Fear.
The most primal of our emotions. It’s not even an emotion technically, it’s a reaction to what is unknown. One fears only the unknown. The unknown and the unpalpable terrifies us. Interestingly, it’s the same adrenaline rush that excites us.
Fear is exciting. Horrifying yet beautiful.
Here are a few books that are so horrifying that the movie’s of them will seldom capture their terrifyingness in its entirety.
1. Dracula – Bram Stoker
A classic and the world’s most renowned vampire fantasy ever written is actually also one the scariest book ever written. It has scenes of rape, death, and everything that can make you fear vampires instead of falling in love with them.
2. American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis
You might’ve seen the movie and even liked it for its twisted protagonist, but wait till you actually lay your hands on the book. It’s way more twisted and gross, with incredible details to the preciseness of the murders Peter Bateman apparently commits with the vigor of a perfectionist and the passion of a serial killer.
3. Tropic Of Cancer – Henry Miller
This book was banned in the US for its ridiculously terrifying content which explores the depths of sodomy and primal, sexual fantasies of a depraved mind.
4. Hell House – Richard Matheson
Four youngsters try to debunk the popularity of a secluded property that it devours everything that goes in that house, and find demons of their own. This book scared even the king of terror, Stephen king! What more do you want!
5. The Trial – Franz Kafka
This classic talks about the most fearful thing humans cannot bear not having, is power. This rendition of absolute powerlessness does make you feel helpless and makes you want to go and sob for a long time.
6. Lord Of The Flies – William Golding
The perfect depiction of how quickly humanity can lapse into madness from the beloved civility we assume we have. A bunch of kids stranded on an island, turn into blood hunters and that’s the most terrifying visual you’ll live with all your life.
7. Pet Sematary – Stephen King
This weird book is one of those you cannot finish in one go. It’ll terrify you with weird behaving animals, cemeteries, strange rituals and a very twisted plot full of unexplained murders.
8. 1Q84 – Haruki Murakami
Murakami is the wizard of horror and this is one of his best works yet. The title is a wordplay on the year 1984 where the Q denotes the way the Japanese pronounce the number 9 (kyu). It is a science fiction based thriller with a simple love story in the background which suffers a terrifying and unnatural fate.
9. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
Frankenstein was born of Mary Shelley’s conversations with her husband and eccentric poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and when it came to physical form as a book, it continues to terrorize the world even after two centuries later.
10. Misery – Stephen King
This book is hands down the most terrorizing book as it doesn’t rely on the common terror elements like ghosts and demons, it relies on the unknown among the humans we meet every day. Annie Wilkes, who is a deranged former nurse, finds her favorite novelist in a car crash near her area and takes him in to take care of him. But is that all she wants to do? Read it know it.
11. Perfume – Patrick Suskind
You must have watched the movie and been grossed out by it. Wait till you read the book and understand the real madness of the man who murdered people for their scents to make the perfect perfume.
12. Haunted – Chuck Palahniuk
A bunch of writers are holed up in a house till they come up with a few great ideas and stories. What do they come up with, do you want to know?
13. The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
Another classic, this novella delves into the depths of the capacities of brains into fooling ourselves and adopting personalities that don’t belong to us for the worst of purposes.
14. The Cask Of Amontillado – Edgar Allan Poe
A story of a gruesome murder and having no repentance for it is a classically terrible thing. but what makes this story stand out is the way the narrative flows through the entirety of the consciousness of the murderer.
15. The Painted Bird – Jerzy Kosinski
The wartime book concentrates on the fate of a small Jewish boy, who is raped, ridiculed and assaulted in the Nazi-ruled German era of World war II. It doesn’t speak of the atrocities as much as the feelings of the little boy, which is far more terrifying because it cannot be categorized as a fact.
16. The Color Out Of Space – H. P Lovecraft
This short story is science fiction meets horror perfection at it’s best. A meteor turns an entire world upside down and becomes the case of the most grotesque happenings.
17. Coraline – Neil Gaiman
A young girl tries to explore her house turned into flats and falls into the clutches of a weird another world, in her own house.
18. Ghost Story – Peter Straub
Peter Straub has a lot of scary accolades on his name, but this is probably the most lauded work of his which even the great Stephen King loved. Beware of sharing a ghost story with someone next time!
19. The Haunting Of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
It might be another haunted house story to you, but it is on of the most fear encompassing horror book ever.
20. Under The Dome – Stephen King
This book is not as horrifying as the rest of them in the conventional sense, but since I’ve already added two amazing books of Stephen king, I couldn’t this one out. Although the TV series based on this book didn’t do too well, the awesomeness of the book might just be the reason for it. It’s more of a psychological thriller which one by one reveals how a human mind can do anything to just survive.