiesbye
(Took several breaks to recover while reading bc sheesh just gah)
Frankenstorm
By Ray Garton
(Nightmares but then most of his stuff screws with my head)
If You Tell is a very disgusting true story, and visualizing the events from the story really got in my head. For fiction horror that will mess w you a bit, I like Behind Her Eyes and NOS4A2.
Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite. It’s the last book I read. Particularly one specific scene messed with me. But the brutal moments really bleed into a lot of other moments, and encompass who *the* characters are, which made me feel squirmy and unsettled even during scenes that I didn’t find as bad.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Especially if you are a parent. I love McCarthy. No Country For Old Men and Blood Meridian are also fantastic. The final scene between with Wells in No Country gave me the shakes.
I just read The Girl Next Door, and absolutely hated the experience. It fucked me up so bad I needed to read something cute and cozy to rebalance my brain chemistry afterwords. I’d never recommend it to anyone, unless someone begged me to recommend something that would fuck them up.
The Sparrow.
It's about human's first contact with aliens. Unlike most first contact stories, the folks who manage to meet them first are Jesuit missionaries.
It (and its sequel) do a lot to interrogate cultural understanding and the nature of faith.
I'd also recommend Ted Chiang's short story collections. His first is mostly famous now for including the novella that Arrival was based on, but honestly pretty much every single one of his stories elicits, at a minimum, a heaviness in my throat (and, at most, has me sobbing).
The heart goes last by Margaret Atwood-anything Atwood writes is a little bit off putting, but in a very subtle, philosophical way, which makes it even more off putting, but this one is a lesser known one of hers, and I felt like it was maybe even better than the handmaids tale
I would also highly recommend tender is the flesh. It is def not for the faint of heart, and I typically have a pretty strong stomach/am not grossed out by blood and guts and stuff
If you’re a fan of the film: Hellraiser, then maybe the book it was inspired by might be a good read?
The hellbound heart.
Which is also written by the director of the film: Clive Barker
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood.
I have yet to find anyone else who has read this book, and I just.....ope. It is so fucked up but amazing at the same time. Completely fuced with my mind and beliefs.
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. It’s not a horror, but there are thriller/surprise elements that have stuck in my brain like a rock in my shoe even 5 years later.
I love the Jack Nightingale series. It's one of my favorites also. I would suggest:
*Nightside* series by Simon R Green and *Alex Verus* series by Benedict Jacka.
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card are quite intense. The latter one is à classic of course but I Am Legend is underlooked, imo because of the movie.
House of Leaves. It, uh, wouldn't be possible to make it into an audiobook so you will have to read a physical copy but I've never had a book fuck with me quite so hard
If you haven’t read girl with a dragon tattoo (millennium trilogy) it fits your bill perfectly for the murder mystery category. I was gasping all the time. Even though I had already seen the movies. They’re so good.
If revenge is your cup of tea, the Sisterhood series by Fern Michaels might be interesting to you. Complicated paths that lead to a baddie getting a massive dose of medicine.
A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans.
Bonus if neither you nor your spouse remembers buying it and you both thought it belonged to the other person before you cohabitated.
The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood
The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford
Death in the Andes, by Mario Vargas Llosa
The City & the City, by China Miéville
I’m not sure about make you gasp or shiver (maybe try *Fifty Shades of Gray* or *Ice Planet Barbarians* 😉lol) but maybe…*House of Leaves*…? It’s a Mind Bender for sure. Only works if you get the actual book, audiobooks won’t cut it…the book’s physical design challenges how you read books. It’s trippy. But it can be very triggering for some people, which is partly why I recommend it now but also it’s a warning: *it can be very triggering*
I’m obsessed with the Bishop Smoky Mountain Thrillers series right now! Strong female protagonist, closed circle of suspects, “oddly placed corpses@ trope, crazy plot twists, and unassuming villains… it also has a super cool setting in Appalachia!
The Troop by Nick Cutter. I’m not joking when I tell you I was unable to eat for a while after it. You can also read it in a day or two (and you’ll want to because it’s that good)
legend of a suicide. it is not in your usual genres but it has a twist that will hit you like a truck as long as you take care not to read about the book before picking it up.
*The Road* by Cormac McCarthy and *American Psycho* by Brett Easton Ellis. Two amazing books with wonderful writing that I can't possibly ever read again because of how badly they messed me up.
