Book Buying Addicts Anonymous discussion

Hello :) I wanted to ask you guys this question because I LOVE reading scary/horror books and I am always looking for the best scary books I can find. I am currently reading It by Stephen King and I am loving it :)

The scariest book that I have ever read is by Paul F. Willson. If you love scary books you have GOT to read this one :)

Any books are acceptable :)

Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb.

I read it many years ago & I can still remember perfectly the scenes that scared me.

although it's a while since I read them.

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill! He's actually Stephen King's son, so it makes sense that his stuff is a little scary!

Books don't usually scare me--love to read scary books but the only one that ever really got me was "Helter Skelter"-the story of Charles Manson. That book scared the crap out of me!!! Even though I knew that he was in prison and never getting out it made me sleep with the lights on for about a week!!!

The scariest book I've ever read is The Shining by Stephen King. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill is pretty creepy too! I'm taking note of these recommendations though :)

Haven't read it for years, but I remember one scene in Tick Tock by Dean Koontz totally freaked me out.

It's not horror, but The Handmaid's Tale really scared me. -shudder-

Scariest book I ever read was Salem's Lot by Stephen King. I was really enjoying the reading of it but every night was a different nightmare and most of them had to do with zombies coming through my walls - I was glad when the book was over. Didn't happen to me while I was watching the movie though.....
www.joeicarlton.com Joei

Freaky because it could be real.

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions! I have added most of them so that I can pick them up when I get the chance :)

Great suggestions and thanks again!

I don't read horror, but the hands-down scariest book I ever read was Robert Heinlein's Expanded Universe. Heinlein was pretty sure there was going to be a nuclear holocaust or other man-made apocalypse any time now. After I finished, so was I.

I'd have to say the Shining by Stephen King; especially since I read it while under the influence of the natural!

I dunno... the Book of Revelations gave me nightmares when I read the whole thing before going to bed...

I like to read scary books, but I can't really think of anything that could be labeled "the scariest book" that I've ever read. It's been awhile since I read most of the stuff on my shelf. I think I'll have to get back with you on this question.

This one really scared me. Pet Sematary

I don't know about scary necessarily, but the most disturbing one I ever read was "the girl next door" by Jack Ketchum, based on a true story. Read the actual story of the true event, and it's quite similar and yikes! Talk about disturbing!

Kerra wrote: "Hello :) I wanted to ask you guys this question because I LOVE reading scary/horror books and I am always looking for the best scary books I can find. I am currently reading It by Stephen King and ..."

Kerra wrote: "Hello :) I wanted to ask you guys this question because I LOVE reading scary/horror books and I am always looking for the best scary books I can find. I am currently reading It by Stephen King and ..."


First, I read The Keep and it was pretty good. If you want scary and graphic gore/horror (some may call it "splatter porn"), check out Richard Laymon and Jack Ketchum.

Reese wrote: "I don't know about scary necessarily, but the most disturbing one I ever read was "the girl next door" by Jack Ketchum, based on a true story. Read the actual story of the true event, and it's qui..."

I definately agree with you Reese! The Girl Next Door was truly horrific, not in the sense of a horror novel, because I really don't get the creeps reading horror novels, but because all the while I was reading it, in the back of my mind I knew that most of this stuff actually happened!!! The scary part lies in the fact that there are real people in a real world that would do stuff like this.

Body Rides by Laymon was weird-freaky

the eleventh plague--re: the ebola virus.

Kurt wrote: "Reese wrote: "I don't know about scary necessarily, but the most disturbing one I ever read was "the girl next door" by Jack Ketchum, based on a true story. Read the actual story of the true event..."

I am in total agreement with Reese and Kurt re:
The Girl Next Door. It gave me nightmares for a week. Very nasty.

Kurt wrote: "Reese wrote: "I don't know about scary necessarily, but the most disturbing one I ever read was "the girl next door" by Jack Ketchum, based on a true story. Read the actual story of the true event..."

The book of the actual event was called "the Indiana Torture Slayings" by John Dean. You should definitly read that, but Ketchum got pretty dang close.

Jill wrote: "Kurt wrote: "Reese wrote: "I don't know about scary necessarily, but the most disturbing one I ever read was "the girl next door" by Jack Ketchum, based on a true story. Read the actual story of t..."

The book of the actual event was called "the Indiana Torture Slayings" by John Dean. You should definitly read that, but Ketchum got pretty dang close.

Reese wrote: "Kerra wrote: "Hello :) I wanted to ask you guys this question because I LOVE reading scary/horror books and I am always looking for the best scary books I can find. I am currently reading It by Ste..."

Lol :) Thank you for the book suggestion! I will definately have to check that out :)

Patricia wrote: "This one really scared me. Pet Sematary"

Yes! I remember literally getting hair-raising chills reading this.

Another one that really creeped me out was A Winter Haunting.

House of Leaves had a lot of potential but the scary bits were kind of lost in all the pretentious gimmicks and the parallel narrative of the uninteresting Johnny Truant.

I remember seeing an interview with Stephen King and the interviewer asked (don't remember who did the interviewing) "Who scares you?" and Stephen King replied Clive Barker - so I read one of Clive Barker's books and it was way too gruesome. www.joeicarlton.com Joei

The scariest short story that I ever read was a short story by Stephen King and it was in the series either everything's eventual or skeleton crew. Not sure, but it was about this teacher that experienced seeing kids shape shift behind her back! It is way more scary that what I am making it sound. I was so freaked out by that story that my heart hurt. I probably won't ever read it again lol. Does anyone know the name of that short story? If I find it I will post it on here because it is a must read for any horror fan.

Kerra wrote: "Hello :) I wanted to ask you guys this question because I LOVE reading scary/horror books and I am always looking for the best scary books I can find. I am currently reading It by Stephen King and ..."

I loved the "The Keep", I read in in one sitting, all night till the next morning!

by F. Paul Wilson

Kerra,

The Stephen King short story you are thinking of is Here There Be Tygers. It is in the book Skeleton Crew.

Kerra,

My bad. The short story is called Suffer The Little Children. It is in King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes. Sorry about that.

Jennifer!! Yes :) that is the one! Suffer the Little Children. That story truely gave me chills and I will never read that story again. It was just too creepy lol.

Thanks for finding that out for me :)

Kerra,

No problem. Just sorry I got it wrong at first.

Jenna wrote: "Books don't usually scare me--love to read scary books but the only one that ever really got me was "Helter Skelter"-the story of Charles Manson. That book scared the crap out of me!!! Even though..."

Absolutely. I had forgotten how scared this book made me.

Reese wrote: "I don't know about scary necessarily, but the most disturbing one I ever read was "the girl next door" by Jack Ketchum, based on a true story. Read the actual story of the true event, and it's qui..."

I have had this book recommended to me but it is too scary - I think because it is a true story.

"The Shining" by Stephen King. I thought it was SO much better than the movie version!