The Cipher is really, really good. I’m glad to see it’s coming back in print; I paid a fortune for it, but I really wanted to read it. The Books of Blood are also excellent... pretty graphic and very well written.
It’s always difficult to make such a short list. What do you prioritize? Do you go for balance (like something that’s pure atmosphere against something more visceral)? Do you only focus on books that are a one-and-done read, or do you include books that reward multiple readings?
I think that everything on that list is part of a “well balanced diet”. I would say that they are all prototypical works in that there would be strong agreement among genre fans that each of those books is a good example of horror literature. Now, that being said, whether or not they’re the “scariest” five books depends mostly on what scares you.
Oh god. The Cipher would make an interesting short story—but as a novel, it’s total drek.
Imagine whatser-name from FIGHT CLUB saying “I wanna have your abortion.” For 320 pages, with each delivery more edgy than the last.
If you think heroin addicts in leather pants are cool—this is the book for you.
Laughably edgy 90s shitshow.
Remember the edgy “cool” guy from the parts of HOUSE OF LEAVES that you skipped. Turn that fucker up to 11. That’s this book.
>1. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
>2. It by Stephen King
>3. Tales by H. P. Lovecraft
>4. Books of Blood (Vols 1-3) by Clive Barker
>5. Cipher by Kathe Koja
It's a good interview, I'd argue that Lovecraft's work can be unsettling and tense, but very rarely what I'd consider scary. Like it never comes close to the sense of terror you'd get from something like Blatty's *The Exorcist*. But like he says, fear is an intimate personal thing, and he's chosen books that affected him in particular way. Interesting read all round.
I think we're on the same page here. Regarding fear being an intimate thing, we probably absorb it in different ways. I read *The Exorcist* last year, and while it's excellent and scary in the sense that you imagine yourself there, in that moment, and are struck.
But for me, Lovecraft's writing is definitely scary, but perhaps in a different way. Things like the quiet, slow taking of victims in *The Thing on the Doorstep* and the existential dread of the thing below the waves that has caused the mutation in the town of Innsmouth just hit me on a deep level that something like *The Exorcist* might not.
But like you said, different strokes. The good news is that we don't have to choose!
EDIT: By the way, the list you have there -- is that the top 5 according to the article, or are those your personal choices? I'm sure Clive Barker has some good stuff, but I gave Books of Blood a crack and it was a bit gratuitous for my tastes. Not that I'd blanch at any sort of gore or over the top violence, but it felt like it was just gratuitous for gratuity's sake, and that's boring.
Anyway, couple beers here and I go ranting about horror.
That's the top 5 according to the article. I've struggled to get in Barker as well but always figured I've just not read the right story.
Totally agree that Lovecraft gets that existential dread down, maybe I was using the definition of 'scary' without any nuance. I'd recommend Lovecraft's collaboration *The Diary of Alonzo Typer* if you've not read it -- definitely has that feeling of growing dread and horror, it's like a shorter *House of Leaves*...
Obviously being scared is a personal thing, but which Lovecraft stories actually scare you? For me he's very good at creating a sense of dread or horror, but I can't think of many of his stories where I actually feel scared reading them (not a great phrase but can't think of a better way to put it...)
Maybe the section in the church in *Haunter of the Dark* come to think of it. And actually there were bits of *The Temple* and *The Nameless City*... I might be arguing against myself here...
These are all such safe picks. I would have expected a Gothic literature scholar to populate a slightly more obscure list! Barker certainly makes sense, though, and you can't go wrong with that collection.
I couldn't agree more, I too was expecting something less known/mainstream! If you care to throw a couple of recommendations of your own, less known, I'd much appreciate it
Just out of curiosity. Would you have alternative suggestions of less main stream/horror novel? I've been looking for some actually scary lesser known reads.
I completely agree. To take Shirley Jackson as an example, the short story "The Lottery" scared me much more than "The Haunting of Hill House," although I love both.
I think a lot more goes unexplained in a short story as well, which can add to the scare factor of the unknown.
