Considering how long I’ve been reading horror, I would call myself a seasoned reader when it comes to the genre. With that being said, it typically takes a lot for a book to scare me nowadays. Fear is incredibly subjective; what may seem downright terrifying to one person may seem like child’s play to someone else. What’s wonderful about the horror genre is that I guarantee there is a book out there that will tap into whatever fears or anxieties you have. Though the occurrence is rare, there have been a few books I’ve read within the past few years that made me want to sleep with the lights on.

One distinction I want to make before discussing the books in question is that I’m not necessarily talking about books that disturbed me. When I think about a book that “scared” me, I’m thinking of how I felt in the moment with the book in my hands. Was my heart racing as I read? Was I almost terrified to turn the page and discover what horrors awaited me? That sensation is what I mean when I mention that these books scared me. Books that haunted me long after I finished reading them are ones that I would label as “disturbing” rather than “scary”. Don’t worry, I do intend on discussing the books that disturbed me as well at some point. For now, I want to focus on the books that sent shivers down my spine and had me hiding under the covers.

Last Days by Adam Nevill

Kyle Freeman has been hired to make a documentary about The Temple of Last Days, a cult which was infamous for its bloody ending in 1975. Kyle plans to focus more on the myths and infamy surrounding the Temple’s occult practices and the reports of paranormal phenomena surrounding the case. He and his crew travel to a number of locations linked to the cult in order to interview people that were once connected to the Temple. As the filmmaking proceeds, Kyle and his crew begin to experience a number of terrifying and bizarre occurrences that leave them wondering if the cult had awoken something evil all those years ago.

Nevill is an author who knows how to invoke fear and dread. His writing has a way of crawling under your skin and making you incredibly uncomfortable and anxious. A couple of his books have terrified me, but Last Days was on a level of its own. The paranormal occurrences in this book are some of the most chill-inducing, terrifying sequences that I’ve ever read. These scenes were so effective that I would find myself thinking about them at random points throughout my day, and I would still feel shivers run down my spine. I am not kidding when I say that this book genuinely made me want to keep the lights on at all times (and if you’ve read this book, then you know why). This is a pretty long book, but I highly recommend checking it out to unnerve yourself before bedtime.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

I’m Thinking of Ending Things follows two characters on the road trip from hell. Our nameless main character is traveling with her boyfriend, Jake, to have dinner with his parents on their isolated farm. She’s been considering ending the relationship for a while, but she just hasn’t pulled the trigger yet. Over the course of the trip, things start to become disorienting and deteriorate into utter madness.

I’m staying incredibly vague in my description of this book because I wholeheartedly believe you need to go into this one blind. I read this book in one sitting, because I was completely transfixed by the characters and their interactions. As things became more confusing and horrific, I just needed to know what happened next. The story is essentially broken into three acts, and I actually spent the last third of this book underneath my comforter because I was so terrified of what was going to happen next. While the first two-thirds of the book were definitely creepy in their own ways, that final act shifted into territory that was incredibly terrifying to me. I cannot remember the last time a book made me as anxious as I’m Thinking of Ending Things did.

Disclaimer: I know that this book was adapted into a Netflix film that was pretty polarizing. I personally was not a fan of it because it strayed pretty far from the source material. That being said, I’d say still give this book a chance if you’ve already watched the film and didn’t enjoy it. I personally think the story is much stronger in the book.

Phantoms by Dean Koontz

Phantoms is about a pair of sisters, Jenny and Lisa, who return to Jenny’s hometown only to discover that everyone in town has either disappeared or is dead. The bodies that are discovered are swollen, warm, and do not have any clear indication as to what caused their death. Jenny and Lisa team up with a small band of survivors and attempt to figure out just what has happened to the people of Snowfield, and the truth is more horrifying than they could have ever expected.

The beginning of this book was incredibly anxiety inducing. Jenny and Lisa spend a decent amount of time wandering through the seemingly abandoned town, looking for any signs of life. The thought of roaming through an empty town, where anyone or anything could be lurking in the shadows, is an absolutely terrifying image. The description of the setting and circumstances surrounding the sisters discovering the first bodies unnerved me like nothing I’ve experienced before. Later in the book, when the characters are moving through the town, they start to believe that something is watching them. Again, the thought of being in an isolated, abandoned town, with something out there possibly following you sounds like my worst nightmare. Just thinking about it now is making me uneasy.

Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar

In the summer of 1988, Richard Chizmar returns to his hometown of Edgewood, MD after graduating college. As he prepares to launch his writing career, the severely mutilated bodies of several missing girls begin to turn up. As the FBI and local law enforcement investigates the murders, Chizmar documents the terror that the elusive suspect inflicted on his beloved town during that fateful summer.

I have a confession to make. For about 80% of this book, I thought that Richard Chizmar was writing about real events that took place in Edgewood, MD (which was confusing to me, as I grew up in Baltimore and did not remember hearing about any of this). Despite the fact that this is a horror fiction book, Chizmar’s writing is so convincing that I truly believed that these events took place. Chasing the Boogeyman blurred the lines between horror fiction & true crime in the best way possible. I was so relieved to find that this was just a work of fiction, because this book was incredibly scary! The killer in this book blends into the community, which understandably creates a decent amount of anxiety amongst the townspeople. It’s scary knowing that a monster lurks in your community and not knowing who that person is, when they’ll attack next, or who their next victim will be. This is a scary scenario that unfortunately unfolds in many small towns across America on an almost daily basis. Though this story in particular is fictional, the horror between the pages is absolutely real.

The Outsider by Stephen King

When an eleven-year-old boy’s corpse is found in the woods, the town of Flint City is shocked by the news. They are even more surprised when Terry Maitland, the Little League Coach, is arrested and charged for the murder. What begins as a seemingly simple murder investigation quickly evolves into a discovery of a supernatural force that threatens the very existence of this small town.

Out of all of the Stephen King books I could’ve included, you’re probably wondering why I chose The Outsider. There is a scene in this book that made my blood run cold. One of the main characters comes downstairs late at night, expecting to see her husband in the kitchen. There is someone seated at her dining room table, however, it’s not her husband. It’s an entity of some sort. The thought of a supernatural entity just dwelling in your home while you were peacefully sleeping is so incredibly uncomfortable. I remember when I was reading this book, I was working an evening shift at my job. It was almost closing time, and the building was empty, so I sat at the front desk reading to pass the time. Reading this passage in a dark, old building when I essentially was alone made me almost jump out of my skin. The fact that I can still remember exactly where I was when I read this scene, and I can still feel that fear all these years later, is a testament to how much this book scared me. There were definitely other aspects of this book that freaked me out, but this scene alone cemented it in my list of books that scared me the most.

Save for Last Days (which I just read at the beginning of last year), it’s been a few years since I’ve read these books, and they still creep me out when I think about them. I know that they each have pretty similar aspects that scared me, but what can I say? I have some very specific fears, I guess. That’s what’s so great about horror: there truly is a book in this genre for everyone. Now that I’ve spent so much time thinking about these books, I think I’m going to keep my lights on a little while longer tonight…