5 Books That Will Give You Nightmares

I love anything and everything horror related and I have read hundreds of horror books over the years. My love for horror books started when I was about twelve years old and discovered the Point Horror collection (and yes I feel old typing that). By the time I was fourteen, I’d moved on to adult horror books and I’ve really never looked back.

I have a confession to make – I’ve never read a book that actually gave me nightmares, even as a child, but some books are so well written and so full of atmosphere that they really do send a shiver down your spine, and maybe if you’re not a hardcore horror fan, they would give you nightmares.

Here are five books that just might do it (and even if they don’t, they’re damned good reads):

Peggy the Doll by Jayne Harris

People say the truth is scarier than fiction, and they have never been more right than in this case. Peggy the Doll is the true story of a haunted doll that is so powerful, even looking at her picture has caused people to become physically ill. I think the most creepy thing about Peggy is that there’s nothing creepy about her to look at. She isn’t an old, cracked doll, she doesn’t have evil eyes, in fact, she looks like the sort of doll a child would want to play with.

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

This kind of list just wouldn’t be complete without this horror classic. The Exorcist, while not particularly shocking in terms of the language used now like it was when it was realised, is still suitably creepy and it’s one of those books that just gets in your head, and you can’t help but wonder how you would cope with it if you found yourself in that situation.

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

I’m yet to read a book that better illustrates how normal kids can drawn into a mob mentality and take something that starts out seemingly harmlessly way too far than The Girl Next Door. It shows the shocking reality of how kids will do something they know is wrong rather than face the backlash of their peers. And the worst part? The book is based on a true story.

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

Pet Sematary isn’t full of gore and the idea behind it isn’t as disturbing as a lot of other books, so a lot of people are probably wondering why this book made the list. What I find scary about this book is that deep down in every person, there’s a tiny part of them that knows that if they were in this situation, they would do the same thing to save a member of their family. Even after all of the warnings.

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

The first time you read Rosemary’s Baby, there’s this creepy undertone to the story. There’s something off, but you can’t quite put your finger on what it is. If you reread it after knowing how it ends, it becomes even better as you spot all of those little clues that you didn’t pick up on the first time. This is another one that makes you wonder how you would react if you were in that situation.

As an aside that’s really not relevant to this post, I’ve loved Rosemary’s Baby for years (it was the first adult horror book I ever read) and it was only last month that I discovered there’s a sequel to it, Son of Rosemary. How did I not know this sooner?

What’s your all time favourite horror book? Can you recommend a book that might give me literal nightmares? Let me know in the comments 🙂

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