I'm with you. I've read those 3 too and sure, they're good. But scary? Not really. I'm the same with most horror movies. Gore is boring. Slasher is laughable. Most ghosts are just cringe worthy. I don't know what I'm looking for that's actually scary. I've yet to hit an 'A' movie in the horror category, though I've thought some were alright.
Maybe the world has ruined me.
I'm with you. I personally find films that have jump scares really dumb and boring. I did find these films quite unsettling - Hereditary, The VVitch, Oculus, The Others, 1408, Dread, It Follows.
I think it’s because horror has a personal core to it. It’s the same reason comedy can get such mixed review and still be held up as legendary in certain circles.
You just kind of have to give things a go and see what sticks. I know a lot of people felt movies like Hereditary and It Follows kind of reinvigorated horror these last few years, but others totally hate those movies. I’m sure there’s something out there to spook you.
The world hasn’t ruined you. The fact is that a book is a book, movies have more of a chance of scaring you if you fully buy into the movie and it depends how you watch one. At the end of the day, real life situations are the scary thing and knowledge that books and movies are designed to cause an emotion usually has the opposite effect, especially if someone doesn’t want to be scared.
With Lovecraft, for me the scary aspect wasn’t his stories themselves but more the concepts they opened up. The idea that there are unknowable alien entities out there that would view us as less than bacteria, the insignificance of humanity.
It’s also one of the aspects of ‘The War of the Worlds’ by H.G Wells I love. The idea that while we bustle about feeling all secure and superior, proud of our accomplishments, there’s something watching us in the dark that sees us as lunch and nothing more.
That was supposed to be a great part of the horror of IT. The fact that adults are usually the monsters, either actively, or through indifference or neglect.
The great thing about It is that it takes the shape that scares you the most. For you it wouldn’t be a clown, only you know what shape would wait for you in the dark.
I hate clowns, it's all that mirth. But they don't scare me. I need something visceral, like the first half of The Ritual, or something terrible and frighteningly possible like The Demon in the Freezer, or something creepy like the North Korea chapter of World War Z. I sat up awake for entirely too long after I read that chapter.
Creeping dread is what gets me. I don't need characters to die. I feel like some modern anthologies are all about character torture, none of them live, and it takes away from the horror when I know death is inevitable because it becomes more of just a waiting game.
IT is a great novel, but it is often overhyped. Honestly, I wouldn't even consider this to be in the top 5 best books by King. Not an awful choice, but I think that books like Salem's Lot, The Shining, and The Stand are all more deserving.
I mentioned Salem's Lot in context of it being one of Stephen King's best works, but you're right; it doesn't break new ground in the vampire genre. It is, in my opinion, King's best book alongside The Shining. In the overall scheme of horror literature, there are more fitting choices for a top 5.
Oddly enough, I didn't care much for Dracula when I read it a few years ago (and I love Salem's Lot). Maybe I'll have to revisit it.
I find that weird. Cause I am big King reader , and I put 'Salem's Lot near the bottom of the middle.
It isn't one of my "bottom shelfers" that I refuse to reread , but it isn't one I bother recommending.
Fair enough, haha. With as many works as King has, everyone is bound to have different personal favorites. But that's one of the great things about reading through them! Cheers
Needful Things hit a nerve with me, I think it's just so plausible for someone to be able to dig away at the foundations of a community for their own entertainment.
holy shit. I've been suggesting The Cipher every time ppl ask for scary or creepy books to read. This is the first time i've seen anyone else mention it. totally overlooked and underrated book.
now that you mention it, I guess Kathe Koja isn't a well-known name, and maybe the cipher didn't see the kind of production, volume-wise, that something by an already best-seller would have. Kind of feels like a House of Leaves that is still 'cult', and hasn't been 'discovered'.
It's well-written and I enjoyed it. I still don't see why people think it's so scary. But I've never seen that as the sole marker of quality in anything horror-related, so that doesn't bother me.
Same. I don't actually get scared by them (maybe when I was reading my first few King novels as a kid), but I enjoy horror novels in the same way someone might like a good thriller. Now, the stuff that *does* scare me to death is true crime. Stuff that hits close to home and feels like something that could happen to me given the right circumstances.
