"I Couldn’t Sleep For A Week" — 19 Books So Absolutely Terrifying, People Were Forced To Stop Reading Them

    "My friend offered to come over, put the book in the freezer, and take me to a movie."

    Amy Glover
    by Amy Glover

    BuzzFeed Staff

    I recently asked members of the BuzzFeed Community which books they thought were so scary, frustrating, or sad, that they literally had to put them down. I'll get to the other two in different posts — but for now, here are 19 books that scared readers enough to make them stop reading 'em.

    1. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

    A book cover titled "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold next to a man with glasses and a mustache in dim lighting
    Little, Brown and Company / Paramount Pictures / DreamWorks Pictures

    "I only got about a third of the way through.  Some of the descriptions made me feel absolutely sick for WEEKS!

    —brynnquick

    2. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn.

    Orion / W&N / A24

    "It was riveting but the big reveal at the end was so disturbing that I had to take a break. I read that part at 1 am and didn’t sleep a wink." 

    —rachrupp

    3. Salem's Lot by Stephen King.

    Salem's Lot book cover next to a terrifying vampire face with glowing eyes
    Doubleday /  Warner Bros. Pictures

    "I got two chapters in and I was so scared I had to stop reading." 

    —tmar_of_vulcan

    "That one scared both of my older sisters so much, I decided not to try. Pet Semetary scared the daylights out of me!" 

    —emilypost

    4. The Shining by Stephen King.

    Doubleday / Warner Bros. / Columbia Pictures / Lumiere Pictures and Television

    "I read it in my 20s and even though I'd seen the movie, the dread and suspense involved in the Room 217 sequence before he goes inside nearly took me out. I think I actually did throw the book across the room and cried a little.

    I told my mom about it and she said that when she was pregnant with me during the blizzard of '78, she was living alone while my dad finished grad school in another city. She decided to read The Shining while she was snowed in, alone in a town where she knew no one. In a masterful understatement, she said, 'That was a really bad idea.'" 

    —amelia1979

    5. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

    Book cover for "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote next to black-and-white photos of two men
    Penguin Random House /  Columbia Pictures

    "It scared the crap out of me even though I knew what was going to happen. I couldn’t sleep for a week." 

    —katiebowker

    6. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng.

    Little, Brown

    "It's about a family in suburban Ohio whose daughter is dead. Not a spoiler, literally the opening sentence tells you this.

    It made me feel like the guy in Temple of Doom whose still-beating heart is held in front of his face." 

    —sparklesthecupcake

    7. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.

    Left: "American Psycho" book cover with abstract face art. Right: Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, suit and tie
    Picador / Lionsgate

    "The movie is tame in comparison with the novel. When I got to the point with the rat, I literally threw the book across the room in horror. Never done that before or since. My friend offered to come over, put the book in the freezer, and take me to a pointless movie." 

    —sparklesthecupcake

    8. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

    Left: Cover of "The Handmaid's Tale." Right: Character Offred in red attire and white bonnet
    HBO / McClelland and Stewart Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

    "I started reading it just about the time Roe v Wade was overturned. It creeped me out WAY too much."

    —google_105121212838556144163

    9. Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.

    Book cover of "Gravity's Rainbow" by Thomas Pynchon, featuring stylized rocket design with title in bold letters
    Penguin / Vintage Classics

    "It is a weird and dark novel set around the Second World War. It's very graphic. I noped out around halfway through when it got to a very detailed and extended scene of coprophagia (look it up if you want, but be prepared to be grossed out)." 

    —commentnumber_3

    10. Phantoms by Dean Koontz.

    Book cover of "Phantoms" by Dean Koontz next to a man in a jacket with fur collar, likely a scene from the film adaptation
    Headline Publishing Group / Miramax, Dimension Films

    "It's the only book that has made me jump! A truly terrifying tale about facing a completely unknown and ancient enemy. It was gory, funny, and suspenseful and I've read it more than once!

    Sadly, it was made into a terrible film with Ben Affleck and Rose McGowan in it."

    —neilweeman

    11. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.

    Macmillan

    "The closest I’ve come to simply closing a book is with The Wasp Factory — which I finished, and then immediately, purposefully, left behind on the bus. I forced myself to read to the end because I hate just abandoning stuff. However, from around 20 pages in, reading it was like an out-of-body experience… I zoned right out and was just scanning the words to get the gist and get it over with. I barely recall any of the plot.

    I know it’s considered a classic by some, and I’ve heard people say how much they love it… not for me, though. I’m not squeamish, by any means, but I found that one kind of traumatic." 

    —bea7

    "I am still trying to block out some scenes from that book years after reading it."

    —fiercetraveler86

    12. Penpal by Dathan Auerbach.

    Book cover for "Penpal" by Dathan Auerbach featuring a silhouette in a foggy forest
    1000Vultures

    "I read it for the first time when I lived alone, and one scene in the book had me so scared I slept with the lights and TV on. The ending was so horrifying and once you read it, it makes you want to go back and look for little things you may have missed the first time. Now that I have gotten over the scare, it's one of my favorite books of all time."

    —kristendangerc

    "I was going to say this is one too. I couldn’t even walk past a window at night." 

    —iluvfreddie

    13. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe.

    Cover of "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket" by Edgar Allan Poe, featuring a ship and iceberg illustration
    Penguin Classics /  Harper & Brothers

    "Spoiler: I thought it was a cool story until I got to the chapter where the characters were adrift at sea and they drew straws to see who would get killed and eaten. I was a little traumatised as an 11-year-old and to this day I've never finished it." 

    —jealouslight26

    14. Pet Semetary by Stephen King.

    Doubleday / Paramount

    "Dark, brilliant, and frankly terrifying. I'm haunted by the line 'Paxcow says it’s too late' — ugh, awful."

    —eststar

    15. Gone To See The River Man by Kristopher Triana.

    Book cover of "Gone to See the River Man" by Kristopher Triana with abstract imagery
    Grindhouse Press

    "It does an excellent job diving into the psyche of human depravity but there were moments where it was so damn bleak that I had to put it down for a few days. I still loved it, but damn I needed a break from horror after that." 

    —taylora4e62a0521

    16. The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.

    Book cover of "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer with a stylized scorpion graphic
    Atheneum Books

    "I read it once so it might not have been as scary as I remember it, but it certainly left a lasting, existential impression on my 11-year-old mind. Spoiler: The story follows Matt, a young boy who comes to find out he is the clone of El Patron, a cartel head who has extended his life by decades by using the organs of other clones to keep him alive. That's not even the most shocking twist of the book."

    —emocrab35

    17. Oedipus The King by Sophocles.

    Penguin Classics

    "Okay, it's not technically a book — I had to read this play as an assignment for my 11th-grade English honours class. And all I could say by the end was... wow. It was about as ruthless as it gets. Pretty wild experience for my 16-year-old self, but it definitely gave me some valuable lessons about ego and betrayal. 15 years later, it’s still the most jaw-dropping thing I’ve ever read." 

    —zoiebrophy

    18. IT by Stephen King.

    Viking / Warner Bros. Pictures

    "I read IT in 6th grade, the same age as the kids in the book. It scared the bullsh*t out of me. Not just the monster (though that was most of it), but that it could be anywhere, look like anything, and adults couldn't see it or help."

     —amelia1979 

    19. Misery by Stephen King.

    Cover of Stephen King's "Misery" featuring title and a dark figure in a room with a wheelchair
    Viking

    "The first time I read it was in the 1980s when I was in high school. That was one intense book!" 

    —bethechangeyouwanttosee

    Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments below!