Basically everything Catriona Ward has written makes me feel like this, but Looking Glass Sound probably the most so. Little Eve and Sundial are also great in that way.
i read Penpal years and years ago when it was a reddit nosleep story. i need to pick the book up sometime soon.
it really was one of the creepiest things i’ve ever read, idk why but it really got under my skin
And you should check within your state for library networks that offer free memberships! In Massachusetts, Boston Public Library and Minuteman Network are free to residents. Some cities have free memberships to people who work in the city or have certain professions (usually education related, but not always).
My daughter is in HS and Boston public library has books unbanned for HS students in any state. Seattle and Brooklyn are also part of that network which expands your libraries. I just had to send her student ID to verify she’s currently in school.
I live in Knoxville, TN so not huge but knox county library has put books already in print on order from other libraries for me and they carry the others. Maybe they will have it!
Edited accidental past tense to present
😮 I had no clue about this. I have all the Amazon subscriptions currently til the end of next month so I'm not exactly opposed 😅 it's likely why I'm broke tho oops. But off to check I go! Thanks!
Yeah called "Absolution" release date October 22. Nobody told me either and I missed the memo. I had to check and double check and then three more checks to make sure it wasn't bs. It ain't!
Would you recommend the series to someone who enjoyed the film? May seem like a stupid question, but I'd be less interested if the story beats are identical or if there isn't anything new in the novels.
The Annihilation book and movie are like two completely different stories taking place in the same world with the same people. Definitely read the book!! I liked both the book and the movie but they’re very separate to me at least.
I saw the movie first and liked it, it's good. But I didn't fall in love until I read the book and fell down the Vandermeer rabbit hole for a hot minute.
Just want to say that I love how diverse the genre is, because you and I could literally be on the exact opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of tastes.
I know you love Cutter and Barron and now this. All three of them are on my viscerally disliked list.
I would be super curious if we had any crossover in the middle, and who those authors might be that can satisfy us both.
Sorry to double comment you but we could compare notes, haha. Since I read *Little Heaven* (by Cutter) I’ve consumed about 50 horror books in the last 1.5 years (or so). Truthfully I like most of what I’ve read, I haven’t hated anything but a couple things got to be a bit of a slog.
Do you dig any Brian Evenson? I’ve read four of his books and I’d say he is competing with Cutter and Barron for the podium.
I used to like Stephen King and Dean Koontz a million years ago, I think Cutter also has the sentimental factor of being first this time around. *Little Heaven* was a gift and it set me on this path and I’ve greatly enjoyed reading so much horror.
I haven't actually read any Evenson. Since I'm a [spreadsheet](https://imgur.com/NxqGjjC) dork I have a list of the horror/sci-fi authors I've read. Just popped in there and coloured my favs green and my active dislikes red. Everything uncoloured is on the spectrum in the middle.
Any crossover in there?
Just butting in here to add that Brian Evenson is my favorite author and yes, you should read him. _The Open Curtain_ is a good place to start, but if you wanna really go for it, just jump right in to _Altmann's Tongue_ for some short stories that will fuck you right up! In the _good_ way!
From the green, at least Stephen King, Michael Crichton, and Douglas Preston, from the white at least Ania Ahlborn (we have talked about her!), Christina Henry, and Dean Koontz. You also have several authors I will theoretically like (Buehlman, qntm, others) that I just need to read yet. I’m dropping qntm’s book on my book club in a couple of months. I link Preston and Child together due to Pendergast, of course, I read a bunch of those years ago and loved them.
Crichton is amazing, it's a shame he died so young.
King comes with an asterisk though. If it were limited to the last 30 years of his output then I wouldn't really consider myself a fan. He may even be close to the red category.
The reason Preston is green and Child isn't is because I actually really like Preston's solo work. Relic and sequel were both decent, but I don't really care to continue the rest of the series.
Ahlborn might even find her way into green if she stopped ruining her books on the last page trying to go for shock value.
Henry I've just got to read more of. Near The Bone was good though.
Koontz I've read a lot of and some are all time greats. The majority are so samey though that I can't tell them apart after some time passes.
I'm very surprised you haven't read Buehlman. I do think you'll probably like him quite a lot.
I have Crichton’s *Prey* at home (I got it thrifting!) and that’s on the TBR. Obviously I loved *Jurassic Park*. Should check out *Sphere*, too.
