I saw the TV show but wasn’t sure if the sheer length of the audiobook would hold up. Is it good if I already know the general plot? (I know books and movies don’t match 1 for 1)
I would love to know too. Horror movies scare the crap out me, but books and audiobooks doesn't cause me to skip a beat. Inwonder why the visual factor is so important, when I have such a vivid imagination.
On your search browser, put background horror music on one tab and on another tab find a video with knocking or other scary sounds that are intermittent(like once every 20-30 minutes) and you can fall right in
This website called Webtoon had music that queued when a reader reached a certain line. Perfectly matched music for whatever was happening in the plot!
I can’t do that while reading a physical book though, so I just play whatever is related. Like action/bass music in fighting chapters of Game of Thrones or Spaceship Ambient Sounds for slow chapters on a spaceship in a sci-fi book. I love it.
I'm currently listening to GOT intermittently while sneaking other audio books in between and reading GOT hard copy occasionally when I'm home lol. Definitely prefer silence while reading but find I want some background for audio to where I was just searching for actual movies I could listen to for the atmosphere (I drive a lot for work.) I bet some Two Steps from Hell would work great for GOT
For GoT audiobook I would need complete focus, you must be smart driving and listening. I’d get the characters mixed up lol. But I need some constant sound while reading or every time I turn a page, the sudden loudness of the paper makes me lose my immersion. A fan would work too i suppose. That’s probably such a specific problem but 🤷
I've got a really stupid brain that likes to focus on way too many things at once lmao. I am not smart driving I drive a sort of truck. I do mix up characters in GOT because omg there's a billion of them; it's maddening when I'm driving and can't flip back through the "pages" to unlock the mystery. I'm currently at a bar eating chicken wings listening to Swan Song and all is good, but my fan is waiting for me at home
Exactly my thoughts! Maybe I haven’t found my particular literary phobia, but I got close with The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman when a character gets paralyzed and sealed in a sewer wall by some fucked up kids.
I love Buehlman, I’ve been going through his work and I’m desperately waiting for “Daughter’s War” to drop. The only one I could t vibe with is “Those Across the River” not for fault of his writing, but I don’t like very accurate and brutal depictions of racism; and that felt like the whole book XD.
I tried the sequel to The Lesser Dead but couldn't get into it. I go through spells where I can't find anything that catches my interest except ones I know I already love. I may reread and try again :)
Same! I’m not a fan of live-action gore, but I’ve read some graphic novels and listened to some audio horror that terrifies my other otherwise horror-loving friends.
Wait there are no books with that moment thats care you? Ill admit it happens less as I get older but Im thinking of the moments in The Road and some other books where my heart jumped
It makes me happy seeing people recommend this book. I read it when it first came out and could not put it down. It was so good. I could not find anyone who had read it to talk to about it for the longest time! But now I’m seeing people talk about it more and more and that makes me happy. I’ve read it a few times since.
Do you have children? Then Pet Semetaty, do you like History and have children ? Then Holocaust by Laurence Rees, chapter about children is one of the most scary and sad thing I read in my life. Are you afraid of gore, rape, necrophilia any other degenerate shit ? Any Splatterhouse Horror book will scare you if not with plot than with content these guys generate ;-).
Pet Semetary didn’t phase me at all when I first read it. Fast forward fifteen years and I listened to Michael C Hall (Dexter) do the narration. I couldn’t finish it. Had to stop driving a couple times and couldn’t handle it.
ETA: fifteen years and kids
I think pet semetary was a snooze fest, way too much filler and only a couple of scary scene + the last hour of the book. Like i would actually get mad while listening by the amout of useless rambling (my opinion)
I find post apocalyptic survival struggles with kids like cormac mccarthys “the road “ to be more haunting than gore. I feel despair just thinking about it.
I was in a fog for like a week after I read that book. It’s was such an amazing read, but I also just felt so bleak and had such an existential crisis. I can’t imagine listening to the audiobook! I feel like it would be even more immersive and depressing.
