What's the scariest fictional book you've read?

. a reply to: Skid Mark
I haven't read Lissys Story yet. It's on my list. Yes those others featured people with drinking problems. He also mentions spiders in several books so I'm thinking he has an issue with them lol.
In some of his earlier works there's a concealed racist bent to some of the characters and the views of some are now very dated. Even politically incorrect.

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
a reply to: iDope

There's drinking in IT but who's a recovering alcoholic? Who in The Stand? Rita who dies early on even though she survives the flu is a druggy.

I couldn't remember so I wiki'd it, from The Stand

The character The Kid drives an enhanced hot rod-style vehicle and has a fanatical love of Coors beer and Rebel Yell whiskey. The Kid is also ambitious, unstable, and easily angered, traits that Trashcan Man discovers when the character nearly kills him for spilling a can of beer on carpet. After becoming severely intoxicated on alcohol, The Kid forces Trashcan Man to give him a handjob while he concurrently rapes Trashcan Man with a pistol.

a reply to: iDope
Thanks for the heads up on "Swan Song", I'm going to check it out.

One of the main reasons "One Second After" left a lump in my throat is because I don't live to far from the town where it takes place. As I read I was able to imagine what the author was describing in detail.

During my week stay in the hospital after having my third child I read Thomas Harris Red Dragon. I was so terrified that some crazy person was going to break into my house while my husband and kids were home I kept calling warning them to keep the doors locked and the dog in the house.

McCarthy's Blood Meridian, by far. Scariest antagonist (Judge Holden) and scariest take on human nature I've ever read.

Edit: The above post reminded me of reading Capote's In Cold Blood alone in a remote Alaskan cabin, outside a remote Alaskan village in the dead of the night, using a headlamp, while my friends took the snow machine back to town to get more wine.

Now that was terrifying.

The Exorcist !!!

Alhazred by Donald Tyson
Sleepless by Graham Masterton
Mirror by Graham Masterton. I

Although I'm Stephen King fan, my choice would be not one of his works but Han Kang's The Vegetarian. Well, this book isn't something I'd pick up at a book store, but since I've been doing some book related work for ace book report writing service I had to give it a read. At first I wasn't thrilled but later I was at a loss for words. It is sad and bizarre, but still when you are dealing with a mental illness nothing is bizarre. Besides, Kang did great job. He wrote about dark and twisted events and characters in a really engaging way. The Vegetarian is definitely worth checking out.

i haven't read a horror book in a long time but the last one i read i never finished and it put me off horrors for life and i cant remember the name of it, all i can remember was that it was about a PI, and he was investigating something that led him to this hospital where severely handicapped people were kept hidden and terrible things were getting done to them, if anyone knows what im talking about it would be great if you could tell me it, i have been wandering for years what that book was called..

The scariest fictional book I've ever read was Voices of Evil by Graeme Hague.

I'm not easily spooked. I've been reading horror and have had a fascination with reading about excessive gore since I was a 10 year old. But damned if the main character's story in this particular novel didn't freak me right out. Just... this guy grappling with his own sanity, having his third eye ripped open and being forced to see things against his will, it just got me.

Australian author too! Need more of those!