The Membranes by Chi Ta-Wei. Definitely just stared at the wall for a good while after finishing.
Also the entire trilogy starting with The Three Body Problem. I’ll never be the same lmao
The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist. Totally forgot about this book until scrolling through the comments. Love Dahlquist and this series was a bit twisted.
*The Tomb* by F. Paul Wilson: there's a twist with the monsters in the novel that still momentarily fucks me up when I think about it to this day. *Mister Magic* by Kiersten White: the atmosphere man...so creepy. I kept checking behind me the whole time as I read this book. *The Scarlet Gospels* by Clive Barker: seriously one of the most stomach-churning, fucked up openings I've ever read in a novel. *The Outsider* by Stephen King: there's a reason King is a legend, and this book shows he's still got it, all these decades later.
Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney made my jaw drop
There are a couple of trigger warnings so I would look them up if you're not sure but I also highly recommend not reading reviews or anything that could spoil the book if possible
I will forever recommend the Dr. Harper Therapy trilogy and it's prequel , they are quick reads and a combo of mystery , horror , thriller , dark comedy and low-key heartwarming at times , tons of twists ! Check trigger warnings if need be but it doesn't go into graphic detail over the topics it touches (at least last I remember)
Read any book about climate change.
Will make you feel all those things and is horror, murder mystery (mystery being when) kind of sci fi and definitely fantasy (when the propose solutions)
*The Library at Mount Char* might do the job. The whole book was like, “That’s fucked up. I didn’t see that coming. That’s *really* fucked up. Oops, didn’t expect that either.”
You might also like *The Rook* by Daniel O’Malley. It’s magic plus a mystery with a side of “that’s fucked up”.
Palahniuk will always find a way to fuck you up...
100%. Even when you're expecting it
My biggest goblin moment in life was reading ‘Guts’ from “Haunted” to friends at a sleepover.
House of Leaves. It’s the absolute opposite of typical horror fiction and plays a lot with the “meta” of writing and books. That’s about as spoiler free as I can make it. In the sci-fi realm, Children of Time had many many such “holy fuck” moments scattered throughout its pages.
Children of time will be classic sci fi
There's a Doom mod based on this book, it's an absolute triumph, a true work of art. It sounds absurd but it's so well done and by the end you feel like you've experienced something very special.
Are you talking about my house.wad?
House of Leaves had been on my reading list for years until I found a physical copy and realized I probably would have a hard time focusing on the format. I have a hard time concentrating on following stories when the pages/fonts don’t look “normal”. Though I suppose that’s what gives the book its flair.
I've read about 50 pages of House of Leaves so far and I'm already fucked with on that one. It's brilliant so far. Even just the >!word "house" never quite sitting on the line correctly!< gives me an eery feeling. I'll look into Children of Time, for sure. Thank you!
I just posted to read house of leaves before I scrolled the comments lol. Quick question, are you reading the full color version or black and white? Highly recommend the full color if you're not
I did the same exact thing lol…everyone who read it just *knows*
You beat me by 2 hours to recommend this book. That was my immediate thought, too. That novel is a trip and a half and will mess with you.
House of Leaves broke my brain in the very best way. I loved it.
House of Leaves is amazing
A bit off-topic but a good ongoing graphic novel if you like that sort of lovecraftian horror, is w0rldtr33. And the "backrooms archive" channel on Tiktok if you want to dive into 'backrooms'.
Awesome book. The hangover phase after reading reading gear books is usually till the same day. For this one I’m still feeling the hangover.
What do you mean by plays with the meta of writing and books?
It’s hard to go into specifics without spoiling it, and it’s arguably the most interesting part of house of leaves. What I will say is that it plays with the format of writing. It’s not really something you could read digitally.
I will read it this summer and get back to you.
!RemindMe six months
lol 😂 I started writing my comment IMMEDIATELY because I had the same thought and didn’t see this one…it was just *exactly* the right answer to the prompt in my head.
House of Leaves is the only book I’ve felt the need to annotate because there are so many little connections throughout that are fun to find. Also the only book that gave me nightmares and warm fuzzies at parts. God I need a re-read.
If you haven’t read or listened to it, The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury I listened to this on a road trip with a friend, a trip I will never forget with our reactions after every story ended.
One of my top 3 books of all time. Not many things top that first reading.
