The horror genre also serves as a technique; a chance to confront a truth by shocking the audience. Before I saw a scary movie, I used to be afraid of them. After that, I could not keep my eyes off them. But what stood out about the books and movies I liked the most was that, more often than not, the terrifying component was just one of the things that set the story apart. The best horror books offer something that goes beyond mere fright. They genuinely can discover the content by using terror.
The following are some of the most popular haunted books:
1. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
Although The Silence of the Lambs gets all the attention, the greatest Hannibal Lecter novel is still the first, which shows that even heroes have their own terrible secrets. Each Lecter novel at some point includes the implicit Faustian bargain, and there is nothing worse than FBI profiler Will Graham’s conscious decision to give up his fragile confidence in order to stop a murderer that he knows all too well.
2. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
There are not a lot of antagonists in Oscar Wilde’s debut and sole novel. The most significant danger that lurks in this novel is our tendency for vanity and how it could literally and metaphorically deform our lives, and how a desire for keeping beauty can result in its destruction. Even the main villain, Dorian himself, is the most tragic of a liar than the conniving mastermind, a young dope who is consumed by a narcissistic conviction of the sole thing that is worth having is beauty at all prices. If it weren’t so frighteningly real, his fall would be hilarious.
3. Horns by Joe Hill
Sometimes even when it’s darkest, can be the backdrop for something more romantic. This is the case with the unique and thrilling Horns which is initially a bizarre revenge story, before gradually evolving into an expansive, tangled as well as hopeful one. Horns are at times gothic romantic and a murder mystery an eerie supernatural thriller, and a brutal satire on how easy we are to make judgments despite the dark side that we all have.
4. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Sometimes the most compelling horror stories are those that trust, through all the jump scares, death, and terror, in the ultimate victory of good. The fact that The Exorcist was long considered among the most terrifying books ever written is in large part due to the extent that we are enticed to be concerned about the dire suffering of the main characters, and how well-elaborated each of them is. The danger they face is colossal and unfathomable, yet it is not, at the end insurmountable. A large portion of the novel’s (and film’s) strength comes from the ultimate victory, hard-earned, of a tiny group of people who give everything for the sake of a child who is innocent.
5. Ring written by Koji Suzuki Translated to English Robert B Rohmer and Glynne Walley
Film adaptations of the film have not been able to capture the full impact of this surprisingly tame story of a cursed cassette which is a harrowing and relatable tale of coming to realize your own insignificance world that is beyond your understanding. Although Ring is an iconic film, it was the sequels to it that Suzuki showed the extent of his vision, naturally developing his horror fable into something more powerful and transcendent than anything a film version that has been made.
6. Psycho by Robert Blotch
For clarity, as with Jaws however, this film is more effective; Hitchcock has made a series of smart tweaks to come up with new ways to influence the viewers by engaging them. However, everything that made Psycho into an enduring cultural lightning rod was a result of Bloch’s novel, including the shower scene and that house at the top the twist-end ending, and the gothic dread flowing from every second. The playful subversion of conventions Hitchcock deserves his due was created in this novel film and horror would not be as thrilling.
7. The Passage by Justin Cronin
Justin Cronin’s epic tale of the vampire is a sprawling story of loss, love, and societies that are destroyed, rebuilt, and reconstructed and centered not just on characters we would love to be for, but also on an increasing sense of sinister darkness that is whispering in the shadows, a fear that was so unknowable, it would always be less terrifying when it was explained. Like the best horror authors, Cronin uses that inevitability to illustrate his point – that often evil originates from a source that is a little more logical than we would like to face. The entire trilogy is excellent and unique, but for its distinct sense of dread that grows, the first book will always be the most memorable.
8. Halos and Horns
Ghosts aren’t real, or this is the belief Arundhati believed until she was one. This was only the beginning. After a tragic accident takes Arundhati to the realm of the dead She is then faced with the decision to be either good as well as bad during the duration of her existence. In the event that she fails to settle her thoughts, God and Satan decide to provide her with the Checklist, a list of things to do. Armed with this list and a list of deeds, she is sent back to the home that she is now viewing through the eyes of spirits. It is one of the spooky stories ever…
9. Afterlife Horror stories of Goa
The Fonseca family is gathering at Savio’s home on the day before his 70th birthday. The rain starts pouring down on dogs and cats, the power goes out and, in the dark, the family begins to recount their experiences of the supernatural. As the night progresses numerous stories–deeply disturbing, because they all belong to the Fonseca name–come to the surface. The shocking family secrets of the Fonseca clan are revealed, along with the ancient curse which is bound to the Fonseca family.