Crime, Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

I stumbled across this blog posting: 8 Creepy Books to Terrify You"

http://www.the-line-up.com/media/8-cr...

Imagine my surprise when I opened it up and these were the books:
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
The Shirley Jackson Collection
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi
Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis
Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
Dare Me by Megan Abbott
The Shining by Stephen King

Now, admittedly, I've only read one of these. But still...

So, what books scare you the most? The scariest books I've ever read were Ghost Story by Peter Straub and The Ruins by Scott Smith

When I was in sixth grade, I started reading "A Wrinkle in Time." When I got to the part with IT and Charles Wallace possessed, I couldn't go further. I didn't until I was 25.

fiction

a little bit creepy

King's novels were never creepy/scary for me, those were some good fun read, read IT and The Shining when I was about 10-11 years old and was like...'mehhh'

non-fictions


etc....many others, real world 'really' terrifies us, not fictions.

There have only been two books that spooked me (thus far)... Stephen King's The Shining and Peter Straub's Ghost Story.

I read The Shining as a kid when it came out in paperback with the shiny cover. I remember freaking out when the hotel would creak just as the house around me was creaking. I could even feel the hedge animals closing in as I read. I couldn't put it down. I still remember the feeling I had reading it. King is a fantastic writer.

A few years later, I saw the movie at the theatre and found myself laughing -- actually laughing out loud -- at scenes in the movie (Wendy. Darling. Light of my life. Give me the bat!.) Yes, people were looking at me. Jack Nicholson was so over the top and Shelley Duvall was laughable as his wife (Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance). The creepy girls (We want to play with you, Danny, forever and ever and ever.), the lady in the bath, and even the hedge maze were not scary in movie form.

Kirsten wrote: "The scariest books I've ever read were Ghost Story by Peter Straub and The Ruins by Scott Smith."

Ghost Story I read a few years after The Shining. It was not that it was scary, per se, as much as spooky. I read it in a weekend because I could not put it down. I think it was the first time I just read from beginning to end only putting the book down to eat and sleep. I was just so drawn in. (I've loved most of Straub's books.)

The movie version of Ghost Story was also not as good as the book. I liked it okay, but that was mainly because of the cast. I love Fred Astaire! Rounding out the four story tellers were Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., John Houseman, and Melvyn Douglas. Patricia Neal was good, too. The movie was not as spooky (scary) as the book had been. Still, I'd watch Ghost Story over The Shining any time.

Karen - I couldn't go in the basement for months after reading this book! I was in high school at the time. I remember I was reading the book and my mom came in the room and I screamed and jumped a foot in the air!

Gone Girl - too dark, too mentally disturbed characters.

WHen I was a kid, Lovecraft scared me to death.

Graham Masterston does some creepy stuff, especially with kids and animal scenes.

Thanks Erin. I have several of his on my TBR list - I may have to move them up now. 8:D

Let me know which ones you try and what you think. I still have a lot of his left to read myself.

"Intensity" by Dean Koontz. Has anyone else read that?
"It" by Stephen King

Hello everyone- I remember being scared by Salem's Lot when I was about 15. My bed was by the window and I kept imagining someone hovering outside...

"It"-I will forever be afraid of clowns, "The Shining " scared me to death but I could not stop reading it, and "The Heart-Shaped Box" kept me awake at night, when I was reading it. I am currently reading "Needful Things", which is making me uneasy. I am less than half through, and I can feel my apprehension building!

Neither books or movie scare me in a conventional sense, I guess being an atheist and not believing in anything that is irrational might have something to do with it. But I remember being unsettled by Pet Sematary by Stephen King there were wendigos, ghouls and spirits in that book but what unsettled me were some of the decisions that the protagonist took in misguided hope even though he knew they were futile. I realized that facing a similar situation I would make the same decisions which is something that had always stayed with me about the book.

The other book that genuinely frightened me was the Twilight series. After reading it I was afraid about the following 3 things:
1. It was published.
2. It was a best seller.
3. What the above two said about the human race.