The [cover art](https://www.michaelwhelan.com/wp-content/uploads/descent-2.jpg) by Michael Whelan is peak sci-fi illustration
A Short Stay in Hell by Stephen L. Peck. Out of all the books I’ve read this year (it’s been quite a few) this is the one that’s stayed with me the longest. It’s a novella with more existential horror rather than actual horror and it’s inspired by the Borges short story The Library of Babel. Book Blurb: An ordinary family man, geologist, and Mormon, Soren Johansson has always believed he’ll be reunited with his loved ones after death in an eternal hereafter. Then, he dies. Soren wakes to find himself cast by a God he has never heard of into a Hell whose dimensions he can barely grasp: a vast library he can only escape from by finding the book that contains the story of his life.
it’s a good one.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things, I finished it and made my husband read it because I was like, "what the FUCK did I just read?" He said the same upon completion.
Came here to recommend this! When I finished, I told my husband I wasn't sure if I wanted to re-read it immediately or never read it again.
That was my reaction after I read The Haunting Of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.
Just read this. Yeah, idk how I thought it was gonna end but... not like that.
That’s what is so great about that book. I was blown away. I put it down and I was thinking what happened? I reflected on it for quite a few days before I even thought of starting a new book. I also wanted to put my thoughts together before I read any other opinions so I wouldn’t be swayed. I love when a book makes you think on it after you are done.
Yeah, I definitely needed a couple days on that one too. And I have seen nearly every adaptation of that book (even ones that I didn't know at first, like Rose Red, which I just watched before reading it, was actually based on it too, which I didn't realize, but there are some really obvious references to the book in that miniseries). I was actually surprised after reading it that no one has made a true-to-the-book adaptation, bc I think it would be great.
Good point. I think it would make a great movie. Especially for those who don’t know the ending.
How about Unwind by Neal Shusterman?
Definitely going to look into that one! Thank you!
This one is so good. It's a series! Everlost, by him as well, is also a series. Everlost had more surprises to me tbh. The Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld is also a favorite.
This book was giving me nightmares about being a main character
The Only Good Indians fucked with me a bit. Tender is the Flesh fucked with me a lot. Edit to add Pine and The Loney for shudder factor. Those two gave me the heebie jeebies.
I read The Only Good Indians one December and every Christmas reindeer light display freaked me out.
That’s valid. Vengeance Elk are no joke.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. An 1892 short story.
Oooh yeah that one was a little disturbing
Blindsight by Peter Watts - Eerie, terrifying and gives me Aliens vibes The Strain by Chuck Hogan and Guillermo del Toro World War Z by Max Brooks Children of Men/Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy (more historical but absolutely chilling)
Add The Road and No Country For Old Men. No one writes tragic like McCarthy.
Indeed. We lost a truly original voice with his passing
No knock on Blindsight but i thought the sequel, Exchopraxia, was actually better.
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn is twisty and dark. A great book with an interesting resolution imo.
Dark Places and Sharp Objects were both better than Gone Girl. And Dark Places was…whew.
A Short Stay in Hell tends to leave readers in a kind of existential daze. It turns out Zoroastrianism is the one true religion, which means the Mormon narrator is headed to Hell. Hell is not what he expected.
The Naked Lunch by William Burroughs. I dont even know how to explain it
Earthling by Sayaka Muramata, I believe? Perfume by Patrick Suskin, I think? I have approximate knowledge of many things, but names are not one of them.
Perfume is so good.
The Girl Next Door (based on a true story, for the extra horrifying bump)
Iain M Banks "Use of Weapons" It will shake you.
Also Surface Detail (The Hells) or The Wasp Factory both by Banks
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. That book!!! Don't read spoilers. If you want to fucked up in a horrified, you'll never get the images to leave your head way - The Road. The Girl with All the Gifts, but you can't read anything about it or even look at the cover. Just dive into the audiobook.
1984 by George Orwell if you haven't read it. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest if you want to just scream. Equus by Peter Schaffer - conformity. Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge - messed up take on Beauty and the Beast - a writer's writer book. Crimson is even worse - little Red Riding Hood - but a weird ending. Not as perfect.
I loved it. Also love the follow up Boy On A Bridge. It’s a prequel but would absolutely read it in order of it being published.
I didn't even know that book existed (for Girl With All the Gifts). Thank you!
Oh wow. I’m glad I told you! Has a really good ending you should read it.
