Books That'll Give You Nightmares

I been a huge horror junkie for as long as I can remember. Book or movie, cheesy or gory, horror speaks to me. Vicariously living through scenes with the victims give me an adrenaline rush I would never want to experience in real life.

Today, I want to talk about books that traumatize. This doesn't necessarily mean horror, although most of my most traumatic experiences have been through that genre.

Hardcore supernatural horror, your vampires, zombies, demons, etc., can be scary, but I generally view them more as fun entertainment. I know these creatures aren't real and while they can provide more than a few thrills, they don't keep me awake at night.

The things that give me nightmare are horror plots that focus on the improbable, but completely possible. When I was in middle school I read Christopher Pike's Bury Me Deep. I will never go SCUBA diving because of this book. My father and brother both SCUBA dive constantly. Not me. I won't even practice in the pool.

Bury Me Deep taught me how dangerous SCUBA diving can be. You dive with a buddy. What if that buddy wants to kill you? If he cuts your air and holds you down, how will you survive? Yeah, way to possible for me.

In my late teens, I discovered Bentley Little. I absolutely love his books. He was a way of taking something mundane and twisting it into something completely terrifying. While many of his characters are motivated by supernatural forces, the things they do require nothing more than human strength and an extreme lack of conscience. The Store was the first Bentley Little novel I read, which is most likely why it has stuck with me more than the others. The Association and The Policy also thoroughly creep me out.

The evil hiding behind big-box stores, homeowners associations and insurance policies is unlikely, but not out of the realm of possibility. That's what makes the stories so bone-chilling. While shopping at large stores like Walmart and investing in car, life, and medical insurance is unavoidable, it now makes me a little scared. I do know that I will never live anywhere that I have to belong to a homeowners association.

What types of books give you nightmares? Zombies? Serial killers? Rape? Fluffy bunnies? Why do those books effect you more than other types?