| Product: |
Top Ten Horror |
| Date: |
07/03/06 (223 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Fun to Read.
Disadvantages: Scary to Read.
Many of you on this website may know already the author from which most of my list of top ten horror books will come from. I love horror mainly because it is a strange feeling to be scared and quite a lot of people like that feeling and I am one of them. Horror books are better than watching films in a way because most of them allow you to use your imagination to a large extent and that makes the book even more terrifying. Anyway I will now get to the list.
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10: Haunted – James Herbert.
A guy comes to a house which according to the grandma is haunted but when he meets the family and as he is a non-believer things do not turn out as he expects. This book is quite tame to be honest compared to his other books and Herbert uses the aspect of a haunted house to his advantage and explores a lot of things that I would definitely fear if I went to the house.
Haunted is short and the writing style is fantastic and is one book that although it is classed as a horror book, it is quite tame so people who are not into horror that much may still enjoy this title.
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9: Frankenstein – Mary Shelley.
Perhaps one of the most remembered horror books is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein which features a scientist creating a monster. The thing about this book is the way that when you read it you get scared by the monster but you understand why Frankenstein created it and you do feel empathy for the monster. A fantastic book that is one of the classics now and it still scares me now, it is just the thought of creating a monster with feelings and strength just scares me.
If you have not read this before then please read it as it is well written and a horror story with a difference as you care for the monster.
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8: Talking with serial killers – Christopher Berry-Dee.
Berry-Dee talks to some of the worlds worst serial killers and you get to have a small insight into what happened and how they think and even more important why they did what they did. My sister told me to read this and I am including it is a horror book as it scared me silly and the fact that everything in it is real just is horrible and unbelievable.
I will say that this book is not for the faint-hearted though as some of it disturbed me and I had to skip a few pages but on the whole an extremely interesting read.
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7: It – Stephen King.
I first watched the film about a clown who terrorizes a group of kids and it scared me so much so I read the book. Very hard to get into but with King being a master of getting you to not particularly use your imagination but to get into what you are reading 100% this book is brilliant. The story is very scary and it terrified me but I think King does well at explaining the characters and better still explaining why they are being terrorised.
This is the only one of Kings books that I can actually read with ease because it is a huge book but very thrilling and once I have started I cannot put it down.
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6: - A series of unfortunate events – Lemony Snickett.
Ok you may go mad at me for including these books but to me they are a sort of horror book for kids. It features the three Baudelaire orphans who go to live with their relatives but always get stuck with the evil Count Olaf who treats them appaulingly. Now it is horror to me because if you were those children would you want to live with an uncle who locks you in rooms and does not feed you? Didn’t think so.
I love these books because they are funny and terrifying also when you think about what the children are going through. Maybe not for the avid horror reader as they are children’s books but if I had read them when I was a child I probably would have cried.
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5: American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis.
Most people will have seen the film about Patrick Bateman being a successful business man in the day and then killing people at night but what you may not know is there was a book before it. Now this book is scary and when I say horror book I mean horror book as it is so scary that some of the descriptions made me feel a bit sick and I did stop reading it at one point as I didn’t want to see what happens.
Ellis is great at building up tension but he is the most descriptive horror author I have read and to be honest the book is so horrible I would not like to meet Ellis in real life as I think he must be a bit mad.
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4: Rats / Lair / Domain – James Herbert.
I have included all three as one choice as they do follow on from each other. All three are about a new breed of rat which are big and have razor teeth and they are after blood so have no problem feasting on humans. Every one of the three are written superbly and although they feature different characters they do follow on from each other so do read them in order.
Writing style is great and a lot of it is left to your imagination so if you are like my Mom and are frightened silly of rats then probably not the best read for you.
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3: I am Legend – Richard Matheson.
This is one brilliant book and tells the story of the last living man on earth while the rest of the world has been turned into hungry vampires. I have to say that this book is very scary and although it is quite hard to read I would recommend it to horror fans. Matheson builds up tension well and gets you really to care for the main character Neville and the world how he portrays it is one that I certainly would hate to live in.
If you want a very good original horror book which has been copied so many times then this is the one for you. Published in 1954 so one of the first of its kind I would give it five stars definitely so go and buy now.
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2: Once – James Herbert.
Once is about a guy who comes to a family cottage to recover after an accident but while he is there he meets demons and fairies. I nearly put this book at number one as it is that good and is one of Herbert’s latest. Your imagination is pushed to the limits in this novel and because of the brilliant use of magic this book is very terrifying at a new level as none of it is believable but it is at the same time.
A great thing about this book too is in the hardcover version you do get a map of the area in which the story is set and also throughout the book are several pictures so you can see hoe Herbert sees the story. It has some great characters and believe me the nasty things that happen in this book are brilliant.
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1: Moon – James Herbert.
Moon is about a man called Childes who can see the horrible acts that a monster is doing but then when the monster begins to sense him too things begin to go wrong. The reason that this book has to be my number one is because I have read it literally about thirty times and I could still read it again. Herbert again is amazing at creating horror, tension and then throwing in romance and comedy so you get a sense of reality about the whole thing even though there are monsters that could not possibly exist.
I would recommend this book if you like James Herbert’s other novels and also if you like horror that you can use your imagination with and enjoy.
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So there you go, you now have some idea on what books lie on my book shelf. I hope I have shown you maybe a few books for horror fans that you haven’t tried but if you know of any that I would like based on my choices then let me know as I am always on the lookout for new authors.
Thanks for reading.
xxx
Summary: I do Love Horror.
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