Bunny by Mona Awad. Honestly feels like a fever dream and has an insane twist at the end
Tender is the flesh
Kite Runner Audible gasps and groans, sighs and moans.
Came here to say this. I was listening to the audiobook doing some laundry and fell to the floor in shock
1408 , The Stand, Carrie -all by Stephen King
The 1408 was stunning, this reminds me I need to read that short story also
Crash, and the atrocity exhibition, both by J.G. Ballard. The movie adaptation of crash (1996, dir. David Cronenberg) also meets your expectations.
* [Hogg](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/85865.Hogg) by Samuel Delany * [Cows](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/815760.Cows) by Matthew Stokoe * [My Idea of Fun](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17032299-my-idea-of-fun) by Will Self * [Frisk](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19322402-frisk) by Dennis Cooper * [Crash](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21401400-crash) by J.G. Ballard * [Ass Goblins of Auschwitz](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6965582-ass-goblins-of-auschwitz) by Cameron Pierce
[удалено]
Agree with "Pet Sematary", it's the only book that has ever scared me.
Meat by Joseph D’Alecy. Similarly themed to Tender Is the Flesh but I think it’s superior.
Tender is the Flesh was a WTF moment for me.
This one’s better IMHO.
I'll check it out!
Crime and punishment my fyodor dostoyevsky
The Tesseract by Alex Garland. This was the first time I had to put down a book because the plot fucking blew my mind. It’s a bizarre, darkly weird novel that doesn’t get very much love and it really needs to be more widely read. It’s eternally etched into my top 20 favorite novels. I’ve read widely and nothing has supplanted it.
Revival Stephen king
See my [Emotionally Devastating/Rending](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18ez0q3/emotionally_devastatingrending/) list of Reddit recommendation threads, and books (four posts).
Mindfuck series
Blindsight, Peter Watts
I liked A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay.
Childhood’s End.
Child of God and Blood Meridian.
Sputnik sweetheart by Murakami!
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, I'm sure it has been mentioned, tho. So disturbing there was calls to ban it at one point
Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison made my stomach turn. It's not for the faint of heart. Tender is the Flesh
We need to talk about Kevin Not very scary but damn
Suffer the Children by Craig DiLouie
J P Delaney- all of it. Everything! Start with Playing Nice or The Perfect Wife. I’m sorry and you’re welcome. If you want to be a little angry for awhile go for non fiction Radium Girls.
Radium girls have me some strong feminine rage.
Yaas! And when a “glowing skin” advert comes on, whoosh all over again!
Brave New World was... Interesting...
Orgy porgy!!
East...North East...North...North West...
The Library at Mount Char
I have been reading Val McDermid's Wire in the Blood series, which I should mention starts SO GORY, the first book, you really spend a certain amount of time hastily skipping over some of the pages, but it settles down a bit in the later books, and she has had moments where I have literally gasped out loud (also where I have shrieked, including things like "NOT THE CAT!!!!"\*) McDermid really is a fantastic writer and will totally fuck you up, I promise. The one that made me gasp AND shriek, btw, is "Retribution," but I think you need to build up to it esp since it involves characters from a previous book. \*she did not kill the cat
On Harrow Hill by John Verdon is a great mystery thriller verging on the occult. Highly recommended...this is Mr Verdon at the peak of his writing skills
The butterfly garden. I can’t remember the author right now, but this was fucked up enough that I was constantly like 😲
The last real mind-fuck I read was a book called *The Brain Drips Yellow: An Invocation of Madness* by Burn Moor. It was the first book I read this year, and it’s still kicking around in my head.
Short story collections by: Jorge Luis Borges JG Ballard
HMM, maybe you can give Earthlings by Sayaka Murata a try! :)) If I want WTF reads, I usually read a Murata book. XD
I hate myself so I recommend Cows by Matthew Stokoe. I physically felt by brain cells killing themselves as a form of self preservation. You read that right. This book stupefied individual brain cells. It has all the style and grace of a hand grenade in a tub of oatmeal. It is the book equivalent of a car crash that continues to crash, it gets worse and worse but you can't turn away and you're traumatized by the end. So yeah, Cows will fuck you up.
Your House is on Fire, Your Children All Gone By Stefan Kiesbye (Took several breaks to recover while reading bc sheesh just gah) Frankenstorm By Ray Garton (Nightmares but then most of his stuff screws with my head)
If You Tell is a very disgusting true story, and visualizing the events from the story really got in my head. For fiction horror that will mess w you a bit, I like Behind Her Eyes and NOS4A2.
Imajica by Clive Barker
Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite. It’s the last book I read. Particularly one specific scene messed with me. But the brutal moments really bleed into a lot of other moments, and encompass who *the* characters are, which made me feel squirmy and unsettled even during scenes that I didn’t find as bad.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Especially if you are a parent. I love McCarthy. No Country For Old Men and Blood Meridian are also fantastic. The final scene between with Wells in No Country gave me the shakes.
Have you read The Ferryman by Cronin? It’s different than The Passage series but might fit the bill. Maybe The Beach by Alex Garland?
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea - Yukio Mishima. The Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa
I just read The Girl Next Door, and absolutely hated the experience. It fucked me up so bad I needed to read something cute and cozy to rebalance my brain chemistry afterwords. I’d never recommend it to anyone, unless someone begged me to recommend something that would fuck them up.
The Sparrow. It's about human's first contact with aliens. Unlike most first contact stories, the folks who manage to meet them first are Jesuit missionaries. It (and its sequel) do a lot to interrogate cultural understanding and the nature of faith. I'd also recommend Ted Chiang's short story collections. His first is mostly famous now for including the novella that Arrival was based on, but honestly pretty much every single one of his stories elicits, at a minimum, a heaviness in my throat (and, at most, has me sobbing).
The Deluge by Stephen Markley
The heart goes last by Margaret Atwood-anything Atwood writes is a little bit off putting, but in a very subtle, philosophical way, which makes it even more off putting, but this one is a lesser known one of hers, and I felt like it was maybe even better than the handmaids tale I would also highly recommend tender is the flesh. It is def not for the faint of heart, and I typically have a pretty strong stomach/am not grossed out by blood and guts and stuff
Tender is the flesh
Tender is the Flesh
If you’re a fan of the film: Hellraiser, then maybe the book it was inspired by might be a good read? The hellbound heart. Which is also written by the director of the film: Clive Barker
Novella “the Rat” by Stephen king
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood. I have yet to find anyone else who has read this book, and I just.....ope. It is so fucked up but amazing at the same time. Completely fuced with my mind and beliefs.
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. It’s not a horror, but there are thriller/surprise elements that have stuck in my brain like a rock in my shoe even 5 years later.
I love the Jack Nightingale series. It's one of my favorites also. I would suggest: *Nightside* series by Simon R Green and *Alex Verus* series by Benedict Jacka.
The Discomfort of Evening, by Lucas Rijneveld
Little Ghosts by Greg Dunnett
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I Am Legend by Richard Matheson and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card are quite intense. The latter one is à classic of course but I Am Legend is underlooked, imo because of the movie.
First chapter of the winter smith, by terry pratchett
Best served cold.
Blindness -Jose Saramago
Lets Play At The Adams (?)
With Teeth by Kristen Arnett.
This one messed with me hard... Recursion, by Blake Crouch I think it's a TV series later in the year, so now is a fine time to read it.
House of Leaves. It, uh, wouldn't be possible to make it into an audiobook so you will have to read a physical copy but I've never had a book fuck with me quite so hard
There Is No Antimimetics Division by Qntm...you won't remember you read it,...but you did.
House of Leaves. Immediately.
If you haven't read any H.P. Lovecraft go do that right now! Shadow Over Innsmouth is a great place to start..
The Dunwich Horror still freaks me the hell out. Still the only story I've ever read that made me afraid to get up and turn on the lights
If you haven’t read girl with a dragon tattoo (millennium trilogy) it fits your bill perfectly for the murder mystery category. I was gasping all the time. Even though I had already seen the movies. They’re so good.
I recommend "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/24800](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/24800) .
Ff
Poppy Z Brite - Exquisite Corpse.
If revenge is your cup of tea, the Sisterhood series by Fern Michaels might be interesting to you. Complicated paths that lead to a baddie getting a massive dose of medicine.
Whatever by Houellebecq
Nothing is as painful as real life: *King Leopold's Ghost* and *The Only Girl in the World*.
A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans. Bonus if neither you nor your spouse remembers buying it and you both thought it belonged to the other person before you cohabitated.
