You may wanna snag a nightlight while you’re at it. Y’know, for, uh, bathroom trips.
We asked the BookishBuzz Community to tell us about books that gave them the creeps and you can consider my spine tingled just from gathering these suggestions! Here are the ~spooky~ results:
1. I’m Thinking Of Ending Things by Iain Reid is incredibly suspenseful with tons of twists and, as you can see, is at the top of our list because it messed with several readers.
“It gets more sinister with every page and everything is described in graphic detail.” —emmanz
“I read it last night and it was so dreadful. I was scared for hours and kept thinking there was someone standing outside the window. I actually slept with the light on — when I could actually get to sleep.”
“I’m Thinking of Ending Things was TERRIFYING! It’s also going to be a movie of Netflix soon!”
2. A Head Full Of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay follows along with a family whose 14-year-old daughter starts showing signs of schizophrenia… and is then told it could be demonic possession, which then leads to a reality TV show opportunity.
“Employing the use of an unreliable narrator intensifies the horror and leaves you questioning what’s up and what’s down. The traditional possession storyline is twisted into something new and terrifying once you combine it with the reality show aspect and the point of view from the youngest daughter — only, really being told through the mouth of her adult self, where her shadowy memories are put into question by her interviewer.
Had a chance to do a Q & A with the author and asked him this: ‘When you set out to write the book, did you know what the REAL ending was even if readers never would, or did you intend for there to be no truth at all, and leave it up to philosophical debate?’ His reply? ‘You’ll never know ;-).’”
3. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty (while we’re on the subject of exorcism) is one of the most controversial novels ever written. You’ve (hopefully!) seen the original movie that still slaps, it’s time you read the book too.
4. House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski takes the haunted house frame of yore to new terrifying levels when a family realizes their new house is larger on the inside than the outside. And the way the book is printed fully immerses the reader in it!
“The more you read it, the more it messes with your mind.”
“It was recommended to me by a horror buff, who said that he had lent his copy to a friend and had them call him in the middle of the night to ‘get the damn book out of my house!’ Picked it up a few weeks later and not only is it one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read, its absolutely the scariest. Not for the faint of heart, for sure.
5.The Laws Of The Skies by Gregoire Courtois involves camping in the woods… and no one escapes! A terrifying tale as old as time *worth* your time. (And people wonder why I don’t camp.)
“Crazy shit happens in the woods! A group of 6-year-olds and three adults goes for an end-of-summer camping trip. Once they enter the woods, none of them will exit (not a spoiler — literally revealed in the opening lines).”
Comments
Loading…