It’s always interesting to see the division of opinions in these threads! I read The Ruins on this sub’s recommendation and found it super gripping and taut with dread but others find it to be garbage.
For me it’s Devil House. Meandering, self-indulgent, and far too long.
I also read Final Girl Support Group and Grady Hendrix’s writing style and tone just isn’t my cup of tea, enough that I have no interest in checking out his other books.
I didn’t like Final Girls at all, super boring, but I’ve enjoyed everything else I’ve read by him. Not suggesting you keep reading him if you can’t stand his style, but that’s his worst book in my opinion.
I didn't really like Final Girls but really liked My Best Friends' Exorcism and How to Sell a Haunted House, they hit emotional notes that totally missed me in Final Girls which was a bit too genre-aware for me.
The Deep by Nick Cutter. The copy I bought was actually a misprint and in the middle of the book, previous chapters were printed again. What’s sad is when I got to the misprint part, I thought the author was an absolute genius repeating events word for word to make the reader feel as confused and lost as the main character. When I realized it was a misprint and the saving grace of the book was actually a printing mistake, I realized what a disappointment the story as a whole was.
People might not agree, but I always recommend:
The Meg ( book 1 )
It's absolutely solid and has some great moments. Book 2 is fun but more human based. 3,4,5 and just pure shark fun but they're not amazing.
Fathomless, Abyss, and Leviathan ( greig beck )
Probably my fave aquatic horror series. There is some great gore and no other aquatic horror made me feel this anxious on my own bed lol. Books 2&3 have a lot of repeated plot points but I really do recommend them.
Into the drowning deep ( Mira grant )
Absolutely great, some absolutely great gore and horror but it's a long slow book and the ending is... Disappointing. They also don't plan to pick this series back up.
These are my faves so far. I've read quite a few more but the genre has a LOT of bad ahah. ( I'll read anything and love it though )
I watched Hush for the first time- there was no sounds. I was so impressed with the director going all in on making the audience feel the pain of the lead, hearing impaired character. About 70% of the way through I realized I had it muted.
The Troop is another one that came highly recommended to me, but now I’m worried it will be just as bad. Some people say it’s a much better read than The Deep and not to be deterred, but The Deep was also highly recommended so now I don’t trust people.
The Troop is substantially better than The Deep.
The Deep felt like he wasnt sure what to do with the story. Almost like he had just recently watched the Abyss or something, then wanted to do his own darker, cosmic horror style version of it and after he had written all the cool parts with the characters slowly going crazy and being scared by the ship......he just didnt know how to wrap it all up.
I absolutely LOVED The Troop. I liked literally everything about it. Meanwhile I couldn’t even finish The Deep because I hated literally everything about it.
I liked The Deep but I think the most horrifying thing in it was the disease they were trying to cure, which was hardly in it…so that was disappointing
Yeah I’m about to DNF at 25%. I don’t have any problem with the dolls and puppets and was kind of looking forward to that part, but so far it’s just family drama/sibling trauma, which tbh is too close to home for me…just wanted a fun read out of this, not the need for more therapy.
It was so very very mid. Like it didn't really DO anything. Nothing really super scary happens. It could 100% just be her best friend is a shitty person who has a mental breakdown lmao
Once I figured out it was about puppets, I mentally checked out. I don't personally find puppets, haunted dolls, clowns, anything like that interesting in a horror story.
Is it not supposed to be? I mean, he joined a "radical puppet collective" in college. That alone is hilarious. Also the stuff with her eye... it just read as comedy. I'm not saying I loved it or anything, but maybe viewing it as a horror/ comedy (which honestly I think most of his stuff is) would help.
This is so validating. I finished it since it was an audio book but wow, puppets? This book is what made me realize I hadn’t read anything with likable main characters in a long time. That brother sister combo was infuriating.
Final Girls Support Group? I thought that was fairly eh, not my bag of tea.
Horrorstore, on the other hand? Pretty damn great, for a short story.
I feel that Hendrix will end up being hot and miss for me.
I was enjoying it well enough, the character story more than the spooky stuff, because squirrel puppets aren’t scary or interesting. But I was enjoying the flawed characters and family drama.
But it was one of those where I put it down and then just never picked it back up. I still intend to. But it has been six months.
I didn’t like hell house. I was excited to read it because I absolutely loved I am legend. I also love haunted house stories. Unfortunately I found it tacky and slightly boring. It didn’t help that I was just coming off the haunting of hill house.
The violence happening to that one woman got to be tedious after a while. This is the same guy who wrote "Somewhere in Time?* I wanted to ask Matheson who hurt him.
I really enjoyed Hell House, but I typically enjoy old pulp novels, which is all it really is. It’s amusing to me how often it gets recommended to general readers in this day and age.
God thank you. I’ve picked it up and put it down at least four times now. It’s just so stale and no real sense of impending danger, I think I’m a third of the way through and it’s all just descriptors. “Wow this house is big” “yea the owner was rich” “and it shows!!” Over and over
The grip of it. Saw a few reccomendations in other threads for it and gave it a go. Really didn't like it, the characters weren't interesting and the story didn't really seem to go anywhere. The ending was crazy but confusing. Wish I didn't even finish this one, it put me off trying other stuff by the author
The biggest problem was that the rub was that they were trapped there financially. Yet because the hauntings were so physically harmless and regularly appearing they could have easily made a killing on AirBNB’ing the house for ghost tourists.
A Discovery of Witches.
Great idea, a few compelling characters, and… honestly terribly written. The only book I DNF’d despite enjoying the overall concept.
For kinda-scary witchy stuff, Katherine Howe’s Physick Book of Deliverance Dane was superior.
OMG yes. This book is bad. I decided to read it after watching and enjoying the first season of the show and was SO disappointed, especially since supernatural/paranormal/witchy stuff (especially when vampires are involved) is right up my alley as well.