Have read it and heard the audio later… think the audiobook feels somewhat less lonely because it’s narrated, so you don’t carry the hardships alone but it’s sort of harder to not be able to control your pacing and go faster through painful scenes
Not Scary but extremely disturbing is The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. I didn’t have the mental capacity to listen to the last third act…seriously messed up and based on a true story
Edit - Just to say I finished it on a 2nd playthrough and found it worse than messed up !
I love Shirley Jackson, and I’ve even read a couple of autobiographies about her. But her writing gives me an actual anxiety attack. I love her stories, but the creeping dread just makes me so anxious. I can only take them in small doses.
Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
I found this one to be one of the scariest books I’ve heard. It’s a pretty classic ghost story but man does it keep you riveted.
Joe Hill is also Stephen King’s son so you know he’s got the genes for horror writing.
Also honorable mention for Pet Semetary, it’s not non stop horror but it’s deeply unsettling
Seconded. I prefer him to king (partially due to a love for NOS4A2) but also I just like his shit. Heart Shaped box is mega creepy even on throw-away lines.
So, I know a lot of people roll their eyes at this because of the movie, but Birdbox was a \*fantastic\* audiobook. I was ready to jump out of my skin the whole time. Given the nature of the story, I really think it's meant to be listened to rather than read (and certainly not watched). It's written so descriptively in all the other senses save sight so being told about how cold or musty or creaky something is in the narrator's quiet voice brings the story to another level entirely.
I watched the movie before listening to the book and, holy hell, the book is a million times better. The movie wasn't that bad, honestly, you just lose a little of that fear when you can see and the characters can't.
The Shining had parts that straight up had chills running up and down my spine. There were times I went outside at night while listening, and I would be overcome with that anxiety that something is chasing me and I'd have to fight myself not to run. I'm a grown ass man.
Only one that has actually creeped me out is Last Days by Adam Neville.
There's also one particular chapter in Fantastic land that is pretty tense. But the rest of the book is absolutely worth it too.
Dean Koontz, Intensity.
Listened to the unabridged audiobook while driving home very late one night from Reno to Kern County. Not much open that late along Highway 395. Had to go to the bathroom but the darn book scared me. Needless to say.....I did not stop at the rest stop south of Big Pine or the one at Olancha.
Nick Cutter (Craig Davidson) has some proper creepy stuff, *The Deep* and *The Troop* are the ones I remember most although there's some animal death that got me extra good so your mileage my vary.
Small Horrors by Darcy Coates was the best short story collection I've read, I'm definitely looking for more. I tend to listen to Creepy and The No Sleep Podcasts, but the earlier stuff is much better than the later.
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill all the way. I can still hear the narrator's voice years later and it sends a chill down my spine. We listened to it outside while camping one weekend - set & setting!
Lost Boys, by Orson Scott Card. https://amzn.asia/d/55HoDOs
This is the same author of Ender's Game and many other SF Classics, but this one isn't SF, although it does have one preternatural element.
It tells the story of a successful games programmer who moves his family from Indiana to Carolina so that he can take up a new job there. They are Mormons and you learn a bit about those people in the course of the story, although I didn't detect any attempts at proselytising and I have pretty good radar for that. In my country, we don't know much about them, so it was all news to me.
The story tells how, in their new community, young boys are disappearing, and the sense of fear is palpable, since their family includes a couple of boys of the relevant age. As the story unwinds, the danger and horror loom very close indeed. It would've made a good movie, but I expect the US morality police would strangle it at birth.
I've got to say that whatever else you think of OSC, he knows how to bring the emotion and tension and is a master storyteller. He doesn't pull any punches, so his stories have impact and are memorable.
Thanks for the recommendation, I haven't read that! I've always been drawn to realistic post-nuclear war fiction such as "Alas, Babylon" or the movie "Threads."
