Twelve Books Which Freak Me Out
For the day it is, and because it’s very windy outside and I’m trying to find excuses not to force myself out for a walk, I have compiled a list of the twelve books which creep me out in the best way possible. They’re not all strictly horror. I’m not even sure how you’d classify some of them. But they are certain to unsettle you and give you very very strange dreams. Hope there’s something here which makes your Halloween weekend a little more terrifying.
Sue Rainsford - Follow Me To Ground. A truly unsettling and stunningly written short novel about burying people alive and a lot of other disturbing things.
Mariana Enriquez - Things We Lost in the Fire. Short stories from the Argentinian writer which blend horror, myth and magic realism and actually gave me nightmares for about a week.
Joan Lindsay - Picnic at Hanging Rock. A picnic at an exclusive girls’ boarding school goes very wrong in turn of the last century Australia. You won’t be able to put your finger on why this novel is so unsettling it just is. It’s a masterclass in writing between the lines.
Shirley Jackson - Dark Tales. Most of Shirley Jackson’s writing freaks me out and leaves me incredibly jealous. If you’re new to Jackson, this collection of dark short stories is a really good starting point.
Michel Faber - Under The Skin. Cannibalistic aliens running around rural Scotland kidnapping people? Yes, please.
Daisy Johnson - Fen. Johnson’s debut short story collection is full of twisted little gems of dark, feminist tales.
Andrew Michael Hurley - Starve Acre. I like all Hurley’s novels but this is my favourite. A woman believes her dead child has been reincarnated as a hare. Bad stuff follows.
Samanta Schweblin - Fever Dream. Another Argentinian writer with a flare for the gothic and the uncanny. Can’t even give you a synopsis of this slim novella it’s so hard to define, but it lingered for so long after I’d finished it and upset me so much it became my favourite book of that year.
Sophie Mackintosh - The Water Cure. Dystopia meets horror meets feminist fairytale in an abandoned hotel on a lonely island. The kind of novel you can devour in a single sitting. Whilst on the subject of terrifying novels set on islands, let me add a quick mention here for Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.
Conor O’Callaghan - Nothing on Earth. Disappearances and spooky goings on in a rural Irish ghost housing estate. One of my all time favourite Irish novels.
Henry James - The Turn of the Screw. Still the book which freaks me out more than any other book. Guaranteed to leave me freaked out for days.
Stephen King - Salem’s Lot. After Stoker, this is far and away the best vampire novel I’ve ever read. I had to go round the building checking all the windows were shut after I finished it. Also adding a sneaky shout out here for John Ajvide Lindqvist’s Let the Right One In, which is my other favourite vampire novel and an absolute cracking film.