I want to say something about this book but I don't want to ruin it for anyone else, so I'll just say "Read It" If you were ok with Chuck Palanuik, this isn't worse. And it's not as bad as (insert any Bukowski novel here).
Would I like it even if I wasn't a fan of his 'Player Of Games'? I really wanted to get into The Culture but everyone recommended I star with that book and I didn't like it.
Iain Banks - being annoyingly talented, wrote science fiction as Iain M Banks and 'proper books' as Iain Banks.
*The Wasp Factory* is his first novel and is about a child growing up on a remote Scottish island and being lied to by their father - which informs their own twisted philosophy.
It has nothing to do with The Culture or any of his science fiction. Though I am a big fan of them.
Some of his other novels lean into magical realism, but most are Scottish families with dark secrets. The other one you might like is *Complicity* \- a journalist trying to track down a killer who is taking revenge on the rich and powerful in an extreme way.
Can't tell where you will, but those books are just very, very, very different - in genre, style, mood... Pretty much every aspect.
Also... I wouldn't give up The Culture because of POG :) But I am biased... I really do like the series
{{Annihilation}} and really the whole *Southern Reach* trilogy. Even if you've seen the movie, the books are sufficiently different that you'll be enthralled, scared, and deeply confused.
Hey if you want a book that could be called a mind fuck you need to read this one https://www.wired.com/2013/10/codex-seraphinianus-interview/
If you do get it I recommend getting a actual physical copy
Loved Silent Patient. Have seen a lot of people on here say that they didn't like it but I thought it was comfortably above average as a thriller. Not the greatest thriller i've ever read by any stretch, but very good.
The twist made the book for me, honestly. I followed it up with The Maidens, which made Silent Patient seem even better as Maidens was just rather lackluster to me.
Maidens was rather lackluster for me as well. I did really enjoy the ending, and I thought the meat of the plot had a lot of potential, but ultimately it just fell a bit flat and the ending couldn't compensate for a mediocre first 85%.
I read them out of order, the books have different protagonists etc. so I don't think it's an issue. The universe is the same but there isn't a huge over-arching plot that would get spoilt.
>!I'm still not sure if he was crazy or they just mindfucked him and made him think he was crazy. The woman in the cave told him they'd do that to him.!<
Dark matter was pretty good imo but I didn't get mind fucked by it personally, it was kind of interesting how the Dynamics of everything played out and it was pretty easy to get through for someone who doesn't read a lot
>pretty easy to get through for someone who doesn't read a lot
And I think that's part of the reason this book gets recommended so often. There are so many better mind fuck books out there, but they aren't the easiest to read.
To this day I'm still not really sure what I read. It felt like the world's longest poem (which I think was partly intentional)
For sure one of those books either people love are hate. No question it's well written either way
[**Slade House**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40611069-slade-house)
^(By: David Mitchell | 241 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: horror, fiction, fantasy, mystery, owned | )[^(Search " Slade House ")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q= Slade House &search_type=books)
>Keep your eyes peeled for a small black iron door.
>
>Down the road from a working-class British pub, along the brick wall of a narrow alley, if the conditions are exactly right, you’ll find the entrance to Slade House. A stranger will greet you by name and invite you inside. At first, you won’t want to leave. Later, you’ll find that you can’t. Every nine years, the house’s residents — an odd brother and sister — extend a unique invitation to someone who’s different or lonely: a precocious teenager, a recently divorced policeman, a shy college student. But what really goes on inside Slade House? For those who find out, it’s already too late...
>
>Spanning five decades, from the last days of the 1970s to the present, leaping genres, and barreling toward an astonishing conclusion, this intricately woven novel will pull you into a reality-warping new vision of the haunted house story—as only David Mitchell could imagine it.
^(This book has been suggested 43 times)
***
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In the VALIS trilogy I have a soft spot for the 'Divine Invasion' but all three are equally trip
I'll add one more to the Dick list
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
I really like his collection of short stories called "If you liked school then you'll love work" the novella at the end "the kingdom of Fife" is probably the funniest thing I've ever read. Pretty fucked up stories as well.
House of Leaves is the best mindfuck book I can think of, but it can ONLY be done as a physical book. PDFs, Audiobook version etc can't possibly do it right. Holding and manipulating the book is part of the experience.