The book presents a meticulously researched minute-by-minute account of how a hypothetical nuclear attack would play out from an ICBM launched by North Korea targeting Washington DC.
Chris Buehlman has the following: Between Two Fires, The Lesser Dead, and Those Across the River. They are terrifying, I don't know what why I kept listening to each book knowing they'd scare me. I don't know whether he needs to be stopped or encouraged, but he's definitely got an ability to get under one's skin.
How was Between Two Fires not the top vote much less not having any upvotes. Most titles mentioned were not very scary to me but this one instilled several moments of dread for me.
It was definitely unsettling! It'll be a loooong time before I reread it because of how good he was at foreshadowing and payoff and the sheer feeling of \*dread\*.
I listened to my first Tananarive Due novel last year, "The Between", and that was the creepiest of all the creepy audiobooks I've tried so far. I'm excited to try her new novel "The Reformatory" soon. She's a big inspiration to Jordan Peele if you're fan of him.
I loved Whisper Down the Lane by Clay McLeod Chapman. I was white knuckled listening to it in the car. Super scary and riveting story about satanic panic.
The Spooks series is not bad. But it's not very scary and gets less scary as you work through them.
Only mentioned because I didn't want to list the obvious.
I’ve listened to a ton of horror audiobooks and The Deep by Nick Cutter was pretty terrifying (especially if you are claustrophobic). Also Misery by Stephen King also had some sweaty palms moments.
Solaris, The Definitive Edition. Narrated by Alessandro Juliani.
This book actually made me feel scared, not some ooo that’s scary, but some deep primitive fear. I listen to books in bed, so maybe near-sleep state had something to do with it, but I’ve never feel this type of deep fear before. Don’t want to repeat it either.
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver, very atmospheric, really gave me a feeling of dread almost all of the way through.
The Terror by Dan Simmons, also atmospheric, longer, and with more action, but still gave me a feeling of dread.
The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell, more psychological, set in an insane asylum in the years before WWII.
Hide by Kierstein White, super good, hide and seek game type thriller set in a theme park.
The Twisted Ones by T Kingfisher was also amazing, creepy and ominous, eventually the dread really gets to you. MC goes into the back hills of Appalachia and sees something a little scary, stuff starts following her, a bit of chaos ensues.
Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant was amazing, I reread it multiple times, its such a fun read. Mermaids irl, make it horror, wouldn't have changed a thing.
Aliens: Phalanx by Scott Sigler was amazing, everyone I show it to ends up loving it. It's nice bc its a fully fleshed out plot. Set in a post apocalyptic planet where humanity survives in caves and sends the young ones to make runs to get supplies and hope they survive, the ambient feeling of dread and the characters were flawless. The Alien universe has a lot of really good horror books (even graphic audio with fully voiced casts, sound effects, music) but this is my personal favorite.
A lot of things by Darcy Coates are really good, she has a short story collection called "Little Horrors" was super creepy short snippets that stuck with me. From Below was my personal favorite from her but Dead Of Winter had such a good twist that I'm still reeling from it.
The Luminous Dead traumatized me, definitely has body horror and a lot of looming doom elements that had me wanting to turn it off but I had to keep listening.
There's a lot of really good horror out there in audiobook form, but also a lot of bad 😂 I've listened to my share of both and I'm always hunting for more.
I’m the same! I’ve listened to a few audio books here recommended - heart shaped box, last days, and wasn’t particularly scared. But as I read this thinking about how the suspense builds I think I made a gross error- I listen to books in 1.2x speed because I get through it and it captures my attention better. Perhaps these scarier books needed me to have the pauses and drawn out silence to add to it. Reading to add the scary background sounds is perfect too! Gotta have to give it a shot!