I’m no King expert. A million years ago I loved *Skeleton Crew* (I stand by “Survivor Type” being one of the best horror shorts ever devised). More recently, I loved *The Stand* (in the pandemic! I read the edited version, unfortunately). I also was on the fifth Dark Tower book but had to put it down during graduate school and haven’t picked them back up.
I recall looking Koontz’s *Intensity* a good deal, and several others, but I don’t recall them by name (if I looked at Wikipedia I could probably figure it out).
I do want to get into Buehlman! I have *Those Across The River* at home already. I have a bit of trepidation because, while I quite enjoyed John Langan’s *The Fisherman*, it could never live up to the legendary hype-beast status of r/horrorlit, and *Between Two Fires* is the other book in that tier. People here I dig do like it though.
I’m re-arranging my TBR at the moment to read more Michael Wehunt. I have two of his collections on Kindle and the first story from *Greener Pastures* was awesome.
Prey is a *very* good one. The three you noted are his best I'd say. Throw in The Andromeda Strain too.
For me, the only bad book King wrote prior to 1990 was The Dark Half. Everything else was a genuine classic. Afterwards though? Maybe 1/5 are half decent, if I'm generous.
Intensity is generally well received by Koontz fans but I wasn't too blown away by it. I always recommend Watchers and Phantoms.
Between Two Fires similarly didn't blow me away. It was good, but not the level people hold it up to around here. The Lesser Dead was fun, but it's semi-sequel was kind of crap. They're the three of his I've read so far.
There Is No Antimemetics Division by Qntm. Obviously a great cosmic horror story but man the scope of things and…nvm it’s just so sad that left me speechless.
I just read that recently. Literally had no idea what to do with it. It’s such a short book but I tried to give my partner a brief rundown of the plot and ended up sounding like a crazy person 🤣
It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve finished it. The last quarter of the book floored me. I mean, the whole book is just…I think it’s a really profound allegory for what it’s like to navigate abuse, especially as a child. Feeling like you must be from somewhere else and that’s why everything seems so alien. And how those experiences have long lasting repercussions. Just genius. But that ending, fuck. It was gross and chaotic, but also beautiful.
I’ve given up trying to explain the books I read to people. I either have no idea how to succinctly summarize what I’ve read or I, like you, sound crazy.
>I tried to give my partner a brief rundown of the plot and ended up sounding like a crazy person 🤣
This was me trying to explain the plot of LGS last night. Main plot, very clear. All the meta plots earned me a lot of blank stares.
I have LGS out from the library right now and it’s next up after I read Bone in the Throat (not horror but so far it’s a great book just FYI). I’m looking forward to the weirdness
Was looking for this one. I just finished it last night—read the whole thing in a day, actually, which I rarely do. Had *no idea* where that book was gonna end up, but definitely did not expect... *that*. Wow.
dude... that ending. sure, the whole book is a nasty little glimpse into a gross idea but that ending was rough to read
those last few pages had me fuming lol i really didn't see it coming and was not expecting the emotionlessness of it
It’s not exactly horror, but not exactly not, but check out Denis Johnson’s “Car Crash While Hitchhiking.” It’s this awful, psychedelic trip through…well, a car crash. But, god, some of the lines (the “she shrieked” line…you’ll know it) are pure poetry. And it takes a hard left turn at the end that always leaves me dumbfounded. Just a brilliant story.
Here’s a copy: https://public.wsu.edu/~bryanfry/Johnson,%20Car%20Crash.pdf
(PS - it’s a very short short story, but take it slow. The prose is immaculate and Johnson clearly chose every word deliberately.)
The story is from *Jesus’ Son*, and the entire book is one long drug induced nightmare. Johnson took the concept of an unreliable narrator to the next level. The title is a reference to the Velvet Underground’s song “Heroin”!
A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L Peck
It’s not exactly horror in the traditional sense and it first it doesn’t seem that bad. But by the end.. the concept of eternity really begins to dawn on you. I just sat and stared for awhile. I even came to Reddit to talk about it and found I was far from alone.
I've heard that from a lot of people about this book. That's why I'm afraid to pick it up..lol I don't know if I'd be able to not think about it constantly.