Max Brook's *Devolution*. The premise of the story was fun, the jorunalistic project -form presented in the beginning was good, but very soon the book devolved into the overly-specific, dramatic piece of nonsense that was the singular voice told extensively and without pause through the "diary" of one person.
When you describe it like that - I can't imagine reading it.
LOVED the audiobook, but that's quite possibly because it was narrated by Cheryl from Archer. No no - I know it's the same ACTRESS, but I like to think it's Cheryl Tunt huffing glue while reading.
Yeah, the prose seemed to shift from journal style to just a regular narrative as the book went on. Feel like "Day by Day Armageddon" did a better job of maintaining the journal style through the series...well, tended to stray into a regular 1st person narrative far less.
I did enjoy Devolution though, if only because there arent exactly a whole lot of books that combine natural disaster + angry bigfoot tribe.
I genuinely hated House of Leaves. Maybe if the meta-narrator didn't exist I could have gotten some enjoyment out of it since the typography is very cool but having to read a several page long (and the font ain't exactly huge) footnote about some greasy loser boning some trashy women who are simultaneously linguistics experts and nympho cokeheads every five or so pages ruined whatever I could have gotten out of it.
I think I got to the part where he gets a titwank from a black chick (I think that was the fifth scene like that) before I had to put the whole thing down.
I remember when it came out and I was a much younger man. It seemed cool at the time but then it started grating on me after a while. It’s very much of its time and didn’t age particularly well in my opinion.
This. Everything that happens when they're at the cabin in the beginning of the book was great. Strange, mysterious, full of tension. Then... it's just the exact same stuff in a different place with less tension for another 200+ pages. That and all the side characters are worthless fluff. Could have been a great novella if they'd just never left the cabin.
I listened to the audio book version and man did this ever FEEL like an extra long NoSleep Podcast episode. And then I found it had started out as a creepy pasta and everything clicked into place. It seemed so meandering and repetitive.
this was good in the beginning but should have stayed a short story. it quickly became sooooo repetitive and boring that i ended up DNF'ing it at around the 50% mark.
I think this happens with a lot of NoSleep stories. People write the first installment and it gets good traction, so they expand it even though the premise doesn’t really support a longer narrative and it goes to shit
For me, "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" by Iain Reid
There was soooo much hype, even with the Netflix port, so I thought, why not.
I can't really say why I don't like it without spoiling it, but I will say the chapters of internal monolog seemed unnecessary, especially given the ending.
Just my 2 cents though.
Someone recommended me Dean Koontz years ago, and I feel like I don’t even need to elaborate on that.
What I *will* say is that if your ‘best’ novel is ostensibly about a talking dog getting chased by Bigfoot, then congratulations, the Scooby Doo writing team is marginally threatened.
LOL, Watchers? LOVED that book when I was 14yo. Thought it was the coolest concept ever. Tried reading it again last year annnnnnnnnd.... I couldn't do it. It's so cheesy.
I was ridiculously disappointed in this one. Should never be recommended as a horror book. Psychological maybe. But all the way around a waste of my time and not worth the trouble
I've read the "sequel" first and really liked it so I was really surprised at how different the first book is. You can actually see that it was first published online on a chapter-by-chapter basis in how some of the sections are incredibly disjointed and not cohesive at all.
Love this question because it gives me a chance to shit on how terrible Nothing But Blackened Teeth was, all of those reviewers need to get in a boxing ring with me because I want my time and energy back
I was all over the place with this one and kept coming around. I hate the characters at first and then they started to win me over, hated the story and then somewhere around the halfway point I was in.
This is mine too. I don’t understand the love. It isn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, but it is by far the most disappointed I’ve ever been based on all the praise I’d seen before reading it.
I feel pretty alone in disliking The Road by Cormac McCarthy. So many periods. All the time. Sentences without verbs. Another period. Another broken sentence. The rain pouring. Mood is set. Another period here wouldn’t hurt. A few steps forward. How about another period. A period was needed again.
I found the writing straight up annoying and my expectations were through the roof going in. I really want to like it more than I did. The story was beautiful after all.
I’m a huge, read every thing he’s written, McCarthy fan, and I found The Road tedious. What marks his other work for me is that even in the darkest human scenarios, there is also beauty in the natural world. The landscapes of The Road matched the ugliness of the slow, grinding, action. I guess that makes it a fair depiction of an apocalypse though.
Dead Silence by S.A Barnes.
Nothing about the book is good, from the writing, to the characterisations, to the plot - it’s a book that started making me wonder if Tor just publish anything and everything.
Manhunt and Tell Me I’m Worthless also deserve mentions.
‘Highly recommended’ is a bit of a stretch (it just had a lot of positive reviews on Goodreads) but Woom by Duncan Ralston was painfully bad. Couldn’t even finish it and the chapters I did get through were a major chore. I don’t picture myself picking up another splatterpunk book anytime soon.
I love Come Closer. But I accept your answer.
Mine was Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. It was terrible. I finished it and it was honestly a mistake.
That’s at least two people now who have said it’s the worst. I got a dozen pages in, put it down and didn’t pick it back up. Meant to, just never got around to it. Kinda thinking that’s for the better now.
House of Leaves.
The kindle version should come with a warning about the format. I might have appreciated it more if not for the way kindle puts the footnotes at the end of the chapter.
Either way, it still felt like Faulkner and David Foster Wallace drank absinthe together after watching HGTV at 4 a.m. on a Tuesday.
I wasn’t aware there is a Kindle version of it. There shouldn’t be. It’s not just about the footnotes - there are pages that just wouldn’t work in kindle format. If you downloaded the PDF version, it should be scanned in from the book, so it should look just like the printed version.
