whats the scariest book youve read?

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badkittykitty
whats the scariest book youve ever read?

I was thinking about it because I've read so many scary books and thought either the 'Red Dragon' by Thomas Harris or 'The Shining' by Stephen King was the scariest for me.

Vampiree
i love e.a. poe's stories and i can't really say that clockwork orange was scary, but it surely was disturbing

NyC-gUrL
OMG, definitely The Shining, I read it when I was 12 and I was scared shitless, I couldnt sleep for 3 days embarrasment laughing out loud

Crash Overload
I read the Original Dracula Under the Covers with a flashlight. Thats creepy.

Corlindel
Maybe the Apocalipse book from the Holy Bible...or...my diary devil

BarmyBrummie
GOOSEBUMPS!!!!!!!!!

crazy_c
blink

crazy_c
i read the exorcist when i was 11 with a torch in bed and i waas really really scared i kept thinkin the devil as comin to get me confused

Maikahyandowen
Brave New World. it's beyond disturbing.

frootlooplucy
I read half of The Amityville Horror... it freaked the heeby jeebies out of me wacko wacko Also a book called Dr Franklins Island... it wasnt actually scary now I think about it, but very...unsettling. huh

andyF1
the forge of god (fantasy horror) the end of the world, shocking

Crash Overload
Dr. Franklin's Island? isn't that A Book that talks about a Scientist who changes people into animals or something like that?

Mr Parker
Mine would probably be The Amityville Horror.always made me look around the house and made me jump when ever I heard a sound at night. big grin

thorncrawler
i would have to say it by stephen king, it' sthe scarest of his books

cheeky munkey
i read a book called "Walkers" by Graham Masterton, and it wasnt scary while i was reading it, but afterwards, i kept thinking bout it... it really freaked me out!!!! no expression

'chelle
Stephen King's It

shaber
Isn't it just! eek! I find 1984 rather unsettling in a way as it is so insightful about politics.

Baylin
I cant honestly say any book has ever scared me. HP Lovecraft however has certainly managed to make me feel more than a little unsettled in the wee hours when houses get all creaky... blink

Jackie Malfoy
Crazy I argee 100% with you.It is very scary.But good!JM

theReject
I've never really red a scary book before. hmm

Ajax66
They would probably be Stephen King titles:

It and The Shining. The latter was set at the Overlook Hotel, where teacher-turned-writer Jack Torrance goes insane. I enjoyed both the 1980 movie version and the 1997 miniseries remake of The Shining. Stephen King had a cameo role in the TV version -- playing an orchestra leader. Take it away, Mr. King...

shugie99
Fast Food Nation

jynkers
There is no such thing as a book that can scare me, and I've tried. But then, movies don't scare me either.

It's odd too, cuz I get so into the story that I can smell what they smell, hear what they hear, and feel what they feel... for the most part. I even start talking out loud to the characters in the book, but I've never been scared...

Though the book The Wings of a Falcon made me cry...

Ajax66
One book that's a favorite of mine is the technological horror thriller Fail-Safe by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, published in 1962. Through a mechanical error, a group of six American Vindicator bombers are mistakenly ordered to deliver a nuclear strike on Moscow. If they can't be recalled or stopped, the Soviet Union will retaliate in full. That's the doomsday scenario facing the American president. What will he do? Fail Safe was made into a 1964 movie starring Henry Fonda as the president and also featured a young Larry Hagman as the terrified Russian translator, Peter Buck. George Clooney later made it into a live television drama, broadcast on April 9, 2000. Clooney is a great admirer of the original film -- hence his $5.5 million remake. CAP-411 -- the code that mistakenly launches nuclear horror...

whitedragon
Its gota be Stephen Kings IT, the films even worse!

jynkers
Stephen King's 'It' is a stupid movie, which probably means the book isn't that scary.

For pity's sake, the movie is about a giant spider who takes on the form of a clown to eat children!

I think I'll look into Fail-Safe, though...

OH, has anyone read The White Plague by Frank Herbert? That book damn near freaked me out. Not quite, but pretty close. The book is a science fiction about a man who goes insane after he witnesses his family killed in a politica-related 'accident'. He creates a plague in a rented house, a plague that kills all women. He wanted everyone on the planet to feel the way he felt.

Eventually, he helps them find a cure for his own disease, and then winds up wandering the winlderness of Ireland, where the people take pity on him and leave food on their doorstep at night.

If I remember correctly, there was 1 woman for every 5,000 men at the end of the book. You gotta read it, though. I summed it up, but that's not the same as reading it.

Ajax66
Yeah, the TV miniseries It wasn't that good, but the book, though flawed,
was much better. I'd say a lot of Stephen King's works don't translate well to the big or small screen, though they keep trying.

I'll have to look into The White Plague by Frank Herbert. It sounds like my kind of read. Thanks, jynkers...Anything else you care to recommend?

