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 — 1,661,255 ratings
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2

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4.24 avg rating — 1,235,781 ratings
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3

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4.08 avg rating — 675,390 ratings
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4

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4.10 avg rating — 641,328 ratings
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5

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4.21 avg rating — 261,262 ratings
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6

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4.02 avg rating — 1,426,356 ratings
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7

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4.20 avg rating — 5,282,075 ratings
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8

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4.35 avg rating — 819,109 ratings
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9

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4.23 avg rating — 822,421 ratings
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10

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3.83 avg rating — 136,536 ratings
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11

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3.99 avg rating — 820,059 ratings
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12

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3.92 avg rating — 81,960 ratings
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13

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4.09 avg rating — 193,444 ratings
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14

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3.80 avg rating — 314,962 ratings
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15

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4.05 avg rating — 154,667 ratings
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16

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3.81 avg rating — 369,889 ratings
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17

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 135,377 ratings
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18

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3.69 avg rating — 64,150 ratings
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19

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3.84 avg rating — 149,779 ratings
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20

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4.04 avg rating — 195,102 ratings
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21

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3.83 avg rating — 646,705 ratings
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22

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3.70 avg rating — 60,529 ratings
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23

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3.95 avg rating — 79,129 ratings
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24

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3.86 avg rating — 259,742 ratings
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25

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3.78 avg rating — 223,847 ratings
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26

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4.15 avg rating — 2,347,233 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 — 637,152 ratings
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29

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3.58 avg rating — 175,780 ratings
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30

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3.98 avg rating — 272,230 ratings
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31

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3.95 avg rating — 114,955 ratings
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32

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3.97 avg rating — 107,592 ratings
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33

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4.02 avg rating — 116,417 ratings
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34

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3.38 avg rating — 173,563 ratings
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35

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4.04 avg rating — 69,267 ratings
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36

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3.92 avg rating — 209,014 ratings
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37

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3.75 avg rating — 78,661 ratings
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38

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3.66 avg rating — 184,138 ratings
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39

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3.99 avg rating — 134,300 ratings
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40

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3.80 avg rating — 89,638 ratings
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41

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3.97 avg rating — 135,219 ratings
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42

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,009,713 ratings
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43

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4.29 avg rating — 164,721 ratings
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44

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3.66 avg rating — 234,393 ratings
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45

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3.60 avg rating — 162,655 ratings
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46

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3.88 avg rating — 27,247 ratings
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47

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4.08 avg rating — 65,922 ratings
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48

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4.06 avg rating — 71,613 ratings
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49

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3.88 avg rating — 59,602 ratings
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50

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4.36 avg rating — 218,119 ratings
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51

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3.91 avg rating — 653,306 ratings
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52

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3.91 avg rating — 25,026 ratings
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53

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4.09 avg rating — 71,333 ratings
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54

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3.95 avg rating — 86,984 ratings
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55

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4.19 avg rating — 29,564 ratings
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56

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4.05 avg rating — 28,225 ratings
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57

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3.70 avg rating — 93,184 ratings
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58

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3.93 avg rating — 44,121 ratings
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59

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4.19 avg rating — 170,573 ratings
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60

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4.04 avg rating — 118,808 ratings
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61

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3.78 avg rating — 149,311 ratings
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62

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4.27 avg rating — 10,065 ratings
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63

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4.17 avg rating — 74,665 ratings
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64

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4.04 avg rating — 67,883 ratings
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65

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3.82 avg rating — 21,074 ratings
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66

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3.86 avg rating — 151,210 ratings
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67

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4.24 avg rating — 284,582 ratings
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68

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3.87 avg rating — 22,891 ratings
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69

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3.89 avg rating — 1,787,174 ratings
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70

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4.25 avg rating — 242,688 ratings
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71

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4.27 avg rating — 216,093 ratings
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72

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3.73 avg rating — 132,450 ratings
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73

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4.30 avg rating — 45,093 ratings
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74

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 757,312 ratings
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75

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4.29 avg rating — 186,399 ratings
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76

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4.04 avg rating — 105,311 ratings
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77

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4.09 avg rating — 64,933 ratings
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78

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4.14 avg rating — 456,417 ratings
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79

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3.91 avg rating — 13,598 ratings
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80

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4.07 avg rating — 86,274 ratings
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81

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3.83 avg rating — 165,847 ratings
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82

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4.07 avg rating — 342,675 ratings
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83

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4.05 avg rating — 206,337 ratings
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84

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3.76 avg rating — 19,151 ratings
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85

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3.79 avg rating — 29,113 ratings
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86

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3.97 avg rating — 39,032 ratings
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87

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4.28 avg rating — 1,560,302 ratings
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88

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3.87 avg rating — 28,236 ratings
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89

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3.61 avg rating — 15,397 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 — 175,691 ratings
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91

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3.90 avg rating — 146,907 ratings
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93

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3.64 avg rating — 8,653 ratings
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94

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3.81 avg rating — 150,508 ratings
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95

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3.49 avg rating — 73,883 ratings
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96

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4.63 avg rating — 94 ratings
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97

by
3.58 avg rating — 2,042 ratings
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98

by
3.62 avg rating — 5,648 ratings
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99

by
4.02 avg rating — 652,100 ratings
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100

by
3.57 avg rating — 32,008 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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