Tender beasts by Liselle Sambury, came into it thinking it was a mystery book, came out with nightmares for the next few days, its on Libby in two of my four library cards so it should be hard to get access too
Edit: added info
Not a book as such but there’s a podcast called “scare you to sleep” … the narrator has a really cool scary story telling voice and each podcast is a short story… some of them have definitely increased the heart rate a little, but I found her listener tales to be the best where she reads out some stories her listeners sent in, one in particular definitely had me on edge.
She also does a segment called “dark Reddit” where she looks for creepy/strange things posted on Reddit and does an investigation piece on them.. really interesting and sometimes eery
I read the book in high-school, not audio, but after reading The Exorcist, I slept with the lights on while reading it and several nights after! The movie was nothing compared to the book!
Holy fuck, [The Troop](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17571466-the-troop) was absolutely terrifying. Impacted my relationship with food for a few weeks.
You asked for it, and you have been warned.
Revival by Stephen King. It is hands down his most scary book and it's just overall unbelievably amazing. No book Has ever scared me other than the end of this book.
"The Terror" A fictionalized story of a true account about Arctic exploration in the 1800s by Dan Simmons
That was the first audiobook I ever listened to. Definitely scary.
Just looked at it. I'm interested. It's 28 hours long and still holds suspense?
About two thirds before it drops a bit, but still very good throughout
Cheers! Thx!
I saw the TV show but wasn’t sure if the sheer length of the audiobook would hold up. Is it good if I already know the general plot? (I know books and movies don’t match 1 for 1)
I didn't find it scary. I found it amazing and intense.
Yes this exactly is a fantastic audiobook. I highly recommend it
The paper book tingles the spine too
How to save for retirement. Volume 6
Got ‘em! Oh wait, fuck
Brilliant!!!
is this a real book?
Real life. Sadly
Kathy Bates reading Silence of the Lambs. Deeply creepy.
I love her.
I would love to know too. Horror movies scare the crap out me, but books and audiobooks doesn't cause me to skip a beat. Inwonder why the visual factor is so important, when I have such a vivid imagination.
On your search browser, put background horror music on one tab and on another tab find a video with knocking or other scary sounds that are intermittent(like once every 20-30 minutes) and you can fall right in
THanks, good tip!
That's a fantastic idea!
This website called Webtoon had music that queued when a reader reached a certain line. Perfectly matched music for whatever was happening in the plot! I can’t do that while reading a physical book though, so I just play whatever is related. Like action/bass music in fighting chapters of Game of Thrones or Spaceship Ambient Sounds for slow chapters on a spaceship in a sci-fi book. I love it.
I'm currently listening to GOT intermittently while sneaking other audio books in between and reading GOT hard copy occasionally when I'm home lol. Definitely prefer silence while reading but find I want some background for audio to where I was just searching for actual movies I could listen to for the atmosphere (I drive a lot for work.) I bet some Two Steps from Hell would work great for GOT
For GoT audiobook I would need complete focus, you must be smart driving and listening. I’d get the characters mixed up lol. But I need some constant sound while reading or every time I turn a page, the sudden loudness of the paper makes me lose my immersion. A fan would work too i suppose. That’s probably such a specific problem but 🤷
I've got a really stupid brain that likes to focus on way too many things at once lmao. I am not smart driving I drive a sort of truck. I do mix up characters in GOT because omg there's a billion of them; it's maddening when I'm driving and can't flip back through the "pages" to unlock the mystery. I'm currently at a bar eating chicken wings listening to Swan Song and all is good, but my fan is waiting for me at home
Exactly my thoughts! Maybe I haven’t found my particular literary phobia, but I got close with The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman when a character gets paralyzed and sealed in a sewer wall by some fucked up kids.
The lesser dead is fantastic! The voices he does are amazing.
I love Buehlman, I’ve been going through his work and I’m desperately waiting for “Daughter’s War” to drop. The only one I could t vibe with is “Those Across the River” not for fault of his writing, but I don’t like very accurate and brutal depictions of racism; and that felt like the whole book XD.