Mr Parker
Mine would be the amityville horror.Thats what it was like for me when I read that book.I would be looking around at the ceilings and walls afraid to go to sleep when I was that age and reading that book.It has a huge impact on me because there is still debate and controversy over that book today if its a true story or not.thats what frightened me most about the book was that its suppose to be a true story.

Ajax66
Hey, is anyone here from Amityville? I just did some quick checking on 'The Amityville Horror' by Jay Anson (1921-1980). The real tragedy in that infamous house was the murder of the Ronald De Feo family prior to George and Kathy Lutz (and children) moving in. George Lutz, incredibly enough, has his own web site on the subject. The book was made into a 1979 film starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder, which launched a series of sequels. There's a video out titled 'Amityville: Horror or Hoax.' I read 'The Amityville Horror' along with another Jay Anson book -- a horror novel titled '666' in which a haunted house moved from locale to locale. The novel's premise struck me as funny --
a house moving itself -- but when real estate values plummet, what's a haunted house to do?

Abra
Yes, yes! That book so eerily reminds me of how our world could become. Creepy beyond all reason. eek!

eleveninches
1984

jynkers
Unfortuneately, Ajax66, I do not. I don't read very many 'scary novels', per say. However, if you like vampires, Laurall K. Hamilton does a fine job with the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series... reading Gotta luv that series. Jean-Claude, Asher, Damien... if they were real I'd be in heaven.

Jackie Malfoy
A Stephen King forget the name but it was scary.So I don't read any of his books anymore.I am too much of a scary cat!JM

baracustastic
I read a book when I was wee about the Battle of Culloden. It was a ghost story.

This kid was on the moor where the battle took place and dead highlanders' ghosts started coming out of the ground and walking back to their homes. One of them was a disembowelled 14 year old.

I couldn't get the image of this sad looking ghost, holding his entrails in and traipsing over the field to a home that no longer exists, out of my head for ages. The eeriness was freaky.

Can't remember the name of the book.

jynkers
Ooh! I just remembered. Merecedes Lackey wrote the Diana Tregarde series. Stephen King reviewed them and called them 'stay up all night' books. Yes, they are fantasy, but they're good too. Diana (Di) is a witch who must help people whenever they ask. In one book she kills a gaki (Japanese Soul Eater) and in the other the Aztec God Tezcatlipoca.

I luv that series! It's really good, and keeps you on your toes. It didn't scare me, but had I not watched horror movies nearly everday of my childhood life, I guarantee it would have.

sim0921
A Clockwork orange

eggmayo
theres a clockwork orange book?

Ajax66
Yes, A Clockwork Orange is a novel by Anthony Burgess (1917-1993), in which he coined the term "ultra-violence." I haven't read it, though.

jynkers
A Clockwork Orange... Hmmm.

Somehow, that sounds a little odd. An orange that does clockwork?

Okay, now I'm just being silly.

Pretty Cat
The Shinning
The Exorisist
Legion

Pretty Cat
Singing in the rain...

jynkers
Yeah, that sounds about right...

Scarpa
anything my stephen king

jynkers
Everybody says that. I don't find the guy scary at all.

Ajax66
Have you tried Dean R. Koontz? Maybe his stories aren't particulary scary, but they are (for the most part) good horror tales. Twilight Eyes, the story of a carnival worker who sees monsters disguised as humans, is good. I once wrote a letter to Dean Koontz criticizing his novel TickTock. He replied with a two-page letter of his own, vehemently defending his work. Mr. Koontz's signed letter is now a nice addition to my autograph collection. He said he received something like 8,000 letters per month!

jynkers
Wow, he actually mailed you back... That's rare in an author now a days.

And yes, I have read a few of his works. I have to admit, while they had interesting plots, they seemed a little too... farfetched, maybe? No, that's not it.

I've read Dragon Tears and Soft Come The Dragons and, let's face it, they just weren't fantasy enough for me.

Don't get me wrong, they were good, but my interest level goes down the toilet if it isnt fantasy. Well, normally. The only non-fantasy books I like are, in fact, The White Plague and I, Lucifer. But that's just me.

Who knows. Maybe if I re-read the old Koontz books I'll like them.

Ajax66
Yes, in his letter, Mr. Koontz even told me about the hair transplant he had for his male pattern baldness. He said it was easier to talk about it, than not talk about it. He lives in Newport Beach, Calif., one of your more swankier zip codes.

Some authors will reply. Joseph Wambaugh, the former LAPD detective-turned-bestselling author, sent me an autographed pic plus a handwritten reply to my question on the Jon Benet Ramsey murder in Colorado. His feeling was that there was no intruder; it was an inside job.

Other favorite Dean Ray Koontz books: Lightning (has a time travel element to it), The Bad Place and Midnight. One guy came into the library extolling the virtues of Koontz's Intensity, but I haven't read that one.

jynkers
Okay, I'm definately re-reading them. And by the looks of things, I'm going to be buying his works, too.

Y'know, I feel the same way about the Jon Benet Ramsey thing. Funny you should mention it, there was a new article about it on the news today, but I had to rush out the door and missed it.

