# looking for a good book?



## spectrumc01 (Mar 13, 2011)

I need help looking for a few good books.  I read horror books and am looking for some good ones to read.  Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and John Saul are the most common writers and are in every store.  I've read so many of their books I have burned myself out on them.  Bently Little was the next author I burned myself out on his stories The Store, The Policy, and the Association were his best books, also I would recomend them to everyone.Brian Keene is a great author, The Rising, and City of the Dead, should be on everyones short list of books to read.  Richard Laymon is outstanding as well.  Don't care for Anne Rice tried reading her but couldn't get into it.

I'm looking for horror stories, no books of short stories, and no Vampire / Werewolf stories either Hollywood burned me out on those too. any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Here are the books I've read this year: (5 * is the highest rating)
- The Case of Dexter Ward by HP Lovecraft (**)
- Demons by John Shirley (**)
- Horns by Joe hill (****)
- Billy by Whitley Strieber (***)
- Agyar by Steven Brust (***)
- Sparrow Rock by Nate Kenyon (***)


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## strollingbones (Mar 13, 2011)

there is more horror in the souls of man than ever invented in a novel....

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child - The Official Web Site


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## editec (Mar 13, 2011)

The House of the Seven Gables - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A kind of ghost story and one that also happens to be written by one of America's greatest authors.

It's long in character analysis and short of ghosts, of course.

But if you haven't read it, you probably ought to since this book was one of the earliest and best_ kinda-ghost_ stories ever written.

And then there's Poe, too.

These are the guys who the authors you're currently reading _wish _they could write like.


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## strollingbones (Mar 13, 2011)

there are some excellent modern writers....

Harlan Ellison Webderland: Book Reviews - I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream


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## spectrumc01 (Mar 13, 2011)

strollingbones said:


> there are some excellent modern writers....
> 
> Harlan Ellison Webderland: Book Reviews - I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream



Thank you, this is one I will look for to read.


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## filmcourage (Mar 19, 2011)

'On Writing' by Stephen King is an extremely worthwhile read on how he got started.


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## Mad Scientist (Mar 19, 2011)

I burned out on Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen King years ago. I stick with History and Biographies mainly now. Here's what I've been reading lately.

"Red" Sammy Hagar
"The War For Late Night" Bill Carter
"Life" Keith Richards.


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## avos (Apr 8, 2011)

If you're looking for a good horror books I strongly suggest almost anything by H P Lovecraft,  the night land and the ghost pirates by William Hope Hodgson


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## spectrumc01 (Apr 8, 2011)

avos said:


> If you're looking for a good horror books I strongly suggest almost anything by H P Lovecraft,  the night land and the ghost pirates by William Hope Hodgson



This year I read "the case of dexter ward" by HP Lovecraft, and I don't know if it was his use of old english or his lack of action in this particular book, but I found it hard to get into.  The print in this particular book was really small and that may have played a big part in my opinion.


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## Iridescence (Apr 8, 2011)

HP Lovecraft is an interesting author. I have only really read the one book of his, but it set me off into a different direction than most seem to take. His book 'The Necromonicon' (or something of the kind) got me interested in mentalism, so then I looked up 'The Mentalist's Handbook', and then from there a few other similar things and now have 'Magic, Mysticism, and Hasidism The Supernatural in Jewish Thought'. I find these things a great aid in understanding the real fears within what otherwise could be underrated writing. I like discordian literature and such, too, but because the further I read into the spiritual aspect of things the better sense insanity seems to make. *lola* Quite the risky statement to publicly make, I'm sure.


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## Stashman (Jul 30, 2011)

spectrumc01 said:


> I need help looking for a few good books.  I read horror books and am looking for some good ones to read.  Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and John Saul are the most common writers and are in every store.  I've read so many of their books I have burned myself out on them.  Bently Little was the next author I burned myself out on his stories The Store, The Policy, and the Association were his best books, also I would recomend them to everyone.Brian Keene is a great author, The Rising, and City of the Dead, should be on everyones short list of books to read.  Richard Laymon is outstanding as well.  Don't care for Anne Rice tried reading her but couldn't get into it.
> 
> I'm looking for horror stories, no books of short stories, and no Vampire / Werewolf stories either Hollywood burned me out on those too. any suggestions would be much appreciated.
> 
> ...



You must read,"Swan Song" by Robert McCammon 

This book will have you on page one, and keep you forever.

Robert R. McCammon's Swan Song » Robert McCammon


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## Kooshdakhaa (Jul 30, 2011)

Stashman said:


> spectrumc01 said:
> 
> 
> > I need help looking for a few good books.  I read horror books and am looking for some good ones to read.  Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and John Saul are the most common writers and are in every store.  I've read so many of their books I have burned myself out on them.  Bently Little was the next author I burned myself out on his stories The Store, The Policy, and the Association were his best books, also I would recomend them to everyone.Brian Keene is a great author, The Rising, and City of the Dead, should be on everyones short list of books to read.  Richard Laymon is outstanding as well.  Don't care for Anne Rice tried reading her but couldn't get into it.
> ...



Oh  "Swan Song," I agree!!  I read that years ago and it still comes up in conversation.

