Good recent(ish) horror books?

[Silent Runner]

Finished this last night and I really enjoyed the final 150 pages. Exciting, tense and violent with a really good (and quite funny) set of baddies. Definitely going to pick up a few more of his books.

E. The Ritual by Adam Neville.

[the_buddha_of_gaming]

Bit of a bump but I didn't want to start a new topic for it and I don't think there is one, has anyone read/bought Clive Barker's The Scarlet Gospels yet? This ends his Cenobite 'saga', supposedly, but fingers crossed it's a wonderful return to horror for him.

[Opinionated Ham Scarecrow]

Anything new from Joe Hill? I loved Heart Shaped Box and Horns.

[Padaxes]

Bit of a bump but I didn't want to start a new topic for it and I don't think there is one, has anyone read/bought Clive Barker's The Scarlet Gospels yet? This ends his Cenobite 'saga', supposedly, but fingers crossed it's a wonderful return to horror for him

I loved Clive Barkers stuff when I was younger.

I must say I was super excited by this .... and pretty disappointed.

Demystifies Pinhead horribly and seemed a little immature.

[Garibaldi]

Is the story that Hellraiser was based on worth seeking out? I forget whether it was a short story or a whole novel.

[sammy]

Anything new from Joe Hill? I loved Heart Shaped Box and Horns.

Have you read NOS4A2? I think that's his most recent, and it's excellent. He's definitely channelling some of his dad's folksy chills there. In The Long Grass is worth checking out also, I think it's a collaboration with Stephen King, novella length, pretty freaky!

[Padaxes]

Is the story that Hellraiser was based on worth seeking out?

The Hellbound Heart.

I remember it being pretty good, but it was a long time ago now.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Hellbound-Heart-Clive-Barker-x/dp/0006470653/ref=cm_cr_dp_asin_lnk

[Glasgowchivas]

I picked up The Ritual by Adam Neville

Read this on the strength of your recommendation and really enjoyed it; agree with your points around it's weaknesses though.

Also read 'Finders Keepers' by Stephen King and basically hated every page. Can't stand this new series he's started.

[Plums]

Another recommendation for House of Leaves. I guarantee you've never read a book quite like it and the creepiness factor cannot be overstated. Deeply unsettling.

[rumblecat]

I can thoroughly recommend A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay.

A 24 year old woman returns to the house where fifteen years ago her older sister suffered an apparent possession, a series of events that was captured by a documentary series at the time. There's a real unsettling feeling that develops over the first half of the book and Tremblay turns an initially (and deliberately) annoying central character into someone you genuinely feel for, giving the end quite an emotional punch.

It's been picking up rave reviews from all over the place, mostly justified, I can see it being one of those books that gains more and more popularity through word of mouth as well- it's this years ​The Girl With All The Gifts. I don't think its quite as good as Carey's novel, but it's definitely up there.

[Scribblor]

I just finished Longbarrow by Mark Morris. It gets uniformly great reviews everywhere I've seen reviews of it, but I thought it was utter crap.

Woeful characterisation, all the interesting stuff happens 'offscreen', the build up is about 95% of the book and the ending is the most annoying ex machina I've ever come across. The main character just stands about for the entire book while stuff happens around him, even though he's apparently got some big destiny.

I'm genuinely amazed to see that people liked it.

[Anne Summers]

I can thoroughly recommend A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay.

A 24 year old woman returns to the house where fifteen years ago her older sister suffered an apparent possession, a series of events that was captured by a documentary series at the time. There's a real unsettling feeling that develops over the first half of the book and Tremblay turns an initially (and deliberately) annoying central character into someone you genuinely feel for, giving the end quite an emotional punch.

It's been picking up rave reviews from all over the place, mostly justified, I can see it being one of those books that gains more and more popularity through word of mouth as well- it's this years ​The Girl With All The Gifts. I don't think its quite as good as Carey's novel, but it's definitely up there.

Going to give this a go as in the mood for a good horror.

[cassidy]

Yeah thanks rumble that's now on my list.

[rumblecat]

Anyone read anything good recently..? And by good I mean 'something that made you sleep with the light on and cover the mirror with newspaper.'

Quite fancy something that's vaguely terrifying and also doesn't collapse in the last third (as so many horror books did). Reading House of Leaves at the moment which is pretty good so far, 100 pages in, bits and pieces of it do start to get under your skin, although I'm far more interested in what's going on in the Navidson house than I am with the ramblings of 'Johnny Truant'. Wouldn't mind something a wee bit more portable though as Leaves isn't really the sort of thing you can carry around with you.

[El Spatula]

No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill was pretty good I thought. Quite oppressive atmosphere and rather bleak.

[rumblecat]

Cheers, I might check it out. I'd read Last Days by him which was good for the first two-thirds but lost it in the final chapters unfortunately.

But I think that's a general problem with the horror genre. There's loads of horror films (and books) which are good for the initial first half- the set-up, the scares- it's when the reveal and the explanation comes in that they tend to wobble and collapse in on themselves.

[Silent Runner]

I really liked his book The Ritual. I gave it a bit of a write-up on the previous page.

http://www.rllmukforum.com/index.php?/topic/203713-good-recentish-horror-books/page-2#entry9538743

[rumblecat]

Went for The Ritual in the end, read the first hundred or so pages in one sitting, it's been pretty good so far- builds nicely, some proper creepy moments. If it keeps up like this then I'm definitely going through the rest of Nevill's back catalogue.

[Padaxes]

Another recommendation for House of Leaves. I guarantee you've never read a book quite like it and the creepiness factor cannot be overstated. Deeply unsettling.

Got this , about 100 pages in and it's quite something! Talk about dense! Compelling and strange.

[rumblecat]

I've given up on House of Leaves after getting about three-quarters through it- the stuff with the edgy tattoo artist is so badly written that it's just sapped my will to read on. I like the stuff in the house, but overall the book is a lot of style with only a little substance. I'll go back to it at some point, but I can't help feeling that a lot of the irrelevant clutter isn't just conceptual but also to hide a wafer thin story.

By contrast I really enjoyed Adam Nevill's The Ritual- it's worth avoiding the author acknowledgement's at the start as he gives away a bit of a plot swerve later in the book though. But I found it pretty gripping, a nice sense of unease, it does head off into some pretty unexpected places but some of the writing in it is really good, just bits of inner monologue that were fascinating and sometimes surprisingly moving.

I liked the set-up of Last Days but found The Ritual much better- so I'll definitely check out his other stuff - maybe Apartment 16 or No One Gets Out Alive.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

A book on Folk Horror, a Good read!

http://www.lulu.com/shop/http://www.lulu.com/shop/folk-horror-revival/folk-horror-revival-field-studies/paperback/product-22498164.html

[Harsin]

Recently finished Nick Cutter's The Deep. Not bad. The most simple way to describe it would be Event Horizon, but underwater instead of space with a bit of The Thing, Bioshock and a hint if Lovecraft thrown in for good measure.

[Anne Summers]

A book on Folk Horror, a Good read!

http://www.lulu.com/shop/http://www.lulu.com/shop/folk-horror-revival/folk-horror-revival-field-studies/paperback/product-22498164.html

Would definitely like to have a look at that but got a stack of unread stuff to get through first.

[neoELITE]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Nameless-Dark-Nathan-Ballingrud/dp/1590214633/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=41kMI5f7pqL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR107%2C160_&refRID=14A5A06FKMGB33YXS9GW

The Nameless Dark. The Amazon reviews are spot on. Short stories.

I still haven't finished House of Leaves - I don't think I ever will.

[cassidy]

About 25% into The Last Days Of Jack Sparks. Its really bloody good so far. Really creeped me out earlier. So get it bought and read. 

[Opinionated Ham Scarecrow]

Summer time is always the time I binge on horror books. Just finished Nos4r2 by Joe Hill, which was great, then The Tall Grass (his 80 page collaboration with dad) which was a little fucked up to be honest, but in a good way I guess.

 

Next up is Earthworm Gods by Brian Keene, which after reading the synopsis and the first 10 pages or so, sounds right up my street. After that, I've got Joe Hill's post apocalyptic attempt, The Fireman. Looking forward to it.

[cassidy]

Fireman is superb btw. 

[El Spatula]

I liked The Fireman but something about it annoyed me a bit. I'm not even sure what. The main character doing loads of shit while heavily pregnant and being generally a bit wishy washy and the extremely contrived disease contributed to it somewhat but I can't put my finger on why I found it annoying at times

[Glasgowchivas]

I was back and forth on The Fireman constantly.

 

Really like the start & the move into the middle then found myself getting annoyed at all the plot co-incidences that popped up near the end. I'd still say I enjoyed it overall but it's not without its flaws.

[Padaxes]

It was a while back I finished House Of Leaves but I forgot to post. Primarily because by the end I felt exhausted and was glad to have it over and done. Parts of it are brilliant but I really can't help feeling it was overlong and needlessly obfuscated. It felt like it descended into the realm of "try hard". I've read books in the past that have used the same sort of techniques, inverted text, text in patterns etc and it's always felt a little too "literature student " for me and this is no exception. 

 

Moments of genius spoiled for me by being too hard work in the end.