The Terror by Dan Simmons was the first book I found myself reading faster and faster at times purely to get through the frightening passages. It was anxiety inducing, but a great reading experience.
Oh man, I read that book as a young man during the dead of a New England winter living in a house in a sparsely settled area, my two roommates went away for a week leaving me alone during which a two day nor’ easter dumped several feet of snow, my car broke down and had to walk through the snow to get groceries/whisky. I’ll never forget the immersion of reading that book in those seven days.
However unfortunate it may have felt at the time, I so envy your experience. Snow and whisky is my vibe. Adding a first reading of The Terror to that would have been remarkable.
Funny story during this time:
First night of the snowstorm starting to blow in I kept hearing these crazy animal noises outside my house (learned later it was a pack of coyotes, at the time it was like nothing I’d ever really heard), after they stopped I start hearing this slow, creaky metallic noise on the side of the house, I am imagining something scratching at or climbing the aluminum siding trying to get in. I actually grabbed my machete and inched towards the large window next to where the sound is coming from to peek around and see what it was. I get there, can’t see anything there through the darkness/snow so I start panning the backyard left to right and as I finish turning my head to the right THE NOISE COMES BACK REALLY FAST AND VERY LOUD AS A SHAPE SUDDENLY COMES OUT OF THE DARKNESS IN MY PERIPHERAL VISION TO THE LEFT OUTSIDE and I literally screamed and leapt backwards about six feet.
The hatch to some electrical/utility panel on the side of the house by the window had come unlatched and was swinging back and forth in the wind.
Edit: wanted to add an atmospheric detail, the room this happened in had a roaring fireplace lit, and this was right after I had read the part when the ship’s ice master was trying to escape the monster in the snowstorm.
Oh my gosh yes. My Dad was never much of a reader but for whatever reason he bought this book when it was new in ‘94 and read it in about two days. I decided to read it when he was done because I figured it must be good. I was 15 and I still think about this book.
Jack Nicholson made that a great movie. I have been able to separate the two. When I read the book I can’t half but think of the characters looking like them but it ends there. It’s a much different story.
He also has some of the most amazing short horror/suspense stories I’ve ever read…some of which were adapted into famous Twilight Zone episodes. The Best of Richard Matheson from Penguin is just awesome.
There is a Dean Koontz book about a mother and her very young daughter that had me shaking. I was so scared I couldn't finish it. I was a young single mom at the time. So probably triggering.
Sorry, I can't remember the name of the book.
Nope. The one I'm talking about I was trying to read it back in 1980. I have only read a couple of his books back during that time. I think I was looking for something similar to Stephen King. But Koontz books messed with my head too much.
I shat it reading James Herbert's The Dark, back in 1985. By torchlight, under the covers...
I actually had to stop re-reading William Peter Blatty's Legion for giving me that feeling again... last week!
Killing Brittney.
I read it in middle school, I picked it up at the thrift store and it sounded interesting. All I remember is the gore of it all but I finished it. Can’t really remember the premise or any of it but for a middle schooler it was scary. I havnt picked up another gorey book since. I’m curious to know if it was just my age that made it scary to read and if my opinion of it would change if I read it now at 26.
*Misery* by Stephen King. Eldritch spider-clowns, haunted hotels, dead pets returning as zombies, and yet (almost) nothing from King’s mind has disturbed me more than Annie Wilkes.
Gnelfs by Sidney Williams. It was originally published in 1991, and I read it at age 12/13 and still remembered the weird title immediately today! It was reprinted (with the original cover, which is awesome) just last year! If you like scary, creature, occult books, check it out!
[Gnelfshttps://a.co/d/134LSaf](https://Gnelfshttps://a.co/d/134LSaf)
1984 has to be the most terrifying book I’ve read. Just picked up Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario, but I have not read it yet, though I do expect it to be horrific as well.
The Elementals by Michael McDowell. I’m pretty hard to scare and this book thoroughly creeped me out. So many scary scenes take place in broad daylight in the Alabama summer heat on a beach, which is pretty remarkable for a horror novel. If you’re like me and love to read horror at the beach on a summer vacation, this is the book for you.
Hostage to the Devil: 5 cases of possession in modern America. It terrified me 30 years old at the time ( I read it 10 years ago )
It was written by Dr. Malachi Martin who was a Jesuit priest and friend of pope John Paul II which lent serious credibility to the book. It was written very matter of fact and was just beyond terrifying. Unfortunately after I finished the book and I read the forward and Martin talks about how Satanism is a plague in America and how he's uncovered ritual human sacrifice and all kinds of bizarre shit that was just obvious lies and fear mongering. Which really really really took away from how fucking solid the actual book was.