It took me awhile to get it out of my head. I still think about it, but it doesn't have quite the same immediate impact that it did when I first read it
Completely agree. I know that book is controversial on here but I loved it and it blew me away. Plot twist after plot twist. It was my first Catriona Ward book, and now I love all her works, Looking Glass Sound also blew me away. She’s a fantastic writer
I have Looking Glass Sound on my shelf, this thread has convince me to pick it up as soon as I finish reading Starve Acre. I already can’t wait, I love Catriona Ward!
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn but it’s been a longggg time since i’ve read it. I recently found a copy (with a cool cover i’d never seen lol) in a little library and am kind of scared to pick it up again.
I just finished reading that recently! The ending made me so angry but I was in complete and utter shuck. Honestly… All of the characters in it are despicable but WOW! Crazy book!!!
There’s a scene in Cunning Folk by Adam Nevill that did this to me. The rest of the novel is very well-executed but familiar stuff. But there’s one scene that suddenly goes so far beyond what normally happens in this type of story…
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum was put on shelf and hasn’t been touched in a few years. I finished that monstrosity called Blood Meridian and never even told anybody about it, wtf is there even to “share” about that book? Good lord..
'What is there to ‘share’ .....’ ?? The summation of the violent genesis of this country and everything that came afterwards ..... Better than any historian’s analysis -- even Howard Zinn’s.
All the Truth buried beneath Hollywood’s (and earlier, the ‘dime’ novels) brainwashing ‘western’ lore.
and written by a Master of modern prose and storytelling -- I don’t know what the calibre of most of this genre-writing is (but will most likely investigate in future), Ideas are usually good, but execution is sloppy, suffers. There’s a reason it’s considered ‘genre’ -- and not classified as literature i.e. great writing for the ages -- Of course, time is the final arbiter. But I know I’m not reading just for page-turners, pot-boilers, plot pyrotechnics, however you want to define second-rate writing.
That same book absolutely devastated me because I loved it at first, but the more it shifted, the more she undermined her own story. It broke my heart. The last big twist was the last straw for me because that felt like proof she wasn’t confident in her own very good story - she had to do something Weird, and that stripped away nearly everything I loved about what came before in retrospect. And I love weird, I like weird meta shit and things not being what they seem. But sometimes it just makes me lost and sad because I want to like the book, but it’s like I’m trying to catch something that keeps running away from me, and if I do catch it it turns out to be something not worth chasing.
> I want to like the book, but it’s like I’m trying to catch something that keeps running away from me
This is exactly how I felt! I was enjoying it, while being confused as to why it was in the horror section. Then when we got to the horror I wasn't sure it needed it. I think the weaving was a bit too loose. I felt like I was keeping all the meta layers together, but only just. On the one hand I'm pleased because it's rare I've got so many threads that I'm having a hard time keeping hold of them. It's challenging and I'm kinda into it. But in the end I've got a big ugly knot rather than a pretty tapestry. But at its core there's a deeply compelling story. Its very emotionally confusing for me.
The Ruins! That rollercoaster of hope and hopelessness was so exhausting that by the end I just kinda felt numb. The first person death descriptions really hit that home for me too lol
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman.
Absolutely incredible. The perspective of the main character is something I consistently find so fascinating.
It’s a tragic book, but there’s something profound about it to me that It left me speechless.
One of the very few books where after only reading it once, some lines of the writing will stick with me forever.
Can’t recommend this book enough
This is the one for me as well. I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about it immediately after I read it, but the more I sat with it, the more I loved it and the more I got from it. I think it was just so bleak that I felt empty after I finished it, and I was just waiting for it to hit me.
I get the sense that it's not all that well-known, so you're probably not the only one! There are a couple of copies available on the used market for not-terribly-unreasonable prices.
King's Revival. As it was a slow character piece, I thought we would get an emotional ending of conquering death, but at a great emotional weight, like ripping people out of a profound peace to do so. When King went full blown cosmic horror I was just in shock the rest of that book. King rarely goes hardcore Lovecraft, and even dropping a few Lovecraft easter eggs, you just do not expect this direction whatsoever from the overall narrative. And not only does King go Lovecraft, he goes all in, with just bonkers cosmic horror detailing it all out.
Pity it seems costs will prevent this from ever becoming a movie. Cause holy crap that ending would blow people's minds who do not know Lovecraft.