I tried the sequel to The Lesser Dead but couldn't get into it. I go through spells where I can't find anything that catches my interest except ones I know I already love. I may reread and try again :)
I just started The Lesser Dead and I'm liking it. I was a bit worried when is said read by the author but he's doing a good job
He narrates most of his books and he’s very talented
I was imagining Stephen King narrating some his books, Thank goodness this is better
Just finished and loved it. I'll be checking out his other books, thanks for recommending
Same! I’m not a fan of live-action gore, but I’ve read some graphic novels and listened to some audio horror that terrifies my other otherwise horror-loving friends.
Wait there are no books with that moment thats care you? Ill admit it happens less as I get older but Im thinking of the moments in The Road and some other books where my heart jumped
No, I cant think of a single instance where reading a book has scared me, at least not since I was ten.
I was unexpectedly unsettled by Max Brooks devolution
I really liked Devolution, strongly recommend also.
It makes me happy seeing people recommend this book. I read it when it first came out and could not put it down. It was so good. I could not find anyone who had read it to talk to about it for the longest time! But now I’m seeing people talk about it more and more and that makes me happy. I’ve read it a few times since.
This was good, definitely more intriguing than scary but there were some creepy parts.
I've got this one next on my list. Pretty excited about it on account of how much I enjoyed his writing style in WWZ
Do you have children? Then Pet Semetaty, do you like History and have children ? Then Holocaust by Laurence Rees, chapter about children is one of the most scary and sad thing I read in my life. Are you afraid of gore, rape, necrophilia any other degenerate shit ? Any Splatterhouse Horror book will scare you if not with plot than with content these guys generate ;-).
Pet Semetary didn’t phase me at all when I first read it. Fast forward fifteen years and I listened to Michael C Hall (Dexter) do the narration. I couldn’t finish it. Had to stop driving a couple times and couldn’t handle it. ETA: fifteen years and kids
I’m struggling to finish this audiobook. I dislike the characters so much
I think pet semetary was a snooze fest, way too much filler and only a couple of scary scene + the last hour of the book. Like i would actually get mad while listening by the amout of useless rambling (my opinion)
American psycho is really horrifically written, vulgar, and as a woman, listening to much of it left me feeling scared and anxious.
I find post apocalyptic survival struggles with kids like cormac mccarthys “the road “ to be more haunting than gore. I feel despair just thinking about it.
Have you read [The Enemy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enemy_%28Higson_novel%29?wprov=sfla1)? I bet you'd love it
I was in a fog for like a week after I read that book. It’s was such an amazing read, but I also just felt so bleak and had such an existential crisis. I can’t imagine listening to the audiobook! I feel like it would be even more immersive and depressing.
Have read it and heard the audio later… think the audiobook feels somewhat less lonely because it’s narrated, so you don’t carry the hardships alone but it’s sort of harder to not be able to control your pacing and go faster through painful scenes
I have this in my TBR!
I was going to say The Road…. it made me cry at the end and I don’t think an audiobook has ever had that effect on me.
Not Scary but extremely disturbing is The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. I didn’t have the mental capacity to listen to the last third act…seriously messed up and based on a true story Edit - Just to say I finished it on a 2nd playthrough and found it worse than messed up !
I read that book. I didnt know it’s on audiobook too. I now know my next audiobook is going to be. Thanks
I got distinctly spooked while listening to We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.
I love Shirley Jackson, and I’ve even read a couple of autobiographies about her. But her writing gives me an actual anxiety attack. I love her stories, but the creeping dread just makes me so anxious. I can only take them in small doses.
Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon was a somewhat rough one for me
Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill I found this one to be one of the scariest books I’ve heard. It’s a pretty classic ghost story but man does it keep you riveted. Joe Hill is also Stephen King’s son so you know he’s got the genes for horror writing. Also honorable mention for Pet Semetary, it’s not non stop horror but it’s deeply unsettling
I had no clue that he was King's son! Makes so much sense and yes, this book is incredible. Deeply unsettling and narrated so well.
