As Halloween lurks just around that shadowy corner, what more could you want than a list of the most bone chilling books out there? Whether you’re a die-hard horror fanatic or you just love being terrified, put the trick or treat bags down, as these books will send you running for the covers!
Let The Right One In, John Ajvide Lindqvist.
Perhaps the most modern of the books on the list, yet by far one of the scariest! A creepy tale of a boy’s everyday struggles that are eased by the friendship he develops with a new girl on the housing block. The only issue – she’s a vampire. The chilling scenery, hollow family life and violent and powerful destruction that surrounds the two children conjures up ideas of the loss of innocence, murder and horror in the everyday world.
Misery, Stephen King.
Misery is a book so terrifying, it will leave even the most extreme fans of horror fiction shaking in their beds. The story of an imprisoned man kept against his will by a torturous, neurotic and violent fan is heightened through role reversal, infantilisation of man and psychological deception. Stay on your toes, and look alive. Misery’s coming to get you!
The Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris.
The sequel to Red Dragon does not disappoint! Its chilling tone is set by the actions of the sickening serial killer known as Buffalo Bill, and maintained by the ice-cold malice that oozes from Lecter’s bones. This maze-like novel is designed to terrify through intelligence and logic, butchery, and sheer disregard for human life.
Dracula, Bram Stoker.
Dracula is an archetypal horror, giving birth to the traditional elements of terror that we’ve come to know and love. Stoker toys with ideas of seduction, innocence and madness to create a hypnotic and tense reading style. However, don’t get too comfortable, danger lurks in the beautiful.
Interview With A Vampire, Anne Rice.
Shadowing Dracula, Interview With A Vampire incorporates the idea of immense danger lurking within astonishing beauty. Through the brutal killing and feasting of human beings, violence and gory imagery take centre stage as the insignificance of human kind is laid bare.
Battle Royale, Koushun Takami.
Battle Royale takes a violent and cruel nature from the very beginning. Mere children are set upon one another in a televised blood bath, centered around mass murder, until only one child stands alone. This chilling novel that completely re-imagines the way in which society views innocent youth allows an incredibly grisly idea of what happens when push comes to shove.
The Shining, Stephen King.
There could be no horror inspired book list without including this classic from the King of Horror himself – The Shining! In the isolated depths of The Overlook Hotel rest an ordinary and unsuspecting family. However, this haunted house has it’s own sordid, spine-chilling history which isn’t going to rest easy. Madness, the supernatural and an infamous array of violence will most definitely have you sleeping with the lights on.
The Woman In Black, Susan Hill.
The Woman In Black is an eerie tale of a tortured woman who haunts earth after death. Whenever she is sighted, a child dies in an inexplicable accident. Playing on the traditional ghost hauntings that are so popular within horror fiction, The Woman In Black won’t fail to have you looking over your shoulder!
What would you include on your own list of books to have you up all night?…