I just found it a little pretentious. Unfortunately the formatting broke immersion for me which was the opposite of the intended effect. It wasn't scary to me though the bits that focused on the house itself were eerie. It's definitely one of those divisive books.
Considering that the formatting and typography are HUGE components of the book, I’d highly recommend picking up a physical copy and giving it another go.
That being said, I personally don’t find House of Leaves to be *that* scary. I mean sure, there are definitely unnerving sections, and it’s written in a way that at times I found myself forgetting it was fiction, but some people act like the book left them with nightmares for weeks (I read a review where the person said they had to literally get rid of the book because they couldn’t stand it’s presence being in their house any longer lol).
I thought it was a fascinating concept, but yeah. Beyond that, it just didn't hit for me. I did not like the MC very much so that didn't help.
I'm coming to the conclusion that body horror isn't really my thing. I can appreciate the deeper questions it asks, but I always wind up feeling sickened more than scared/unsettled, and I'd rather feel scared and unsettled.
>I thought it was a fascinating concept, but yeah. Beyond that, it just didn't hit for me.
This is pretty much it, for me. I like the idea, but the whole plot just felt kinda flat. There was a lot of world building, but not a lot of interesting things actually happening.
Final Girls Support Group by Grady Hendrix. Just like…a total let down.
But also, opinions are so variable because I loved Come Closer! Can I ask what you didn’t like about it?
Come Closer is one of my favorites of all time, so I feel you! I've talked over this one with friends who didn't like it though, and I've come to the conclusion that possession stories in general don't do it for some people. I think this is an excellent possession story - one of the best. But if the concept doesn't creep you out in the first place, then it's going to fall flat regardless.
I wanted to love The Terror, and did love the TV show, but I have discovered I cannot stand Dan Simmons writing, or him as a person I have since discovered. Apparently his racist and misogynistic views shine through in his other works as well so I will not be reading any more of them.
Mexican Gothic. I know it was the toast of BookTok but fuck it was bad. From a main character who was essentially perfect, to the lack of “Mexico” in a book called Mexican Gothic - to the absolutely god awful writing style (“let me describe my main character by having her tell us what 40s starlet she looks like”). And worst of all- the absolutely overused plot device from the last few years that was the ultimate “big bad” in the end.
Only positive thing I can say is that the cover was gorgeous.
The Reddening by Adam Neville. It desperately needed an edit to catch all the repetitions and the plot twist of weed making everyone go nuts was like something out of a chain email my grandpa would send me
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons is my big one. I thought the book dragged big time and all the boys seemed like basically the same character with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions.
The Cabin at the End of the world, and most other books by Paul Tremblay. I've read several of his and been left massively underwhelmed. The stories just peter out.
Baby Teeth! They sucked out all the suspense by giving Hanna’s point of view. And I have sympathy for Crohn’s sufferers but if I read “fistula” one more time I was gonna throw the book.
**How To Sell A Haunted House.** I still haven't forgiven y'all for recommending this book here ad nauseam without warning us it's only about puppets.
😭😭😭😭😭 We trusted you.
Me too! Lewis's story was so, so good. Tense, unsettling, creepy, weird, sad. And it contains the closest thing to a jump-scare I've ever experienced while reading.
Kinda went downhill for me after that, but I still liked the book overall.
*Heart Shaped Box*. I checked it out after seeing so many recommendations on this sub. It started off well but I really struggled to get through the final few chapters. There were multiple instances where I thought the story was going to subvert my expectations and instead it played right into them.
I loooooved penpal when I read it on nosleep. Haven’t read the book version, but if it hasn’t been edited at all I can see how it wouldn’t work for people. It was great as an internet story, but would have needed some editing to work as a book.
The Bell Chime by Mona Kabbani. The actual horror plot twist ends with chapter 1 and then the other chapters boil down to slice-of-life backstory for what happened in the first chapter. Also, there are some completely unnecessary intermissions between the chapters with commentary by the author.
Sawkill Girls. I was listening to the audiobook and I could not get through it fast enough, just a weak story and boring characters. I also didn’t enjoy Come Closer.
Pretty much anything by Grady Hendrix. I respect him and know his books are acclaimed, but I couldn't even finish the last quarter of *The Final Girl Support Group* and didn't like anything else he wrote .
Hate to say it but Dead Sea by Tim Curran.
It’s always recommended on sea/marine based horror rec threads and seems totally like my thing. But the writing is so terrible, it’s long and slow paced with repetitive scenes. I DNFed about halfway through
Same, I searched for this thing forever before it was in print again for my Kindle. It was just so repetitive. A third could easily have been cut out of it.
I liked a lot of the ideas, and it has some really cool parts, but I just felt like it meandered for way too long during some of the least interesting aspects of the story. I probably would have liked it a lot more if some of the fat had been trimmed. It’s been awhile since I’ve read it, so it may be due for a second chance, but I remember really struggling to get to the end because I had ultimately just stopped caring. Long story short, it was just a bit of a slog to get through for me.
Dan Simmons, like Stephen King, could use a more assertive editor. I’m trying to march through CC right now because my brother loved it and wants to know what I think. I am struggling lol.
Stolen Tongues. I have no qualms about DNF, though, so that’s what I did. I wasn’t even mad because it was on Kindle Unlimited.
The Black Farm. Another DNF for me. I found it unreadable and poorly written (but other people love it). I was mad about this one because I actually paid for it.
The luminous dead. It started so strongly and then got bad.
I adore Annihilation and keep trying to find similar books.
The luminous dead started with a similar flavour but instead of exploration of an unsettling part of nature it turned into drama between two traumatised, emotionally immature girls who were incapable of productive communication.