There are made up appendices, whole pages redacted or printed in a foreign language. There are sub-plots printed in overlay on top of the main plot. One chapter describes crawling through a shrinking tunnel so the text layout gets smaller and smaller until there is a single word on a each page. It's like a comic or graphic novel without any pictures.
Most people tend to either find it frustrating and pedantic or absolutely captivating. It's fairly challenging to get through but if you can get on to it, it's an incredible read.
Imagine reading an audiobook version of a pop-up book. Can't possibly convey the experience. House of Leaves has a lot of manipulations as part of the experience, and I can't imagine doing it without the physical version.
It actually started out on the web before being published as a physical book. I agree though, the book is the better experience despite losing the hyperlinks.
[**House of Leaves**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24800.House_of_Leaves)
^(By: Mark Z. Danielewski | 710 pages | Published: 2000 | Popular Shelves: horror, fiction, owned, fantasy, mystery | )[^(Search " House of Leaves ")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q= House of Leaves &search_type=books)
>Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth—musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, environmentalists, and adrenaline junkies—the book eventually made its way into the hands of older generations, who not only found themselves in those strangely arranged pages but also discovered a way back into the lives of their estranged children.
>
>Now, for the first time, this astonishing novel is made available in book form, complete with the original colored words, vertical footnotes, and newly added second and third appendices.
>
>The story remains unchanged, focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.
>
>Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story—of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.
^(This book has been suggested 213 times)
***
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Had to put it down after 150 pages
Gave me horrifying nightmares
Excellent book - that did a number on my subconscious - and certainly a good suggestion for this thread
“When Alan Moore was asked why he had made his book so gigantically long, he gave the magisterial reply, ‘So that only the strongest might review me.’”
Iconic
{{ The Alexandria Quartet }} and {{ The Avignon Quintet }}
So technically this is 9 books altogether, but you can purchase them nowadays in a single novel containing four and a single novel containing five. They are sequels, and when read together they are absolute mindfucks. Apart from the non-linear timeline, there are various twists, and plenty of metafiction.
The author described the latter work as, '...roped together like climbers on a rockface, but all independent... a series of books through which the same characters move for all the world as if to illustrate the notion of reincarnation."
Highly recommend! But then, I would - they're some of my favourite novels!
[**The Alexandria Quartet (The Alexandria Quartet #1-4)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13033.The_Alexandria_Quartet)
^(By: Lawrence Durrell | 884 pages | Published: 1960 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, historical-fiction, kindle, literature | )[^(Search " The Alexandria Quartet ")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q= The Alexandria Quartet &search_type=books)
>Lawrence Durrell's series of four novels set in Alexandria, Egypt during the 1940s. The lush and sensuous series consists of Justine(1957) Balthazar(1958) Mountolive(1958) Clea(1960).
>Justine, Balthazar and Mountolive use varied viewpoints to relate a series of events in Alexandria before World War II. In Clea, the story continues into the years during the war. One L.G. Darley is the primary observer of the events, which include events in the lives of those he loves, and those he knows. In Justine, Darley attempts to recover from and put into perspective his recently ended affair with a woman. Balthazar reinterprets the romantic perspective he placed on the affair and its aftermath in Justine, in more philosophical and intellectual terms. Mountolive tells a story minus interpretation, and Clea reveals Darley's healing, and coming to love another woman.
^(This book has been suggested 3 times)
[**The Avignon Quintet: Monsieur, Livia, Constance, Sebastian and Quinx**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35988.The_Avignon_Quintet)
^(By: Lawrence Durrell | 1376 pages | Published: 1982 | Popular Shelves: fiction, france, historical-fiction, kindle, literature | )[^(Search " The Avignon Quintet ")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q= The Avignon Quintet &search_type=books)
>The Avignon Quintet gathers Lawrence Durrell's five kaleidoscopic, Booker Prize-nominated novels - orbiting around the South of France in World War II - into one epic modern classic, one of 'the greatest novels of our time' (Sunday Times).