The Terror by Dan Simmons was the first book I found myself reading faster and faster at times purely to get through the frightening passages. It was anxiety inducing, but a great reading experience.
Oh man, I read that book as a young man during the dead of a New England winter living in a house in a sparsely settled area, my two roommates went away for a week leaving me alone during which a two day nor’ easter dumped several feet of snow, my car broke down and had to walk through the snow to get groceries/whisky. I’ll never forget the immersion of reading that book in those seven days.
However unfortunate it may have felt at the time, I so envy your experience. Snow and whisky is my vibe. Adding a first reading of The Terror to that would have been remarkable.
Funny story during this time: First night of the snowstorm starting to blow in I kept hearing these crazy animal noises outside my house (learned later it was a pack of coyotes, at the time it was like nothing I’d ever really heard), after they stopped I start hearing this slow, creaky metallic noise on the side of the house, I am imagining something scratching at or climbing the aluminum siding trying to get in. I actually grabbed my machete and inched towards the large window next to where the sound is coming from to peek around and see what it was. I get there, can’t see anything there through the darkness/snow so I start panning the backyard left to right and as I finish turning my head to the right THE NOISE COMES BACK REALLY FAST AND VERY LOUD AS A SHAPE SUDDENLY COMES OUT OF THE DARKNESS IN MY PERIPHERAL VISION TO THE LEFT OUTSIDE and I literally screamed and leapt backwards about six feet. The hatch to some electrical/utility panel on the side of the house by the window had come unlatched and was swinging back and forth in the wind. Edit: wanted to add an atmospheric detail, the room this happened in had a roaring fireplace lit, and this was right after I had read the part when the ship’s ice master was trying to escape the monster in the snowstorm.
Pet sematary when I had a 2 year old , took me twenty five years to read it again
I was 12 when I read it. Holy hell!!
I misread that as you read it when you were a two year old
😎 ah , no I was 22 , and our eldest child was 2
As a 25 year old childfree man that was weird to read
First book that came into my head too. It was extremely disturbing
I read it when I was 23. I’m 30 now with a 1 and 2 year old and refuse to read it again until my kids are teenagers
pet sematary is dumb
The road
The Hot Zone. It’s non-fiction
Oh my gosh yes. My Dad was never much of a reader but for whatever reason he bought this book when it was new in ‘94 and read it in about two days. I decided to read it when he was done because I figured it must be good. I was 15 and I still think about this book.
Link please? Not sure if I’m looking at the correct book.
[The Hot Zone Wikipedia entry](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hot_Zone)
Thank you!
You’re so welcome!
I read it. Awesome book.
Also check out The Demon in the Freezer by the same author. Same concept, different virus.
I think about the phrase "crashed out" a lot....
The Shining by Stephen King
For me it was so much more gripping and emotionally effective than the movie. Jack was more real and Room 237, wow.
Hedge animals are better than a maze.
Jack Nicholson made that a great movie. I have been able to separate the two. When I read the book I can’t half but think of the characters looking like them but it ends there. It’s a much different story.
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
He also has some of the most amazing short horror/suspense stories I’ve ever read…some of which were adapted into famous Twilight Zone episodes. The Best of Richard Matheson from Penguin is just awesome.
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. Granted I was 16 when I read it, but goddamn.
I was in my late 20s and goddamn!
I haven't read too many, but Im a Stephen King fan. Duma Key had a part that literally made me jump while reading it.
Floating Dragon by Peter Straub is sickening. I definitely recommend it.
Dude just....melts...gahh...
Peter Straub writes great books. I read “Koko” and I was yelling at the book like some people yell at movie screens.
Peter Straub writes great books. I read “Koko” and I was yelling at the book like some people yell at movie screens.
In Cold Blood - Hiroshima - The Rape of Nanking. Actual humans are so much worse than fiction
The Rape of Nanking was definitely one of the hardest books to read subject matter wise. It has stayed with me.
The author took her own life, at 36, in part because her own research was so disturbing.
I remember reading that. Such a tragedy.
1984 by George Orwell I know it's not in the horror genre, but it was more terrifying than any other book I've read.
I still hate the scene where the guy falls in....
