Scariest books of all time

Books that will give you nightmares - but in a good way!
1

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4.28 avg rating — 1,660,834 ratings
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2

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4.24 avg rating — 1,235,478 ratings
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3

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4.08 avg rating — 675,113 ratings
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4

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4.10 avg rating — 641,114 ratings
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5

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4.21 avg rating — 261,134 ratings
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6

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4.02 avg rating — 1,425,756 ratings
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7

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4.20 avg rating — 5,279,583 ratings
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8

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4.35 avg rating — 818,929 ratings
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9

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4.23 avg rating — 822,080 ratings
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10

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3.83 avg rating — 136,513 ratings
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11

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3.99 avg rating — 819,854 ratings
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12

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3.92 avg rating — 81,947 ratings
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13

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4.09 avg rating — 193,346 ratings
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14

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3.80 avg rating — 314,854 ratings
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15

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4.05 avg rating — 154,608 ratings
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16

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3.81 avg rating — 369,632 ratings
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17

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 135,365 ratings
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18

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3.69 avg rating — 64,114 ratings
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19

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3.84 avg rating — 149,723 ratings
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20

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4.04 avg rating — 195,055 ratings
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21

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3.83 avg rating — 646,497 ratings
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22

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3.70 avg rating — 60,500 ratings
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23

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3.95 avg rating — 79,109 ratings
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24

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3.86 avg rating — 259,660 ratings
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25

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3.78 avg rating — 223,800 ratings
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26

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4.15 avg rating — 2,346,206 ratings
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27

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4.38 avg rating — 1,889 ratings
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28

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4.02 avg rating — 636,976 ratings
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29

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3.58 avg rating — 175,742 ratings
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30

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3.98 avg rating — 272,153 ratings
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31

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3.95 avg rating — 114,949 ratings
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32

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3.97 avg rating — 107,580 ratings
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33

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4.02 avg rating — 116,358 ratings
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34

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3.38 avg rating — 173,499 ratings
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35

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4.04 avg rating — 69,264 ratings
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36

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3.92 avg rating — 208,980 ratings
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37

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3.75 avg rating — 78,626 ratings
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38

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3.66 avg rating — 184,117 ratings
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39

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3.99 avg rating — 134,277 ratings
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40

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3.80 avg rating — 89,632 ratings
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41

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3.97 avg rating — 135,180 ratings
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42

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,009,363 ratings
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43

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4.29 avg rating — 164,649 ratings
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44

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3.66 avg rating — 234,366 ratings
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45

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3.61 avg rating — 162,627 ratings
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46

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3.88 avg rating — 27,245 ratings
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47

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4.08 avg rating — 65,892 ratings
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48

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4.06 avg rating — 71,601 ratings
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49

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3.88 avg rating — 59,594 ratings
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50

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4.36 avg rating — 218,077 ratings
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51

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3.91 avg rating — 653,185 ratings
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52

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3.91 avg rating — 25,021 ratings
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53

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4.09 avg rating — 71,293 ratings
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54

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3.95 avg rating — 86,970 ratings
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55

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4.19 avg rating — 29,556 ratings
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56

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4.05 avg rating — 28,211 ratings
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57

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3.70 avg rating — 93,165 ratings
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58

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3.93 avg rating — 44,110 ratings
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59

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4.19 avg rating — 170,552 ratings
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60

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4.04 avg rating — 118,785 ratings
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61

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3.78 avg rating — 149,239 ratings
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62

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4.27 avg rating — 10,064 ratings
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63

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4.17 avg rating — 74,662 ratings
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64

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4.04 avg rating — 67,868 ratings
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65

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3.82 avg rating — 21,072 ratings
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66

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3.86 avg rating — 151,185 ratings
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67

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4.24 avg rating — 284,513 ratings
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68

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3.88 avg rating — 22,888 ratings
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69

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3.89 avg rating — 1,786,461 ratings
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70

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4.25 avg rating — 242,644 ratings
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71

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4.27 avg rating — 216,046 ratings
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72

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3.73 avg rating — 132,409 ratings
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73

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4.30 avg rating — 45,083 ratings
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74

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 757,162 ratings
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75

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4.29 avg rating — 186,358 ratings
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76

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4.04 avg rating — 105,252 ratings
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77

