The Horror Book List

1. The Shining by Stephen King

The movie version of The Shining is a pop culture touchstone — but as usual, the book is even better than the movie. There's a reason King is considered a horror master: The tense atmosphere and freaky supernatural occurrences get into the reader's head and make you begin to doubt your own grip on sanity, along with that of the characters. Most people are probably familiar with the premise of the book: An alcoholic father takes a job as the off-season caretaker of an isolated mountain resort, in order to work on his writing and become closer to his family. The son is a psychic, a "shiner", who can see the haunting in the hotel. Sure the book is chock full of supernatural visions — but equally disturbing is the human-on-human violence. The child's-eye view of his parents' deteriorating relationship — and sanity — is meant to dredge up uncomfortable memories of childhood's confusion and powerlessness.

2. Haunted: A Novel in Stories by Chuck Palahniuk

The one-star and five-star reviews of this book actually say the same thing — it's absolutely disgusting and disturbing. A group of would-be writers answers an advertisement for a three-month writing retreat. When the attendees arrive, they're locked in an old-theater, with dwindling supplies. The novel is actually a series of short stories strung together under the artifice of the captives telling tales, and the tales become more horrifying and grotesque as the situation deteriorates. A situation made worse by the participants themselves, as they begin to practice murder and self-mutilation in the belief they are in some kind of reality show. It is said that when Palahniuk read the first tale "Guts" on book tour, people were fainting left and right. The reader is freaked out, not just by the graphic violence and unnerving supernatural bits — but also, the uncomfortable questions about what people will do for fame.

3.The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

There was a golden age of horror movies from the late sixties to through the 1970's, that was brought on by a renaissance of quality horror novels like The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, andThe Shining. In a world where we're all jaded by fountains of blood , it is a testament to a book's quality that it can remain a staple on the "best horror novel" lists. The story is about an innocent young girl, who's possessed by an ancient demon, an old priest that specializes in exorcisms and the research of demons, a young priest struggling with his faith after the death of his mother, and a police detective investigating a grisly murder. The book is engaging, and of course has its intense moments of supernatural activity and shocking moments that might be considered tame by today's standards. The truly unsettling thing about the book — and what makes it linger as a classic — is how it tackles larger themes about belief and the unfairness of the world. It questions a god that allows an innocent to be struck down and made to suffer and questions why there is evil in the world. It leaves the reader very much aware of your own vulnerability and the vast unfairness of it all — which are the most terrifying things to contemplate.

4. The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft

   Lovecraft is difficult to pin down or talk about because of his cult like status, but it is hard to have a list of scary books and ignore him. He redefined what horror could be and influenced pop culture from Arkham Asylum to the Evil Dead movies. But whether you find his stories immediately frightening depends on your ability to take his dense prose. Some think his wordy descriptions paint an eerie and unsettling world. Some just find him tiresome. The development of the Cthulhu mythology is all about the lingering slow burn. Lovecraft often follows a pattern in his short stories: an educated man encounters an ancient horror so vast and beyond comprehension that he is driven mad by the mere thought or glimpse. Despite all of our civilization and education, we're powerless pawns against a large brutal universe of half-glimpsed horrors. Despite being such a famous property, there hasn't been much of an attempt to bring it to the big screen. There just isn't much to see, instead the subtle and dense prose builds up a thick mythology of cosmic horror.

5. A STIR OF ECHOES (1958), RICHARD MATHESON

Synopsis: Out of nowhere, Tom Wallace's hidden psychic abilities take shape, allowing him to hear people's thoughts. Not just those of flesh-and-blood individuals, though—he begins to receive messages from the deceased.
Why it's scary good: In Tom Wallace, Matheson created a great everyman. His sudden ability to communicate with the dead is presented informally, more like a secondary plot device. Matheson's primary focus is Wallace's teetering marriage to the mother of his unborn child. As Tom believes in his otherworldly skills more and more, his wife further rejects the possibility. The book's underlying message: Stay single as long as you can, fellas.

6. BURNT OFFERINGS (1973), ROBERT MARASCO

Synopsis: A man, along with his wife, son, and elderly aunt, relocates from Queens, N.Y., to a country mansion in Long Island. The new crib seems to be picturesque at first, before the supernatural takes over and, eventually, all hell breaks loose.
Why it's scary good: Burnt Offerings only seems like a obvious cross between The Shiningand The Haunting of Hill House in plot description. Marasco separates his contribution to fiction's haunted house canon by giving the house a puppetmaster's control over the characters. As the house regenerates itself (dead flowers bloom without water, for instance), the family's attempts at hauling ass away from the grounds are repeatedly halted by unseen forces (such as trees falling onto roads). And you thought your constantly overflowing toilet was annoying.

7. THE WOMAN IN BLACK (1983), SUSAN HILL

Synopsis: A young lawyer, Arthur Kipps, heads to a small village in the United Kingdom to attend the funeral of an elderly widow. While there, Kipps begins seeing a black-clad specter believed to be the harbinger of death for children.
Why it's scary good: There's nothing all that original about Hill's The Woman in Black. Spooky old houses, bumps in the night, and a voiceless ghost—fans of supernatural fiction have read it all before. Hill's tale stands out, however, thanks to its wise use of first-person narration, which gives the familiar scares a wicked sense of urgency. And as for its heart-crushing final scene... it'll leave you wanting to hug the nearest little kid in sight. Not like that, perv.

8.LET THE RIGHT ONE IN/LET ME IN (2004), JOHN AJVIDE LINDQVIST

Synopsis: Oskar, a 12-year-old outcast living in Sweden, befriends peculiar little girl Eli, who's just moved into his apartment complex. Immediately after Eli and her suspect "father" settle in, though, corpses begin piling up, all without blood.
Why it's scary good: Lindqvist's novel is elegantly written and tautly macabre. And it's also much freakier than either film version; in Lindqvist's mind, Eli is a childlike immortal devoid of genitals, while her caretaker makes no qualms about his little-boy-adoring kinks. On second thought, let's thank Hollywood for leaving that minor detail alone.

9. THE TURN OF THE SCREW (1898), HENRY JAMES

Synopsis: A young governess is hired by a wealthy man to look after his parentless niece and nephew. Not a tough job, right? Sure, if the children's home wasn't haunted by a pair of malevolent spirits.
Why it's scary good: What's so fascinating about James's novella is that the existence of the ghosts is never confirmed, yet their appearances before the story's unnamed governess/narrator are quite eerie. James does a remarkable job of employing an unreliable storyteller, an untrustworthy woman who's off-center enough to envision a 10-year-old boy as her honeymoon partner. Little man must've had crazy game.

10. DRACULA (1897), BRAM STOKER

Synopsis: A compilation of journal entries and letters, Stoker's multiple-POV story centers around Count Dracula, a suave vampire who destroys the lives of several warm-blooded English folk.
Why it's scary good: One of the more interesting things about Dracula is that it's Stoker's lone masterwork; the guy's other novels flip-flopped between hack-tastic and barely marginal. Despite the accompanying argument that Dracula is a fluke, its seminal aura is more than deserved. Everything in it works, from the romance to the perverse horror to the sly presentation of a sketchy rape fantasy. Think about it: Dracula prefers to drink the blood of helpless women. Stoker was one sick pup. - Rtr.Ginita Sahni

Enjoy the riveting titles this Halloween.

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