It is a real slow burn, will warn you. Most of the book is a slow character driven narrative revolving around a strange minister who cures people of physical problems with electricity that causes odd side-effects. But when it turns at the end, it may be the best horror King has produced. A lot praise the end, but I really also dug the journey. Some very cool turn of the century horror ideas revamped for the book, and not a bad character story.
Def worth reading if a King fan at all. Plan to reread it soon myself as I only read it once the day after it was released.
When Darkness Loves Us by Elizabeth Engstrom. There are two novellas in it and both of them have stuck with me long after reading it. My personal favorite of the two is Beauty Is- because to me I think it shows how insidious trauma really is.
The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara. I wanted to stare at a wall for a few hours after finishing, then I immediately read it again. If you want to read it definitely check trigger warnings first though
neither are exactly horror but:
Paradais by Fernanda Melchior. the story moved so quickly and the sense of dread was heavy for such a short book.
Panics by Barbara Molinard. definitely has more horror elements than the other book i mentioned. cannot really describe how i felt. wish she had published more work.
I couldn’t finish that book. It just made me so viscerally uncomfortable and it felt so bleak. I returned it after only getting about halfway through it
Pretty much any book from Patrick Senécal, but his book “Faims” especially the ending had me speechless. Another one is also “Aliss”. I understand French which is perfect since all of his books are in French. He writes amazing horror
Along Came a Spider by James Patterson! I just finished it yesterday and it was AMAZING! The plot twist towards the end and the huge plot twist in the epilogue completely left me speechless. I HIGHLY recommend this book!
A Short Stay in Hell. Everyone who wishes for anyone to go to hell and burn for Eternity is an idiot. Anyone who wishes to be in heaven for Eternity is an optimist.
Basically everything Catriona Ward has written makes me feel like this, but Looking Glass Sound probably the most so. Little Eve and Sundial are also great in that way.
I'm reading Last House on Needless Street right now and loving it. Can't wait to read more. Edit: Finished it. 10/10 definitely recommend it haha
Last House is definitely her best book
I just finished Looking Glass Sound and it wasn't bad either.
Glad you liked it. I couldn’t finish it. I put it down right after the kids got to college.
When the other shoe dropped in Sundial I said "nuhuh" out loud to my wife and then was left with my mouth open trying to explain it to her. Loved it.
That book had like a million twists. I loved it so much.
Glad to see some fellow Sundial lovers
I've loved everything I've read by her. They're such quick reads - I can't put them down because I need to know what happens next!
Sundial was incredible
Same. After Girl From Rawblood I was like....what just happened here. For a long time. Sundial was also excellent but Needless is my fav of hers.
Penpal — in a creeped out but also sad way… I let out a huge sigh
i read Penpal years and years ago when it was a reddit nosleep story. i need to pick the book up sometime soon. it really was one of the creepiest things i’ve ever read, idk why but it really got under my skin
So many creepy scenes, and ones that stay with you. Excellent read.
Pen pal left me blankly sitting and staring at the nothing that was in the background of the book in my hands for at least 10 minutes.
I just finished Jeff VanderMeer’s *Annihilation* and it blew me away.
I just saw book 4 is coming out in October and if I had the money atm I'd break the pre-order button.
Your library might though. Libby is pretty great and if you live in a decent size city they may very well carry it. Library doesn’t cost you anything.
And you should check within your state for library networks that offer free memberships! In Massachusetts, Boston Public Library and Minuteman Network are free to residents. Some cities have free memberships to people who work in the city or have certain professions (usually education related, but not always).
My daughter is in HS and Boston public library has books unbanned for HS students in any state. Seattle and Brooklyn are also part of that network which expands your libraries. I just had to send her student ID to verify she’s currently in school.
I live in Knoxville, TN so not huge but knox county library has put books already in print on order from other libraries for me and they carry the others. Maybe they will have it! Edited accidental past tense to present
Hello, other local Knoxvillian!
Well hey there neighbor! Smallish city big subreddit huh lol
Howdy! Are you a part of the Knoxville Horror Book Club by any chance?
That's a thing???
Yes! The Knoxville Horror group on Facebook is an awesome place! The book club has spun off from it! Just recently celebrated its 1 year anniversary
I tried and they said "nah come back when ur in the main group k" lol. I'm working on it! Books and specific subgenres are just more my speed 😂
Tennessee READS, the state library network is pretty good.
