Scariest Books You've Ever Read

PET SEMATARY by Stephen King

 

I was going to post exactly that book. Stephen King was merciless to his readers with that one... I don't even read horror books normally, but liked SK's work a great deal. One particular part of that book was really mean, where he plays the game with the reader about whether the kid dies young in tragedy or grows up strong and healthy.

Just about every book I've read by SK has some sort of Grateful Dead reference in it somewhere, like a character named after a song etc. though I'm pretty sure many don't.

 

Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky...At the time I thought I was going to get prosecuted for possession of heroin...If you haven't read it I highly recommend it it's a terrific read.

 

The Bible

 

Yeah...I was gonna say that too...

 

Yep, that's the one.

 

Everyone Poops

 

Holy shit! That must have been a miserable experience, but I'm sure you got Dostoyevsky on a pretty intimate level...

Did everything work out for you? Fuck the police :bobby:

 

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski anyone??

 

Mademoiselle Christina

 

This. That book had me shaking for some reason. Too tense.

 

Some of H.P. Lovecraft's stuff is totally terrifying.....try "At The Mountains Of Madness" or "The Call Of Cthulu"!

 

Your list is really scary reading book for readers and I like your all choices. I often read horror, romantic, fiction and many more.

You can look at my own choice as horror fictions from here:-

SCREAM By: quotesandnotes
SAVE ME By: Ecko737
TEMPTATION By: HaleyTomlinson
ESCAPE By: MangaGirl2303


etc many more....

 

it's not horror, but Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" scared the shit out of me and left me feeling bleak and hopeless for a long time after I'd read it, to the extent that I couldn't sleep properly for like 2 weeks.

 

I have read most of Stephen King's stuff, and have enjoyed most of it, but the only books that scare me are the ones that could actually happen, from CUJO to THE STAND.
This whole COVID19 thing is reminding me of The Stand and N.C. Reed's Odd Billy Todd.

 

Oh my; if the Bible scares you, you need to read it more!
That will eventually make it stop frightening you.

 

For me it was the Exorcist by William Peter Beatty, Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin I read them at way too young an age scared the crap out of me. Reread Exorcist last year didn’t scare me I am also 40 years older. Another book that scared me was Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris.

 

Not a scary book in the conventional sense, but one of the most jarring books I’ve ever read is The Mountain Lion, by Jean Stafford.

 

I was a kid when the novel came out and I was genuinely terrified.

Pet Sematary really messed me up but in a good way.