Good recent(ish) horror books?

[SM47]

I'm about 20 chapters in now, I've been busy doin' stuff and finishing off a couple of other books so progress has been a bit slow, but The Terror is magnificent.

Sir John just got his face bitten off beneath the ice. Great little horror setpiece with him narrating the events to his wife and daughter in his mind.

What else has Simmons done that's decent? Apart from the amazing Hyperion and sequel, which were both ace.

[sammy]

I'm about 20 chapters in now, I've been busy doin' stuff and finishing off a couple of other books so progress has been a bit slow, but The Terror is magnificent.

Sir John just got his face bitten off beneath the ice. Great little horror setpiece with him narrating the events to his wife and daughter in his mind.

What else has Simmons done that's decent? Apart from the amazing Hyperion and sequel, which were both ace.

Carrion Comfort (epic vampire novel)

Prayers to Broken Stones (some great short stories)

Summer of Night (Stephen King style - think Stand By Me -horror)

Lovedeath (a collection of novellas with one stand out story set in WWI)

That's all I've read (except for the Hyperion Cantos which is stunning). Looking at his bibliography he's done a fair bit of other stuff, I'll have to have a catch up!

[TheBlockBaby]

I read Joe Hills Heart Shaped Box recently and was totally hooked by it, I think I finished it in 2 sessions. It’s the story of an aging rockstar who’s haunted by a ghost he’s tricked into buying on the internet.

Some really good characters and a great ‘American’ feel to it. Pretty scary too.

Seems to be a great book

[neoELITE]

Red By Dawn

This is a short story collection I took a punt on as it was cheap and I liked the cover. Some of the short stories are fantastic.

[charley farley]

Gave Heart-Shaped Box a try after recommendations here and from others, it's right up my street, ticked all the boxes, but jesus, I'm finding it incredibly tedious.

Just about half way through, and wanted some advice on whether it's worth me persevering with it, at the moment I'm on the verge of bouncing it for something new and I almost never abandon books unfinished.

They're just on thier way to see Jennifer, Florida's sister and being pursued by Craddock. Struggling with is as it seems that it's just Craddock doing creepy things, going after them and Jude reminiscing about his past and that of Florida and his the stuff with his Dad. Looks like it's building to some calamitous event in his youth that he's repressed or something. I'm really bored by it. Does it pick up and go anywhere, things actually happening, or does it continue in similar vein?

So do I continue, or am I hoping in vain for a change of pace or tone that isn't coming?

Cheers

[rumblecat]

Nah, if you're not getting on without now, it's not going to get any better for you. You're pretty much around the point where I felt the book started to get worse and worse as well...

I bought Hyperion based on this thread. Have to say I didn't like it all- the first few stories were okay (the one with the priest was excellent, nicely weird and chilling), but the longer it went on, the less and less I enjoyed it. By the time it got to the terrible faux-hard-boiled detective one I was struggling to read more than a few pages a day. Didn't realise it didn't have a proper ending either.

So bought the next one, just because it bugged me that I'd read so much and got a cliffhanger ending. But I'm struggling even more with the follow-up- I can understand why people like them, but I'm not a fan of sci-fi really and never really bought into the central concept. Ah well.

Does the main thrust of the story get properly wrapped up by the end of book two then? If not then I'm just going to call it quits.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

I don't think I could ever read any Dan Simmons books (even though The Terror sounds good) after finding out what a fucking terrible nutcase he is.

[charley farley]

Nah, if you're not getting on without now, it's not going to get any better for you. You're pretty much around the point where I felt the book started to get worse and worse as well...

I bought Hyperion based on this thread. Have to say I didn't like it all- the first few stories were okay (the one with the priest was excellent, nicely weird and chilling), but the longer it went on, the less and less I enjoyed it. By the time it got to the terrible faux-hard-boiled detective one I was struggling to read more than a few pages a day. Didn't realise it didn't have a proper ending either.

So bought the next one, just because it bugged me that I'd read so much and got a cliffhanger ending. But I'm struggling even more with the follow-up- I can understand why people like them, but I'm not a fan of sci-fi really and never really bought into the central concept. Ah well.

Does the main thrust of the story get properly wrapped up by the end of book two then? If not then I'm just going to call it quits.

Cheers.

I thought the same, broadly. I loved Hyperion, but was seriously hacked off at such a 'part 1 of 2' ending, that I felt I had to read the 2nd. It was ok, but it all felt a bit meandering, and definitely not as good as the first. The story strands do kind of get tied up, but in what I thought was a really frustrating way. Non plot spoilers, but possible minor details follow:

Essentially each persons story is tied up and you get to know what happens to everytone. However, the actual fates of the main players all felt much too neat to me (can't give any more away without proper spoilers), but even so nothing was really explained as to why this stuff had all happened.

The main reveal of the central plot involving the Shrike will frustrate you too if you're not buying into the whole concept from book 1

Same as your recco to me, if you're not enjoying it now, it doesn't have some revelatory upturn later on I'm afraid...

