# Can anyone recommend genuinely scary horror novels? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 20, 2020, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-genuinely-scary-horror-novels/846685 "2020-01-20T00:28:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-genuinely-scary-horror-novels/846685/41 "2020-01-22T01:20:08Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > I was going to bring up Vandermeer as well. The first two books of the Southern Reach really scared me. The third book went off in a different direction, and his other books that I’ve read (Borne and Veniss Underground) didn’t really do it for me. But those first two books of Southern Reach are very worth it. I’d go so far as to say they scared me more than any Stephen King that I’ve ever read. Heh. I never did read the third one, in part because the second one so unsettled me. I do like his other stuff, though, and have his latest book in my library bag. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-genuinely-scary-horror-novels/846685/42 "2020-01-22T02:29:46Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’ve read a lot of horror over the past 30 years, so it takes a lot to impress me. **Bird Box** by Josh Malerman is by far the scariest thing I’ve read in years. **Heart-Shaped Box** by Joe Hill is fairly impressive too. Sadly, I haven’t been nearly as impressed by other stories by either of them. Just read Heart Shaped Box & soooo underwhelmed. Koontz’ The Bad Place made me tighten my sphinter ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-genuinely-scary-horror-novels/846685/43 "2020-01-22T02:42:53Z")
> [@DummyGladHands](#): > > Koontz’ The Bad Place made me tighten my sphinter Hideaway kept me up nights. After a while though Koontz books all kind of feel the same, a “special” child, an evil destructive force, and then right on cue…the golden retriever. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-genuinely-scary-horror-novels/846685/44 "2020-01-22T02:50:42Z")
True that & his vocabulary acrobatics but still, early on… ---
**Author:** ![NiceGuyJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/niceguyjack/32/3069_2.png) [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-genuinely-scary-horror-novels/846685/45 "2020-01-22T03:47:54Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I was freaked out by _The Shining_ even though I’d already seen the movie. > > Probably shouldn’t have gotten deeply into it late at night and then had to ascend the stairs to our mildly spooky upper floor when everyone else was asleep.\* Yeah, _The Shining_ gave me goosebumps, but I read it when it was a dark and stormy night. Haven’t found any other book that managed to give me goosebumps, but the last one that got me hooked and which creeped me out was _ **Let the Right One In** _ by **John Ajvide Lindqvist**. I recommend reading it in the dark of winter, with a lot of snow outside. I should point out, I read it in the original Swedish, so I have no idea if the translated version is any good, but I can say, the book is better than the movies, both the Swedish and Hollywood versions. It was truly creepy, and so good. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-genuinely-scary-horror-novels/846685/46 "2020-01-22T04:15:10Z")
Bram Stoker-Dracula. You know, you have to INVITE him in [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-genuinely-scary-horror-novels/846685.md?page=2)