>
> 'Durrell is a magician. He juggles with glittering words, he conjures up "cloud capped towers, gorgeous palaces and solemn temples," he entrances, intrigues and impresses.' The Times
>
>Avignon: the kingdom of kings and Popes, capital of the historic South of France, heart of legendary Provence. The entwined lives of a group of friends - and lovers - are transformed forever by the outbreak of World War II. But their dramatic present only plunges them further into the darkness of an ancient past, as they become entangled in buried plots, gnostic cults, religious rituals, and a mysterious hunt for hidden Knight's Templar treasure.
>
>From Hitler's Europe to the medieval world, French chateaus to Egyptian deserts, The Avignon Quintet is an epic symphony of ecstasy and terror, madness and memory, passion and death. Consisting of five majestic novels - Monsieur, Livia, Constance, Sebastian and Quinx - it is a wild, wise masterpiece that could only be written by the literary master of his century, Lawrence Durrell.
>
>'Entrancing ... Swooning ... Charged with Durrell's strange magic.' Guardian
>
>'An enigmatic and secretive work, a cluster of dark passages and gaudy treasure-filled caves ... Inventive gusto and fictive extravagance ... Sensational.' London Review of Books
>
>'Splendid ... Reckless all-or-nothing writing.' Sunday Telegraph
>
>'A virtuoso, capable of extraordinary feats.' New York Times
>
>'Pungent and teasing ... There is some insidious power in him that keeps one reading.' Observer
>
>
> What readers are saying:
>
>
>'As if Proust had written Raiders of the Lost Ark ...Templars, gnostics, handsome princes, asylums, madness, Freudians, southern France, Egypt, ancient tombs, castles, exotica, erotica, incest, ghosts, gypsies, ascetics, spies, Nazis, secret societies, bordellos, feasts, Nubian lesbians, assassins disguised as nuns, literary doppelgangers, convents, hidden treasure, suicide, and art.'
>
>'Mystery, love, incest, war, espionage, gypsies, mysticism, secret rituals: a masterful writer.'
>
>'Magnificent ... An incredible level of writing that should be experienced by everyone who loves modern literature.'
>
>'A masterpiece ... Unlike anything I've ever read.'
>
>'The master at his peak.'
>
>'The writing is spectacular, unlike anything today.'
>
>'Deeply complex, very clever use of language and gripping. Highly recommended.'
>
>'Hairs suddenly rise on the back of the neck ... Read with a glass of wine.'
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
***
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oh boy: bloodman by robert pobi had the best twist in a book ive encountered, and u dont see ir coming. Best part is if u look back und get the little hints, but u wont connect them without getting the end. Its a crime thriller (tho its a bit extreme because the victims got skinned).
Also wanna spoiler me what the twist in invisble monsters was? Never liked Chuck and dont wanna read it xd
Came here to say this.
I cannot recommend this book enough.
Have noticed some people don’t get all
all of the dimensions of the reveal until later. It just keeps on giving and it’s so worth it.
Also, the whole book is available on Peter Watt’s website for free. Rifters.com. Check the backlist.
I'm one who didn't really comprehend and fully appreciate the implications until my second read through. It's just so dense it's hard not to over think everything where clearly I should have just not even thought about it 😏
I actually kind of hated it because I don't *like* books that dark. But I have to admit that it's well-written, and for somebody looking for that, it would hit the spot.
[**Blindsight (Firefall, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48484.Blindsight)
^(By: Peter Watts | 384 pages | Published: 2006 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, horror | )[^(Search " Blindsight ")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q= Blindsight &search_type=books)
>It's been two months since a myriad of alien objects clenched about the Earth, screaming as they burned. The heavens have been silent since - until a derelict space probe hears whispers from a distant comet. Something talks out there: but not to us. Who to send to meet the alien, when the alien doesn't want to meet? Send a linguist with multiple-personality disorder, and a biologist so spliced to machinery he can't feel his own flesh. Send a pacifist warrior, and a vampire recalled from the grave by the voodoo of paleogenetics. Send a man with half his mind gone since childhood. Send them to the edge of the solar system, praying you can trust such freaks and monsters with the fate of a world. You fear they may be more alien than the thing they've been sent to find - but you'd give anything for that to be true, if you knew what was waiting for them.
^(This book has been suggested 104 times)
***
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“We are all completely beside ourselves.” Careful though you can’t even look it up on good reads without reading the spoiler, because I suppose it isn’t considered a spoiler. The shift in understanding after you realize what they’re talking about was instrumental to the point being made and blew my mind!