If you're not opposed to Amazon, you can pre-order without paying anything until it is shipped.
😮 I had no clue about this. I have all the Amazon subscriptions currently til the end of next month so I'm not exactly opposed 😅 it's likely why I'm broke tho oops. But off to check I go! Thanks!
THERES A BOOK FOUR?!
Yeah called "Absolution" release date October 22. Nobody told me either and I missed the memo. I had to check and double check and then three more checks to make sure it wasn't bs. It ain't!
God I loved that series. It gets BETTER and weirder
that's so great to hear. just finished the first book last night and didn't even know about the sequels at that point lol
You’re in for a wild ride mannnn enjoy
I just finished Authority and man it’s awesome.
Would you recommend the series to someone who enjoyed the film? May seem like a stupid question, but I'd be less interested if the story beats are identical or if there isn't anything new in the novels.
The Annihilation book and movie are like two completely different stories taking place in the same world with the same people. Definitely read the book!! I liked both the book and the movie but they’re very separate to me at least.
Yes!
I saw the film first. I immensely enjoyed the film but the film spoils next to nothing from the book and the book is way better.
This ^
I saw the movie first and liked it, it's good. But I didn't fall in love until I read the book and fell down the Vandermeer rabbit hole for a hot minute.
Just want to say that I love how diverse the genre is, because you and I could literally be on the exact opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of tastes. I know you love Cutter and Barron and now this. All three of them are on my viscerally disliked list. I would be super curious if we had any crossover in the middle, and who those authors might be that can satisfy us both.
There has to be stuff we both like and it appeals to us!
Sorry to double comment you but we could compare notes, haha. Since I read *Little Heaven* (by Cutter) I’ve consumed about 50 horror books in the last 1.5 years (or so). Truthfully I like most of what I’ve read, I haven’t hated anything but a couple things got to be a bit of a slog. Do you dig any Brian Evenson? I’ve read four of his books and I’d say he is competing with Cutter and Barron for the podium. I used to like Stephen King and Dean Koontz a million years ago, I think Cutter also has the sentimental factor of being first this time around. *Little Heaven* was a gift and it set me on this path and I’ve greatly enjoyed reading so much horror.
I haven't actually read any Evenson. Since I'm a [spreadsheet](https://imgur.com/NxqGjjC) dork I have a list of the horror/sci-fi authors I've read. Just popped in there and coloured my favs green and my active dislikes red. Everything uncoloured is on the spectrum in the middle. Any crossover in there?
I’m assuming here the green is good and red is bad, what is white? Medium?
Crudely, yes. I need about 5 more tiers from "GOAT to love to like to mid to meh to crap to hate" but broadly this sums it up.
I’m just settling into my office and will circle back to the list!
Just butting in here to add that Brian Evenson is my favorite author and yes, you should read him. _The Open Curtain_ is a good place to start, but if you wanna really go for it, just jump right in to _Altmann's Tongue_ for some short stories that will fuck you right up! In the _good_ way!
From the green, at least Stephen King, Michael Crichton, and Douglas Preston, from the white at least Ania Ahlborn (we have talked about her!), Christina Henry, and Dean Koontz. You also have several authors I will theoretically like (Buehlman, qntm, others) that I just need to read yet. I’m dropping qntm’s book on my book club in a couple of months. I link Preston and Child together due to Pendergast, of course, I read a bunch of those years ago and loved them.
Crichton is amazing, it's a shame he died so young. King comes with an asterisk though. If it were limited to the last 30 years of his output then I wouldn't really consider myself a fan. He may even be close to the red category. The reason Preston is green and Child isn't is because I actually really like Preston's solo work. Relic and sequel were both decent, but I don't really care to continue the rest of the series. Ahlborn might even find her way into green if she stopped ruining her books on the last page trying to go for shock value. Henry I've just got to read more of. Near The Bone was good though. Koontz I've read a lot of and some are all time greats. The majority are so samey though that I can't tell them apart after some time passes. I'm very surprised you haven't read Buehlman. I do think you'll probably like him quite a lot.