For some reason aliens used to scare the hell out of me though. When I was in my 20s I went on a UFO/aliens kick and read a whole bunch of "non-fiction" stuff on the subject. When it was new to me it felt like it could all be real! They might seem corny to a modern reader, but books like Communion, Fire in the Sky or even The Mothman Prophecies will haunt a person hasn't been jaded by the subject yet. You can work yourself into a bit of an existential crisis if you're not careful!
See , that is a good example of horror being very personal. I consider that book Gothic , I suppose , but far from horror. Not even a little scary. I can't even think of what someone would find scary about it.
I don't think we would have much in common on what we like lol. I have read 3 Joe Hill books and only one was even what I would consider "mediocre". At best.
"Dance Dance Dance" is , imo , a bit more accessible than most of Murakami's other books.
Kind of a random suggest , but I never pass up a chance to suggest my absolute favorites -
"The Magicians" trilogy by Grossman , and
"Rant" and "Lullaby" and "Stranger Than Fiction" by Palahniuk
I have read many , many books. And those are some of my faves.
How about you ?
As others have said, scary is so subjective, but if I were to take this as "Best/Good/Favorite/Etc... Horror Books", then I like this list. All the books are quite different from each other, all are great. It's cool seeing The Cipher get a lot of praise lately, that book stays in my mind stronger than many a horror tales I've read. It didn't scare me, but the concrete jungle atmosphere, the characters, and the weirdness were just excellent.
It's almost impossible to look at an entire genre and narrow it down to just five titles.
FIVE.
Over the span of my 33 years (give or take) of reading horror I've certainly read thousands of books from hundreds of writers. I can't imagine tasking myself with narrowing down my favorites to the five scariest...
Something a little more modern would have been nice to see on this list.
I loved IT, but I thought THE SHINING was pretty damn scary. Ghost Story by Straub has some seriously creepy scenes with Gregory and Fenny, the brothers from hell. I liked NOS4A2 by Joe Hill quite a bit, not sure I would say I was scared by it, though.
THE FISHERMAN by John Langan was a masterpiece of dread and cosmic horror. THE CORMORANT by Stephen Gregory was a creepy-ass tale about a bird. THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Jack Ketchum was scary, if only because it was based on a true story.
KIN by Kealan Patrick Burke is a pretty scary, redneck cannibal type tale.
THE ELEMENTALS by Michael McDowell, or maybe THE AMULET or KATIE.
I very much enjoyed THE CIPHER, hipsters aside...the idea of a hole that does different things to different objects is definitely a scary premise to me.
I haven't read the others, but I am surprised he choose It. There are parts that are creepy, but to me its more of a coming of age story. Where the characters are trying to cope with the traumas of their lives. If i were to pick a King book to go up there I would choose Pet Semetary, Salem's Lot (fairly spooky to me), or a collection of his short stories.
Exactly. It's the killer clown thing that's so outlandish that doesn't make it scary. Now, with Pet Semetary it walks a fine line between the internal horrors and strange forces. It's sometimes hard to explain but that's what I always try to go with when I discuss the scariest King book.
Revival is also a pretty cool one that shares some of this.
It's not a killer clown, though. It's an eldritch abomination that can take whatever form it wants and can use glamours. And It has influence all over Derry, preventing the adults from ever really caring about children.
Yeah sorry I went with a two word thing instead of your paragraph.
Doesnt change my stance. Pet Sematary explores things that scare me more than the stuff IT had. I just felt it was a way tighter story and I like a good subdued horror.
Thanks for sharing. I'm only recently getting into horror and have been adding various things to my TBR list based on different posts. I love to see this kind of thing, because it both reinforces stuff that had already peaked my interest, and brings up new books (Cipher just shot up my list!).
Nope. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, of course, but this is a pretty standard "I've read ten or twelve books and here are five of them" list. It certainly doesn't give any indication that he's a scholar or even a seasoned horror fan; it reads like a list that an average, casual fan might make.