[SM47]

I don't think I could ever read any Dan Simmons books (even though The Terror sounds good) after finding out what a fucking terrible nutcase he is.

Wow. I had no idea.

[mingmong]

I'd recommend Feed, by Mira Grant. It's a post apocalypse zombie novel with a heavy political focus, looking at what kind of America might spring up in the wake of an outbreak without using the typical dictatorship or anarchy angles - rather it assumes that zombie movies and the internet were what kept people alive. One of the best things I've read, and the first part of a planned trilogy, with the next novel due in May.

I've just read the first two parts of the trilogy back to back and they were fantastic. The second one gets a bit too tinfoil hat for my liking, but has some really nice ideas. The CDC in the books seems to be the same CDC in Deus Ex, there are that many similarities.

[Uncle Mike]

I just read and loved "Dark Matter" by Michelle Paver. Apparently, she's reasonably famous as a children's author, and this book appears to be Richard & Judy-approved; don't let either of those facts put you off.

It's a really well told and genuinely chilling ghost story, set in 1937 Arctic Norway. A malevolent ghost threatens an arctic expedition.

It achieved the difficult-for-a-book-to-do-to-me goal of having me look over my shoulder at night, so I consider it a huge success.

[FishyFish]

I just finished reading Dark Matter tonight, and I concur with Uncle Mike. It's an extremely readable tale with more than a whiff of M.R. James about it.

[Uncle Mike]

There's one line in it, in the latter half, which has really stayed with me. And out of context, it seems so innocent:

It can open doors.

[FishyFish]

It's the repeated use of the phrase 'wet, round head' throughout the book that I found creepy. In fact the passage near the beginning, where Jack notices the 'seal' in the picture on his wall, which is before the expedition and long before events start to become truly disturbing, managed to give me a sense of unease: "I can make out its round, wet head emerging from the water. Looking at me."

[Uncle Mike]

It's the repeated use of the phrase 'wet, round head' throughout the book that I found creepy. In fact the passage near the beginning, where Jack notices the 'seal' in the picture on his wall, which is before the expedition and long before events start to become truly disturbing, managed to give me a sense of unease: "I can make out its round, wet head emerging from the water. Looking at me."

Yep, that too.

It's a good read, everyone.

[cassidy]

Man, you are in for a real treat.....

Some 2 years later and I started Hyperion last week. Only on the first book. But good god did I find the Jews story moving and very well written.

[cassidy]

Finished hyperion cantos and endymion. Very good I thought. Also read and enjoyed the passage. Now reading The Terror.

[Padaxes]

Saw this thread and immediately came in to recommend the Terror as well lol

Try a Winter Haunting and Drood by him as well.

[CrispinG]

the first half of The Passage is intense. i couldn't put it down. i'm a very slow reader; it takes me at least a month to get through an average size book, but i read 400 pages of this in a week. unfortunately the second half is drivel and i haven't touched it in over a month.

[Wickedkitten]

I just got done reading Draculas a few weeks ago and it's free on Kindle atm

http://www.amazon.co.uk/DRACULAS-Novel-Terror-ebook/dp/B0042AMD2M/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1325165893&sr=1-3

Considering there are four different authors all writing their own chapters and have combined them into one book, it works pretty damned well. A vampire books with vampires that actually rip people's faces off and eat them rather than all these lame glittery emo boys and vampires trying to fuck people.

[Treble]

Can I recommend my friend Die's collection? It's called Re-Vamp and is a collection of Vampire, Werewolf and folklore-ish tales that often tackle classic monsters from sometimes trad, sometimes more unusual, starting points.

As with all collections there are some weak entrants but generally it's a really good read. Unfortunately it's ebook only (I can get hold of paper copies off Die if you really want one, I'm sure), but it's cheap so if you have a Kindle, have £3.69 spare and like horror, go for it

EDIT: whoops, being daft and non-internet savvy: it is available as paperback on Amazon, too. Yay!

[rumblecat]

Just finished reading Last Days by Adam Nevill...

Pretty good overall- a documentary maker gets hired to investigate the Temple of the Last Days - an infamous religious cult that ended in a mysterious bloodbath of suicide and violence in Arizona, back in the 70s.

It's got a nice creepy feel to it that gets under your skin- it does show it's hand a wee bit early in terms of the horror, and there's some massive and clunky exposition dumps about two-thirds of the way through which derails things badly- but mostly it works... especially the earlier sections where the film-maker and his camerman visit the old sites of the cult- a townhouse in London, a farmhouse in France- and there's a real sense of creeping dread and fear about these sections. I've got a jumble of criticisms about it- the American characters are badly written cliches, there's a rant about a social media which is cringe-worthy- but it also gave me some very weird nightmares and held my attention all the way to the end...

