Books in the Freezer discussion

What makes a Freezer Book for you? What are you going to read for this?

Maybe it's because I grew up Catholic, but demon possession stories scare me the most!! I loved Paul Tremblay's "A Head Full of Ghosts" and found it really scary... Maybe I will finally try "The Exorcist" for this prompt!

Camille24 wrote: "Maybe it's because I grew up Catholic, but demon possession stories scare me the most!! I loved Paul Tremblay's "A Head Full of Ghosts" and found it really scary... Maybe I will finally try "The Ex..."

I'm not Catholic but I feel the same! For me it's books that question whether there's a possession or mental illness, because my brain working against me is the most terrifying possibility. The Exorcist and Sara Gran's Come Closer both fit.

I don't have a book idea for this challenge yet though...will have to see what scares me this year, I don't have a new possession book in my list yet.

Leanne wrote: "Camille24 wrote: "Maybe it's because I grew up Catholic, but demon possession stories scare me the most!! I loved Paul Tremblay's "A Head Full of Ghosts" and found it really scary... Maybe I will f..."

I would try The Demonologist. It was so much fun!

Oh I haven't read that yet -- thank you!

I’ll add to my TBR! Haven’t heard of that one before 🤩

Inspired by the Extreme Horror episode, I just started Endurance, by Jack Kilborn. This is absolutely a freezer book for me so far (and I'm not even very far...). Not even sure I'll finish it. Something about crazy redneck cannibal families completely freak me out. Throwing it in the freezer, and I might throw the freezer in a bottomless pit 😉

Laurie wrote: "Inspired by the Extreme Horror episode..."

Just listening to the Extreme Horror episode was a freezer moment to me...

I often listen as I'm falling asleep at night and I had to stop and turn it off, then finish it the next morning. My brain kept trying to fill in the gaps of what they weren't saying (e.g. what is a pony girl? Why do I want to know?).

Leanne wrote: "Laurie wrote: "Inspired by the Extreme Horror episode..."

Just listening to the Extreme Horror episode was a freezer moment to me...

I often listen as I'm falling asleep at night and I had to sto..."

I was inspired...but that completely faded once I tried an extreme horror book! I just decided to DNF this one. I was dreading picking up my Kindle. Nope! Thanks! Maybe I'll put a non-horror book in the freezer. I just started listening to The Big Ones, a book about natural disasters, and it's legit scary so far.

Just started Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky and it belongs in the freezer! I'm only on chapter 15, and I have had to stop reading a few times!!

Laurie - Ha good on you for trying extreme horror though! I was too scared.

Laura - Ooh I have a copy of Imaginary Friend, will need to move it up my list.

One book that was a definite freezer book for me was 1996 by Gloria Naylor. It’s a fairly short read and I don’t think it is considered a horror. It is a fictionalized memoir and was the author’s last book she wrote. It’s about government surveillance and mind control. For me it was terrifying to put it lightly. When people say they can’t sleep after reading stories, I have never had that feeling, this book has been the one exception to that. So yea this one at least for me was a straight chiller. Has anyone else read this book? If you have, what did you think of it?

I read Josh Malerman's novella A House at the Bottom of a Lake late at night and it creeped me out so much, I think it will be my pick for this category. He writes rising dread in a way that gets under my skin.
I see many Goodreads reviews saying it wasn't scary at all and shouldn't be classed as horror -- funny how writing affects people so differently.

The Cockroach King by Andrew Cull, bugs are the worst

Camille24 wrote: "Maybe it's because I grew up Catholic, but demon possession stories scare me the most!! I loved Paul Tremblay's "A Head Full of Ghosts" and found it really scary... Maybe I will finally try "The Ex..."

I didn’t grow up catholic but exorcism and possession stories scare the crap out of me also. I think it’s because I seen the exorcist when I was younger. So maybe I’ll read the exorcist as well or I could double dip bc I’m reading come closer for out of my comfort zone.

Laura wrote: "Just started Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky and it belongs in the freezer! I'm only on chapter 15, and I have had to stop reading a few times!!"


It was too scary!! I finished it , but felt truly creeped out the whole time!

The Ruins, which I'm pretty sure I learned about on the podcast, but it fulfills the freezer aspect so well that I'm putting it in this category. Man, that was messed up.

I might give Exquisite Corpse a reread for this one. Or does it have to be a book you haven’t read?

I'm halfway through The Amulet by Michael McDowell. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride from The Elementals, so I thought I treat myself with this one. This one's got evil people and evil deaths. I've stopped what I'm doing and looked at the horizon covering my mouth in disbelief a couple of times. Yikes.

Revival by Stephen King

I finally completed the reading challenge by finding (and finishing) a book to put in the freezer! I read The Troop, by Nick Cutter. I know it has been mentionned a bunch of times on the podcast as a freezer book, and everyone was absolutely right! This was a tough book to listen to!

I started reading more horror this past year and Paul Tremblay's Cabin At The End of The World really freaked me out. I didn't realize it but apparently home invasion scares me quite a bit because it feels so possible, especially when a lot of the horror media I consume is supernatural.

Vie wrote: "I started reading more horror this past year and Paul Tremblay's Cabin At The End of The World really freaked me out. I didn't realize it but apparently home invasion scares me quite a bit because ..."

I think this was a really polarizing book (view spoiler)[probably most due to the ambiguous ending (hide spoiler)] but I loved this one. And I agree, home invasion is scary! One of my biggest fears.

Vie wrote: "I started reading more horror this past year and Paul Tremblay's Cabin At The End of The World really freaked me out. I didn't realize it but apparently home invasion scares me quite a bit because ..."

Yes, and the writing in Cabin is so tense...it was scary in a very different way than most supernatural stories.

Vie wrote: "I started reading more horror this past year and Paul Tremblay's Cabin At The End of The World really freaked me out. I didn't realize it but apparently home invasion scares me quite a bit because ..."

This book is definitely in my top 5 scariest books. Really discomforting and falls in a similar step to one of my favorite horror movies, The Strangers (not the new one)