Aditya wrote: "Neither books or movie scare me in a conventional sense, I guess being an atheist and not believing in anything that is irrational might have something to do with it. But I remember being unsettled..."

LOL!!!

Aditya wrote: "The other book that genuinely frightened me was the Twilight series. After reading it I was afraid about the following 3 things:
1. It was published.
2. It was a best seller.
3. What the above two said about the human race."

So great!! (And, so true.)

The book I'm reading right now comes close to terrifying me, By Reason of Insanity by Shane Stevens, but again, it doesn't quite hit the mark.

Nothing compares to the murders I witnessed as a child. Now those were terrifying.

Great collection, Kirsten. I have found a couple of got-to reads in your list.

I love psychological thrillers where the writer makes me really feel for, identify with, and connect with one or more of the main characters. And then he puts them in terrible, relentless danger. Psychological thrillers with that kind of theme terrifies me. I can't wait to get to the end and know for sure they are safe.

I was absolutely terrified with Stephen King's IT, and PET CEMETARY.

Marion wrote: "I was absolutely terrified with Stephen King's IT, and PET CEMETARY."

I haven't read Pet Sematary, but the movie was so bad it was hilarious!

The book was terrifying. And it's not easy to terrify me. Good writing. But I must say when I read the book IT I kept all the lights on during the night.

I haven't read a book that scared me yet. Though I look forward to both The Shining and It. Both were not at the library this week. Though I fear, that The Shining won't scare me because I've seen the movie. I always enjoy books less if this is the case.

Yeah, films have the capacity to terrify me more than books. Cape Fear and most of the psychological horrors movies... books have a harder time doing that to me. So I kind of have to fear for the character I get to love, rather than for myself.

Agreed, Janet! <3

Along Came A Spider was scary and well written.

Amy wrote: "Though I fear, that The Shining won't scare me because I've seen the movie."

Did you find The Shining movie scary? I ask because I saw it after I read the book and found the movie ludicrous. Jack Nicholson plays a good psycho, but I found myself laughing throughout the film. I remember the book spooking me, but the movie was just not terrifying.

But, I think that way with most of the movies made from Stephen King's books. There's something about the way he writes that doesn't always translate to the screen. Reader (at least I) bring their own insecurities and fears with them as they read. We're basically scaring ourselves with the stories he weaves and the words he uses to draw us deeper and deeper into the story. I don't think those that translate his work for the screen have the talent to make us scare ourselves that way.

Post when you read The Shining and let us know what you think about reading the story after seeing the movie.

I definitely will, Karen! I liked your thoughts on it and have always thought I'd find his books scary based on everyone's common opinion. Unfortunately, I have only ever read Nightmares & Dreamscapes from him, which, at the time, I enjoyed immensely. I've been wanting to read Salem's Lot, IT and The Shining because they seem to be his "most scary" contributions. I took out Misery because none of them were at the library. But I will get to the others eventually. For every thriller, mystery or horror, I read a "fluffy" book in between. Hahah that's where I am now. :)

Reader (at least I) bring their own insecurities and fears with them as they read. We're basically scaring ourselves with the stories he weaves and the words he uses to draw us deeper and deeper into the story.

You hit the nail on the head, Karen. I have a cousin who had a close encounter with sexual assault and she just could not bear to read Kate Atkinson's Case Histories because it had such a sub-plot. She broke down and was depressed for months after reading half of the story.

So it is not just ghosts and supernatural monsters that scare us; it is human monsters also.

"Salem's Lot" had me jumping out of my skin when I read it years ago. Interestingly enough, "The Heart-shaped Box" terrified me. Wouldn't you know it? Stephen King's son wrote it. Like father, like son!

"The Traveler" by John Katzenbach is really scaring me and I'm only about 100 pages in!

VickiLee wrote: ""Salem's Lot" had me jumping out of my skin when I read it years ago. Interestingly enough, "The Heart-shaped Box" terrified me. Wouldn't you know it? Stephen King's son wrote it. Like father, like..."