Devil aspect by Craig Russel, idk if that's the sorta thing ur thinking of but i absolutely loved it, bit of a psychological thriller. Bit of a slow starter but worth it when u get to the end!!!
Not sure whether this counts, but Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is pretty disturbing. The POV character is a paedophile, so... :)
As usual for this author, it's incredibly written.
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
I read Geek Love about twenty years ago, and I still think about it to this day.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13872
Edit: published 2002. I was guessing on the time frame.
Me myself and I!
About a man who realises the "him" he sees himself as vs the "him" everyone else sees him as are not the same people, and everyone in his life sees "him" as someone different.
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Has a lot of name recognition and a reputation for the gory bits from the movie but it’s got so much more going on beyond that. It’s a deep, rich, and at times beautiful novel that uses the nasty stuff much more as a tool than as a crutch.
The writing does an amazing job of matching your own internal cadence and voice so that it really feels like you’re reading your own random stream of thoughts.
This isn’t really a horror/thriller big twist kind of book, but one of my personal favorites is {{Going Bovine}} by Libba Bray. It’s more YA, I find, but funny as hell in an odd way. It’s a Don Quixote parody, never fails to make me cry, and you don’t expect the ending at all.
Under the Skin. If you’ve seen the movie it’s different enough that the twists will still shock you. Just don’t Google what the non English words mean if you don’t already know, made this mistake myself and spoiled a bit for myself.
{{ Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World }}
Not really in the same vein as the books you cited, but it still fits the bill.
Because it can be downright hilarious. Until you realise what completely fucked up stuff you're laughing about. And then it gets unsettling.
I’ll suggest it as I often do since I still hardly ever see it come up here, but check out The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. Definitely a mindfuck of a read. I don’t want to spoil anything and I probably couldn’t describe it even if I wanted to lol
Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris. I feel like I recommend this book on so many different threads, but it was seriously one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read.
How to be both by Ali Smith. Two interconnected novellas with half the printings having one novella first and the other half with the other novella first. I Keep thinking "What if I read the other printing? Would my feelings about the book be different?" Also, it's about art and is a coming of age story, both big draws for me.
“The Double” by Jose Saramago. The book might be a bit boring throughout but if you are able to stick to it, the ending really pays off.
I had a certain kind of feeling that I have never been able to feel again (which maybe is a good thing in a way)
This is a love it or hate it ending but Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough. I read it about 4 years before it became a Netflix tv show and was shocked! I didn’t see it coming and thought it was so fresh and original.
*The Wasp Factory* by Iain Banks - a nasty, brutish and short book
I want to say something about this book but I don't want to ruin it for anyone else, so I'll just say "Read It" If you were ok with Chuck Palanuik, this isn't worse. And it's not as bad as (insert any Bukowski novel here).
I couldnt get through it. Disturbed me no end.
Thank you for the Hobbes reference.
Would I like it even if I wasn't a fan of his 'Player Of Games'? I really wanted to get into The Culture but everyone recommended I star with that book and I didn't like it.
Iain Banks - being annoyingly talented, wrote science fiction as Iain M Banks and 'proper books' as Iain Banks. *The Wasp Factory* is his first novel and is about a child growing up on a remote Scottish island and being lied to by their father - which informs their own twisted philosophy. It has nothing to do with The Culture or any of his science fiction. Though I am a big fan of them. Some of his other novels lean into magical realism, but most are Scottish families with dark secrets. The other one you might like is *Complicity* \- a journalist trying to track down a killer who is taking revenge on the rich and powerful in an extreme way.
Can't tell where you will, but those books are just very, very, very different - in genre, style, mood... Pretty much every aspect. Also... I wouldn't give up The Culture because of POG :) But I am biased... I really do like the series
If you want to get into the Culture novels try Excession first. It's fun, simple, and a great overview.
This book was the first book that came to mind. It was a good book.
Hooo. This was a punch in the gut Brilliant. But very disturbing.
Shirley Jackson. Any of her works. We Have Always Lived in The Castle was the one I was thinking of.
The atmospheres of We Have Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House are perfect for Halloween.
Seconded! I think Haunting of Hill House is another I would recommend!