... I find Alfred Hitchcock stupid. Yes, I've changed the subject, but this had been bothering me for a while now. The supposed 'mystery author' is a dunce, in my book. Is there anyone below the age of 60 that likes the guy?

Ajax66
I believe one of the news shows is going to have an update on the still-unsolved murder of Jon Benet Ramsey -- for Saturday night (12/18). As they say, check your local TV listings. Try "48 Hours" on CBS.

Joseph Wambaugh is an interesting fellow. His true crime book, "The Blooding," chronicled the first case in which DNA was used to catch a murderer. It happened in England, where police finally got their man, a serial killer named Colin Pitchfork, in what amounted to a DNA dragnet.

Well, since you brought it up. Alfred Hitchcock, the so-called "master of suspense," is more revered for his direction in films: Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Psycho, The Birds, et al. He also hosted a 1950s/60s television show titled "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." You can catch old episodes sometimes on the oldies channels. Are you referring to the stories in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine or the various book anthologies they published in Hitchcock's name? Or you don't like his films?

Emma718
I am wanting to buy IT, Carrie and The Shinning.. are they that scary??

Ajax66
Better not ask jynkers that! She doesn't like Stephen Edwin King.

Didn't read Carrie, but I did enjoy It and The Shining. I liked The Shining better. (King originally wanted to call it "The Shine," but he thought that conjured up a derogatory term demeaning black people.)
The Shining is really about Jack Torrance's problem with alcohol. One thing you won't see in either movie is the part where Jack and another boozer darn near kill themselves after drinking Zombies (a potent mixed drink) one night. Jack almost drives over a cliff while drunk out of his mind.

Gregory
Almost any Algernon Blackwood anthology. He wasn't much of a novelist, in my opinion, but his short stories are great; check out "The Willows."

Emma718, I though Carrie was pretty bad, but It and The Shining are good.

Jedi Priestess
Christine by Stephen King.......wouldnt walk around the front of a car for months after that one. cry

Silver Stardust
Carrie I wouldn't say is scary, but it is good....

Darth Surgent
I once read a book where a guy doesn't buy the proper car insurance, and when he gets into an accident he winds up paying for everything....

Scary stuff....

Because I can
Being dead, its a collection of short stories

eggmayo
I love IT.
Carrie and The Shining arent scary to me, because I'd seen the movies loads before I read the book, I knew most of what was gonna happen, but IT is awesome.

Soth
The Shining: Stephen King

Darth_Decimator
theres no better horror, sci fi, paranormal writer than dean Koontz. all his books are terrific and impossible to put down. i have read almost all of them and havent read a bad one yet. my personal fave is "The Watchers" its not really all that scary but it is perhaps the best book ive ever read. i highly reccomend it to anyone and everyone. MUST READ !

jynkers
The Shinning IS a good movie, I guess. If you watch the original one. The book was so-so.

Personally, I though It was a riduculously long thing that never seemed to end. But that is simply my opinion.

... Is there anyone out there that could suggest a good horror series? I don't get scared easily, but horror is my favorite department. Carrie was dumb. No, not dumb, just your typical teen-under-stress-and-disliked-by-all, the only difference being that Carrie lights things on fire.

But eveeryone else seems to enjoy it, so have at.

RavenNightstar
Oh, I'm with you on HP Lovecraft! It's not that they're scary, but more unsettling, like you said. You can go nuts thinking about it! I think "In the Walls of Eryx" did it for me!

Also, Richard Matheson does some pretty twisted ones too! If anyone has read "Hell House", you know what I mean!

RavenNightstar
Oooh, oooh, also, the only Stephen King book that scared me (I love them all, but this one...whoa) was "Desperation". Funny too, since it's a very Catholic book, and I'm Wicca, but it was great! His short story "The Mist" also did it for me!

~Air Angel~
PET SEMETARY..... when I was in 5th grade....very scary then!!!

why
The most disturbing book I ever read was 1984. I kept comparing it to everyday life, and the simularities freaked me out. The only thing that was more disturbing than this book was the move Equillibrium.

jynkers
Originally posted by why
The most disturbing book I ever read was 1984. I kept comparing it to everyday life, and the simularities freaked me out. The only thing that was more disturbing than this book was the move Equillibrium.

What book did you read?

OH! And I still suggest Laurell K Hamilton if ou like vampires. Or you could go for Anee Rice... But then, if you want a fairly seductive, 'spooky' book with vamps in them, I recomend Mary Ann Mitchell.

Dr. Strangelove
1984 is very scary for me because the book is not that far off from what's happening in the world today.

ladygrim
ive read book bout jack the ripper it didnt scare me as much as made me heave sick the things he did and no one knew about

Coldfire
Originally posted by ladygrim
ive read book bout jack the ripper it didnt scare me as much as made me heave sick the things he did and no one knew about
Yeah I know! That was just so incredibly horrible....

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