That's interesting. I didn't know the son was following in King's tread.

I still stand by PET CEMETERY and IT as the scariest books I have ever read. I was totally spooked.

I once read a serial killer story that kills people in a beautiful small village surrounded by countryside, a lake, and the woods. The Chemistry of Death, I think. The book itself did not scare me. But I lived then in a small rural English village and used to go running in the woods and come home along the path through the marshes in the dark. I couldn't go out to the countryside even in daylight for several months after and I had to have my partner pick me up at the train station because I did not want to walk through the marshes in the dark.

Peter Straub's Ghost Story was one that certainly scared me. But I don't think any book combined a heartbreaking ending with a lasting, palpable fear as much as Dan Simmons' Song of Kali. Sorry if that's revealing too much, but you probably should be warned before reading that book.

Any book written by Chelsea Cain terrifies me. Also, the books "It" and "Pet Cemetery" did a number on me.

Warnings are recommendations to some people, Larry. My boyfriend, for example, loves horror. He absolutely loves being scared out of his wits.

For me it is the psychological kind, rather than ghost stories, that really scare me. Like supernatural stuff, if you don't really believe those things exist, then it dampens the effect. But serial killers etc... these could really happen. There are scarier monsters among the humans than those fantasy scary creatures like ghosts and vampires. So psychological thrillers is what really gets me.

I've always been a big horror fan but don't get spooked easily, too jaded with books and movies.

Supernatural stuff is probably the most likely to do it - humans being the predators is definitely disturbing, but I find serial killers and such rather boring, so I don't read too much about them. For some reason I find horror focusing on animals creepy, think it's the realism thing.

I agree with posters in this thread that IT and Pet Semetary do have some creepy parts in them.

I love Kubrick's movie of the Shining and found it eerier than the book. The book was good, except that horrible cheesy ending (King's weakness is endings), but I didn't find it all that unsettling.

The creepiest author I've read is Graham Masterton. Some of the scenes in his books give me the serious creeps.

The only book that really scared me was "Salem's Lot", especially as my bed was right by the window... The film version was also quite scary.

I've always tried to avoid 'scary' books — I had plenty of that as a kid whenever I would stay up late and be watching TV and every sound was a stranger trying to break in. Don't know why I did that so often then, either ....

I've always admired Stephen King but haven't read too many of his books. Most recently I would have to say that it was Heart-Shaped Box by King's son, Joe Hill. I was very impressed with the book and was indeed on the edge of my seat with it.

And for a different reason -- as a parent -- The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbøl was very scary for me. Very emotionally draining and yet I couldn't put the book down.

I still think that the most scary Stevie King book is "Pet Sematary".

And there are some pretty scary Lovecraftian books, not necessarily by HPL but also some of those who write in the Cthulhu Mythos scenario.

However the most frightening novel I've ever read is Cormac McCarthy's terrifying story of the old West, "Blood Meridian", which depicts a band of savage scalphunters who rampage thru the Mexican and Texan area during the 1840s. I'm a grown man who's love horror fiction all his life, and has written some pretty scary stories myself, but Blood Meridian gave me actual nightmares.

I have no idea why, but The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe gave me nightmares.

Heart-Shaped Box
Heart-shaped Box absolutely haunted me (literally...or figuratively?) for weeks after reading it.

The most terrifying book that I ever read[decades ago, and never forgot....was

[bookcover:The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus|16213]. My heart was racing with that one!

I have also been creeped out by ~

Happy Halloween (almost)!

I just noticed that one of the scariest books I've ever read is on sale at the Kindle store for $2.99

Ghost Story
http://amzn.to/2eoOsm3

Property of a Lady by Sarah Rayne - a chilling and terrifying ghost story

A Haunted Island by Algernon Blackwood
and
Lost Hearts by M.R. James

The last two are short stories, but both gave me nightmares.