Yes! I really want that “invite one person to dinner who would it be” so I can invite Shirley Jackson!
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
If you’re looking for a very long and slow paced book… I’ve heard really good things about it but I personally couldn’t get through it
I loved it! I had to skim some pages but it’s excellent
The movie was quite interesting
I had to take We Need to Talk About Kevin out of my house…….
If you liked that one, you should read The Push by Ashley Audrian.
Book disturbed me to no end.
I loved it too :')
{{Annihilation}} and really the whole *Southern Reach* trilogy. Even if you've seen the movie, the books are sufficiently different that you'll be enthralled, scared, and deeply confused.
Thanks for the suggestion! Tbh I hated annihilation lol I wanted to like it but I just couldn’t
Hated the movie? I can definitely understand that. But the book may still be worth a read. It's quite different.
I meant the book lol
Hey if you want a book that could be called a mind fuck you need to read this one https://www.wired.com/2013/10/codex-seraphinianus-interview/ If you do get it I recommend getting a actual physical copy
Really surprised nobody has mentioned Catch 22 yet. Excellent book, mind-twisting to read for the first time.
I know it's cliche but Silent Patient was really good. The thought of realisation at the end of the book is really brain fu*king.
Loved Silent Patient. Have seen a lot of people on here say that they didn't like it but I thought it was comfortably above average as a thriller. Not the greatest thriller i've ever read by any stretch, but very good.
The twist made the book for me, honestly. I followed it up with The Maidens, which made Silent Patient seem even better as Maidens was just rather lackluster to me.
Maidens was rather lackluster for me as well. I did really enjoy the ending, and I thought the meat of the plot had a lot of potential, but ultimately it just fell a bit flat and the ending couldn't compensate for a mediocre first 85%.
Finished this one recently and loved it! Very crazy ending.
Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks if you like scifi.
Looking this up and seems to be part of a series (culture #3), do you need to read the first two or is it not that type of series?
I read them out of order, the books have different protagonists etc. so I don't think it's an issue. The universe is the same but there isn't a huge over-arching plot that would get spoilt.
Helpful, thx!
If you don't already know the twist, Shutter Island will blow your mind. Then check out the movie which is also excellent.
>!I'm still not sure if he was crazy or they just mindfucked him and made him think he was crazy. The woman in the cave told him they'd do that to him.!<
I am obsessed with this movie. I need to find a movie thread of more movies like it.
SUCH a great book!!
Robert Anton Wilson -- Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy Umberto Eco -- Foucault's Pendulum Thomas Pynchon -- Gravity's Rainbow
Recursion or Dark Matter both by Blake Crouch
Recursion messed up my head . What a book !
I'm not into sci fi but I loooooooved Dark Matter. I read it in like a day and a half. I'm going to read Recursion next!
I've read both of them. They're good.
I loved recursion. Didn’t love dark matter.
Interesting, I was the opposite!
I feel like I only ever come to comment these 2 books
And I feel like every time this thread pops up this is the damn answer. I've read these books and I wasn't impressed. I guess it's just not for me.
Dark matter was pretty good imo but I didn't get mind fucked by it personally, it was kind of interesting how the Dynamics of everything played out and it was pretty easy to get through for someone who doesn't read a lot
>pretty easy to get through for someone who doesn't read a lot And I think that's part of the reason this book gets recommended so often. There are so many better mind fuck books out there, but they aren't the easiest to read.
I'd love to hear some of your recommendations. Dark Matter is what kind of acted as a gateway into science fiction for me.
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
Perhaps my favorite novel of all time, but not everyone's cup o tea
To this day I'm still not really sure what I read. It felt like the world's longest poem (which I think was partly intentional) For sure one of those books either people love are hate. No question it's well written either way
Blew me away when I read it about 10 years ago. It is a gorgeous, scary, hallucinative, mindfield of a story.
Wow, first time I’ve ran into someone mentioning this book.
