Scariest books of all time

Books that will give you nightmares - but in a good way!
101

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3.79 avg rating — 61,858 ratings
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102

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4.14 avg rating — 71,545 ratings
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103

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4.65 avg rating — 54 ratings
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104

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3.95 avg rating — 59,771 ratings
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105

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3.98 avg rating — 22,662 ratings
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106

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4.20 avg rating — 198,558 ratings
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107

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3.88 avg rating — 11,423 ratings
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108

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3.92 avg rating — 277,627 ratings
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109

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4.24 avg rating — 118,543 ratings
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110

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3.87 avg rating — 82,379 ratings
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111

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3.79 avg rating — 20,893 ratings
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112

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3.87 avg rating — 36,676 ratings
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113

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3.83 avg rating — 117,019 ratings
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114

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4.22 avg rating — 3,644 ratings
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115

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3.93 avg rating — 5,970 ratings
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116

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3.72 avg rating — 13,844 ratings
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117

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4.13 avg rating — 288,934 ratings
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118

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3.49 avg rating — 241 ratings
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118

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4.13 avg rating — 1,805,238 ratings
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120

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3.60 avg rating — 85 ratings
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121

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3.75 avg rating — 331 ratings
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121

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4.65 avg rating — 20 ratings
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123

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3.62 avg rating — 3,132 ratings
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124

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3.84 avg rating — 268 ratings
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125

by
4.11 avg rating — 139,163 ratings
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126

by
3.91 avg rating — 63,665 ratings
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127

by
4.58 avg rating — 247,709 ratings
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128

by
4.06 avg rating — 8,204 ratings
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128

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3.65 avg rating — 6,052 ratings
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130

by
3.86 avg rating — 15,001 ratings
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131

by
4.02 avg rating — 47,223 ratings
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132

by
3.92 avg rating — 53,079 ratings
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133

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3.95 avg rating — 22,348 ratings
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134

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3.78 avg rating — 21,666 ratings
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135

by
4.12 avg rating — 2,750,456 ratings
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136

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4.23 avg rating — 219,703 ratings
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137

by
3.45 avg rating — 6,950 ratings
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138

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4.28 avg rating — 4,574 ratings
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138

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4.07 avg rating — 366,507 ratings
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140

by
3.85 avg rating — 9,205 ratings
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141

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3.79 avg rating — 24,565 ratings
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142

by
3.87 avg rating — 171,747 ratings
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143

by
3.86 avg rating — 19,017 ratings
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144

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3.99 avg rating — 22,093 ratings
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145

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3.73 avg rating — 20,526 ratings
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145

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3.93 avg rating — 33,884 ratings
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145

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3.70 avg rating — 3,137,010 ratings
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148

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3.97 avg rating — 90,058 ratings
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149

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3.67 avg rating — 63,743 ratings
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150

by
3.78 avg rating — 94,821 ratings
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151

by
4.06 avg rating — 1,667 ratings
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151

by
3.73 avg rating — 773 ratings
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151

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3.96 avg rating — 47 ratings
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154

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3.94 avg rating — 229 ratings
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155

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3.54 avg rating — 112 ratings
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155

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4.09 avg rating — 714,835 ratings
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157

by
3.95 avg rating — 176,183 ratings
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158

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4.10 avg rating — 123,055 ratings
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158

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4.25 avg rating — 580,551 ratings
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160

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4.08 avg rating — 140,638 ratings
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161

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4.03 avg rating — 91,865 ratings
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162

by
4.18 avg rating — 74 ratings
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163

by
3.68 avg rating — 13,132 ratings
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164

by
3.53 avg rating — 445 ratings
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165

by
4.40 avg rating — 292,546 ratings
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166

by
4.11 avg rating — 119,826 ratings
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166

by
3.66 avg rating — 46,062 ratings
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168

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3.83 avg rating — 195,755 ratings
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169

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4.05 avg rating — 148,852 ratings
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170

by
3.91 avg rating — 12,927 ratings
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171

by
4.17 avg rating — 245,798 ratings
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172

by
4.23 avg rating — 219,703 ratings
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173

by
3.55 avg rating — 1,529 ratings
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173

by
3.78 avg rating — 11,653 ratings
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175

by
3.78 avg rating — 3,333 ratings
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176

by
3.93 avg rating — 40,210 ratings
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177

by
3.69 avg rating — 8,732 ratings
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178

by
4.12 avg rating — 2,955 ratings
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179

by
3.64 avg rating — 63,440 ratings
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179

by
4.16 avg rating — 208,324 ratings
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181

by
3.93 avg rating — 471 ratings
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182

by
4.14 avg rating — 364 ratings
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183

by
4.27 avg rating — 15 ratings
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183

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4.02 avg rating — 214,621 ratings
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183

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4.06 avg rating — 5,667 ratings
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186

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4.01 avg rating — 4,402,901 ratings
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187

by
3.96 avg rating — 3,224,338 ratings
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188

by
3.62 avg rating — 9,151 ratings
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189

by
4.08 avg rating — 208,334 ratings
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190

by
4.16 avg rating — 192,881 ratings
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191

by
3.66 avg rating — 8,291 ratings
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192

by
3.46 avg rating — 1,512 ratings
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193

by
3.65 avg rating — 14,417 ratings
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194

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4.13 avg rating — 765,098 ratings
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195

by
3.48 avg rating — 35,658 ratings
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196

by
3.87 avg rating — 2,557 ratings
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197

by
3.95 avg rating — 21,449 ratings
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198

by
4.01 avg rating — 42,633 ratings
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198

by
4.08 avg rating — 50,185 ratings
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200

by
4.05 avg rating — 234,295 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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