Horror Aficionados discussion

Hi, I have a lot of time to read this month (quite unusual) so I'm looking for something that would creep me out at least. I've read Stephen King, Hell house, Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk, The woman in black, Dracula, Frankenstein, The turn of the screw, The exorcist and a few more but they have no effect. Technically Hell house made me giggle a couple times. So, any suggestions? :/

I just finished The Troop by Nick Cutter. Very disturbing.

The fault in our stars

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum also made me squirm.

Being serious now, nearly all of Dennis cooper

The Elementals by Michael McDowell.

Two scariest books I ever read: and

Prey Drive
Ash Street
The Killings
I'm Not Sam

Try these

The Cannibal Within
The Summer I Died
Naomi's Room
Survivor
Off Season

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

Thanks guys, didn't expect to get so many replies so soon :) I'll check all of these out

Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke.

I just finished King Blood by Simon Clark. It is the most disturbing book I have ever read. It wasn't so much scary as suspenseful because I never knew what violent thing would happen next.

I was always on edge! :)

I'll be following this thread. Hell House did nothing for me either and I do remember giggling and rolling my eyes a couple of times.

Gave me serious chills.

The Whisperer and Other Voices: Short Stories and a Novella

The Nightmare Factory

I really think that what scares people varies a lot. I've read things people said would be really scary, but then been creeped out by things people don't really find scary.

Adam wrote: "I just finished The Troop by Nick Cutter. Very disturbing."

I just commented about The Troop in another Goodreads thread. Definitely disturbing, and the writing is amazing.

I recommend For disturbing and scary Edward Lee's look into the supernatural with these books.

one of the most disturbing books is a very different and disturbing look into the way Hell could be.

City Infernal, the first in a series of books about hell.
Flesh Gothic
Slither
Messenger

Those books are a great start into the demented and disturbing world of Edward Lee.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Trapped & Endurance: A Novel of TerrorI thought both of these books were great. Everyone on my friend list rated them 4 or 5 stars.

Also Konrath/Kilborn's (Jack Kilborn is J.A. Konrath's pen name for when he writes horror fiction and his real name is used for thriller books) writing style to me is pretty fast paced. I read Trapped in one night. Most people do describe his work as sick and disturbing.

There is also a 3 pack for the kindle containing the novels Trapped, Endurance, and another one called Afraid which is also a pretty good horror book. Jack Kilborn Trilogy - Three Horror Novels

Almost forgot about Afraid, started reading it a while back. Couldn't buy into the premise but it's kind of entertaining, though not disturbing or scary. The first scene (I think it was at least with the nutcase munching on popcorn before torturing the old lady) made me run out to the store after midnight when I realized dang I have no popcorn at home O.o That's the only reason I remembered it just now.

This book, Cold Skin , is very disturbing and scary; and really, really good.

Literally wrote: "Almost forgot about Afraid, started reading it a while back. Couldn't buy into the premise but it's kind of entertaining, though not disturbing or scary. The first scene (I think it was at least wi..."

Yeah, I think Trapped and Endurance are much better. I still wound up liking Afraid, but it was much harder to get through than his other books. As you pointed out the premise is one of the things that held it back for me. Kilborn is kind of known for torturing his characters so torture scenes like that are pretty common in his work.

I think he is also really good a creating suspense. If you didn't really like Afraid it could be a toss up since nutcases torturing people are a pretty common theme in his work.

I recommend Bentley Little. It's hard to scare me but Bentley's stuff has creeped me out on a few occasions.

Ryan wrote: "I recommend Bentley Little. It's hard to scare me but Bentley's stuff has creeped me out on a few occasions."

Some of his stuff is right on, though not everything. The book that really got me from him was " The Store" it made me think of Wal-Mart a lot. and even though I read it years ago I still wonder what happened to Sam the oldest daughter. lol.

Jeff wrote: "Ryan wrote: "I recommend Bentley Little. It's hard to scare me but Bentley's stuff has creeped me out on a few occasions."

Some of his stuff is right on, though not everything. The book that reall..."

My first book of his I just finished was The Haunted and i really liked it. I don't scare easily but I hesitated reading it at night..

Jeff wrote: "Ryan wrote: "I recommend Bentley Little. It's hard to scare me but Bentley's stuff has creeped me out on a few occasions."