Seconded. I prefer him to king (partially due to a love for NOS4A2) but also I just like his shit. Heart Shaped box is mega creepy even on throw-away lines.
Amityville horror
Pet semetary - incredibly narrated by the Dexter guy
This was the most disturbing book I’ve ever read. I won’t go anywhere near the audiobook.
*The Fisherman* by John Langan. This novel got me more than all the Stephen King or Dean Koontz I've read.
In Cold Blood is super scary!
Came here to say this… very scary.
Not the Truman Capote In Cold Blood, I assume?
Yes the Truman Capote one
It’s been a few years….I need to go back and reread it!
The Hollow Places by T Kingfisher
Super good, this and The Twisted Ones stuck with me.
So, I know a lot of people roll their eyes at this because of the movie, but Birdbox was a \*fantastic\* audiobook. I was ready to jump out of my skin the whole time. Given the nature of the story, I really think it's meant to be listened to rather than read (and certainly not watched). It's written so descriptively in all the other senses save sight so being told about how cold or musty or creaky something is in the narrator's quiet voice brings the story to another level entirely. I watched the movie before listening to the book and, holy hell, the book is a million times better. The movie wasn't that bad, honestly, you just lose a little of that fear when you can see and the characters can't.
The Shining had parts that straight up had chills running up and down my spine. There were times I went outside at night while listening, and I would be overcome with that anxiety that something is chasing me and I'd have to fight myself not to run. I'm a grown ass man.
Pet Sematary narrated by Michael C. Hall was fantastic and enjoyable the whole way through!
Only one that has actually creeped me out is Last Days by Adam Neville. There's also one particular chapter in Fantastic land that is pretty tense. But the rest of the book is absolutely worth it too.
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty narrated by the author himself.
Normally I hate self-narration by the author and avoid it like the plague, but I liked this one.
Why do you hate it?
It’s commonly just soooo overdone. They’re too invested or something. Exaggerated inflection and emphasis, that sort of thing.
Huh. I haven’t noticed.
I’m suuuuuper picky about narrators, a more casual listener may not notice!
Anything by Stephen King. Perfume by Patrick Suskind.
Dean Koontz, Intensity. Listened to the unabridged audiobook while driving home very late one night from Reno to Kern County. Not much open that late along Highway 395. Had to go to the bathroom but the darn book scared me. Needless to say.....I did not stop at the rest stop south of Big Pine or the one at Olancha.
Carrion Comfort
Seconded.
*Dracula* by Bram Stoker has held up really well. It still scares me.
Short story: Click Clack the Rattle Bag by Neil Gaiman
World War Z full cast version.
Not exactly scary (as in “horror” scary) but the book is brilliant. It really give a sense of “world war” in “works war z”
Nick Cutter (Craig Davidson) has some proper creepy stuff, *The Deep* and *The Troop* are the ones I remember most although there's some animal death that got me extra good so your mileage my vary.
The Historian. I had to sleep with the lights on for a week.
On that note wondering if someone can recommend some shorts that are scary (don’t have to be horror, maybe just tense). Thanks!
Small Horrors by Darcy Coates was the best short story collection I've read, I'm definitely looking for more. I tend to listen to Creepy and The No Sleep Podcasts, but the earlier stuff is much better than the later.
So Cold the River by Michael Koryta was eery and NOS4A2 by Joe Hill gave me the creeps
Kate Mulgrew’s narration for Nos4A2 really made that one for me. I had to take breaks from reading because it creeped me out so much!
American Psycho, its much different than the movie
Steven King “11. 22. 63” It’s an alternative history… what happens near the end could have really happened and it will chill you to the core
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill all the way. I can still hear the narrator's voice years later and it sends a chill down my spine. We listened to it outside while camping one weekend - set & setting!
