Books

10 Horror Books So Scary You Might Not Be Able To Finish Them

by Melissa Ragsdale

It's 3AM, you have every light on in your apartment, and you're huddled on your bed, your stomach clenched in knots. Something outside makes a noise, and you shriek, throwing the book at the wall and darting under the covers. It's not real, you tell yourself over and over, It's not real. But you still can't stop yourself from finishing that terrifying horror novel.

If you're itching for a dose of the terrifying, look no further. These books will horrify, shock, and frighten you. They'll pull you to the edge of your comfort zone, then push you gleefully off the ledge. They'll haunt you at every hour of the day and night, making even the most innocent parts of your life start to seem gruesome and insidious.

Do you dare open their pages?

From serial killers to haunted houses, these books will pull out all the stops to give you that cold shock of terror. Spiral down a psychological thriller, creep your way through a ghost story, or run for your life through a horrifying adventure. You don't know what you'll find around the corner, and you better hope it doesn't find you first. Here are 11 horror novels so scary you might not even finish them:

'The Shining' by Stephen King

This one is a classic, but it was too scary for Joey Tribbiani, and it might just be too scary for you, too. When Jack Torrance takes a job as the caretaker of the ancient Overlook Hotel, he becomes both a victim and a vehicle for the malevolent forces within the hotel.

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'Uzumaki' by Junji Ito

In this manga series, a town finds itself haunted not by a ghost, but by a mysterious spiral pattern that keeps appearing everywhere with no explanation.

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'You' by Caroline Kepnes

When beautiful Guinevere Beck walks into the bookstore where he works, Joe immediately becomes obsessed, Googles the name on her credit, and embed himself in her life without her thinking twice about it. Before long, he's not just her stalker — he's her boyfriend, too.

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'The Grip of It' by Jac Jemc

Julie and James are eager to start their lives over in a new town, faraway from the problems they experienced in the big city. But as soon as they settle into their new home, they begin to experience strange, supernatural events that make them question their own sanity.

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'In the Woods' by Tana French

Three children disappeared one afternoon, and only one returned, covered in blood and unable to recall what happened. Years later, he's a detective who's being forced to wade through those terrifying, long-repressed memories as he tries to solve another murder.

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'Hex' by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

A small town is haunted by a 17th-century witch whose mouth is sewn shut at the corners. Legend has it, she will enter your home at will and watch you sleep. And when a group of teenagers break the town's strict curfew, they make everything much, much worse.

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'Rattle' by Fiona Cummins

At the center of this book is a serial killer called The Bone Collector, who curates his own museums with animal and human bones. And now he's on the hunt for more.

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'The Women in the Walls' by Amy Lukavics

After Lucy's aunt dies, her cousin Margaret begins to hear voice in the walls of the Victorian mansion where they live. Lucy watches helplessly as Margaret's sanity unravels — until she starts hearing voices herself.

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'Come Closer' by Sara Gran

Strange things happening to Amanda. There's a mysterious tapping on her doors, and she suddenly has wild, violent urges she can't control. And Amanda isn't sure if she's losing her mind or possessed.

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'Broken Monsters' by Lauren Beukes

This book begins with a body. But it's no ordinary body. It's half-boy and half-deer. As stranger and more disturbing bodies begin to crop up around town, the community begins to wonder what's happening and question what they know about their neighbors.

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