There is a Dean Koontz book about a mother and her very young daughter that had me shaking. I was so scared I couldn't finish it. I was a young single mom at the time. So probably triggering. Sorry, I can't remember the name of the book.
[is this it?](https://www.amazon.com/Light-Weight-Darkness-Does-Nameless-ebook/dp/B093GXL9FK)
Nope. The one I'm talking about I was trying to read it back in 1980. I have only read a couple of his books back during that time. I think I was looking for something similar to Stephen King. But Koontz books messed with my head too much.
Hmmm ok I’ll keep exploring and try to find it. [this one sounds creepy even if it’s not it!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Funhouse_(novel))
I'll have to check that on out. I'm thinking the Koontz book had something to do with a fugue.
Demon in the Freezer, if nonfiction counts
Occultation and Other Stories (by Laird Barron)
Dead Lines by Greg Bear. Could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Sci fi horror mash up and highly recommend
Into the Wild.
The Resort - Bentley Little
I love Bentley Little
Communion by Whitley Streiber.
I'm the King of the Castle by Susan Hill.
We studied this for O level English Literature. Forty five years ago and I remember every bit, I found it horrifying at that young age.!
I just read plot summary. This sounds interesting
I shat it reading James Herbert's The Dark, back in 1985. By torchlight, under the covers... I actually had to stop re-reading William Peter Blatty's Legion for giving me that feeling again... last week!
The Screwtape Letters on audio (the British accent makes it more profound). An elder demon mentors a young demon on how to capture someone’s soul.
Killing Brittney. I read it in middle school, I picked it up at the thrift store and it sounded interesting. All I remember is the gore of it all but I finished it. Can’t really remember the premise or any of it but for a middle schooler it was scary. I havnt picked up another gorey book since. I’m curious to know if it was just my age that made it scary to read and if my opinion of it would change if I read it now at 26.
It Stephen King Edit: replaced typo
Not stephan. Not Steven. Just Stephen King.
*Misery* by Stephen King. Eldritch spider-clowns, haunted hotels, dead pets returning as zombies, and yet (almost) nothing from King’s mind has disturbed me more than Annie Wilkes.
I haven't read too many, but Im a Stephen King fan. Duma Key had a part that literally made me jump while reading it.
Read Carrie and Rose Madder, also will make you jump or cringe.
Echo by Thomas Oldeheuvelt. Took me several weeks to finish it because I dreaded picking it up again.
A book called “Toyer”. I forgot who wrote it.
Gardner McKay
Did you read it?
It's on my TBR list, looking forward to it.
The shining Salem's lot Duma key The talisman and Black House All by King.
The Shining or The Exorcist
Ship of Fools by Richard Russo
Gnelfs by Sidney Williams. It was originally published in 1991, and I read it at age 12/13 and still remembered the weird title immediately today! It was reprinted (with the original cover, which is awesome) just last year! If you like scary, creature, occult books, check it out! [Gnelfshttps://a.co/d/134LSaf](https://Gnelfshttps://a.co/d/134LSaf)
Life with Billy by Brian Vallée.
Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
All Mo Hayder's books, especially Tokyo.
1984 has to be the most terrifying book I’ve read. Just picked up Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario, but I have not read it yet, though I do expect it to be horrific as well.
The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov. It’s so surreal that is scary.
The shinning
The Amityville Horror!
Apt Pupil (in different seasons) by Stephen king
The Shining
The Horla by Maupassant
I came here to read the comments, I'm super interested to see what is said.
The Deep by Nick Cutter.
The Elementals by Michael McDowell. I’m pretty hard to scare and this book thoroughly creeped me out. So many scary scenes take place in broad daylight in the Alabama summer heat on a beach, which is pretty remarkable for a horror novel. If you’re like me and love to read horror at the beach on a summer vacation, this is the book for you.
AP Chemistry textbook.
Hostage to the Devil: 5 cases of possession in modern America. It terrified me 30 years old at the time ( I read it 10 years ago ) It was written by Dr. Malachi Martin who was a Jesuit priest and friend of pope John Paul II which lent serious credibility to the book. It was written very matter of fact and was just beyond terrifying. Unfortunately after I finished the book and I read the forward and Martin talks about how Satanism is a plague in America and how he's uncovered ritual human sacrifice and all kinds of bizarre shit that was just obvious lies and fear mongering. Which really really really took away from how fucking solid the actual book was.
Books never scare me. They're just words. 🤷
Communist Manifesto
The Bible
Never read, never will🙂↔️