#2 on the list was The Shining. Raymond writes about the novel:
If one name is synonymous with modern horror, it’s Stephen King, and “The Shining” is our pick for his scariest novel. The book centers on frustrated writer Jack Torrance, a recovering alcoholic who accepts a winter caretaker position at the sprawling Overlook Hotel in Colorado. The hotel is closed to visitors, so there’s no one there for months besides Jack, his wife and their son Danny. No one, that is, except the ghosts. As Jack’s madness grows, he turns on his wife, and the peaceful, snowy refuge becomes a claustophobic trap. Can Danny’s special gifts, known as “the shining,” save him and his mother? The entire book is a slow burn gradually building up the suspense until it’s nearly unbearable.What interested me were the other books listed.
3. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving.
4. “Dracula” by Bram Stoker.
5. “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe.
6. “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe.
#1 on the list was a book I've not heard of, "In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote. But note the other four: Irving, Stoker, Poe. All three are classic authors. And who's right smack in the middle of them? Stephen King!
This seems like a good place to point out that Stephen King really is a face among the masters. That is, his work will have a lasting impact on generations to come; much the way Poe and Stoker do today.
What is the scariest NON King book you've read?
NONFICTION: For me it's the book I'm reading right now, "Haunted: The Incredible True Story of a Canadian Family's Experience Living in a Haunted House." It reads like the Amityville Horror -- but no stupid pigs feet left in the snow. There is a scene where the lady is laying in bed next to her husband, and sees a woman standing in the doorway looking at her. It scared me! So I'm supposed to be out running right now and listening to the book. . . but I'm scared. Or lazy. no, scared. Anyway, the book is creepy.
I read Fatal Vision when I was a kid, about an army doctor who was accused of killing his family. I thought it was terrifying, and the scenes from that book still haunt me. I saw the miniseries first, then read the book, so the images were already seared in my minds eye. I have since come to believe that the doctor is innocent -- which leads to an scarier series of events.
FICTION: Swan Song was pretty scary. It may just be fresh on my mind because I just finished it. But there were definitely scenes that I thought were over the top crazy.
The scariest non-King book I've read so far is a tie between Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves, and a group of books I read in my childhood, Scary stories to tell in the Dark.
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