I know Stashman is looking for horror, but horror as also a favorite genre of mine but I also thoroughly enjoy post-apocolyptic fiction, which also has many elements of horror.

With that in mind, I highly recommend:

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy (If babies roasting over spits isn't horror, I don't know what is.)

"The Passage: A Novel" by Justin Cronin (Yes, the "virals" in the novel are like vampires, but so nicely reinvented I don't think you'll mind.  This book was kind of  hard to get into, but then I couldn't stand to see it end.  But it's the first of a triology, so there's more to come.  It's long, like almost 800 pages.)

Another book, I'm not sure the genre, that I highly recommend is:

"Room: A Novel" by Emma Donoghue (It's about a girl who was abducted and kept in a 11' x 11' room.  She now has a five-year-old son in there with her, so you can guess who the father is.  The story is told from the five-year old's point of view and it is intriguing.  I couldn't put this one down, lots of excitement.  It is becoming obvious that their captor is becoming more unbalanced...what to do?)


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## KissMy (Jul 30, 2011)

Andrew Ross Sorkin's book "Too Big to Fail" is a true horror story about the bailout of the financial system.


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## hjmick (Jul 30, 2011)

_The Passage_ is a must read. One of the best books I've read in the last year. It's probably best described as a cross between _The Stand_ and _I Am Legend_, not the Will Smith movie but the 1954 book by Richard Matheson. Bones' Preston/Child reccomendation is a good one, especially their earlier books such as _Relic_. I've read all their work, collabrotive and solo, fiction and non. I have yet to tire of it, and I rarely enjoy co-authored books.

On another note, did you like _Horns_? I read Hill's first novel, _Heart Shaped Box_ and was disappointed. I found myself not caring about any of the characters. Die, don't die, i didn't care. Somehow I expected more. Especially when you consider he is Stephen King's son.


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## American Horse (Jul 30, 2011)

Nelson deMille is a terrific author I've discovered this past year.  No, he does not write horror.  He writes suspense laced with such clever and witty humor that his protagonist comes to life as they rarely do in fictional works.  Maybe you've met someone in your personal life or in you're job that brings such spark of humor to the time you spend with them that you just feel smarter for the experience. That's the reading experience from deMille.  Unfortunately, it's ephemeral. 

Since reading everything by him I could get my hands on, and only having one more unread which I'm delaying the pleasure of beginning because, sadly it will be the last, I picked up _Map of Bones_ by James Rollins; in that the action is by increments, intense and full of suspense, but the characters are, to me, sorta flat.  None that I'd want to meet or have a lunch and a drink with as you do with deMille's.  I've put that one down for now after reading 250 pages.

I'd recommend as a first read intro, his _Gate House_ >> Nelson DeMille - Official Website << the sequel to _Gold Coast_, and after those I recommend his _The General's Daughter_.  I put off reading that one for a long time because I judged it by it's cover, a head shot of John Travolta in a "garrison hat." it turned out to be the most deeply moving and at the same time suspenseful with totally unanticipated twists of all his books.

I believe all his books are available used on Amazon, and in stock in quantities that more than one can be shipped at the same time to save S&H.

You won't regret starting deMille, he is a rare discovery for sure.


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## Big Fitz (Jul 30, 2011)

Well, if you're looking for something more Macabre... and has a classic Dickens meets Poe feeling, try Caleb Carr's two 1890's New York thrillers "The Alienist" and "The Angel of Darkness".  Great looks at the science of psychology, criminology, forensics and investigation of that era.  There are even some real historical people woven in, in very believable ways to the case, plus you will learn a little bit of what life was like back in that era.  An American version of Sherlock Holmes spread over a team.  I can't recommend them highly enough.

If you want modern hard boiled fiction, find the "Burke" Series by Andrew Vachss.  Stellar stuff.  I'd recommend the "Burke Omnibus" which contains novels 2-4 (Strega, Blue Belle and Hard Candy) which is when the series really got it's legs and feel.  The first book "Flood" can be overlooked in this context IMHO.

That should be a little different for you if you are looking for something different.


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## Grace (Jul 30, 2011)

spectrumc01 said:


> I need help looking for a few good books.  I read horror books and am looking for some good ones to read.  Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and John Saul are the most common writers and are in every store.  I've read so many of their books I have burned myself out on them.  Bently Little was the next author I burned myself out on his stories The Store, The Policy, and the Association were his best books, also I would recomend them to everyone.Brian Keene is a great author, The Rising, and City of the Dead, should be on everyones short list of books to read.  Richard Laymon is outstanding as well.  Don't care for Anne Rice tried reading her but couldn't get into it.
> 
> I'm looking for horror stories, no books of short stories, and no Vampire / Werewolf stories either Hollywood burned me out on those too. any suggestions would be much appreciated.
> 
> ...



Robert McCammon: Swan Song, Stinger, Mystery Walk, etc etc etc.ANY of them

http://www.robertmccammon.com/novels/swan_song.html


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## St.Blues (Jul 30, 2011)

May I suggest something deep.. Behold a pale horse..
by: cooper
If you can find it!

Blues


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