In over four decades, I've only managed to find a few books that genuinely scare me and would love to find more. Two that I really liked and that made me want to turn on all the lights were We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer and The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons, so I'd love something along those lines. Also T. Kingfisher's cosmic horror books are hilarious yet terrifying.
I got the same creeping horror effect from the first half of Darcy Coates's Voices in the Snow with figures standing there watching the protagonist in the dark and slowly, silently moving out of view, but then the second half went off the rails and had a very different vibe and was no longer scary. Similarly, The Luminous Dead was a bit eerie at first and had the book equivalent of a few genuinely disturbing jump scares, but it never went anywhere and dragged on the rest of the time.
For reference:
– I'm not into Stephen King. His writing style just doesn't pull me in.
– I've read The Haunting of Hill House, but that was more of a drama with paranormal elements.
– I generally find creature stories interesting or fun but not scary. Same for demons, cults, and things like vampires.
Any suggestions for books that create a creepy atmosphere of building dread in the vein of the books I listed at the top would be amazing!
by NoFluffyOnlyZuul