[jimmbob]

I've just finished Last Days myself. Like you say lots of creeping dread, and bones clacking on floorboards. I think it could have done with being a little tighter, you could easily loose around 50 pages where Nevill repeats things. The horror is handled well lots of scares etc, as well as a fairly satisfying reveal. I'd recommend The Ritual too if you're after more of the same.

I'm currently reading The reapers are the angels by Alden Bell. It's a post apocalyptic novel which I'm enjoying a lot. Not a word wasted so far.

[paddyo]

Any of you guys who have just read Last Days fancy selling/trading your copies? It sounds really good

[Jamieee]

Does anyone have the name of that horror book set on an alien spaceship that explores some of the origins of aliens, I think?

I'm pretty sure it was asked about in ATF not long ago, but I didn't make a note of it.

[Wickedkitten]

I don't know that he's active at the moment, but if you're in the mood for short stories you could do a lot worse than a Thomas Ligotti collection. They veer all over the place - from Clive Barker-esque, teenage psychosexual brooding to more straight ghost stories via some Lovecraftian moments - but what I have read has been mostly very good.

EDIT: There are a few authorised tasters here. See if they're to your taste.

Oh wow, picked up Teatro Grottesco, Noctuary, and he is immense

[Opinionated Ham Scarecrow]

Well during my two weeks in Poland I managed two books almost. The Taking by Dean Koontz - not normally a fan of his, but I love apocalyptic stuff and though this was amazing. As usual it's the cookie-cutter characters that let Koontz down, but the atmosphere, tension and sense of place are spot on. If you liked SK's The Mist this is very highly recommended.

Summer of Night by Dan Simmons I have just about 100 pages to go, but it's a fantastic summer read alright, and again, very SK - The Body/IT - alike. Kids overcoming evil on a wistful long summer off. Bit slow to start in terms of story, but that's no bad thing as Simmons uses this time to paint the town, it's characters etc... First Simmons book I hąve read and will be looking at some others now.

[Exit Chamber]

I really loved The Terror by Dan Simmons which was recommended earlier in this thread. Great book.

The men on board Her Britannic Majesty's Ships Terror and Erebus had every expectation of triumph. They were part of Sir John Franklin's 1845 expedition - as scientifically advanced an enterprise as had ever set forth - and theirs were the first steam-driven vessels to go in search of the fabled North-West Passage.

But the ships have now been trapped in the Arctic ice for nearly two years. Coal and provisions are running low. Yet the real threat isn't the constantly shifting landscape of white or the flesh-numbing temperatures, dwindling supplies or the vessels being slowly crushed by the unyielding grip of the frozen ocean.

No, the real threat is far more terrifying. There is something out there that haunts the frigid darkness, which stalks the ships, snatching one man at a time - mutilating, devouring. A nameless thing, at once nowhere and everywhere, this terror has become the expedition's nemesis.

When Franklin meets a terrible death, it falls to Captain Francis Crozier of HMS Terror to take command and lead the remaining crew on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. With them travels an Eskimo woman who cannot speak. She may be the key to survival - or the harbinger of their deaths. And as scurvy, starvation and madness take their toll, as the Terror on the ice become evermore bold, Crozier and his men begin to fear there is no escape...

[Scribblor]

Summer of Night by Dan Simmons I have just about 100 pages to go, but it's a fantastic summer read alright, and again, very SK - The Body/IT - alike. Kids overcoming evil on a wistful long summer off. Bit slow to start in terms of story, but that's no bad thing as Simmons uses this time to paint the town, it's characters etc... First Simmons book I hąve read and will be looking at some others now.

I was so disappointed in that book! I really enjoyed the Hyperion Cantos and the Olympos books, and thought Drood was pretty damned good too, and then this was just really subpar King wannabe stuff with a stupid central baddie and an underwhelming all-too-traditionally American resolution. I was amazed when I appeared to be the only person who thinks that, judging by the reviews I read.

[Silent Runner]

I read a review of the new book from Adam Neville in the paper over the weekend and it sounded great. I’ve never read any of his books so I picked up The Ritual, one of his earlier ones, cheap on amazon.

This is about 4 college friends who meet up in their 30’s and take a camping trip to the forests of Sweden. They get lost (no GPS or mobile phones for them) and end up wandering about in untouched and uncharted forest. Their supplies are starting to run out and they might be lost. Oh, and they found a recently killed animal strung up like something from Silence of The Lambs and there’s strange noises coming from the forest.

This is a weird mix of Blair Witch, The Wickerman, Predator and general folk horror. The atmosphere is top class and the forest really feels like it’s full of terrors. The problem is the pace and the characters. I’m 200 pages in and the writer could easily have chopped 100 of those pages without losing anything. Page after page of forest and hunger and darkness and misery. As for the characters, there are 4 of them and they are on every page but I found it hard to remember which character was which. And who was friendly with whom etc. They were all too similar.

Despite the problems I had with it, it’s a good read. The atmosphere is well created and I really want to know how it all plays out. I’m sure I’ll pick up a few more of his books I just hope they’re edited with a heavier hand.