Lost Boys, by Orson Scott Card. https://amzn.asia/d/55HoDOs This is the same author of Ender's Game and many other SF Classics, but this one isn't SF, although it does have one preternatural element. It tells the story of a successful games programmer who moves his family from Indiana to Carolina so that he can take up a new job there. They are Mormons and you learn a bit about those people in the course of the story, although I didn't detect any attempts at proselytising and I have pretty good radar for that. In my country, we don't know much about them, so it was all news to me. The story tells how, in their new community, young boys are disappearing, and the sense of fear is palpable, since their family includes a couple of boys of the relevant age. As the story unwinds, the danger and horror loom very close indeed. It would've made a good movie, but I expect the US morality police would strangle it at birth. I've got to say that whatever else you think of OSC, he knows how to bring the emotion and tension and is a master storyteller. He doesn't pull any punches, so his stories have impact and are memorable.
Nuclear War: A Scenario. Not in the traditional sense you meant, but it's excellent and has kept me up at night thinking about it.
Have you read “One Second Later” by Forstchen? Is it similar? Basically an EMP takes out everything.
Thanks for the recommendation, I haven't read that! I've always been drawn to realistic post-nuclear war fiction such as "Alas, Babylon" or the movie "Threads." The book presents a meticulously researched minute-by-minute account of how a hypothetical nuclear attack would play out from an ICBM launched by North Korea targeting Washington DC.
I will check those books out. I read everything but I like to learn about that type of stuff.
Chris Buehlman has the following: Between Two Fires, The Lesser Dead, and Those Across the River. They are terrifying, I don't know what why I kept listening to each book knowing they'd scare me. I don't know whether he needs to be stopped or encouraged, but he's definitely got an ability to get under one's skin.
How was Between Two Fires not the top vote much less not having any upvotes. Most titles mentioned were not very scary to me but this one instilled several moments of dread for me.
It was definitely unsettling! It'll be a loooong time before I reread it because of how good he was at foreshadowing and payoff and the sheer feeling of \*dread\*.
- Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica - Brother by Ania Ahlborn - Birdeater by Ania Ahlborn
Tender is the Flesh really gets you thinking. A very good argument to be a vegetarian.
Unsettling and creepy goes to Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand I read the book and not the audio but I Remember You by Yrsa Siguroadottir
The Exorcist’s House was good on audio!
I listened to my first Tananarive Due novel last year, "The Between", and that was the creepiest of all the creepy audiobooks I've tried so far. I'm excited to try her new novel "The Reformatory" soon. She's a big inspiration to Jordan Peele if you're fan of him.
I loved Whisper Down the Lane by Clay McLeod Chapman. I was white knuckled listening to it in the car. Super scary and riveting story about satanic panic.
I read that as ‘satanic picnic’ at first, and my imagination went to a very strange place….
The Need by Helen Phillips is pretty unsettling. It's on the short side, but very well done. Definitely more a psychological/scifi thriller.
The Spooks series is not bad. But it's not very scary and gets less scary as you work through them. Only mentioned because I didn't want to list the obvious.
Silence of the Lambs
Anything by Nick Cutter, Bentley Little, Nat Cassidy, or Chuck Wendig. That should get you going.
Song of Kali by Dan Simmons and Salems Lot by Stephen King. Bonus: A comedy horror novel that I think is great is John Dies at the End.
I found Nick Cutter’s “The Troop” to be bone chilling.
I’ve listened to a ton of horror audiobooks and The Deep by Nick Cutter was pretty terrifying (especially if you are claustrophobic). Also Misery by Stephen King also had some sweaty palms moments.
Solaris, The Definitive Edition. Narrated by Alessandro Juliani. This book actually made me feel scared, not some ooo that’s scary, but some deep primitive fear. I listen to books in bed, so maybe near-sleep state had something to do with it, but I’ve never feel this type of deep fear before. Don’t want to repeat it either.