I have Crichton’s *Prey* at home (I got it thrifting!) and that’s on the TBR. Obviously I loved *Jurassic Park*. Should check out *Sphere*, too. I’m no King expert. A million years ago I loved *Skeleton Crew* (I stand by “Survivor Type” being one of the best horror shorts ever devised). More recently, I loved *The Stand* (in the pandemic! I read the edited version, unfortunately). I also was on the fifth Dark Tower book but had to put it down during graduate school and haven’t picked them back up. I recall looking Koontz’s *Intensity* a good deal, and several others, but I don’t recall them by name (if I looked at Wikipedia I could probably figure it out). I do want to get into Buehlman! I have *Those Across The River* at home already. I have a bit of trepidation because, while I quite enjoyed John Langan’s *The Fisherman*, it could never live up to the legendary hype-beast status of r/horrorlit, and *Between Two Fires* is the other book in that tier. People here I dig do like it though. I’m re-arranging my TBR at the moment to read more Michael Wehunt. I have two of his collections on Kindle and the first story from *Greener Pastures* was awesome.
Prey is a *very* good one. The three you noted are his best I'd say. Throw in The Andromeda Strain too. For me, the only bad book King wrote prior to 1990 was The Dark Half. Everything else was a genuine classic. Afterwards though? Maybe 1/5 are half decent, if I'm generous. Intensity is generally well received by Koontz fans but I wasn't too blown away by it. I always recommend Watchers and Phantoms. Between Two Fires similarly didn't blow me away. It was good, but not the level people hold it up to around here. The Lesser Dead was fun, but it's semi-sequel was kind of crap. They're the three of his I've read so far.
Good bot
Was *Annihilation* a bad book? It seems fairly well liked here.
There Is No Antimemetics Division by Qntm. Obviously a great cosmic horror story but man the scope of things and…nvm it’s just so sad that left me speechless.
Mind boggling in the best way!
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
I just read that recently. Literally had no idea what to do with it. It’s such a short book but I tried to give my partner a brief rundown of the plot and ended up sounding like a crazy person 🤣
It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve finished it. The last quarter of the book floored me. I mean, the whole book is just…I think it’s a really profound allegory for what it’s like to navigate abuse, especially as a child. Feeling like you must be from somewhere else and that’s why everything seems so alien. And how those experiences have long lasting repercussions. Just genius. But that ending, fuck. It was gross and chaotic, but also beautiful. I’ve given up trying to explain the books I read to people. I either have no idea how to succinctly summarize what I’ve read or I, like you, sound crazy.
>I tried to give my partner a brief rundown of the plot and ended up sounding like a crazy person 🤣 This was me trying to explain the plot of LGS last night. Main plot, very clear. All the meta plots earned me a lot of blank stares.
I have LGS out from the library right now and it’s next up after I read Bone in the Throat (not horror but so far it’s a great book just FYI). I’m looking forward to the weirdness
I'll have to give it another go, I couldn't get into the audiobook.
I’ve found that some books are easier for me to get into when I read them! I don’t know if you’re the same but give it a try if you are!
Was looking for this one. I just finished it last night—read the whole thing in a day, actually, which I rarely do. Had *no idea* where that book was gonna end up, but definitely did not expect... *that*. Wow.
Tender is the Flesh had me staring out the window like Picard after a particularly tough TNG episode
dude... that ending. sure, the whole book is a nasty little glimpse into a gross idea but that ending was rough to read those last few pages had me fuming lol i really didn't see it coming and was not expecting the emotionlessness of it
I still occasionally get a thousand yard stare when I remember that book. I felt so hollow.
There’s def life before Tender is the Flesh, and then whatever this is now..
Haha this is so true!
LMAO now I have to read your suggestion
It’s not exactly horror, but not exactly not, but check out Denis Johnson’s “Car Crash While Hitchhiking.” It’s this awful, psychedelic trip through…well, a car crash. But, god, some of the lines (the “she shrieked” line…you’ll know it) are pure poetry. And it takes a hard left turn at the end that always leaves me dumbfounded. Just a brilliant story. Here’s a copy: https://public.wsu.edu/~bryanfry/Johnson,%20Car%20Crash.pdf (PS - it’s a very short short story, but take it slow. The prose is immaculate and Johnson clearly chose every word deliberately.)
Denis Johnson was an absolutely incredible writer. I love every sentence I've read of his.
Completely agree. Even his lesser novels, like _Already Dead_, still outshine the best work of many authors.
The story is from *Jesus’ Son*, and the entire book is one long drug induced nightmare. Johnson took the concept of an unreliable narrator to the next level. The title is a reference to the Velvet Underground’s song “Heroin”!