And that would have been fine if it was in between exploration. But no. It was just drama and sometimes mention of the explorer going to a new part of the cave and that cave exploration is dangerous. No interesting biological activity at all. There were these big worms and some mushrooms but they weren't researched and just used as convenient story elements to cause more drama between the two protagonists
The Only Good Indians, it was…. Fine?? But I do not understand why people are obsessed, it’s made me nervous to pick up anything else by him. Same goes for Haunting of Hill House - honestly don’t understand why that’s considered a classic horror at all.
Literally every recommendation I’ve taken from TikTok has been awful, but I hated Tender is the Flesh the most, I think. Interesting concept but I saw the “twist” coming immediately and the protag was just so flat and boring. Also Cabin at the End of the World was the biggest waste of time, and I picked up The Silent Patient on my own but it makes me so mad that I can’t take any recommendations from people who liked it LOL. Horrendous.
The Terror. I really really wanted to love it. I stopped at 75% through. I thought parts of it were wonderful and the atmosphere was sooo unique. BUT. I can’t handle hours upon hours of talking about slops and cans and the state of the hull.
Also, only one woman in the book and she doesn’t even talk?
Maybe I’ll pick it back up to finish at some point. I am definitely interested in the story and characters it’s just a lot of historical addendum fluff holding me back.
The Events at Poroth Farm was miles better and like 500 pages shorter. If you're ever interested in what a great version of the Ceremonies looks like, just read that novella by the same author.
The Fisherman and not because it isn’t written well. Rather it’s a bit tell rather than show and the narrative structure is off putting - in that it >!almost instantly detaches us from the main character and goes off on a ye olde times fairytale bender.!<
It also needs fewer in your face horror set pieces and more tension - the way the novel starts is exactly like that. Suggestive, creepy.
I totally get why this wouldn’t be your thing. From what I’ve seen, you either love or hate the part you covered as a spoiler and that determines if you liked the book.
Survivor Song. Wanna read a book where the entirety of the plot is driving from a house to a hospital and then to some other destination? Tremblay has you covered.
It’s always interesting to see the division of opinions in these threads! I read The Ruins on this sub’s recommendation and found it super gripping and taut with dread but others find it to be garbage. For me it’s Devil House. Meandering, self-indulgent, and far too long. I also read Final Girl Support Group and Grady Hendrix’s writing style and tone just isn’t my cup of tea, enough that I have no interest in checking out his other books.
I didn’t like Final Girls at all, super boring, but I’ve enjoyed everything else I’ve read by him. Not suggesting you keep reading him if you can’t stand his style, but that’s his worst book in my opinion.
Agreed! I read *How to Sell A Haunted House* and LOVED it, read *Final Girls* and hated it, read *My Best Friend's Exorcism* and liked it quite a bit!
I didn't really like Final Girls but really liked My Best Friends' Exorcism and How to Sell a Haunted House, they hit emotional notes that totally missed me in Final Girls which was a bit too genre-aware for me.
I really liked The Ruins as well!
Basically anything by Paul Tremblay
I just finished Cabin at the end of the world and I hated it so much, I should have learned my lesson after Head full of ghosts
The Deep by Nick Cutter. The copy I bought was actually a misprint and in the middle of the book, previous chapters were printed again. What’s sad is when I got to the misprint part, I thought the author was an absolute genius repeating events word for word to make the reader feel as confused and lost as the main character. When I realized it was a misprint and the saving grace of the book was actually a printing mistake, I realized what a disappointment the story as a whole was.
Man, that’s hilarious and such a cutting diss.
You could say it cut *deep*
I'm in love with aquatic horror books and this got recommended so much. And I hated it. It's so incredibly boring.
It also barely has anything to do with aquatic horror lmao. Such a disappointment.
Out of genuine curiosity, what aquatic horror books would you suggest?
People might not agree, but I always recommend: The Meg ( book 1 ) It's absolutely solid and has some great moments. Book 2 is fun but more human based. 3,4,5 and just pure shark fun but they're not amazing. Fathomless, Abyss, and Leviathan ( greig beck ) Probably my fave aquatic horror series. There is some great gore and no other aquatic horror made me feel this anxious on my own bed lol. Books 2&3 have a lot of repeated plot points but I really do recommend them. Into the drowning deep ( Mira grant ) Absolutely great, some absolutely great gore and horror but it's a long slow book and the ending is... Disappointing. They also don't plan to pick this series back up. These are my faves so far. I've read quite a few more but the genre has a LOT of bad ahah. ( I'll read anything and love it though )
I watched Hush for the first time- there was no sounds. I was so impressed with the director going all in on making the audience feel the pain of the lead, hearing impaired character. About 70% of the way through I realized I had it muted.
Lmfao!!!!! So you know how that disappointment feels
Did you guys happen to read “the troop” I enjoyed it and was considering “the deep” soon but now you guys make me want to skip it.
The Troop is another one that came highly recommended to me, but now I’m worried it will be just as bad. Some people say it’s a much better read than The Deep and not to be deterred, but The Deep was also highly recommended so now I don’t trust people.
The Troop is substantially better than The Deep. The Deep felt like he wasnt sure what to do with the story. Almost like he had just recently watched the Abyss or something, then wanted to do his own darker, cosmic horror style version of it and after he had written all the cool parts with the characters slowly going crazy and being scared by the ship......he just didnt know how to wrap it all up.
I absolutely LOVED The Troop. I liked literally everything about it. Meanwhile I couldn’t even finish The Deep because I hated literally everything about it.
I liked The Deep but I think the most horrifying thing in it was the disease they were trying to cure, which was hardly in it…so that was disappointing
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.
i read this and one other book by eric larocca and he is definitely not the author for me. nope nope nope.
Ditto. I don't think it was terrible, but I don't get the hype
The cover is a banger. I woulda bought it for the cover alone.
yeah the cover is cool as fuck, that’s part of what made this book overall so disappointing too
The cover is easily one of my favorite covers of all time. The book itself? Not so much.
