This is a great list! There's actually stuff on it that I like a lot! I think it's much better than the other horror book lists on this website - good job, voters!

I agree. Overall a very good list that helped reorder my to-reads.

I saw some Simon Clarks and other books I'd like to read soon.

What do I do? Just click on numerous ones I think are the best?

Yes.

They should combine the Pet Semetary votes. There are two on the list but combined, it would have enough votes for the top 5. Great list!

I just voted on this list. I have read several books on this list but there are so many I have not read. There are definitely some books I need to check out.

Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons is a superb horror novel. Anyone that's a horror fan should read this book. Chances are you will love it.

Terrific list! Lots of horror classics present!

the ressurectionist by Wrath James White. A masterpiece and creepy as all get out

If you haven't read Hell House or The Devil Next Door...go get a copy!!!!

Removed at list creator's request:

Cryonic: A Zombie Novel

Thank you Susanna

No problem.

How are the Twilight books even on this list? It's about as scary as two-week-old, stale bread.

People can add any book that they thought scared them. I assume someone found Twilight scary? In any case, those books haven't even broke into the top 100 list.

Weaksauces, then.

Kevin wrote: "People can add any book that they thought scared them. I assume someone found Twilight scary? In any case, those books haven't even broke into the top 100 list."


Well, Twilight fans can be a little scary. I had one overhear me speaking to a fellow English major from the other side of the room. I don't remember what book we were talking about, but the Twilight fan assumed we must be talking about Twilight and decided to insert herself into our conversation. It was a harrowing experience.

The Tommyknockers

Removed by list creator request:

Mateguas Island: A Novel of Terror and Suspense

Thank you Susanna.

No problem.

I will not tolerate spamming on this list. Books that jump into the top 100 with ratings of less than 1000 will be removed. There is NO way a book belongs in the top 100 with lower ratings.

Books that are up for removal:
1. Dancing With A Dead Horse
2. The Cruise
3. Sorrow's Point
4. Plebs
5. The Culling
6. Forever and Ever

Anthony Hulse, do not spam my list! I will have Susanna remove your books ASAP! This is not a promotional page for wanna-be authors! This list is for reference!

Removed the books Kevin listed, at his request.

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "Removed the books Kevin listed, at his request."

Thank you Susanna :-)

Of all the goodreads lists, this one seems to reflect my own reading taste best, even though horror is not my favorite genre. Easily, I put "The Terror" as my favorite horror novel. The second is the extremely disturbing "After Dark" by Murakami, which I read twice in a row. Third, "Rosemary's Baby."

Please check out The Most Popular Horror on Goodreads and add what I missed. Thanks.

A suggestion - you could set the minimum ratings for a book newer than say year 2000 at 1000 ratings. Books older than 2000 could have no minimum - that way a lost classic could be rediscovered but won't be overshadowed.

Marilyn wrote: "How are the Twilight books even on this list? It's about as scary as two-week-old, stale bread."

I don't know, it's pretty terrifying to read it and then realise that she got paid for it.

People, if you know of a book that hasn't made the list, feel free to add it. Do not post the books not on the list in the comment section. It does no good here.

Pity one can't check this list for duplicates anymore, due to a bug :-( So please, do go through all pages before you add a book you've read, in order to avoid duplicates...

Went through and removed author spam, removed 50+ books that the authors have put on the list, DID NOT remove books that looked like they'd been added by a sock puppet account though because there's no way to be sure.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King is not technically Horror it's Fantasy. It should removed.

Seth wrote: "The Gunslinger by Stephen King is not technically Horror it's Fantasy. It should removed."

Apparently the 2685 people who shelved The Gunslinger as Horror (including me), disagree with you.

Well according to Wikipedia: "The Dark Tower is a series of eight books written by American author Stephen King that incorporates themes from multiple genres, including dark fantasy, science fantasy, horror, and Western."

So I guess we are both right in a sense however I would say that the first book the Gunslinger is not horror, it has more a western and a start of a fantasy epic feel to it.

Seth wrote: "Well according to Wikipedia: "The Dark Tower is a series of eight books written by American author Stephen King that incorporates themes from multiple genres, including dark fantasy, science fantas..."

I shelved it as:
fantasy, fiction, horror, liked-reviews, read, series, western

So I agree.

This is a pretty good list, lots of stuff that I like. I do have some concerns about the folks that consider the Twilight series to be horror. I mean... Twilight? Really? and the Sookie Stackhouse series? and while the Dark Tower series is my very favorite series in the world, there's not a horror filled moment in the lot of them.

A question...what' s the difference between dark fantasy and horror? Stephen King and Clive Barker are consistently described as both.

The challenge with a goodreads list is that without setting clear criteria in the list description, a book can be added due to personal opinion and there really isn't a good rationale for removing it.

On my equivalent lists I typically set minimum number of ratings and minimum number of shelving for a topic.

Is Twilight horror? On the surface I think that vampires are generally horror. But look at the shelving - 18k ya, 16k fantasy for the 3rd and 4th most shelved categories for Twilight. 497 people also shelved it as horror - but it was the 41st highest category.

I'd say it's not horror.

But I'd also have a minimum number of shelving for horror - say 1000 - and this is what has been declared in the comments of this list - at least for the first page.

I have a horror list that is a lot more restrictive and it only has 125 books on it and 79 voters. And it still requires maintenance, removing inappropriate books and tightening down the list criteria.

I think great horror novels must, first and foremost, be a great book. Then, for me, it should make me uncomfortable during a read, and then have scenes that will never leave my mind. Like in "The Terror", I felt the absolute isolation, the freezing cold, the unknown all around. The same author's "Abomination" has all of those elements plus feelings of vertigo, but it's just not a great novel because it runs out of steam. "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" is a very good book. But it's not horror at all. It's very moody, and a murder mystery, but not scary.

Greg wrote: "I think great horror novels must, first and foremost, be a great book. Then, for me, it should make me uncomfortable during a read, and then have scenes that will never leave my mind. Like in "The ..."

To be honest, trying to define what horror is is a task not easily done. Some may define horror as anything containing horrific acts which could include a multitude of situations. Others may state horror must have an element of the supernatural with things that go 'bump in the night'. Defining horror can only be subjective. What scares one may not scare another. Some may define horror as speculative fiction. The idea here is to not overthink it. This is a list for reference and nothing more. People may browse the list and they can decide for themselves what interest them and which books they may choose to give a pass.

The Exorcist is listed twice

``Laurie wrote: "The Exorcist is listed twice"

Shouldn't be anymore (I had the system perform a duplicate check and it found 4 duplicates).

BookLovingLady wrote: "``Laurie wrote: "The Exorcist is listed twice"

Shouldn't be anymore (I had the system perform a duplicate check and it found 4 duplicates)."

Thank you for clearing the duplicates.

Way too many Stephen King books. Need a wider range of books from different time periods.

1984 isn't horror

I, Were-fox: wrote: "1984 isn't horror"
I agree, 1984 (#77) isn't horror in my opinion. But at least 40 people thought otherwise 😁

1984 is a dystopian tale based on a grim look of what society could be. Scary? I say yes. It is subjective.

Carolyn, Stephen King is a prolific author who also has garnered quite a following. There are over 1300 books posted here, so yes, there is a very wide range of reads listed. You simply need to browse through the pages to understand this.

1 duplicate found and removed