Some of his stuff is right on, though not everything. The book that reall..."
oh and I work at walmart lol so i'll have to check that one out XD

Geek Love
Out
Meat

Off Season and Hide and Seek by Jack Ketchum.

I found Hell House scary, personally, maybe because i listened to the audible version at night before bed. Or maybe graphic scenes of poltergeist rape were just confronting.

The Woods Are Dark by Richard Laymon.

The Rats by James Herbert isn't really *scary* perse but it does make you think "OH WTF... WHAT IF..".

Good thread to follow

Barks & Bites wrote: "Geek Love
Out
Meat"

Out is a FANTASTIC book! And so is Meat.

Hey sorry I haven't been around for a while. Been reading the books suggested here and found some quite entertaining ones. Thank you to everyone who tried to help! :)

Scary and disturbing are different to me. The only books I find creepy are mainly some works from Graham Masterton. I don't creep out easy for books/movies, but they're still enjoyable to read.

Disturbing though - yech, I get disturbed easily.

Try -- I really enjoyed the scenes of gore. One, in particular, was great!

Have you tried any Bentley Little?

Just finished The Girl Next Door by Ketchum and I'm literally still feeling nauseous. Truly disturbing. Not sure if I regret reading it or not.

Just finished The Girl Next Door by Ketchum and I'm literally still feeling nauseous. Truly disturbing. Not sure if I regret reading it or not.

Just finished The Girl Next Door by Ketchum and I'm literally still feeling nauseous. Truly disturbing. Not sure if I regret reading it or not.

Sorry about the duplicate posts

Adding another vote for Offseason, Survivor, The Summer I Died, and City Infernal. Adding Genital Grinder. Non-book recommendation watch ichi the killer, its on Netflix and has the same kind of tone as some of these suggestions.

In the same vein as the Trapped/Afraid/Endurance the other book Haunted House has a few moments for sure.

The Ignored (Disturbing in a very different and real way)

I've given up on being scared, but disturbed is pretty easy.

I'm in the middle of Hillary: Tail of the Dog great book and very disturbing, but it is full of gore so a strong stomach needed.

Rakasha Demon by Robert Davis. The book is messed up!

I was looking for disturbing books one time, and I came by a forum post (not on goodreads) that suggested that anything by Bentley Little was disturbing as hell. So, I got a bunch of his books and sat down to read... Garbage, every last one of those books. Not scary or disturbing at all.

Desert Places, now that's a disturbing book.

Glenn wrote: "I was looking for disturbing books one time, and I came by a forum post (not on goodreads) that suggested that anything by Bentley Little was disturbing as hell. So, I got a bunch of his books and ..."

Little must be doing something right based on the amounts of people that read his "garbage".

Desert Places bored me to tears but that's just me and my opinion. :)

Oh, I agree. Little definitely has his audience. It's just not me. I even gave him the benefit of the doubt and finished 3 of his books, hoping I would finally find one that was really disturbing. But, no. So, I guess I just like a different type of disturbing, or something. To each, their own.

Honestly i just found out about Little, ive read three of his books so far. One scared me (an impressive feat for me) and the other two didnt. Even the ones that didnt tho were still compelling and entertained me enough that i wanted to see things to their end. I think his horror is hit and miss but i still like him alot. And the weird, paranormal/strange stuff he writes is usually more scary to me than just some serial killer or something and i thought he was waaay better than the likes of Stephen King or Dean Koontz.

Personally, I consider Bentley Little a guilty pleasure, because I don't feel like there's a lot of substance to his books, but I enjoy them, some more than others. The Store and The Ignored are particular favorites. I agree with the comparison to Koontz' more recent work, but IMHO Little is not in the same league as King.

I just realized I've never contributed to the original question asked, but for me a lot of Jack Ketchum's work fits the bill. Especially as a parent, I found Girl Next Door and Stranglehold extremely disturbing. And not because of the extreme nature of the violence, but because there was enough emotional depth and connection to the characters to make it feel real. I've read some "extreme fiction" that was a like a bad joke, just trying to be as graphic and gory as possible, but it turned me off, because I didn't care about any of the cardboard characters in it.

To each their own I guess..King's books are soo long and boring and never once invest me in the story or remotely scare me. I tried to read Pet Sematary and got bored halfway in.

This Book Is Full of Spiders by David Wong. It is more creepy than scary. Though it is disturbing and also quite humorous (in a good way) Highly recommended.