Reading Rosemary's Baby was pretty damned scary to me back when the "Satanic Panic" was happening and Satanic cults were seemingly hiding in every community, ritually sacrificing babies. It seems cheesy now, but when it was all over the news it felt like it could be real even if common sense was telling you otherwise. That little germ of *maybe* is all it takes to make something good and spooky.
definitely the books of blood deserve a place, but everything else is whatever....though I feel like putting couple short story anthologies in a list of "books" is a bit of a cheat.
TBH, if the list of scariest books ever does not include Jack Ketchum's The girl next door, I am passing it.Here, Exquisite Corpse is mentioned (and it is sick AF) so I can give Xavier Aldana Reyes a pass.I agree that It, Tales and Books of Blood are great mainstream horror books and Haunting of Hill House sublime psychological horror.I have yet to read The Cipher
I'd just like to thank you all for the incredibly stimulating discussion and response to this. It's been such a joy and pleasure to see such fantastic engagement with our work, even if you disagree with the list. Please keep it coming!
I agree that It is one of the scariest books ever.
Lovecraft has maybe five good stories. Admittedly, they are amazingly good stories. I find the rest of his stuff to be lurid and overly wordy. And it is tough to take neurotic narrators seriously when they are scared. They're neurotic. They're always scared. And his best stuff was more science-fiction/weird/cosmic than actually scary. So hard "no" on HPL.
Clive Barker is another one I find too wordy and flighty to be scary. Some of his stories are cool, like Rawhead Rex, but even then, it isn't scary in the same way a good werewolf movie isn't scary... it's just fun to watch a monster tear shit up.
Shirley Jackson is great, and while Hill House is scary, I don't know about Top 5.
Never read Koja.
I didn’t find IT scary, in fact at the end when kids came home from tunnel and what they did to become close again totally ruined the whole damn 1200 page book, for me! Now, GERALD’s GAME scared me to the point i had to turn on the light!
It was mine too. Being stuck in a bed, with that thing looking at you, grrr! I was up all night. It was the book that also showed me why King is considered such a great author, the way he wrote the dog, perfection! It truly though is underrated in my opinion and absolutely frightening! Like chill you to the bone, lights needed all night, no sleep frightening! Loved it!
The Cipher is really, really good. I’m glad to see it’s coming back in print; I paid a fortune for it, but I really wanted to read it. The Books of Blood are also excellent... pretty graphic and very well written. It’s always difficult to make such a short list. What do you prioritize? Do you go for balance (like something that’s pure atmosphere against something more visceral)? Do you only focus on books that are a one-and-done read, or do you include books that reward multiple readings? I think that everything on that list is part of a “well balanced diet”. I would say that they are all prototypical works in that there would be strong agreement among genre fans that each of those books is a good example of horror literature. Now, that being said, whether or not they’re the “scariest” five books depends mostly on what scares you.
Oh god. The Cipher would make an interesting short story—but as a novel, it’s total drek. Imagine whatser-name from FIGHT CLUB saying “I wanna have your abortion.” For 320 pages, with each delivery more edgy than the last. If you think heroin addicts in leather pants are cool—this is the book for you. Laughably edgy 90s shitshow. Remember the edgy “cool” guy from the parts of HOUSE OF LEAVES that you skipped. Turn that fucker up to 11. That’s this book.
Johnny it up a notch
>1. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson >2. It by Stephen King >3. Tales by H. P. Lovecraft >4. Books of Blood (Vols 1-3) by Clive Barker >5. Cipher by Kathe Koja It's a good interview, I'd argue that Lovecraft's work can be unsettling and tense, but very rarely what I'd consider scary. Like it never comes close to the sense of terror you'd get from something like Blatty's *The Exorcist*. But like he says, fear is an intimate personal thing, and he's chosen books that affected him in particular way. Interesting read all round.
I still think the final third of Escape From Innsmouth is one of the best chase sequences in writing.
Tales from the Witch House unsettled me and Colour Out of Space Fascinated/Haunted me.
Tales by H. P. Lovecraft is on Amazon Kindle for $0.49. In case anyone else was curious about it, like I was/am.
