Books that terrify you as an adult

strawberry66 · 14/05/06 - 16:20

I have just reread Graham Mastertons book "Mirror" I read about 16 years ago and it stuck in my mind.
I forgot just how scary it was :eek: and I didn't sleep very well the other night after reading it.

I am an adult

so you would have thought I would have grown out of being scared like that

Nasalhair · 14/05/06 - 17:05

Only one book has truly terrified me, and also many of my friends to whom I recommended it: "House of Leaves" by Mark Z Danielewski. It is my favourite book (it must be as I own two copies already and hope to have a third soon! - paperback, signed first edition hardback, and hopefully a limited edition hardback by the end of the year) and isn't like anything else I've ever read before. Truly astonishing, and scary as hell.

pad · 14/05/06 - 17:52

My tax return

p.

gomezz · 14/05/06 - 17:53

Slugs, couldn't finish it.

Salbates · 14/05/06 - 19:08

IT by Stephen King and Lost World Michael Crichton, they both have given me nightmares!

moza · 14/05/06 - 19:35

IT terrifies me, too. I've read it half a dozen times, I *know* it's fiction, and I *stll* expect to see Pennywise lurking in the dark....

[Deleted User] · 14/05/06 - 19:58

The scariest book I've ever read was Dracula. I read it about 5 years ago (very much as an adult) and I had to sleep with the light on :eek:

Salbates · 14/05/06 - 20:16

magwitch wrote:

The scariest book I've ever read was Dracula. I read it about 5 years ago (very much as an adult) and I had to sleep with the light on :eek:

Dracula is pretty scarey :eek:

Cool name btw

Dickens reference by ay chance?? I've just read Great Expectations for my English Lit exam

Great book

[Deleted User] · 14/05/06 - 20:20

magwitch wrote:

The scariest book I've ever read was Dracula. I read it about 5 years ago (very much as an adult) and I had to sleep with the light on :eek:

Same here. There are no gory descriptions, but Bram Stokers - Dracula is terrifying. I have read it a few times now, and it just gets more frightening on each read.

toastie · 14/05/06 - 21:04

The Shining sacred the shit out of me

"here's Johnny"

*shudder*

[Deleted User] · 14/05/06 - 22:08

I've got a copy of 'A Clockwork Orange' at home waiting to be read, but I keep on putting it off as the cover scares me.

It's the one with an eye being help open with some sort of contraption.

I think it's probably not a good idea to read a book if I can't even look at the cover! I'm such a wuss

strawberry66 · 14/05/06 - 22:36

Just Looking wrote:

I've got a copy of 'A Clockwork Orange' at home waiting to be read, but I keep on putting it off as the cover scares me. It's the one with an eye being help open with some sort of contraption.

I think it's probably not a good idea to read a book if I can't even look at the cover! I'm such a wuss

Lol I only managed to watch half of the film before turning it off, made me feel sick

I love IT but it didn't scare me in a "can't sleep" way,

moza · 14/05/06 - 23:15

IT didn't scare me in a can't sleep way either, I just kept expecting to see Pennywise, that's all!

Funnily enough, the clockwork baddies in last week's Dr Who had a similar effect - I expected to see one of them lurking in dark corners.....

[Deleted User] · 15/05/06 - 00:06

Salbates wrote:

Dracula is pretty scarey :eek:

Cool name btw Dickens reference by ay chance?? I've just read Great Expectations for my English Lit exam Great book

Yup. It's one of my favourite books. I love Dickens. I know he has faults but these are far outweighed, for me, by his passion and humour and sheer bloody talent for characterisation. Great Expectations is a near perfect novel, I think.

Aaargh

Salbates · 15/05/06 - 10:10

magwitch wrote:

Yup. It's one of my favourite books. I love Dickens. I know he has faults but these are far outweighed, for me, by his passion and humour and sheer bloody talent for characterisation. Great Expectations is a near perfect novel, I think.

Aaargh

Dickens was an amazing writer. He had an eye for detail and a gift for reflecting Victorian life that was unmatched IMO.

Havelock Vetinari · 15/05/06 - 10:56

The Rats by James Herbert. Mainly because they are juist so creepy and dirty and the thought of them scuttling around *shivers*

creamsoda · 15/05/06 - 13:46

The Exorcist - There was a section in the middle about 50 pages, and I couldn't read them, I had to turn them over. So I've only read the middle and the end.

clover · 15/05/06 - 18:27

Nasalhair wrote:

Only one book has truly terrified me, and also many of my friends to whom I recommended it: "House of Leaves" by Mark Z Danielewski. It is my favourite book (it must be as I own two copies already and hope to have a third soon! - paperback, signed first edition hardback, and hopefully a limited edition hardback by the end of the year) and isn't like anything else I've ever read before. Truly astonishing, and scary as hell.

Agree with that, but only the bits about the house. The bits about the man discovering the document about the house (it was a while ago since I read it so I can't remember exact details) was a bit boring so I skipped it. But the house bits - skin-crawling.

Also The Shining and It by Stephen King. I can't see one of those storm drains without thinking of Pennywise.

[Deleted User] · 15/05/06 - 20:04

1984 says it all really

Nasalhair · 15/05/06 - 20:52

clover wrote:

Agree with that, but only the bits about the house. The bits about the man discovering the document about the house (it was a while ago since I read it so I can't remember exact details) was a bit boring so I skipped it. But the house bits - skin-crawling.

Also The Shining and It by Stephen King. I can't see one of those storm drains without thinking of Pennywise.

What??? You skipped some of "House of Leaves"? You can't do that!

The scariest thing about the book is when you REALLY read it and see just how multi-layered it is. It took Mark Danielewski ten years to write it and, when you look deeply into the book and see how much hidden stuff there is (a hell of a lot) you realise why it took him so long. Have a look at this website to see what people have found, and just how far it goes. A truly unique and utterly terrifying book.

[Deleted User] · 15/05/06 - 21:24

hp lovecraft

slappers r us · 16/05/06 - 00:36

I felt very wary of going to sleep while I read Kiss the Girls by james patterson

the thought of someone watching me from inside the house somewhere when I was alone gave me the willies

slappers r us · 16/05/06 - 00:37

pad wrote:

My tax return

p.

I know how you feel

peaches41 · 16/05/06 - 17:31

Rosemary's Baby was pretty scarey.

[Deleted User] · 16/05/06 - 17:52

I read a book, I think it was called The Running Man which I could not put down but was glad to finish. It was made into a film which, unusually was almost as good as the book.
Starred, I think, Dustin Hoffman as the running man and Laurence Olivier as a fiendish dentist.

[Deleted User] · 16/05/06 - 18:13

running man was by stephen king

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Books that terrify you as an adult

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