Hey all, I’m going to try and describe what I’m looking for as best I can. I’m looking for something that has a bit of a dreadful/cold atmosphere to it. Where we aren’t looking for a happy ending, because it’s clear there isn’t one. If I can throw some examples out there:
Catcher In The Rye, Looking For Alaska, Ohio (Stephen Markley,) Bad Man by Dathan Auerbach, I’m Thinking Of Ending Things, 13 Reasons Why, Revival by SK,
The movies Cashback also comes to mind.
I realize the list is quite YA heavy, and I’m open to YA but it doesn’t need to be.
Thank you in advance. Trying to work my way out of a reading slump but with the cold weather coming in, I’d like a story that feels cold. Thank you all in advance. <3
by brokewannabewriter
13 Comments
1984 comes to my mind
The Road, No Country for Old Men
Ice by Anna Kavan
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier definitely has a feeling of dread throughout.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
“The Mercies” by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (adult historical fiction) and “Disappearing Earth” by Julia Phillips (adult contemporary realistic fiction) – both set in very cold places and focused on communities of women affected by tragedy.
For YA, this is a bit older, but “Troubling a Star” by Madeleine L’Engle follows a teenage protagonist on a trip to Antarctica. (It’s part of a series, but can be read and understood as a standalone.)
Dead Man’s Walk by Larry McMurtry
Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy
Child of God by Cormac McCarthy
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
No County for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
1984 by George Orwell
The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell
The Children of Men by P.D. James
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Blindness by Jose Saramago
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
The Scarlett Plague by Jack London
The Call of Cthulh by Lovecraft
The Dunwich Horror by Lovecraft
The Shadow over Innsmouth by Lovecraft
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe
Blindness by Jose Saramago
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick
Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell
*Dark Places* by Gillian Flynn made my blood run cold.
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Have you read any of Iain Banks’ other books? We Spread and Foe are both super creepy.
Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky)
The Left Hand of Darkness-le Guin
Unspeakable Things by Jess Lourey, it was dreadful. Not overly graphic, but it made my skin crawl.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova