3 Horror novels that may induce nightmares.

I was able to read a good bit of novels last year. Most of them were horror, and I enjoyed most of them, but here are a few that stood out for their creepyness factor.


3. The Ritual by Adam Nevill




Four old friends get together for a hike through the Scandanavian wilderness. After getting lost, they end up stumbling upon the remains of a dead animal up in a tree. They realize that this was not the work of an animal, it was something else. Tensions build between the friends as they struggle to find their way out of the woods and find even more strange things and realize someone or something is following them. This all continues until you are left with one remaining person. This is just the first half of the book. I won't go into details about the 2nd half, because I think it's better to go into it blindly. While I enjoyed the book as a whole, the first half had me clinging to the edge of my seat, creeped out, and begging for more. You literally almost feel as if you are in the wilderness with these guys. Definitely a must read for horror fans.

2. Communion by Whitley Strieber



So Whitley Strieber, author of novels such as 'Wolfen' and 'Cat Magic'  was a popular horror novelist in the 70s and 80s. In 1985 he claims he was abducted by aliens. This is his true story.

Now, I'm not here to argue as to whether or not I believe this story is true. Put that whole argument aside right now, because whether it's true or not, the fact remains that this book is fucking scary.
 Split into four sections, the first deals with what he remembered originally, the second talks about his research, the third deals with his hypnotherapy sessions and the memories he unlocked with them, and the fourth just discusses abductions and sightings throughout history. I will tell you up front, the fourth section kinda loses steam for me. While it's interesting, it almost seems boring after the events of the first three sections. The first three sections are just scary as hell. What I also like about this novel and Whitley Strieber is that he even admits that it may have been something else. His basic statement is that he believes it was aliens, you take from it what you will.  To me it doesn't matter, what matters is that this book kicked ass and gave me nightmares. If you wish, there was a movie adaptation in the early 90s starring Christopher Walken, but trust me when I say, it's terrible. It took the story and made it hokey. It loosely followed the book. Christopher Walken couldn't even save this movie.

1. Penpal by Dathan Auerbach


A good friend of mine put it best when he said "I'm 20 years old, reading this book in the middle of a sunny afternoon and I feel like I'm a little kid alone in a dark house". That pretty much sums it up.
The story is told from a narrator (whose name is never given) is reflecting on childhood memories. As he reflects and digs deeper, he realizes there was a lot more going on then he thought.

 Depending on how old you are, you may have heard of this or done this in school, but some schools would do a project where you would put a note and a self addressed stamped envelope in a ziplock bag, attach it to a balloon, and let it go into the air. The result is that when the balloon eventually falls, someone finds it and sends you a letter about who they are and where they found it, therefore, becoming your penpal. When the narrator does this, he is the last in his class to get a response. When he does get his response, however, his is not a letter, it is simply a polaroid. Over time, he receives more and more polaroids, and upon inspecting them, he realizes there is a very strange connection between them. Again, I won't go into more details, I went into the story blind, and I think it's better that way. The creepiest thing about this novel is the fact that not only could this really happen, it makes you look back on your childhood and wonder if there is something dark hidden there that you may not realize.