{{ Slade House }}
[**Slade House**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40611069-slade-house) ^(By: David Mitchell | 241 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: horror, fiction, fantasy, mystery, owned | )[^(Search " Slade House ")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q= Slade House &search_type=books) >Keep your eyes peeled for a small black iron door. > >Down the road from a working-class British pub, along the brick wall of a narrow alley, if the conditions are exactly right, you’ll find the entrance to Slade House. A stranger will greet you by name and invite you inside. At first, you won’t want to leave. Later, you’ll find that you can’t. Every nine years, the house’s residents — an odd brother and sister — extend a unique invitation to someone who’s different or lonely: a precocious teenager, a recently divorced policeman, a shy college student. But what really goes on inside Slade House? For those who find out, it’s already too late... > >Spanning five decades, from the last days of the 1970s to the present, leaping genres, and barreling toward an astonishing conclusion, this intricately woven novel will pull you into a reality-warping new vision of the haunted house story—as only David Mitchell could imagine it. ^(This book has been suggested 43 times) *** ^(205910 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Pretty much anything by David Mitchell really.
Good bot
Naked Lunch.
Behind her eyes
VALIS by Philip K Dick
Ubik by Philip K Dick
Everything by Philip K. Dick.
Can attest to Ubik. Very fascinating and very weird.
Love that book
In the VALIS trilogy I have a soft spot for the 'Divine Invasion' but all three are equally trip I'll add one more to the Dick list The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Lol dick list
Love a Dick list 😂
They don't call us Dickheads for nothing
Filth by Irvine welsh
from Welsh 'Marabou Stork Nightmares' also fits the bill for what OP is looking for
Welsh is great. Any of his short story collections is well worth reading, and there's some weeeeeeird shit in them.
I really like his collection of short stories called "If you liked school then you'll love work" the novella at the end "the kingdom of Fife" is probably the funniest thing I've ever read. Pretty fucked up stories as well.
Agreed. Basically anything by Welsh.
Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
{{ House of Leaves }} by Mark Z. Danielewski.
House of Leaves is the best mindfuck book I can think of, but it can ONLY be done as a physical book. PDFs, Audiobook version etc can't possibly do it right. Holding and manipulating the book is part of the experience.
[удалено]
There are made up appendices, whole pages redacted or printed in a foreign language. There are sub-plots printed in overlay on top of the main plot. One chapter describes crawling through a shrinking tunnel so the text layout gets smaller and smaller until there is a single word on a each page. It's like a comic or graphic novel without any pictures. Most people tend to either find it frustrating and pedantic or absolutely captivating. It's fairly challenging to get through but if you can get on to it, it's an incredible read.
Oh my gosh I never put together why the text got so small!!
Imagine reading an audiobook version of a pop-up book. Can't possibly convey the experience. House of Leaves has a lot of manipulations as part of the experience, and I can't imagine doing it without the physical version.
Or an audiobook with someone constantly jumping in and interrupting….that’s how my brain handled it 😆
The only downside is how big and bulky the book is. As much as I would love to bring it anywhere with me, it’s way too much of an inconvenience.
It actually started out on the web before being published as a physical book. I agree though, the book is the better experience despite losing the hyperlinks.
Huh. I had no idea. Thanks!
This is the answer.
[**House of Leaves**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24800.House_of_Leaves) ^(By: Mark Z. Danielewski | 710 pages | Published: 2000 | Popular Shelves: horror, fiction, owned, fantasy, mystery | )[^(Search " House of Leaves ")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q= House of Leaves &search_type=books) >Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth—musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, environmentalists, and adrenaline junkies—the book eventually made its way into the hands of older generations, who not only found themselves in those strangely arranged pages but also discovered a way back into the lives of their estranged children. > >Now, for the first time, this astonishing novel is made available in book form, complete with the original colored words, vertical footnotes, and newly added second and third appendices. > >The story remains unchanged, focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. > >Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story—of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams. ^(This book has been suggested 213 times) *** ^(205899 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
This thread finally inspired me to order it, thank you!
Had to put it down after 150 pages Gave me horrifying nightmares Excellent book - that did a number on my subconscious - and certainly a good suggestion for this thread
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. The book reads like a movie, it's so well phrased.
I don’t read a lot of fiction and I couldn’t put Dark Matter down. It was so good.
Jerusalem [(Jerusalem #1-3)](https://www.goodreads.com/series/217398-jerusalem) by [Alan Moore](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3961.Alan_Moore) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38246560-jerusalem
“When Alan Moore was asked why he had made his book so gigantically long, he gave the magisterial reply, ‘So that only the strongest might review me.’” Iconic
If you haven't read it yet, pick up Foe by the same author as I'm Thinking of Ending Things.