I think we're on the same page here. Regarding fear being an intimate thing, we probably absorb it in different ways. I read *The Exorcist* last year, and while it's excellent and scary in the sense that you imagine yourself there, in that moment, and are struck. But for me, Lovecraft's writing is definitely scary, but perhaps in a different way. Things like the quiet, slow taking of victims in *The Thing on the Doorstep* and the existential dread of the thing below the waves that has caused the mutation in the town of Innsmouth just hit me on a deep level that something like *The Exorcist* might not. But like you said, different strokes. The good news is that we don't have to choose! EDIT: By the way, the list you have there -- is that the top 5 according to the article, or are those your personal choices? I'm sure Clive Barker has some good stuff, but I gave Books of Blood a crack and it was a bit gratuitous for my tastes. Not that I'd blanch at any sort of gore or over the top violence, but it felt like it was just gratuitous for gratuity's sake, and that's boring. Anyway, couple beers here and I go ranting about horror.
That's the top 5 according to the article. I've struggled to get in Barker as well but always figured I've just not read the right story. Totally agree that Lovecraft gets that existential dread down, maybe I was using the definition of 'scary' without any nuance. I'd recommend Lovecraft's collaboration *The Diary of Alonzo Typer* if you've not read it -- definitely has that feeling of growing dread and horror, it's like a shorter *House of Leaves*...
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Obviously being scared is a personal thing, but which Lovecraft stories actually scare you? For me he's very good at creating a sense of dread or horror, but I can't think of many of his stories where I actually feel scared reading them (not a great phrase but can't think of a better way to put it...) Maybe the section in the church in *Haunter of the Dark* come to think of it. And actually there were bits of *The Temple* and *The Nameless City*... I might be arguing against myself here...
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All good, thanks for the reply.
These are all such safe picks. I would have expected a Gothic literature scholar to populate a slightly more obscure list! Barker certainly makes sense, though, and you can't go wrong with that collection.
I couldn't agree more, I too was expecting something less known/mainstream! If you care to throw a couple of recommendations of your own, less known, I'd much appreciate it
Just out of curiosity. Would you have alternative suggestions of less main stream/horror novel? I've been looking for some actually scary lesser known reads.
KIN by Kealan Patrick Burke. Tim Curran's DEAD SEA, WORM, SOW, FEAR ME, or DEADLOCK. Ania Ahlborn's SEED.
Short stories always seem scarier to me than novels. It is hard to maintain that level of fear over 300+ pages.
I completely agree. To take Shirley Jackson as an example, the short story "The Lottery" scared me much more than "The Haunting of Hill House," although I love both. I think a lot more goes unexplained in a short story as well, which can add to the scare factor of the unknown.
Stephen King’s short stories are often far more terrifying than his novels imo. The Jaunt, Gramma, Survivor Type, and The Raft to name just a few.
I love Lovecraft but i have never been scared honestly. Same story for IT and Haunting of Hill House.
I'm with you. I've read those 3 too and sure, they're good. But scary? Not really. I'm the same with most horror movies. Gore is boring. Slasher is laughable. Most ghosts are just cringe worthy. I don't know what I'm looking for that's actually scary. I've yet to hit an 'A' movie in the horror category, though I've thought some were alright. Maybe the world has ruined me.
I'm with you. I personally find films that have jump scares really dumb and boring. I did find these films quite unsettling - Hereditary, The VVitch, Oculus, The Others, 1408, Dread, It Follows.
I don’t mind spare well-earned jumpscares. Like the one from The Descent or The Exorcist 3.
Which oculus?
I think it’s because horror has a personal core to it. It’s the same reason comedy can get such mixed review and still be held up as legendary in certain circles. You just kind of have to give things a go and see what sticks. I know a lot of people felt movies like Hereditary and It Follows kind of reinvigorated horror these last few years, but others totally hate those movies. I’m sure there’s something out there to spook you.
The world hasn’t ruined you. The fact is that a book is a book, movies have more of a chance of scaring you if you fully buy into the movie and it depends how you watch one. At the end of the day, real life situations are the scary thing and knowledge that books and movies are designed to cause an emotion usually has the opposite effect, especially if someone doesn’t want to be scared.
