BellaOnline Forums Books and Music Horror Literature Horror lit for people who don't like gore...

I can't be the only one here who likes a spooky story but doesn't like graphic details!

Just to give you an idea of the kind of thing I mean (and maybe give you some ideas for future reading):

I'm reading a wonderful collection called "The Haunted Looking Glass: Ghost Stories Chosen by Edward Gorey" (that's his real last name!). It's a wonderful collection of classic stuff. From that, I just reread "August Heat," which I remember loving in high school. Very scary, and you never see anything happen!

The guy who wrote "The Monkey's Paw," W.W. Jacobs, has a collection of his spooky short fiction available. (It's called "The Monkey's Paw: and other tales of mystery and the macabre.") I'm loving it. Jacobs has some fantastic twist endings.

I have a collection called "The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton" that I'm really enjoying.

Now that you know the kind of thing I'm talking about, I'd love to hear suggestions, since I love a good spooky story that doesn't revolt me, but I always hesitate to take a chance on contemporary writing because it always seems to insist on a certain amount of bloodletting. Which is fine if I don't have to hear too many details...(I don't even like the *word* "gross" -- did you notice?)

Deborah, have you ever read any of Dean Koontz's works?

I absolutely love his stuff! I found him many years ago beccause I had read everything that was published at the time by Stephen King - and Koontz was next to him on the shelf.

His stuff runs the gamut of horror, thriller, mystery, sci-fi- he almost can't be categorized.

But he is amazing! I can go back and read his stuff 7-8 times and not get tired of it.

I feel really old now, because I realize that I can say I haven't read any Koontz in almost twenty years! Loved it when I did, though -- thanks for reminding me.

Is there a book of his you'd particularly recommend?

Whichever one I happen to be reading at the time? LOL!

Seriously, I just re-read "Lightening" for about the zillionth time, and I still love it.

Ones that fall more into the horror category I would say are:
The Taking
Midnight
Darkfall
Phantom
Dragon Tears (this is one of my very favorites!)
Tick-Tock

Then others that are kind more supernatural mystery (kind of an awe more than fear) - and these are all fabulous - they have an amazing sense of hope in them.
From the Corner of His Eye
One Door Away from Heaven
Life Expectancy
and all of his Odd Thomas books

Trying to choose which one of these is the best - ACK! I love them all!

Here's his website, and you can read a summary and see which ones kind of "hit" you. Dean Koontz book list

Michelle - it's funny you mention him because I can NOT read Koontz. I get really scared by it! We used to listen to a lot of books on tape and I literally had to turn one off while we were driving, because it was too much for me It might have been Tick-Tock ...

I loved Coraline (Neil Gaiman). Very dark, for a children's story.

Tick-Tock is one of the goriest books I've ever read LOL - isn't that the one where the guy freezes time and then takes delight in cutting ppl's limbs off willy nilly? LOL - really Michelle (tut tut)
I prefer Stephen King's earlier stuff, it's not all that gory, Christine and Cujo or both brilliant, plus the Ghost story, Bag Of Bones - that has no gore, oh and The Girl who loved Tom Gordon and Firestarter.
It's quite a hard call to get a scary story without some kind of gore though, unless you're going for Poe etc... (hmmm)

Steven - that sounds familiar! I know it seems silly because I'm an adult but I got so scared by it that I had to pull over and turn it off. I just couldn't take it any more.

I don't think I mind gore - I watch Bones, which has skeletons and things. I'm not sure what it was about that story. When I was young I saw the Shining and the Exorcist and both super-terrified me so maybe I was damaged at a young age

LOL - I know, that one was extreme for me too It was a really good book, in the way that it scared you, but it was so cruel and gruesome, and disturbing too. A book I found gruesome and depressing was 'The Dark Half' by Stephen King, I felt suicidal reading that novel.

I think a lot of people have become de-sensitised to gore, they've put it into too many TV shows and movies. I find scenes in CSI more difficult to watch than in a horror movie, something about a dead body on the slab really makes me ill.

Talking about being damaged at a young age LOL - I was allowed to watch 'The Omen 2: Damian' when I was quite young, with my mum hiding my eyes at the right, or wrong moments, LOL - problem was, she missed the most ghastly one, thinking it was over and I saw a guy get split across the middle in an elevator by a falling wire. I burst out crying and was hysterical, my mother obviously felt terrible - and I still can't go in elevators even now - they really freak me out LOL. Omigod - The Exorcist is SO creepy, when she does the spider-walk down the stairs, I ran, turned off the TV and went to bed LOL - that's such a scary movie, even now as an adult