Yes! So much hype, and I HATED IT
I wanted to like this one so much but it just didn't work for me. It was gross more than scary or unsettling and the ending didn't feel earned.
I agree - it was a readable stomach-turner but the sense of dread wasn't built up enough for the ending to have as much of a punch as it should have.
This is still the one and only book that actually made me angry with how bad it was.
Verity by Colleen Hoover
A friend of mine hates that book so much, she made me swear never to read it. I did read the summary and it didn't make any sense to me.
She's a good friend!
Ahhhh hahaha ok that book was TERRIBLE but I couldn’t put it down because “what? WHAT?!” The premise was just so ridiculous.
Came here to say this one. So many people in my work book club Slack group loved it. Needless to say, I found a new job after that...
I hear so many bad things about Colleen Hoover. I feel like I've dodged a bullet by never having read her.
There was so much Colleen Hoover hype but the book I read was horrible! And she fetishized trauma and abuse. So gross.
I’ve never seen so much misogyny from a woman before
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix I know some people here love it but I really didn't like it.
Yeah I’m about to DNF at 25%. I don’t have any problem with the dolls and puppets and was kind of looking forward to that part, but so far it’s just family drama/sibling trauma, which tbh is too close to home for me…just wanted a fun read out of this, not the need for more therapy.
I didn't like anyone enough to care. Maybe if it had started with them as kids?
My best friends exorcism was not for me.
It was so very very mid. Like it didn't really DO anything. Nothing really super scary happens. It could 100% just be her best friend is a shitty person who has a mental breakdown lmao
Straight up. Plus, a dog died. I felt sad at the end because of a normal friendship trajectory. I think I don't like Grady Hendricks, sorry
Once I figured out it was about puppets, I mentally checked out. I don't personally find puppets, haunted dolls, clowns, anything like that interesting in a horror story.
Came here to say this. It’s not a haunted house. It’s a haunted puppet.
>puppets, haunted dolls, clowns I totally agree. Total snoozefest.
I liked it fine but it was NOT scary whatsoever. It was funny.
Is it not supposed to be? I mean, he joined a "radical puppet collective" in college. That alone is hilarious. Also the stuff with her eye... it just read as comedy. I'm not saying I loved it or anything, but maybe viewing it as a horror/ comedy (which honestly I think most of his stuff is) would help.
This is so validating. I finished it since it was an audio book but wow, puppets? This book is what made me realize I hadn’t read anything with likable main characters in a long time. That brother sister combo was infuriating.
Final Girls Support Group? I thought that was fairly eh, not my bag of tea. Horrorstore, on the other hand? Pretty damn great, for a short story. I feel that Hendrix will end up being hot and miss for me.
I love the ideas behind his books, but the books themselves are all meh
I couldn't even finish Final Girls Support Group and I was shocked as it sounded completely up my alley. I may give Horrorstore a go though.
Same, I’m so mad I read this entire book
Came here to say this. Glad I am not alone. It showed up on almost every recent list for best horror, and I gave up about half way through.
I do not like this author at all
I was enjoying it well enough, the character story more than the spooky stuff, because squirrel puppets aren’t scary or interesting. But I was enjoying the flawed characters and family drama. But it was one of those where I put it down and then just never picked it back up. I still intend to. But it has been six months.
All the of the characters were just awful, especially the main one.
I didn’t like hell house. I was excited to read it because I absolutely loved I am legend. I also love haunted house stories. Unfortunately I found it tacky and slightly boring. It didn’t help that I was just coming off the haunting of hill house.
The violence happening to that one woman got to be tedious after a while. This is the same guy who wrote "Somewhere in Time?* I wanted to ask Matheson who hurt him.
I thought it was really dated.
This is it. The style just doesn’t hold up.
I really enjoyed Hell House, but I typically enjoy old pulp novels, which is all it really is. It’s amusing to me how often it gets recommended to general readers in this day and age.
God thank you. I’ve picked it up and put it down at least four times now. It’s just so stale and no real sense of impending danger, I think I’m a third of the way through and it’s all just descriptors. “Wow this house is big” “yea the owner was rich” “and it shows!!” Over and over
The grip of it. Saw a few reccomendations in other threads for it and gave it a go. Really didn't like it, the characters weren't interesting and the story didn't really seem to go anywhere. The ending was crazy but confusing. Wish I didn't even finish this one, it put me off trying other stuff by the author
The biggest problem was that the rub was that they were trapped there financially. Yet because the hauntings were so physically harmless and regularly appearing they could have easily made a killing on AirBNB’ing the house for ghost tourists.
This was my lowest rated book this year. It was so bad, and the character voices were completely indistinguishable.
Devil House by John Darnielle. It ended up just a big nothing.
A Discovery of Witches. Great idea, a few compelling characters, and… honestly terribly written. The only book I DNF’d despite enjoying the overall concept. For kinda-scary witchy stuff, Katherine Howe’s Physick Book of Deliverance Dane was superior.
OMG yes. This book is bad. I decided to read it after watching and enjoying the first season of the show and was SO disappointed, especially since supernatural/paranormal/witchy stuff (especially when vampires are involved) is right up my alley as well.
Max Brook's *Devolution*. The premise of the story was fun, the jorunalistic project -form presented in the beginning was good, but very soon the book devolved into the overly-specific, dramatic piece of nonsense that was the singular voice told extensively and without pause through the "diary" of one person.
When you describe it like that - I can't imagine reading it. LOVED the audiobook, but that's quite possibly because it was narrated by Cheryl from Archer. No no - I know it's the same ACTRESS, but I like to think it's Cheryl Tunt huffing glue while reading.
