30 of the Scariest Horror Books Ever Written

Most people probably know the basics of the monster created from animated dead tissue. But did you know Shelley wrote it when she was just 18 as part of a ghost story contest between her, Lord Byron and her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley? If you've never read the novel that's widely celebrated as the first horror and possibly the first science fiction novel, there's no time like today. 

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Stephen King advised against reading this one after dark, so that tells you about all you need to know. It tells the story of the Donner party but with a gruesome supernatural twist. Have a snack before reading, since you may lose your appetite after. 

A bucolic New England town, a dead parent after an unfortunate accident, a pair of twin boys who couldn't be more different. This horror story has all of the hallmarks of a classic and brings a creepy new twist to the words "boys will be boys." 

When a young family moves into their home and discovers it's bigger on the inside than the outside, they're in for more than an architectural anomaly. This book has become a cult favorite for a reason — one you'll just have to read to find out. 

If you aren't already a Butler fan, this one will clinch it. At first, Shori seems like a child with amnesia, but closer examination reveals she's really a genetically modified 53-year-old vampire. She has to figure out how she ended up in her current position, even if it leads to her ultimate demise. 

The Lutz family only lasted 28 days in the Long Island house where Ronald DeFeo had murdered his parents, brothers and sisters a year earlier. Find out why in this book that's even more terrifying than the movie it inspired. 

Lovecraft is so popular, his name has become an adjective in the horror realm. Find out why in this reissued collection of his weird, wonderful and mysterious mythology that trades in both strange creatures and science. 

Four generations have lived in the isolated Silver house, and all are strongly connected across time and generations. But after one of them dies suddenly, the tragedies that seem to befall the house's inhabitants start to seem less than incidental. This story about race, family and nationality will scare you while making you think. 

In this skin-crawling book, animal meat has become toxic to humans so they have to turn to another protein source – each other. Marcos works at a plant processing "special meat," and tries to keep his mind on the work and not what it means, until he's gifted a live "specimen." As he starts to treat her more like a person than a meal, he's got to stare his reality in the face.  

Possibly the best haunted house story ever told, this is the story of four people out to discover Hill House's secrets: occult scholar Dr. Montague, his assistant Theodora, the edgy Eleanor and Hill House heir Luke. Whether or not you've watched the Netflix series, this one will keep you up at night. 

A girl named Vic stumbles upon a bridge that can take her anywhere.  Then she meets Charlie Manx, a man who lures children to the horrific Christmasland in his old car. She's the first child to ever escape his clutches, and Charlie never stops seeking revenge. Years later, he finds it in a new victim: Vic's own son. 

You can't go wrong with Stephen King, a master of both horror and thriller, but there's something about this one about isolated hotel caretaker Jack Torrence's descent into madness (and his creepily gifted son Danny) that just rises above the rest.  

Fans of campfire stories, bring this one on your next camping trip. Scout leader Tim Riggs takes a group of close-knit boys into the Canadian wilderness for a three-night excursion where they encounter a deranged man who's carrying more than unsettling stories. What ensues is a disturbing story of survival that will make you squirm in your sleeping bag. 

The premise of this book might hit a little close to home these days, and maybe that makes it even scarier. It takes place in a post-zombie apocalypse hellscape in which a man named Mark Spitz is part of a sweeper team that has to eradicate the straggler zombies. All goes horribly wrong in a novel that's both stomach-churning and literary.

In the book that made Rice a household name among horror fans, we get a peek behind the curtain at what makes a vampire tick. It's unexpectedly sexual, alluring and of course, creepy.

Anyone who's ever lived in the shadow of an ex will recognize parts of themselves in this terrifying tale of a new bride who arrives at a remote Cornish mansion haunted by the echoes of her predecessor. 

Four Native American men disturb a spirit on a hunting trip as young men, and the consequences follow them and their families for years. It's violent, distressing and a sharp look at cultural tradition and revenge.

This novel is often praised for its beautiful storytelling, but it's just as horrific as it is well written. Sethe was born an enslaved person, but even 18 years after she starts her new life as a free woman in Ohio, she can't let go of the depravity that took place at Sweet Home, the place she escaped. Then there's the ghost of her nameless baby daughter, buried in a grave marked simply, "Beloved." 

In this delightful read that reads like Dracula set in the '90s American South, a group of true crime-obsessed book club ladies have to do battle with a menace in their small town. It's perfect for fans of horror and real-life crime alike.

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Most of us know the basics of the Dracula story, but if you haven't actually read it, do yourself a favor. The atmospheric chill that runs through this classic tale will set your teeth on edge as you fall into the absorbing story.