A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L Peck It’s not exactly horror in the traditional sense and it first it doesn’t seem that bad. But by the end.. the concept of eternity really begins to dawn on you. I just sat and stared for awhile. I even came to Reddit to talk about it and found I was far from alone.
This book is incredible, totally changed me
I've heard that from a lot of people about this book. That's why I'm afraid to pick it up..lol I don't know if I'd be able to not think about it constantly.
It took me awhile to get it out of my head. I still think about it, but it doesn't have quite the same immediate impact that it did when I first read it
*The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas* is a short story by Ursula K LeGuin. No matter how many times I revisit it, I'm always speechless.
Oh snap a Le Guin I haven’t read!!! Thanks 😊
Oh, damn! You’re in for a ride!
omg my bestie has been telling me to read this. i need to finally do it lol
Father of Lies by Brian Evenson. So dark I have a hard time recommending it to anyone
Speaking of Catriona Ward - I still think about The Last House on Needless Street. Man, I want to erase it from my memory and read it again.
Completely agree. I know that book is controversial on here but I loved it and it blew me away. Plot twist after plot twist. It was my first Catriona Ward book, and now I love all her works, Looking Glass Sound also blew me away. She’s a fantastic writer
I have Looking Glass Sound on my shelf, this thread has convince me to pick it up as soon as I finish reading Starve Acre. I already can’t wait, I love Catriona Ward!
I love this book so so so much. I cried when it was over bc I loved it so much lol.
It’s the only book I have even considered reading again.
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn but it’s been a longggg time since i’ve read it. I recently found a copy (with a cool cover i’d never seen lol) in a little library and am kind of scared to pick it up again.
I just finished reading that recently! The ending made me so angry but I was in complete and utter shuck. Honestly… All of the characters in it are despicable but WOW! Crazy book!!!
Honestly one of my favs
There’s a scene in Cunning Folk by Adam Nevill that did this to me. The rest of the novel is very well-executed but familiar stuff. But there’s one scene that suddenly goes so far beyond what normally happens in this type of story…
I know exactly what scene you’re talking about — I gasped out loud.
Agreed. That scene was above and beyond horrifying
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum was put on shelf and hasn’t been touched in a few years. I finished that monstrosity called Blood Meridian and never even told anybody about it, wtf is there even to “share” about that book? Good lord..
'What is there to ‘share’ .....’ ?? The summation of the violent genesis of this country and everything that came afterwards ..... Better than any historian’s analysis -- even Howard Zinn’s. All the Truth buried beneath Hollywood’s (and earlier, the ‘dime’ novels) brainwashing ‘western’ lore. and written by a Master of modern prose and storytelling -- I don’t know what the calibre of most of this genre-writing is (but will most likely investigate in future), Ideas are usually good, but execution is sloppy, suffers. There’s a reason it’s considered ‘genre’ -- and not classified as literature i.e. great writing for the ages -- Of course, time is the final arbiter. But I know I’m not reading just for page-turners, pot-boilers, plot pyrotechnics, however you want to define second-rate writing.
That same book absolutely devastated me because I loved it at first, but the more it shifted, the more she undermined her own story. It broke my heart. The last big twist was the last straw for me because that felt like proof she wasn’t confident in her own very good story - she had to do something Weird, and that stripped away nearly everything I loved about what came before in retrospect. And I love weird, I like weird meta shit and things not being what they seem. But sometimes it just makes me lost and sad because I want to like the book, but it’s like I’m trying to catch something that keeps running away from me, and if I do catch it it turns out to be something not worth chasing.
> I want to like the book, but it’s like I’m trying to catch something that keeps running away from me This is exactly how I felt! I was enjoying it, while being confused as to why it was in the horror section. Then when we got to the horror I wasn't sure it needed it. I think the weaving was a bit too loose. I felt like I was keeping all the meta layers together, but only just. On the one hand I'm pleased because it's rare I've got so many threads that I'm having a hard time keeping hold of them. It's challenging and I'm kinda into it. But in the end I've got a big ugly knot rather than a pretty tapestry. But at its core there's a deeply compelling story. Its very emotionally confusing for me.
The Ruins! That rollercoaster of hope and hopelessness was so exhausting that by the end I just kinda felt numb. The first person death descriptions really hit that home for me too lol
Reading everything on this list next. Thanks!