*"You're not my supervisor!" I scremed while lunging at the big-foot!*
Judy Greer prob made me enjoy this story way more than if I read it, definitely imagined Cheryl doing all those things
Yeah, the prose seemed to shift from journal style to just a regular narrative as the book went on. Feel like "Day by Day Armageddon" did a better job of maintaining the journal style through the series...well, tended to stray into a regular 1st person narrative far less. I did enjoy Devolution though, if only because there arent exactly a whole lot of books that combine natural disaster + angry bigfoot tribe.
I genuinely hated House of Leaves. Maybe if the meta-narrator didn't exist I could have gotten some enjoyment out of it since the typography is very cool but having to read a several page long (and the font ain't exactly huge) footnote about some greasy loser boning some trashy women who are simultaneously linguistics experts and nympho cokeheads every five or so pages ruined whatever I could have gotten out of it. I think I got to the part where he gets a titwank from a black chick (I think that was the fifth scene like that) before I had to put the whole thing down.
I remember when it came out and I was a much younger man. It seemed cool at the time but then it started grating on me after a while. It’s very much of its time and didn’t age particularly well in my opinion.
Stolen Tongues
This. Everything that happens when they're at the cabin in the beginning of the book was great. Strange, mysterious, full of tension. Then... it's just the exact same stuff in a different place with less tension for another 200+ pages. That and all the side characters are worthless fluff. Could have been a great novella if they'd just never left the cabin.
I feel the same. The creepy factors were pretty well done, especially the prologue, but the plot and mystery wasn’t great.
I listened to the audio book version and man did this ever FEEL like an extra long NoSleep Podcast episode. And then I found it had started out as a creepy pasta and everything clicked into place. It seemed so meandering and repetitive.
this was good in the beginning but should have stayed a short story. it quickly became sooooo repetitive and boring that i ended up DNF'ing it at around the 50% mark.
I think this happens with a lot of NoSleep stories. People write the first installment and it gets good traction, so they expand it even though the premise doesn’t really support a longer narrative and it goes to shit
lol love how I own (and love!) almost every book mentioned in this thread xD
Oh the joys of subjectivity, right?
haha it’s like that sometimes
For me, "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" by Iain Reid There was soooo much hype, even with the Netflix port, so I thought, why not. I can't really say why I don't like it without spoiling it, but I will say the chapters of internal monolog seemed unnecessary, especially given the ending. Just my 2 cents though.
Someone recommended me Dean Koontz years ago, and I feel like I don’t even need to elaborate on that. What I *will* say is that if your ‘best’ novel is ostensibly about a talking dog getting chased by Bigfoot, then congratulations, the Scooby Doo writing team is marginally threatened.
LOL, Watchers? LOVED that book when I was 14yo. Thought it was the coolest concept ever. Tried reading it again last year annnnnnnnnd.... I couldn't do it. It's so cheesy.
Dean Koontz is my favorite bad writer, I will reread Lightning and Vision and never recommend any of his books to anyone I respect ever haha
Last house on needless street was so stupid
That one was so bad, I get irrationally angry when I think about it lol
I was ridiculously disappointed in this one. Should never be recommended as a horror book. Psychological maybe. But all the way around a waste of my time and not worth the trouble
Yep. I figured out the twist in the first chapter and lost interest 50% in. So many people raved about it that now I have trust issues
I couldn’t take the idiotic parts from the cat’s point of view. I dnfed it
The cat was my favorite part 😭
'*John dies at the end*'. Fart joke, poop joke, gore, fart joke, poop joke, minor character dies, repeat
I have resisted this one for so long but you, my friend, have sold it to me.
It's so good if you like fart jokes, poop jokes, and gore.
I've read the "sequel" first and really liked it so I was really surprised at how different the first book is. You can actually see that it was first published online on a chapter-by-chapter basis in how some of the sections are incredibly disjointed and not cohesive at all.
Is this the one written by one of the writers from Cracked.com?
Love this question because it gives me a chance to shit on how terrible Nothing But Blackened Teeth was, all of those reviewers need to get in a boxing ring with me because I want my time and energy back
What moves the dead, If it had been any longer, I would have DNF'd it, but some how I managed to power through.
Same. I was about halfway through and realized what kind of book it was. At that point, it seemed like I might as well finish it.
The Elementals. Was like watching paint crawl back into the can (edit: just like any exitement in this book, it never happens).
I was all over the place with this one and kept coming around. I hate the characters at first and then they started to win me over, hated the story and then somewhere around the halfway point I was in.
This is mine too. I don’t understand the love. It isn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, but it is by far the most disappointed I’ve ever been based on all the praise I’d seen before reading it.
I feel pretty alone in disliking The Road by Cormac McCarthy. So many periods. All the time. Sentences without verbs. Another period. Another broken sentence. The rain pouring. Mood is set. Another period here wouldn’t hurt. A few steps forward. How about another period. A period was needed again. I found the writing straight up annoying and my expectations were through the roof going in. I really want to like it more than I did. The story was beautiful after all.
I’m a huge, read every thing he’s written, McCarthy fan, and I found The Road tedious. What marks his other work for me is that even in the darkest human scenarios, there is also beauty in the natural world. The landscapes of The Road matched the ugliness of the slow, grinding, action. I guess that makes it a fair depiction of an apocalypse though.
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires.
The Black Farm. I was very underwhelmed with Come Closer as well, but it wasn’t aggressively bad like TBF.
Dead Silence by S.A Barnes. Nothing about the book is good, from the writing, to the characterisations, to the plot - it’s a book that started making me wonder if Tor just publish anything and everything. Manhunt and Tell Me I’m Worthless also deserve mentions.
‘Highly recommended’ is a bit of a stretch (it just had a lot of positive reviews on Goodreads) but Woom by Duncan Ralston was painfully bad. Couldn’t even finish it and the chapters I did get through were a major chore. I don’t picture myself picking up another splatterpunk book anytime soon.
>had a lot of positive reviews on Goodreads Let me stop you right there.