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4.09 avg rating — 64,922 ratings
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78

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4.14 avg rating — 456,335 ratings
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79

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3.91 avg rating — 13,596 ratings
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80

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4.07 avg rating — 86,245 ratings
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81

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3.83 avg rating — 165,812 ratings
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82

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4.07 avg rating — 342,455 ratings
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83

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4.05 avg rating — 206,288 ratings
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84

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3.76 avg rating — 19,138 ratings
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85

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3.79 avg rating — 29,086 ratings
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86

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3.97 avg rating — 39,029 ratings
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87

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4.28 avg rating — 1,559,537 ratings
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88

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3.87 avg rating — 28,224 ratings
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89

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3.61 avg rating — 15,392 ratings
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90

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3.72 avg rating — 10,581 ratings
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91

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3.64 avg rating — 175,652 ratings
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91

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3.90 avg rating — 146,856 ratings
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93

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3.64 avg rating — 8,652 ratings
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94

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3.81 avg rating — 150,479 ratings
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95

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3.49 avg rating — 73,867 ratings
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96

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4.63 avg rating — 94 ratings
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97

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3.58 avg rating — 2,041 ratings
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98

by
3.62 avg rating — 5,648 ratings
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99

by
4.02 avg rating — 652,044 ratings
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100

by
3.57 avg rating — 31,976 ratings
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629 books · 733 voters · list created August 6th, 2009 by TM (votes) .
160 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


TM 33 books
0 friends
Greyweather 2660 books
65 friends
Bettie 15668 books
19 friends
Robert 2756 books
303 friends
Lezlee 1467 books
84 friends
Anna 6104 books
47 friends
Sofia 1426 books
183 friends
Esmer 399 books
36 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-16 of 16 (16 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Adam (new)

Adam Haha, look at how many of thes are Stephen King!


message 2: by Morgan (new)

Morgan F Adam/ wrote: "Haha, look at how many of thes are Stephen King!"

That's what I was thinking. I like how his name is even in the tags.


message 3: by [deleted user] (new)

He's written many books, and each has a way of getting to your mind and screw with you... guess they were bound to crop up :D
Now, this list has given me a lot more tittles to read.


message 4: by Mihaela (new)

Mihaela The Stephen King's list.
His name is so common here and of course is not without a reason.


message 5: by Aubrey (new)

Aubrey Well I can't take this list seriously, there's a Harry Potter book on here!


message 6: by Olivia (new)

Olivia Might as well call this Steven King Book List. No surprise his books are the scariest.


message 7: by Karrie (new)

Karrie What book is Harry Potter may I ask? I didn't see it.I like Blake Crouch, konrath as well as Amy Cross.


message 8: by Lynn (new)

Lynn Neering Wow- some of these title brought back memories of reading years and years ago. It reminded me of some series that I need to start again! Thanks!!


message 10: by Debbie (new)

Debbie Darnell-kielman great list when you are trying to think "now what do I want to read next?" Except for the Harry Potter book.


message 11: by Laura (last edited Jul 24, 2016 12:03PM) (new)

Laura Manory I chose harry potter out of curiosity. Even my grandkids are not into him...at all. I wanted to know what the big deal was. Then I saw the first movie of it. It is definitely for young kids. I prefer Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Michael Laimo (the next Stephen King), Jeffrey Deaver and others of the same genre. It IS my favorite genre.


message 12: by Holly (new)

Holly This is a seriously flawed list.........lots of books here have a scare factor comparable to Scooby Doo.


message 13: by Nisus (new)

Nisus Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and The Castle should be in this list. Kafka is the king of what one could call "absurdist horror" (sic), his main character is basically in the same situation than the "last survivor" of a horror story- he never knows if he's awake or experiencing a nightmare.

Also, Harry Potter is a children's book and does not belong anywhere in a list like this


message 14: by ~☆~Autumn (new)

~☆~Autumn There are NO good nightmares. There are good dreams but by definition a nightmare is terrifying and BAD.


message 15: by Benjamin (new)

Benjamin Holly wrote: "This is a seriously flawed list.........lots of books here have a scare factor comparable to Scooby Doo."

Can you recommend some good scary books?


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Benjamin wrote: "Can you recommend some good scary books?"

'Scary' can have different reasons... :-)


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