The 17 Scariest Books I’ve Ever Read

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Here’s my personal list of some of the scariest books I’ve ever read, including coming-of-age horror classics for kids, Gothic novels, spooky classics, dark mysteries, haunted house stories, ghost stories, and modern-day thrillers.

The books that make us feel something deeply are often the ones that linger with us the longest. Some books awaken in us a sense of nostalgia, or a deep longing we can’t pin down, or a sense of satisfaction when a struggling character finally triumphs. There are books I finished with tears because they were so good! For those books, I even remember exactly what room I was in and where I was sitting when I reached the end of the final chapter. Other times, we’re acutely frustrated by what we encounter. There are certain literary characters I can still hardly forgive for their actions, and I’m not sure I’ll ever change my mind about them!

Among those stacks of books lingering in my mind are the ones that made me fear. The ones that actually made me shiver, made my heart beat faster, made me want to wrap myself up in a blanket (although I usually do this peremptorily for books I expect to be spooky!). I love a good scare. Fear is one of those things I sometimes want out of a reading experience. Not all the time–sometimes it’s orderly schoolrooms that I’m craving, or sunshine and wisteria. But fear has a place (such a place…I’ll write about it another time!) in literature, and today I want to share with you seventeen books that are memorable to me because they scared me.

Now, scary is a relative term, because I’m sure some people will see books on this list and think “I read that and it wasn’t scary AT ALL.” Understood.

Also, I’m not painting with a broad brush and including all the books I’ve read that are memorably exciting. That would be a whole lot more! Excitement is “things are happening!” Fear is “scary things are happening!” Or something like that. So, here’s my list. The first four are scary books for kids or young adults (you’d probably still want to preview first, especially if your child is younger than a teen).

17 Books I Found Genuinely Scary

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury – Bradbury understands well the place of fear in literature. This sinister carnival novel is his ode to autumn and to all the melancholy, darkness, and aging that comes with it. (Although, his “ode to summer” novel also has some genuinely haunting and nail-biting parts!)

Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales by Brian Jacques – By the author of the Redwall series, there are some great spooky gems in this short story collection. After finding it in the public library, a few of my siblings and I passed it around between us, and the stories became the theme of our backyard games for weeks afterwards.

Hangman’s Curse by Frank Peretti – This is a young adult horror novel that I picked up while staying for a week by myself with my grandparents. It was the scariest thing I’d ever read up to that point, made scarier by the fact that I was usually reading it alone in bed at night, no sisters around or familiar stuffed animals for comfort!

The House with a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs – I did not encounter this children’s horror book when I was a child myself, but I wish I had! It’s very ghoulish. Also kind of comfy; the protagonists drink a lot of cocoa and eat a lot of cookies. Also, the book is illustrated by the legendary Edward Gorey, which makes reading it all the more pleasurable.

The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien – There’s lots of exciting parts in these novels, but they also contain recurring, genuine horror. When my Dad read them to us as youngsters, and when I read them on my own for the first time, I alternated between being practically lulled to sleep and other times when I was on the edge of my seat, hardly breathing! Honestly, if you want all the feels–wonder, humor, longing, fear–these books are the ticket!

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins – Although it’s often mentioned along with Collins’s other famous novel, The Moonstone, I find The Woman in White to be a completely different beast. The Moonstone (while delightful) is tame compared to The Woman in White, which is far more mysterious and menacing.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte – I had the great luck of reading this book with only the barest premise to go on, delivered by my storyteller oldest sister. She told me there was a governess in an isolated mansion, who begins hearing strange sounds in the night…I was hooked before I even begun!

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle – Another spooky classic that delivers! One of the things I’ve always loved about Sherlock Holmes is how rational Holmes is, yet how often the cases he gets in to are downright scary.

Endless Night by Agatha Christie – More of a suspense novel than a whodunnit, this one has a wonderfully played sense of menace and impending doom. It was written at the end of Christie’s career, and was one of her personal favourites, as well as mine.

That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis – Lewis opens his space travel trilogy with a little bit of a horror feel in Out of the Silent Planet, but the third novel, That Hideous Strength, ramps it up. I’m amazed by all the things going on in That Hideous Strength, from King Arthur to aliens to creepy AI. But you can’t start with this book–it’s critical you read the trilogy in order.

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe – I love this book for a lot of reasons, one being that if you go along with the pace that Radcliffe sets, letting yourself sink into her world and succumb to the atmosphere she creates, the payoff is big–especially the horror scenes. There are so many good books that are merely “tributes” to Gothic novels or have “Gothic elements.” I always appreciate those, but this is an Actual Gothic Novel, and it’s got all the fear and gloom and danger and high stakes you could ask for!

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James – What a masterclass. This was another one I first read in high school, and I was actually squealing with delight at how perfect and scary it was! (Don’t worry, I am not a performative reader, who visibly reacts so people will ask “What? What are you reading?” No, this was another read-alone-in-my-room-and-scare-myself-before-I-go-to-sleep book.)

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson – Jackson wrote plenty of creepy or unsettling things, but it’s often hybrids of funny-creepy, cozy-creepy, ironic-creepy. But some of her pieces, and this novel, are pure creepy-creepy. I know, I’m being very academic here. (Not.) this is such a good, genuine classic haunted house novel that you should definitely check out if you want a “scare me” experience.

Benighted by J. B. Priestly – This 1920s horror novel sees several travelers who are forced to take shelter in a creepy country house in Wales during a colossal storm. I loved the ominous atmosphere and the pacing that only lets up in order to lull you into false security before it ratchets to the next level.

Dracula by Bram Stoker – The first part of the novel takes place at Dracula’s castle, and you’d think after that it could only get less scary, not more. But, in fact, Stoker does increase the tension, the creepiness, and the threat level straight through to the climax.

The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch- This is one scary, spellbinding book. It’s a casserole of genres, combining science fiction, time travel, horror, police procedural, and crime noir. One of the things I liked best about it though was how thought-provoking it was. It’s a good one to pass to a spouse, sibling, or friend so you can discuss it together! Just note that it’s got some R-rated content, like a grisly murder scene description in the first chapter that you’d be fine skipping.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill – This British ghost story is eerie and understated. The uniquely-isolated Eel Marsh House is one of my favourite spooky houses in literature. (On that note, here are some other best and worst houses from books!)