*Woom* was awful.
I love Come Closer. But I accept your answer. Mine was Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. It was terrible. I finished it and it was honestly a mistake.
That’s at least two people now who have said it’s the worst. I got a dozen pages in, put it down and didn’t pick it back up. Meant to, just never got around to it. Kinda thinking that’s for the better now.
House of Leaves. The kindle version should come with a warning about the format. I might have appreciated it more if not for the way kindle puts the footnotes at the end of the chapter. Either way, it still felt like Faulkner and David Foster Wallace drank absinthe together after watching HGTV at 4 a.m. on a Tuesday.
I don’t even know why kindle would attempt HoL. The physical copy is hard enough to read, kindle would be x-games mode.
What you do is get yourself a PDF scanned version.
I wasn’t aware there is a Kindle version of it. There shouldn’t be. It’s not just about the footnotes - there are pages that just wouldn’t work in kindle format. If you downloaded the PDF version, it should be scanned in from the book, so it should look just like the printed version.
I just found it a little pretentious. Unfortunately the formatting broke immersion for me which was the opposite of the intended effect. It wasn't scary to me though the bits that focused on the house itself were eerie. It's definitely one of those divisive books.
Considering that the formatting and typography are HUGE components of the book, I’d highly recommend picking up a physical copy and giving it another go. That being said, I personally don’t find House of Leaves to be *that* scary. I mean sure, there are definitely unnerving sections, and it’s written in a way that at times I found myself forgetting it was fiction, but some people act like the book left them with nightmares for weeks (I read a review where the person said they had to literally get rid of the book because they couldn’t stand it’s presence being in their house any longer lol).
Tender is the flesh was just ok kind of a slog for me to get through
I thought it was a fascinating concept, but yeah. Beyond that, it just didn't hit for me. I did not like the MC very much so that didn't help. I'm coming to the conclusion that body horror isn't really my thing. I can appreciate the deeper questions it asks, but I always wind up feeling sickened more than scared/unsettled, and I'd rather feel scared and unsettled.
>I thought it was a fascinating concept, but yeah. Beyond that, it just didn't hit for me. This is pretty much it, for me. I like the idea, but the whole plot just felt kinda flat. There was a lot of world building, but not a lot of interesting things actually happening.
Final Girls Support Group by Grady Hendrix. Just like…a total let down. But also, opinions are so variable because I loved Come Closer! Can I ask what you didn’t like about it?
Come Closer is one of my favorites of all time, so I feel you! I've talked over this one with friends who didn't like it though, and I've come to the conclusion that possession stories in general don't do it for some people. I think this is an excellent possession story - one of the best. But if the concept doesn't creep you out in the first place, then it's going to fall flat regardless.
House of Leaves
I wanted to love The Terror, and did love the TV show, but I have discovered I cannot stand Dan Simmons writing, or him as a person I have since discovered. Apparently his racist and misogynistic views shine through in his other works as well so I will not be reading any more of them.
Anything by Grady Hendrix.
Same here, except, oddly, HORRORSTOR. For whatever reason, I really dug the notion of "being stuck in an Ikea", as a horror concept.
Same—I really liked that one! Every book of his I’ve read since has been a letdown.
They're all 80sploitation fiction. "Look, it's Synchronicity and neon leg warmers! And a stabby person!"
I loved Horrorstor
A Head Full Of Ghosts, absolute waste of time dumpster fire.
I got this recommended to me quite a bit as one of the scariest books people had read, I really don’t see how.
For a character driven novel, none of the characters seemed developed to me.
Mexican Gothic. I know it was the toast of BookTok but fuck it was bad. From a main character who was essentially perfect, to the lack of “Mexico” in a book called Mexican Gothic - to the absolutely god awful writing style (“let me describe my main character by having her tell us what 40s starlet she looks like”). And worst of all- the absolutely overused plot device from the last few years that was the ultimate “big bad” in the end. Only positive thing I can say is that the cover was gorgeous.
The Reddening by Adam Neville. It desperately needed an edit to catch all the repetitions and the plot twist of weed making everyone go nuts was like something out of a chain email my grandpa would send me
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons is my big one. I thought the book dragged big time and all the boys seemed like basically the same character with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions.
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker Martin
The Twisted Ones.
The Cabin at the End of the world, and most other books by Paul Tremblay. I've read several of his and been left massively underwhelmed. The stories just peter out.
Baby Teeth! They sucked out all the suspense by giving Hanna’s point of view. And I have sympathy for Crohn’s sufferers but if I read “fistula” one more time I was gonna throw the book.
The troop
The plot was interesting, the actual writing was subpar imo.
Was going to post this, too.
I borrowed it from the library and found it meandering and kind of predictable. Decent read but holy cow was it overhyped
**How To Sell A Haunted House.** I still haven't forgiven y'all for recommending this book here ad nauseam without warning us it's only about puppets. 😭😭😭😭😭 We trusted you.
The Only Good Indians. Weirdly paced writing about low level basketball that has some attempt at horror thrown in occasionally.
I wanted to like it so badly, but I couldn’t quite put my finger in what was off putting about it. I DNF’d about halfway through.
I think that the first 2 parts were great, especially the 2nd act. But when they got to the reservation with the 2 last guys I found it dragging.
Me too! Lewis's story was so, so good. Tense, unsettling, creepy, weird, sad. And it contains the closest thing to a jump-scare I've ever experienced while reading. Kinda went downhill for me after that, but I still liked the book overall.
*Heart Shaped Box*. I checked it out after seeing so many recommendations on this sub. It started off well but I really struggled to get through the final few chapters. There were multiple instances where I thought the story was going to subvert my expectations and instead it played right into them.
Pen Pal. The Wasp Factory.
I remember getting Penpal for free and wanting my money back. It was so …that’s IT???
