10 Genuinely Terrifying Books

You might not want to read these just before bedtime! Enjoy our selection of the scariest and most terrifying books

The Shining by Stephen King

Jack Torrance, a writer and recovering alcoholic, accepts a job as the off-season caretaker of the isolated Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies. He moves in with his wife Wendy and gifted young son Danny. As the winter closes in, Danny meets the ghostly former guests of the hotel, while Jack’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic and violent. The hotel’s dark past and supernatural forces torment the family and drive Jack into madness. Danny and Wendy desperately try to escape the violently insane Jack and the haunted hotel.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Set in the late 18th century, Mary Shelley’s famous novel follows scientist Victor Frankenstein’s creation of life and the terrible events that are precipitated by his abandonment of his creation. It is a Gothic novel in that it combines supernatural elements with horror, death and an exploration of the darker aspects of the psyche.

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

Rosemary Woodhouse and her struggling actor husband Guy move into the Bramford, an old New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation and mostly elderly residents. Neighbors Roman and Minnie Castavet soon come nosing around to welcome the Woodhouses to the building, and despite Rosemary’s reservations about their eccentricity and the weird noises that she keeps hearing, her husband takes a shine to them. Shortly after Guy lands a plum Broadway role, Rosemary becomes pregnant—and the Castavets start taking a special interest in her welfare. As the sickened Rosemary becomes increasingly isolated, she begins to suspect that the Castavets’ circle is not what it seems…

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting;’ Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

Originally published in 1971, The Exorcist remains one of the most controversial novels ever written. A literary phenomenon soon after its release, it spent fifty-seven weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, seventeen consecutively at number one.

Inspired by the shockingly true story of a child’s demonic possession in the 1940s, William Peter Blatty’s iconic novel focuses on Regan, the eleven-year-old daughter of a movie actress residing in Washington, D.C. When sweet Regan’s behavior turns sinister, a small group of overwhelmed yet determined individuals take it upon themselves to rescue the poor girl from her unspeakable fate. Timeless and terrifying, The Exorcist is a story that has gripped the public zeitgeist for nearly half a century.

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

A serial murderer known only by the nickname Buffalo Bill is stalking particular women. Clarice Starling, a young trainee at the F.B.I. Academy, is surprised to be summoned by Jack Crawford, Chief of the Bureau’s Behavioral Science section. Her assignment: to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and grisly killer now kept under close watch in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Lecter’s insight into the minds of murderers could help track and capture Buffalo Bill.

Smart and attractive, Starling is shaken to find herself in a strange, intense relationship with the acutely perceptive Lecter. His cryptic clues—about Buffalo Bill and about her—launch Clarice on a search that every reader will find startling, harrowing, and totally compelling.

Psycho by Robert Bloch

Robert Bloch based his taut psychological thriller on the all-too-real story of Ed Gein, a psychotic murderer who led a dual life. It was here that the legend of the Bates Motel was born.
Norman Bates loves his mother, though she has been dead for the past twenty years. Or is she dead? Norman knows better. Ever since leaving the hospital, he has lived with Mother in the old house up on the hill above the rundown Bates Motel.

One night Norman welcomes a beautiful woman who checks into the motel, and spies on her as she undresses. Norman can’t help himself. Mother is there, though. She is there to protect Norman from his filthy thoughts. She is there to protect him with her butcher knife!
The story of Norman Bates and his mother has become one of the best known in the annals of horror.

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Patrick Bateman, a young, wealthy investment banker in 1980s New York, leads a secret life as a serial killer. The story is a first-person narrative, based on Bateman’s own stream of consciousness, as he describes his violent urges and their bloody satisfaction. However, the plot also ambiguously suggests that Bateman’s killings may have only been fantasies. The story is a terrifying depiction of the dark side of yuppie culture and a critique of 1980s greed and materialism, providing a disturbing look into the mind of a psychopath.

The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson

The bestselling true story about a house possessed by evil spirits, haunted by psychic phenomena almost too terrible to describe

In December 1975, the Lutz family moved into their new home on suburban Long Island. George and Kathleen Lutz knew that, one year earlier, Ronald DeFeo had murdered his family in the house. Twenty-eight days later, the entire Lutz family fled in terror. 

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

The Turn of the Screw a novella by Henry James was published serially in Collier’s Weekly in 1898 and published in book form later that year. One of the world’s most famous ghost stories, the tale is told mostly through the journal of a governess and depicts her struggle to save her two young charges from the demonic influence of the eerie apparitions of two former servants in the household. The story inspired critical debate over the question of the “reality” of the ghosts and of James’s intentions.

Some further reading on the Horror genre, 100 Horror Stories and Best Horror Books

Also give our Super Scary Horror Book Quiz a try