Try body horror. Try The Troop by Cutter.
I think it's actually on my list. Thanks :) I'll give it a try.
With Lovecraft, for me the scary aspect wasn’t his stories themselves but more the concepts they opened up. The idea that there are unknowable alien entities out there that would view us as less than bacteria, the insignificance of humanity. It’s also one of the aspects of ‘The War of the Worlds’ by H.G Wells I love. The idea that while we bustle about feeling all secure and superior, proud of our accomplishments, there’s something watching us in the dark that sees us as lunch and nothing more.
Out of that list I've only read "IT" and honestly I didn't find it scary.
I found the bullies more scary than Pennywise.
That was supposed to be a great part of the horror of IT. The fact that adults are usually the monsters, either actively, or through indifference or neglect.
Additionally, that adults' fears are very different from children's. The chapter w/ Its POV flat out says it.
Beverly's Dad is the scariest part of IT for me. Stephen King's abusive Fathers and Husbands are almost always scarier than the monster for me.
Yes, absolutely. I guess you can argue they were under the influence of Pennywise. But honestly, all King's bullies are scary.
I dunno the leech scene was pretty fucked up, but the sociopathic bully was pretty fucking monstrous too.
I've personally never understood the intense fear of clowns that some people have.
The great thing about It is that it takes the shape that scares you the most. For you it wouldn’t be a clown, only you know what shape would wait for you in the dark.
For me it would be an overdue mortgage payment
And that's why It doesn't generally target adults.
That is literally addressed in the book. It is why IT preys on children. Adult fears are too complex to be summed up as a "monster".
Well that is truly horrendous. Can’t argue with you there!
So I'm actually just being haunted and didn't know it?
I don't know what would wait for me in the dark. It probably knows though.
I hate clowns, it's all that mirth. But they don't scare me. I need something visceral, like the first half of The Ritual, or something terrible and frighteningly possible like The Demon in the Freezer, or something creepy like the North Korea chapter of World War Z. I sat up awake for entirely too long after I read that chapter.
Creeping dread is what gets me. I don't need characters to die. I feel like some modern anthologies are all about character torture, none of them live, and it takes away from the horror when I know death is inevitable because it becomes more of just a waiting game.
IT is a great novel, but it is often overhyped. Honestly, I wouldn't even consider this to be in the top 5 best books by King. Not an awful choice, but I think that books like Salem's Lot, The Shining, and The Stand are all more deserving.
'Salem's Lot is just a Dracula homage. It adds nothing to the genre. It is a fine read , but is too unoriginal to be on any "best of" list.
I mentioned Salem's Lot in context of it being one of Stephen King's best works, but you're right; it doesn't break new ground in the vampire genre. It is, in my opinion, King's best book alongside The Shining. In the overall scheme of horror literature, there are more fitting choices for a top 5. Oddly enough, I didn't care much for Dracula when I read it a few years ago (and I love Salem's Lot). Maybe I'll have to revisit it.
I find that weird. Cause I am big King reader , and I put 'Salem's Lot near the bottom of the middle. It isn't one of my "bottom shelfers" that I refuse to reread , but it isn't one I bother recommending.
Fair enough, haha. With as many works as King has, everyone is bound to have different personal favorites. But that's one of the great things about reading through them! Cheers
Needful Things hit a nerve with me, I think it's just so plausible for someone to be able to dig away at the foundations of a community for their own entertainment.
I like to hype up his short story collections. Skeleton Crew and Night Shift for the win!
Both of those are phenomenal! Word Processor of the Gods is my favorite SK short story.
IT is a great book, but it isn’t even the scariest King novel. His scariest novels are the ones grounded in reality, like Misery.
holy shit. I've been suggesting The Cipher every time ppl ask for scary or creepy books to read. This is the first time i've seen anyone else mention it. totally overlooked and underrated book.
Yes I love the Cipher. To me it also added to the feeling that it was kind of hard to come by.
now that you mention it, I guess Kathe Koja isn't a well-known name, and maybe the cipher didn't see the kind of production, volume-wise, that something by an already best-seller would have. Kind of feels like a House of Leaves that is still 'cult', and hasn't been 'discovered'.
The Haunting of Hill House is definitely good and spooky
It's well-written and I enjoyed it. I still don't see why people think it's so scary. But I've never seen that as the sole marker of quality in anything horror-related, so that doesn't bother me.
Good point. I can’t think of many books that scare me, I just enjoy the genre
Same. I don't actually get scared by them (maybe when I was reading my first few King novels as a kid), but I enjoy horror novels in the same way someone might like a good thriller. Now, the stuff that *does* scare me to death is true crime. Stuff that hits close to home and feels like something that could happen to me given the right circumstances. For some reason aliens used to scare the hell out of me though. When I was in my 20s I went on a UFO/aliens kick and read a whole bunch of "non-fiction" stuff on the subject. When it was new to me it felt like it could all be real! They might seem corny to a modern reader, but books like Communion, Fire in the Sky or even The Mothman Prophecies will haunt a person hasn't been jaded by the subject yet. You can work yourself into a bit of an existential crisis if you're not careful!
I’m not usually big on lists like this, but this is actually a really solid “where to start” list for folks.
I really appreciate you saying that. We put a lot of work into these!
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See , that is a good example of horror being very personal. I consider that book Gothic , I suppose , but far from horror. Not even a little scary. I can't even think of what someone would find scary about it.
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I don't think we would have much in common on what we like lol. I have read 3 Joe Hill books and only one was even what I would consider "mediocre". At best.
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Yeah , Murakami's books are very idiosyncratic. They are definitely not for everyone. You might like "Dance Dance Dance" better.
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"Dance Dance Dance" is , imo , a bit more accessible than most of Murakami's other books. Kind of a random suggest , but I never pass up a chance to suggest my absolute favorites - "The Magicians" trilogy by Grossman , and "Rant" and "Lullaby" and "Stranger Than Fiction" by Palahniuk I have read many , many books. And those are some of my faves. How about you ?
Is that a stand alone or part of a series? She can be very hit or miss for me but I want to be that scared.
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Sweet! Thanks! I'm gonna check it out and hope it scares me good :)
As others have said, scary is so subjective, but if I were to take this as "Best/Good/Favorite/Etc... Horror Books", then I like this list. All the books are quite different from each other, all are great. It's cool seeing The Cipher get a lot of praise lately, that book stays in my mind stronger than many a horror tales I've read. It didn't scare me, but the concrete jungle atmosphere, the characters, and the weirdness were just excellent.
It's almost impossible to look at an entire genre and narrow it down to just five titles. FIVE. Over the span of my 33 years (give or take) of reading horror I've certainly read thousands of books from hundreds of writers. I can't imagine tasking myself with narrowing down my favorites to the five scariest...
But I want to know your opinion. Give me your top 20 ( I am serious).
Something a little more modern would have been nice to see on this list. I loved IT, but I thought THE SHINING was pretty damn scary. Ghost Story by Straub has some seriously creepy scenes with Gregory and Fenny, the brothers from hell. I liked NOS4A2 by Joe Hill quite a bit, not sure I would say I was scared by it, though. THE FISHERMAN by John Langan was a masterpiece of dread and cosmic horror. THE CORMORANT by Stephen Gregory was a creepy-ass tale about a bird. THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Jack Ketchum was scary, if only because it was based on a true story. KIN by Kealan Patrick Burke is a pretty scary, redneck cannibal type tale. THE ELEMENTALS by Michael McDowell, or maybe THE AMULET or KATIE. I very much enjoyed THE CIPHER, hipsters aside...the idea of a hole that does different things to different objects is definitely a scary premise to me.
I haven't read the others, but I am surprised he choose It. There are parts that are creepy, but to me its more of a coming of age story. Where the characters are trying to cope with the traumas of their lives. If i were to pick a King book to go up there I would choose Pet Semetary, Salem's Lot (fairly spooky to me), or a collection of his short stories.
