My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Although this novel is marketed as a YA, it reads much more like general lit. The themes and content in the book can get pretty dark so, it might be best for an older teenage crowd. As an adult myself, I would certainly recommend this book to other adult horror fans.
The book does suffer from a bit of a slump in the middle, however, there is enough gruesome content to keep you flipping the pages to the very end. This book will scare the hell out of you at times as you witness two girls go through the most epic test of friendshiop ever! You might even want to throw up your lunch during a passage or two as well .
My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf
My Friend Dahmer is a chilling graphic novel about the coming-of-age infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. The author of the book claims to be a "friend" of Dahmer during his teenage years, but he is actually just a bully who exploits Dahmer's weird ways. He never really makes an effort to try to help him out of his obvious drunken and depressive state.
This book is a real life horror novel. We're able to read about the early years of a young man that went on to murder, rape and eat his victims. Although this hraphic novel does not focus on those crimes, it's horrific to witness how his peers so caliously exploited him and never throught once to get him some help. Dahmer's unusual and strained relationship with his parents will give you much insight as well in to why he become such a depraved mind. I really hated the author of My Friend Dahmer for how he treated someone who clearly needed help. How he can call himself a friend is beyond me.
Shady morals aside, you'll deffinitly want to read this before the release of the upcoming film.
I Hunt Killers Series by Barry Lyga
I'm not a big fan of YA, but I adore this series! I Hunt Killers Series by Barry Lyga is made up of three novels about the son of an infamous serial killer. Jazz Dent has serial killer traits just like his father so he uses his insight to help the police find other serial killers and keep any possible suspions off of him. The problem is, he might be more like his father than he actually realized.
Although the 2nd book was a bit of a drag, the 1st and 3rd book are real page-turners! You really need to read all 3 books to get the full affect of the story. I really liked how diverse the cast was (even though the author could have done a little more research before writing Jazz's African-American girlfriend in to the story. I wondered at times if the author even knew in black people or if he was just writing how he thought black people act). Each novel is a solid blend of the horror genre, detective noir genre and coming-of-age stories. The book is also unapologetically dark even though it is for a YA audience. Readers 15 and over however should be fine.
20th Century Ghost: A Story From The Collection 20th Century Ghost by Joe Hill
A short story collection by the son of horror royalty Stephen King is bound to be scary. Some of the collections best stories include one about a boy who eats bugs and ends up turning in to a giant locus and a boy who is trapped in the basement of a serial killer.
Although this book has some truly terrifying stories, it is worth noting that many of them feel incomplete. They have more of an "open ending" approach which can be annoying after the first couple of times you experience them. However, some of the stories are deffinitly unique and worth reading just to experience how unusual they are. There's no doubt Hill is just as skilled in scaring the hell out of you as his father is.
What horror books have you read lately that scared the pants off of you? Sound off in the comments below!
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