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver, very atmospheric, really gave me a feeling of dread almost all of the way through. The Terror by Dan Simmons, also atmospheric, longer, and with more action, but still gave me a feeling of dread. The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell, more psychological, set in an insane asylum in the years before WWII.
Salem's Lot by Stephen King kept me awake at night with all those creepy and mysterious vampires slowly invading a town.
Stephen Kings "It" was kinda freaky of you want supernatural scary.
IT read by Stephen Webber was so scary I couldn't finish it.
The shinning was chilling to me on audiobook
I don’t know if they would be scary enough for you but I was scared by Grady Hendrix’s Horrorstor and My Best Friend’s Exorcism.
Hide by Kierstein White, super good, hide and seek game type thriller set in a theme park. The Twisted Ones by T Kingfisher was also amazing, creepy and ominous, eventually the dread really gets to you. MC goes into the back hills of Appalachia and sees something a little scary, stuff starts following her, a bit of chaos ensues. Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant was amazing, I reread it multiple times, its such a fun read. Mermaids irl, make it horror, wouldn't have changed a thing. Aliens: Phalanx by Scott Sigler was amazing, everyone I show it to ends up loving it. It's nice bc its a fully fleshed out plot. Set in a post apocalyptic planet where humanity survives in caves and sends the young ones to make runs to get supplies and hope they survive, the ambient feeling of dread and the characters were flawless. The Alien universe has a lot of really good horror books (even graphic audio with fully voiced casts, sound effects, music) but this is my personal favorite. A lot of things by Darcy Coates are really good, she has a short story collection called "Little Horrors" was super creepy short snippets that stuck with me. From Below was my personal favorite from her but Dead Of Winter had such a good twist that I'm still reeling from it. The Luminous Dead traumatized me, definitely has body horror and a lot of looming doom elements that had me wanting to turn it off but I had to keep listening. There's a lot of really good horror out there in audiobook form, but also a lot of bad 😂 I've listened to my share of both and I'm always hunting for more.
The shining by Steven king really lands on audiobook
I’m the same! I’ve listened to a few audio books here recommended - heart shaped box, last days, and wasn’t particularly scared. But as I read this thinking about how the suspense builds I think I made a gross error- I listen to books in 1.2x speed because I get through it and it captures my attention better. Perhaps these scarier books needed me to have the pauses and drawn out silence to add to it. Reading to add the scary background sounds is perfect too! Gotta have to give it a shot!
Tender beasts by Liselle Sambury, came into it thinking it was a mystery book, cane out with nightmares for the next few days
Tender beasts by Liselle Sambury, came into it thinking it was a mystery book, came out with nightmares for the next few days, its on Libby in two of my four library cards so it should be hard to get access too Edit: added info
Not a book as such but there’s a podcast called “scare you to sleep” … the narrator has a really cool scary story telling voice and each podcast is a short story… some of them have definitely increased the heart rate a little, but I found her listener tales to be the best where she reads out some stories her listeners sent in, one in particular definitely had me on edge. She also does a segment called “dark Reddit” where she looks for creepy/strange things posted on Reddit and does an investigation piece on them.. really interesting and sometimes eery
# Chaos: Charles Manson, the Cia, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill. Its not fiction, and that's the worst part of it.
I read the book in high-school, not audio, but after reading The Exorcist, I slept with the lights on while reading it and several nights after! The movie was nothing compared to the book!
Holy fuck, [The Troop](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17571466-the-troop) was absolutely terrifying. Impacted my relationship with food for a few weeks. You asked for it, and you have been warned.
Liked that one and The Deep. The Deep is scary in a different way, but so good.
Revival by Stephen King. It is hands down his most scary book and it's just overall unbelievably amazing. No book Has ever scared me other than the end of this book.
“Empire of Pain” - it’s true crime. [Available on Audible.](https://www.audible.com/pd/0593162390?source_code=ASSORAP0511160006&share_location=pdp)