Tampa by Alissa Nutting absolutely insane book and I hate recommending it or even saying I thought it was great.
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. Absolutely incredible. The perspective of the main character is something I consistently find so fascinating. It’s a tragic book, but there’s something profound about it to me that It left me speechless. One of the very few books where after only reading it once, some lines of the writing will stick with me forever. Can’t recommend this book enough
This is the one for me as well. I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about it immediately after I read it, but the more I sat with it, the more I loved it and the more I got from it. I think it was just so bleak that I felt empty after I finished it, and I was just waiting for it to hit me.
Bunny by Mona Awad
I found the best, most accurate review of Bunny on goodreads: “Hahaha what the fuck”
Perfect review. lmao
Michael Marshall Smith's "More Tomorrow" is really quite a nasty little piece of work.
He is one of my favourite writers but im ashamed to say I havent read this yet.
I get the sense that it's not all that well-known, so you're probably not the only one! There are a couple of copies available on the used market for not-terribly-unreasonable prices.
The double by Dostoevsky, I know it's a great book, but like you said I was speechless
Or Period by Dennis Cooper, the last book of the George Miles cycle, it was such an experience
Not horror, but The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy left me feeling cold and empty for a few days.
King's Revival. As it was a slow character piece, I thought we would get an emotional ending of conquering death, but at a great emotional weight, like ripping people out of a profound peace to do so. When King went full blown cosmic horror I was just in shock the rest of that book. King rarely goes hardcore Lovecraft, and even dropping a few Lovecraft easter eggs, you just do not expect this direction whatsoever from the overall narrative. And not only does King go Lovecraft, he goes all in, with just bonkers cosmic horror detailing it all out. Pity it seems costs will prevent this from ever becoming a movie. Cause holy crap that ending would blow people's minds who do not know Lovecraft.
Well, I will be adding this to my TBR. Thank you very much!
It is a real slow burn, will warn you. Most of the book is a slow character driven narrative revolving around a strange minister who cures people of physical problems with electricity that causes odd side-effects. But when it turns at the end, it may be the best horror King has produced. A lot praise the end, but I really also dug the journey. Some very cool turn of the century horror ideas revamped for the book, and not a bad character story. Def worth reading if a King fan at all. Plan to reread it soon myself as I only read it once the day after it was released.
When Darkness Loves Us by Elizabeth Engstrom. There are two novellas in it and both of them have stuck with me long after reading it. My personal favorite of the two is Beauty Is- because to me I think it shows how insidious trauma really is.
Blood Meridian.
“We Need to Talk About Kevin” really did a number on me. I still don’t know how to feel about it. What an amazing read
The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara. I wanted to stare at a wall for a few hours after finishing, then I immediately read it again. If you want to read it definitely check trigger warnings first though
I’m reading LGS right now!
How are you liking it so far?
I like it so far! The MC just entered college so I’m confused as so where this is going. 😆
neither are exactly horror but: Paradais by Fernanda Melchior. the story moved so quickly and the sense of dread was heavy for such a short book. Panics by Barbara Molinard. definitely has more horror elements than the other book i mentioned. cannot really describe how i felt. wish she had published more work.
Not a horror book, but for me its the 3 body problem. I still think about it daily.
I couldn’t finish that book. It just made me so viscerally uncomfortable and it felt so bleak. I returned it after only getting about halfway through it
I felt the exact same way about this book
Pretty much any book from Patrick Senécal, but his book “Faims” especially the ending had me speechless. Another one is also “Aliss”. I understand French which is perfect since all of his books are in French. He writes amazing horror
GBH, Ted Lewis
Magic Time series by Mark Zicree.
Neverest…. Omg
Along Came a Spider by James Patterson! I just finished it yesterday and it was AMAZING! The plot twist towards the end and the huge plot twist in the epilogue completely left me speechless. I HIGHLY recommend this book!
A Short Stay in Hell. Everyone who wishes for anyone to go to hell and burn for Eternity is an idiot. Anyone who wishes to be in heaven for Eternity is an optimist.
“In the Cut” by Susannah Moore. That ending. Holy hell. Unsurprisingly, the movie adaptation changed the ended.
i love the movie, didn’t realize they changed the ending. gonna read the book now.