Top 10 best horror books according to Reader's Digest (10 photos)

In what form is a horror movie more scary: in a movie or in a book? This a question with no obvious answer. On the one hand, we see "horror" through the eyes of the director and it can be really creepy. But in the bookstore version, our fantasy and imagination are not limited to the director's vision. In the meantime, we are thinking about this issue, we suggest taking a look Top 10 best horror books according to Reader's Digest. Rating created on the basis of the opinions of literary critics and readers, as well as the number of search queries for a particular work.

10th place: “Epidemic. The real and terrible story of the spread of the Ebola virus, Richard Preston, 1994





This book is based on true events and tells the story of emergence and spread of the first Ebola virus, in which mortality reached 90%. This is the story of how the world came together before the face of an unknown enemy, invisible to the human eye.

The book can negatively affect people with a sensitive psyche, as it describes in detail the symptoms and stages of the disease.

9th place: "House in front of the lake", Riley Sager, 2022



Widowed actress Casey Fletcher retires to her ancestral home — at the lake house. There she watches a married couple through binoculars - Tom and Catherine Royce. One day, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, after which friendships are formed between women. Continuing to watch the couple, Casey begins to understand that not everything is so rosy in their marriage. And suddenly Katherine disappears. Trying to find a girlfriend, Casey discovers a terrible truth.

8th place: "Trouble Coming", Ray Bradbury, 1962



A traveling carnival came to a small town and brought with him scary rides. They reveal the darkest human the most terrible desires and temptations turn out to be on the side and on the surface. And only pure-hearted residents of the town of Greentown are able to save the rest. from turning into vile creatures.

7th place: "It", Stephen King, 1986



In the town of Derry, children begin to disappear. Mystery Killer terrorizes seven guys, for each taking on his terrifying form. Wanting to defeat the evil clown Pennywise, whose image has taken a mysterious creature, the guys unite in the "Club of Losers". But the clown not at all who he claims to be.

6th place: The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson, 1959



The "bad" house Hill House has a bad reputation - people believe that ghosts live there. It is for this reason that no one has been in the house for a long time. lives. But one day, a company from a paranormal researcher Dr. Montague, his assistant Theodora, who personally encountered poltergeist Elinor and future heir of the haunted house Luke move into Hill House. None of them even know how nightmare they have yet to face.

5th place: "White is the color of witchcraft", Helen Oyeyemi, 2009



Lily, mother of twins Miranda and Eliot, tragically died. Her Husband Luke is on the verge of depression. At this time with daughter Lily strange things begin to happen that are attributed to disorder eating behavior: the girl begins to eat chalk, stones, pebbles - everything other than regular food. At the same time, Miranda begins to feel keenly everything paranormal. And with the house in which the family lives, everything is not at all so simple - he sighs and groans without his mistress.

4th place: "Ruins", Scott Smith, 2006



Summer vacation in Mexico turns into something for friends really scary and inexplicable. Wanting to diversify your vacation, four guys go along the lost path to the Indian settlement. The path leads them to a strange hill, which is extremely difficult to climb. climb: as if something otherworldly prevents them from doing this. And then not allows you to go down, because once you step on this hill, it remains here forever.

3rd place: The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty, 1971



Chris McNeil is sure that her 12-year-old daughter was possessed by a demon. A woman turns to Jesuit priest Damien Karras for help. But the priest is a modern man and is inclined to believe thatoh it's simple mental illness. However, when he meets the girl, he realizes that she is really possessed - she needs the help of an exorcist.

2nd place: “Those beyond the river”, Christopher Buehlmann, 2011



Fleeing from the scandal, the professor and his wife move into the house ancestors, which is next to the plantation that they owned. Every month, the townspeople arrange a strange sacrifice: they two pigs are sent across the river, decorated with flower garlands. Not yet once the animals did not return. What destroys pigs? And what will happen if stop sending them?

1st place: Salem's Lot, Stephen King, 1975



In a small American town, people began to disappear. And not only one by one, but whole families. Nobody could find them, but when hope almost abandoned relatives, people suddenly returned. And then in the city horror set in.