Where is the good stuff? Am I reading the wrong books, or am I just expecting too much??? I think part of the problem is the sheer number of books that I've read. I've noticed that the more I read, the more I see the difference between the okay books and the really good books, not to mention those OMG-this-is-AWESOME books that everything else is compared to. Those ones kind of set the bar high, so that the not-so-great books and the just-plain-bad books seem to be more like the terrible and truly-awful books. I don't think I've found a horror book yet that I would say "wow" about, there are very few that I would actually recommend to others, and some have been so bad I'm still wondering why I finished reading them. (I've learned my lesson since my "books to read" list got so long. I don't slog through the muck anymore, 'cause, you know, you'll lose a flip-flop - there's a childhood story there if anyone wants to hear it.)
Complicating the search is the fact that there are so many types of books that sort of fall into this category, but not exactly. There are ghost stories and creepy stories and stories classified as thrillers, but I just can't seem to find any novels that are actually scary. Maybe it's just a harder sort of book to write. After all, a jump scare is just so much scarier when it happens in a blink of the eye, instead of taking three sentences to describe.
Here is a list of some of the books I've read that kinda sorta fall into the Horror category. I didn't include the zombie, vampire, werewolf type stuff, as there are so many of them out there now that they seem to have grown into their own sub-genres. I also didn't include books about ghosts or the paranormal here unless they seemed to be written as a classic horror story. I'll save those for another time.
by Laurie Faria Stolarz
(Upper Grades/Reading Level 4.8)
This one does the classic search-the-abandoned-mental-hospital thing. It wasn't too bad, but just not scary.
by Madeleine Roux
(Upper Grades/Reading Level 5.1)
This has the same type of concept, except the asylum has been turned into a dorm. It was really not very good at all, and a long book to boot.
by Lindsey Barraclough
(Upper Grades/ Reading Level 5.4)
This one has the family curse and evil ghost in the decrepit old manor and abandoned church. It was pretty good, probably 3.5 or 4 out of 5 stars. It would probably make a nice scary movie, since it is the type of story that lends itself well to visuals and jump scares. Unfortunately, it was just a bit too slow in written format for the same effect.
by Dan Pobloki
(Middle Grades/ Reading Level 5.2)
This one has evil creatures from stories popping up in real life. It wasn't too bad, probably a 3 star book, and completely appropriate for the middle grades which is a plus.
by Chris Grabenstein
(Middle Grades/ Reading Level 4.0)
This is about a malevolent ghost that was trapped but got free - the sequel has other ghosts. Both have mystery involved. Also about 3 stars, and great for the middle grades.
by Kendare Blake
(Upper Grades/ Reading Level 4.6)
This book has a guy who hunts evil ghosts falling in love with one of his targets. It and its sequel were pretty good, maybe 3 star material, although I wasn't really impressed with Kendare Blake as a writer (She totally redeemed herself with Antigoddess, which I will review at a later time). But the book wasn't really scary.
by Graham McNamee
(Upper Grades/ Reading Level 3.8)
This book is about some ancient evil creature hunting the residents in a snowbound town. It wasn't too bad, but I'm not sure it fits exactly into the horror category.
by Brenna Yovanoff
(Upper Grades/ Reading Level 5.8)
This one has fiends, mystery, and teenagers with strange abilities wreaking havoc on their town. It was a really, really good book, 4.5 star material, but once again, not quite horror. It was definitely super creepy, but as for scary . . . not so much.
by Chris Wooding
(Upper Middle Grades/Reading Level 7.1)
This book is about a guy who hunts evil creatures and the possessed girl he tries to save. It was probably one of the best I've found in this genre, but I'm not sure I would even give it a full 4 stars.
by Rin Chupeco
(Upper Grades/Reading Level 6.3)
This has an ancient ghost who seeks revenge against evil people. It is another one that would make a great movie, but it was just an okay book. Not a bad read, but kind of disappointing anyway.
by Victoria Schwab
(Upper Grades/Reading Level 4.8)
This has an ancient evil, disappearing children, and a strange teenage boy blamed for the problems. It was a pretty good book, and would make an awesome movie. The author does a pretty good job with creating suspense at the crucial parts. (And guys, don't be put off by the cover art - it is really not a good fit for the story!)
In closing, I would like to mention two horror books that you ABSOLUTELY should NOT read!!! Now, these are books that I actually finished before I learned my lesson as previously mentioned. There have been quite a few other ones that I didn't get past the first couple of chapters, so I didn't bother recording the titles for posterity's sake.
by Gretchen McNeil
This book was absolutely terrible. I chose it because I saw it recommended on a website, and it was pretty short so I thought it might be a good choice for my son. The story was classic horror movie stuff; teenagers alone in a house on a remote island getting murdered and all that. The plot was so predictable, it was beyond boring. The characters were even worse. The dialogue was bad, bad, bad. I guess it was supposed to be suspenseful, but it really was not. I sped read the majority just to find out "who done it," even though I was ready to quit by the end of the first chapter. Please don't waste a couple of hours of your life on this book. Watching a B horror movie instead would be much more entertaining.
by Francine Prose
If you thought the last one sounded bad, this one was the worst book I have ever read! Unbelievably, I saw it on a lot of recommended reading lists for middle grade horror novels. Let me just say that the people writing those lists must not have read very many books, because if they had even ten to twenty other novels to compare this to they would realize how absolutely horrible it is in comparison to what else is out there. I don't even know what I was thinking when I decided to keep going with this book, because it was bad from the beginning and only got worse. Maybe I was trying to figure out what the big reveal would be in the end. (It turns out there wasn't really one at all.) There was nothing, nothing, nothing good about this book, unless you you want to count that it was a quick and easy read.
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