Thursday 29 October 2015

The Scariest Books - Book Blogger Edition

Another post where I interrogate our lovely book bloggers to find out which book they think is the scariest they have ever read. I've already told you mine in the Top Ten Tuesday post.
Come Closer by Sara Gran is the adult book that scared me the most. It's the story of a woman who may (or may not) be being taken over by a demon and the scariest part is that she's the narrator, so we get to read all of her horrific thoughts and feelings as she slowly starts getting darker and darker. Very creepy! In the world of YA it has to be Lindsey Barraclough's Long Lankin, which totally unsettled me from beginning to end. The way she built up tension and used subtle descriptions to convey horror is so clever. I think horror is at its best when it's understated.
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The scariest book I have read (as I avoid particularly scary books!) may be considered quite tame. It is The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, the malevolence of the titular character and the incredible atmospheric descriptions gives me goosebumps every time I read it.
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The books that gave me the bejesus is called "Brew" by David Estes, it is pretty much about witches taking over the country, very fitting for Halloween actually. The story was great, however there was a heavy necromancy element that the author skilfully described. So much so that it made my stomach turn! I don't do very well with people coming back from the dead.
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I’ve been scared by lots of stories but not in the way that Jane Eyre scared me when I was younger. 
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It has to be The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich. I was so scared while reading it, that I refused to read it on my lunch break when I was alone at work. I had to keep looking over my shoulder and as I could feel chills running down my back. I'm sure I was imagining it but I won't lie and say my heart was ready to come out of my chest.
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Well there's IT by Stephen King but the one that really gives me the creeps is The Changeover from Margaret Mahy. It's Carmody Braque and his creepy old man routine that gets me shivering. "He looks so full of life...he looks as if he had enough for two." 
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Am going to admit it now: I am a wuss when it comes to reading horror. Anything will set me off. I remember when I was younger how The Witches by Roald Dahl freaked me out. And when I tried to be braver and read Goosebumps by RL Stine, I found Night of the Living Dummy 3 just creepy. I had a puppet in my room so I would stare at it to make sure it didn't come to life just as I was about to go to sleep. 
But he last real book that creeped me out was Maureen Johnson's The Name of the Star. I found the idea of Jack the Ripper's ghost haunting London and starting/continuing his killings both fascinating but terrifying. Plus, it doesn't help when you read the book till 1 in the morning, then realise you need the bathroom and scare yourself by thinking Jack the Ripper was hiding under your bed, ready and waiting for you to step out... 
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Phil - Scariest book was probably "The Rats" by James Herbert. A
copy was swapped around school on a coach trip to a Welsh coal mine
and I managed to polish the whole thing off in one sitting, and it
promptly gave me nightmares for weeks (and I still don't like rats).
Reading it again now it all seemed a bit twee and rubbish :)
Charlotte - The Bear Under the Stairs by Helen Cooper. It was scary
when I was a toddler because you're never sure if the bear is real or
not!
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Ok I read this book years ago now, but I still insist this is the scariest book I have EVER read! It scared the life out of me as a teenager 
I wish I could find my copy of this book because the cover was terrifying with scary monster faces. From what I can remember this book very much asks the question of is there evil in all of us? When The Dark comes the light will not help you! The Dark sweeps upon London taking out any light and consuming people…making them evil! It has some truly terrifying scenes and is not for the faint hearted and as a reader I realised that not even keeping the light on at night would save me from The Dark!
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Some amazing book choices there and some that I will definitely be adding to my TBR list. 


1 comment:

  1. Good to see even more James Herbert love on this fantastic article. I'd completely forgotten about "The Dark" and that was VERY scary stuff (good one Michelle!). Some great recommendations on here for stuff I really need to read (and re-read!)

    ReplyDelete

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