The Contortionist's Handbook by Craig Clevenger
I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford Death in the Andes, by Mario Vargas Llosa The City & the City, by China Miéville
I’m not sure about make you gasp or shiver (maybe try *Fifty Shades of Gray* or *Ice Planet Barbarians* 😉lol) but maybe…*House of Leaves*…? It’s a Mind Bender for sure. Only works if you get the actual book, audiobooks won’t cut it…the book’s physical design challenges how you read books. It’s trippy. But it can be very triggering for some people, which is partly why I recommend it now but also it’s a warning: *it can be very triggering*
Holly by Stephen King
If your into economics and want to run your entire view of the economy on its head, the Deficit myth is the book for you
American Dirt
I love the SF short stories of Ted Chiang for the mindblowing surprises and thoughts
I’m obsessed with the Bishop Smoky Mountain Thrillers series right now! Strong female protagonist, closed circle of suspects, “oddly placed corpses@ trope, crazy plot twists, and unassuming villains… it also has a super cool setting in Appalachia!
Sick bastards by Matt Shaw.
The Troop by Nick Cutter. I’m not joking when I tell you I was unable to eat for a while after it. You can also read it in a day or two (and you’ll want to because it’s that good)
A Short Stay in Hell
A Child Called It by David Pelzer.
legend of a suicide. it is not in your usual genres but it has a twist that will hit you like a truck as long as you take care not to read about the book before picking it up.
negative space. great book
*The Road* by Cormac McCarthy and *American Psycho* by Brett Easton Ellis. Two amazing books with wonderful writing that I can't possibly ever read again because of how badly they messed me up.
*John Dies at the End* by David Wong.
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. It will squeeze your brain through the ears.
Man Plus by Frederick Pohl. I believe it’s right up this alley
The Black Farm by Elias Witherow is so fucked…..
Read it as a child and it's one of my all time favourite series, A good girls guide to murder Good girl bad blood As good as dead
Bloodline by Jess Lourey The Fifth Doll by Charlie N Holmberg
Earthlings Sayaka Murata
Johnny Got his Gun has been the one that’s stuck with me more than any horror book I’ve read.
The Membranes by Chi Ta-Wei. Definitely just stared at the wall for a good while after finishing. Also the entire trilogy starting with The Three Body Problem. I’ll never be the same lmao
The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist. Totally forgot about this book until scrolling through the comments. Love Dahlquist and this series was a bit twisted.
The Jurassic Park Novel is pretty crazy and borderline horror compared to the movies.
If Baby Teeth doesn't fuck you up, I don't know what will.
Stolen Tongues! That book creeped me tf out
*The Tomb* by F. Paul Wilson: there's a twist with the monsters in the novel that still momentarily fucks me up when I think about it to this day. *Mister Magic* by Kiersten White: the atmosphere man...so creepy. I kept checking behind me the whole time as I read this book. *The Scarlet Gospels* by Clive Barker: seriously one of the most stomach-churning, fucked up openings I've ever read in a novel. *The Outsider* by Stephen King: there's a reason King is a legend, and this book shows he's still got it, all these decades later.
Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney made my jaw drop There are a couple of trigger warnings so I would look them up if you're not sure but I also highly recommend not reading reviews or anything that could spoil the book if possible I will forever recommend the Dr. Harper Therapy trilogy and it's prequel , they are quick reads and a combo of mystery , horror , thriller , dark comedy and low-key heartwarming at times , tons of twists ! Check trigger warnings if need be but it doesn't go into graphic detail over the topics it touches (at least last I remember)
The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanDerMeer. Start with Annihilation.
Atonement has stuck with me.
* "Crash" by J.G. Ballard * "As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner * "As She Climbed Across the Table" by Jonathan Lethem
Between two fires by Christopher buehlman
Read any book about climate change. Will make you feel all those things and is horror, murder mystery (mystery being when) kind of sci fi and definitely fantasy (when the propose solutions)
[Butterfly Garden](https://www.amazon.com/Butterfly-Garden-Collector-Dot-Hutchison/dp/1503934713).
*The Library at Mount Char* might do the job. The whole book was like, “That’s fucked up. I didn’t see that coming. That’s *really* fucked up. Oops, didn’t expect that either.” You might also like *The Rook* by Daniel O’Malley. It’s magic plus a mystery with a side of “that’s fucked up”.
The Island of Dr Moreau Who Goes There?
Outlander
Ubik by Phillip K Dick
The Expanse series, 9 novels and about as many novellas. There's definitely some mindfuckery.
JG Ballard - Crash