What is the scariest book you ever read?

[justprowlingaround]

I think mine is Salem's Lot by Stephen King.

[maxdutchboys]

id have to say CUJO

[sagacitynow]

It is not that scarce but it is one of the most overlooked, unread works by a great author. Death in the Afternoon by Hemingway.  Anytime I hear  A knock on Hemingway I say "spoken like a person who's never read Death in the Afternoon." And they have not, be sure to get a copy with the explanatory glossary. A copy with the full bibliographical notes is for a second copy if you enjoyed it so well you are compelled to do so. Hemingway was on a 6 month deadline and the work took 5 years. You can tell.. The bibliographical notes are a list of 2077 books and pamphlets...and don't think this is a book about bullfighting...that's like saying The Old Man In The Sea Is About A guy Catching A fish!!

[sagacitynow]

Dark Tower but horror comes in many forms, like Philip K. Dick's The Man In The High Castle it's horror is like 1984 they turned out not to be science fiction just foreboding. The Island of Dr. Moreau is a work that they wouldn't let us read till like 10th grade!  The Idea is terrifying.  Can you image It being a new concept written by Clive Barker! If you are a reader who becomes one of the characters two horror short-stories under the Sci-Fi banner Meathouse Man by George R. R. Martin and A Wind is Rising by Robert Sheckley are chilling.  Again, their are little known to this day revelations in Death in the Afternoon that are mortifying.  I can think of two that you will wonder why no ones "borrowed" to make a rare reality a horror story.   

[sagacitynow]

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@bookwik wrote:

Yeah, Salem's Lot was pretty creepy -- definitely the scariest Stephen King book.

But for books that made me sleep with the lights on, I'd have to say Amityville Horror and The Exorcist. 

I was dumb enough to see the Amityville Horror movie after having the c**p scared out of me by the book -- and dumb enough to read The Exorcist after being scared spitless by the movie.

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Dark Tower but horror comes in many forms, like Philip K. Dick's The Man In The High Castle it's horror is like 1984 they turned out not to be science fiction just foreboding. The Island of Dr. Moreau is a work that they wouldn't let us read till like 10th grade!  The Idea is terrifying.  Can you image It being a new concept written by Clive Barker! If you are a reader who becomes one of the characters two horror short-stories under the Sci-Fi banner Meathouse Man by George R. R. Martin and A Wind is Rising by Robert Sheckley are chilling.  Again, their are little known to this day revelations in Death in the Afternoon that are mortifying.  I can think of two that you will wonder why no ones "borrowed" to make a rare reality a horror story.   

[navalshin02]

I think Lord of the Rings

[lja440]

No one has mentioned Blake Crouch. (I was disappointed in the TV version of Wayward Pines).

My faves  of his are Run and Abandon.

...5 D A Y S A G O...A rash of bizarre murders swept the country...Senseless. Brutal. Seemingly unconnected. A cop walked into a nursing home and unloaded his weapons on elderly and staff alike. A mass of school shootings. Prison riots of unprecedented brutality. Mind-boggling acts of violence in every state. 4 D A Y S A G O...The murders increased ten-fold...3 D A Y S A G O...The President addressed the nation and begged for calm and peace...2 D A Y S A G O...The killers began to mobilize...Y E S T E R D A Y...All the power went out...T O N I G H T...They're reading the names of those to be killed on the Emergency Broadcast System. You are listening over the battery-powered radio on your kitchen table, and they've just read yours. Your name is Jack Colclough. You have a wife, a daughter, and a young son. You live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. People are coming to your house to kill you and your family. You don't know why, but you don't have time to think about that any more. You only have time to....R U N.

On Christmas Day in 1893, every man, woman and child in a remote gold mining town disappeared, belongings forsaken, meals left to freeze in vacant cabins, and not a single bone was ever found. One hundred thirteen years later, two backcountry guides are hired by a history professor and his journalist daughter to lead them into the abandoned mining town so that they can learn what happened. With them is a psychic, and a paranormal photographer as the town is rumored to be haunted. A party that tried to explore the town years ago was never heard from again. What this crew is about to discover is that twenty miles from civilization, with a blizzard bearing down, they are not alone, and the past is very much alive.

[nc-daydreamer]

Does eBay's UA count as a 'book'? LOL!

Seriously though, that would be the Bible - Book of Revelation.