I’ll go first. *The Ruins* by Scott Smith. It wasn’t the greatest novel of all time, it had some pretty annoying female horror tropes, and the ending was disappointing. But for some reason, I can’t get that book out of my head. Maybe it was the atmosphere, the isolation, the graphic description of the violation these poor people endured on that hilltop. Months after having read it I still think about it occasionally, and I’ve dabbled with the idea of watching the movie but I’m nervous it will be a terrible adaption.
So what about you? What horror novel have you read that’s left a lasting impression in your thoughts for whatever reason?
by pallas_athenaa
11 Comments
Anne Rice
I can’t stop thinking of Perfect Days by Raphael Montes even though I will never read it again. I hated when I first read it, but I think it probably did its job.
*Leech* did not go where I thought the story of a hive mind doctor investigating the death of one of its bodies in post apocalyptic france would go. Great book though
Good pick. The Ruins was kind of disappointing yet it did stick with me.
>!I don’t mind if a short story ends bleakly, but I prefer my horror novels to have a satisfying resolution, that is, a character that triumphs (or at least survives).!<
Song of Kali. All of it.
Also there’s some amazing stuff in The Passage trilogy. Especially one of The Twelve (which are essentially massive vampires) feeding on a victim. There’s a scene where one tears the head off a guy and wraps its mouth around the neck stump and starts sucking so hard the limbs on the body keep contracting. Stuck with me all this time.
House of Leaves. The mix between the different perspectives elevates it to being more terrifying than if it were just a novelisation of the film.
Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell, easily. I read it in middle school and it has never left my mind since.
It’s basically about a bunch of dolls who manipulate the people around them into playing games with names like “Stick a Needle In Your Eyes” and other things like that.
But what never left my mind is truly this one specific chapter, I’m not going to lean into much details but it’s >!basically a chapter describing how one character froze to death. It horrified me and now I’m afraid of freezing to death.!<
*The Twisted Ones* by Ursula Vernon. It was pretty frightening at points, but the thing that really sticks with me was that it’s >!kind of a sequel to The White People by Arthur Machen.!< It makes think about how much potential there is in similar ideas to that.
The House on the Borderlands by William Hope Hodgson (1908). I read it because I heard it was H. P. Lovecraft’s favorite book. It totally delivers, I could not stop reading.
“The book of accidents” is one of my favorites it’s kind of a haunted house theme. I don’t want to give too much away, but it does take place in October and there is a Halloween party. its got some beautiful writing to it and i just had a great time with it.
Our Wives Under the Sea. It’s certainly more literary horror than outright terrifying, and I still regularly think about its beautiful prose and haunting atmosphere. It still gives me chills.