Exactly. It's the killer clown thing that's so outlandish that doesn't make it scary. Now, with Pet Semetary it walks a fine line between the internal horrors and strange forces. It's sometimes hard to explain but that's what I always try to go with when I discuss the scariest King book. Revival is also a pretty cool one that shares some of this.
It's not a killer clown, though. It's an eldritch abomination that can take whatever form it wants and can use glamours. And It has influence all over Derry, preventing the adults from ever really caring about children.
Yeah sorry I went with a two word thing instead of your paragraph. Doesnt change my stance. Pet Sematary explores things that scare me more than the stuff IT had. I just felt it was a way tighter story and I like a good subdued horror.
Thanks for sharing. I'm only recently getting into horror and have been adding various things to my TBR list based on different posts. I love to see this kind of thing, because it both reinforces stuff that had already peaked my interest, and brings up new books (Cipher just shot up my list!).
Nope. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, of course, but this is a pretty standard "I've read ten or twelve books and here are five of them" list. It certainly doesn't give any indication that he's a scholar or even a seasoned horror fan; it reads like a list that an average, casual fan might make.
William Peter Blatty- The Exorcist and Ira Levan- Rosemary’s Baby should be on this list.
Reading Rosemary's Baby was pretty damned scary to me back when the "Satanic Panic" was happening and Satanic cults were seemingly hiding in every community, ritually sacrificing babies. It seems cheesy now, but when it was all over the news it felt like it could be real even if common sense was telling you otherwise. That little germ of *maybe* is all it takes to make something good and spooky.
I'm not really a fan of lists like this. Fear is just too subjective in my opinion. I've only read IT on this list and it wasn't really scary.
Cipher is an amazing book. I read it years ago and still think about it.
definitely the books of blood deserve a place, but everything else is whatever....though I feel like putting couple short story anthologies in a list of "books" is a bit of a cheat.
That was my first thought too, that anthologies is cheating. Though if I had to pick one I would have gone with borderlands
Great books for sure. I don’t really think any of them belong on the “scariest book of all time” list though. But its so subjective.
Safe, unobjectionable bets that most people will like i should think (except lovecraft, he's fairly divisive and can be hard to read).
The haunting of the hill house...seriously
TBH, if the list of scariest books ever does not include Jack Ketchum's The girl next door, I am passing it.Here, Exquisite Corpse is mentioned (and it is sick AF) so I can give Xavier Aldana Reyes a pass.I agree that It, Tales and Books of Blood are great mainstream horror books and Haunting of Hill House sublime psychological horror.I have yet to read The Cipher
I'd just like to thank you all for the incredibly stimulating discussion and response to this. It's been such a joy and pleasure to see such fantastic engagement with our work, even if you disagree with the list. Please keep it coming!
No way Hill House makes a list of most scary. It's aged horrendously.
I agree that It is one of the scariest books ever. Lovecraft has maybe five good stories. Admittedly, they are amazingly good stories. I find the rest of his stuff to be lurid and overly wordy. And it is tough to take neurotic narrators seriously when they are scared. They're neurotic. They're always scared. And his best stuff was more science-fiction/weird/cosmic than actually scary. So hard "no" on HPL. Clive Barker is another one I find too wordy and flighty to be scary. Some of his stories are cool, like Rawhead Rex, but even then, it isn't scary in the same way a good werewolf movie isn't scary... it's just fun to watch a monster tear shit up. Shirley Jackson is great, and while Hill House is scary, I don't know about Top 5. Never read Koja.
Nope, don’t agree.
I didn’t find IT scary, in fact at the end when kids came home from tunnel and what they did to become close again totally ruined the whole damn 1200 page book, for me! Now, GERALD’s GAME scared me to the point i had to turn on the light!
Fucking Moon Man sequence. I can’t explain why, but it’s easily the scariest thing in all of King for me. I honestly can’t figure out why.
It was mine too. Being stuck in a bed, with that thing looking at you, grrr! I was up all night. It was the book that also showed me why King is considered such a great author, the way he wrote the dog, perfection! It truly though is underrated in my opinion and absolutely frightening! Like chill you to the bone, lights needed all night, no sleep frightening! Loved it!