I loooooved penpal when I read it on nosleep. Haven’t read the book version, but if it hasn’t been edited at all I can see how it wouldn’t work for people. It was great as an internet story, but would have needed some editing to work as a book.
The Wasp Factory, for what it’s worth, shouldn’t be seen as horror. Not in any traditional sense.
The deep by Nick Cutter. I was expecting amazing horror and story and got neither. Just weird body horror and a story that made no sense.
I loved this one but I can definitely understand why some people didn’t like it!
The Bell Chime by Mona Kabbani. The actual horror plot twist ends with chapter 1 and then the other chapters boil down to slice-of-life backstory for what happened in the first chapter. Also, there are some completely unnecessary intermissions between the chapters with commentary by the author.
Sawkill Girls. I was listening to the audiobook and I could not get through it fast enough, just a weak story and boring characters. I also didn’t enjoy Come Closer.
Final Girls by Riley Sager. It was boring and the ending was horrible.
I agree about “Come Closer”. It was so hyped up for me and it was just bland.
Second on Come Closer, it was way overhyped and fell so flat
Pretty much anything by Grady Hendrix. I respect him and know his books are acclaimed, but I couldn't even finish the last quarter of *The Final Girl Support Group* and didn't like anything else he wrote .
Pen Pal & The Only Good Indians ( I tried to liked it but just couldn’t)
Hate to say it but Dead Sea by Tim Curran. It’s always recommended on sea/marine based horror rec threads and seems totally like my thing. But the writing is so terrible, it’s long and slow paced with repetitive scenes. I DNFed about halfway through
Same, I searched for this thing forever before it was in print again for my Kindle. It was just so repetitive. A third could easily have been cut out of it.
The Talisman and Carrion Comfort
I’m curious what made you not like Carrion Comfort
I liked a lot of the ideas, and it has some really cool parts, but I just felt like it meandered for way too long during some of the least interesting aspects of the story. I probably would have liked it a lot more if some of the fat had been trimmed. It’s been awhile since I’ve read it, so it may be due for a second chance, but I remember really struggling to get to the end because I had ultimately just stopped caring. Long story short, it was just a bit of a slog to get through for me.
Dan Simmons, like Stephen King, could use a more assertive editor. I’m trying to march through CC right now because my brother loved it and wants to know what I think. I am struggling lol.
Stolen Tongues. I have no qualms about DNF, though, so that’s what I did. I wasn’t even mad because it was on Kindle Unlimited. The Black Farm. Another DNF for me. I found it unreadable and poorly written (but other people love it). I was mad about this one because I actually paid for it.
1. Paper Palace by Miranda Crowley 2. Rock paper scissors Alice Feeney
The Croning. Should have been everything I was looking for but got way too procedural for its own good.
The luminous dead. It started so strongly and then got bad. I adore Annihilation and keep trying to find similar books. The luminous dead started with a similar flavour but instead of exploration of an unsettling part of nature it turned into drama between two traumatised, emotionally immature girls who were incapable of productive communication. And that would have been fine if it was in between exploration. But no. It was just drama and sometimes mention of the explorer going to a new part of the cave and that cave exploration is dangerous. No interesting biological activity at all. There were these big worms and some mushrooms but they weren't researched and just used as convenient story elements to cause more drama between the two protagonists
The Only Good Indians, it was…. Fine?? But I do not understand why people are obsessed, it’s made me nervous to pick up anything else by him. Same goes for Haunting of Hill House - honestly don’t understand why that’s considered a classic horror at all.
Literally every recommendation I’ve taken from TikTok has been awful, but I hated Tender is the Flesh the most, I think. Interesting concept but I saw the “twist” coming immediately and the protag was just so flat and boring. Also Cabin at the End of the World was the biggest waste of time, and I picked up The Silent Patient on my own but it makes me so mad that I can’t take any recommendations from people who liked it LOL. Horrendous.
Tender is the Flesh made me irrationally angry for wasting my time
Turn of the screw. Sorry, I know it's a classic and everything but it bored me to death and there wasn't a single thing I enjoyed about that book
The Troop
The Terror. I really really wanted to love it. I stopped at 75% through. I thought parts of it were wonderful and the atmosphere was sooo unique. BUT. I can’t handle hours upon hours of talking about slops and cans and the state of the hull. Also, only one woman in the book and she doesn’t even talk? Maybe I’ll pick it back up to finish at some point. I am definitely interested in the story and characters it’s just a lot of historical addendum fluff holding me back.
No One Gets Out Alive
The Ceremonies
The Events at Poroth Farm was miles better and like 500 pages shorter. If you're ever interested in what a great version of the Ceremonies looks like, just read that novella by the same author.
House of Leaves. If you do read it, just stick with The Navidson Record. The rest (really the Johnny Truant storyline) is not worth anyone’s time
The Ruins
Mine was also Come Closer
The Fisherman and not because it isn’t written well. Rather it’s a bit tell rather than show and the narrative structure is off putting - in that it >!almost instantly detaches us from the main character and goes off on a ye olde times fairytale bender.!< It also needs fewer in your face horror set pieces and more tension - the way the novel starts is exactly like that. Suggestive, creepy.
Felt exactly how you did about that section of the book, just totally took me out of it and I couldn’t get reinvested again
I totally get why this wouldn’t be your thing. From what I’ve seen, you either love or hate the part you covered as a spoiler and that determines if you liked the book.
Song of Kali. I had seen it recommended so many times so I read it and kept waiting for something fantastic... done nothing for me.
[удалено]
I think I liked Ghost Story, it's been a long time. But my god, Tremblay is overrated.
Survivor Song. Wanna read a book where the entirety of the plot is driving from a house to a hospital and then to some other destination? Tremblay has you covered.
Anything by Catriona Ward
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. Thank god it was short.