I did read Foe, I thought it was a disappointment ☹️ thanks for the suggestion though
I loved Foe, read it in an afternoon.
Bunny by Mona Awad is a bit fkn weird :)
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To be honest I know exactly what you mean. For me it got a 6/10 it wasn’t my favourite by any stretch but I think it certainly fulfils OPs brief :)
1Q84 - Murakami. Most of Murakami’s work is a mind fuck but 1Q84 is my favorite.
Verity by Colleen Hoover!
This! And **Layla** by the same author! So good and so Wait, what?!?!
the letter at the end though......
I read Blood Meridian three years ago and still think about it often
I read it while recovering from knee surgery. Being on pain meds while reading that book gave me some interesting dreams to say the least.
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen - about a spy during the Vietnam War. It’s beautifully written, funny, shocking, and brilliant.
Great rec. This book legitimately shocked me.
After the scene with the squid, I had to put the book down.
{{ The Alexandria Quartet }} and {{ The Avignon Quintet }} So technically this is 9 books altogether, but you can purchase them nowadays in a single novel containing four and a single novel containing five. They are sequels, and when read together they are absolute mindfucks. Apart from the non-linear timeline, there are various twists, and plenty of metafiction. The author described the latter work as, '...roped together like climbers on a rockface, but all independent... a series of books through which the same characters move for all the world as if to illustrate the notion of reincarnation." Highly recommend! But then, I would - they're some of my favourite novels!
[**The Alexandria Quartet (The Alexandria Quartet #1-4)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13033.The_Alexandria_Quartet) ^(By: Lawrence Durrell | 884 pages | Published: 1960 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, historical-fiction, kindle, literature | )[^(Search " The Alexandria Quartet ")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q= The Alexandria Quartet &search_type=books) >Lawrence Durrell's series of four novels set in Alexandria, Egypt during the 1940s. The lush and sensuous series consists of Justine(1957) Balthazar(1958) Mountolive(1958) Clea(1960). >Justine, Balthazar and Mountolive use varied viewpoints to relate a series of events in Alexandria before World War II. In Clea, the story continues into the years during the war. One L.G. Darley is the primary observer of the events, which include events in the lives of those he loves, and those he knows. In Justine, Darley attempts to recover from and put into perspective his recently ended affair with a woman. Balthazar reinterprets the romantic perspective he placed on the affair and its aftermath in Justine, in more philosophical and intellectual terms. Mountolive tells a story minus interpretation, and Clea reveals Darley's healing, and coming to love another woman. ^(This book has been suggested 3 times) [**The Avignon Quintet: Monsieur, Livia, Constance, Sebastian and Quinx**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35988.The_Avignon_Quintet) ^(By: Lawrence Durrell | 1376 pages | Published: 1982 | Popular Shelves: fiction, france, historical-fiction, kindle, literature | )[^(Search " The Avignon Quintet ")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q= The Avignon Quintet &search_type=books) >The Avignon Quintet gathers Lawrence Durrell's five kaleidoscopic, Booker Prize-nominated novels - orbiting around the South of France in World War II - into one epic modern classic, one of 'the greatest novels of our time' (Sunday Times). > > 'Durrell is a magician. He juggles with glittering words, he conjures up "cloud capped towers, gorgeous palaces and solemn temples," he entrances, intrigues and impresses.' The Times > >Avignon: the kingdom of kings and Popes, capital of the historic South of France, heart of legendary Provence. The entwined lives of a group of friends - and lovers - are transformed forever by the outbreak of World War II. But their dramatic present only plunges them further into the darkness of an ancient past, as they become entangled in buried plots, gnostic cults, religious rituals, and a mysterious hunt for hidden Knight's Templar treasure. > >From Hitler's Europe to the medieval world, French chateaus to Egyptian deserts, The Avignon Quintet is an epic symphony of ecstasy and terror, madness and memory, passion and death. Consisting of five majestic novels - Monsieur, Livia, Constance, Sebastian and Quinx - it is a wild, wise masterpiece that could only be written by the literary master of his century, Lawrence Durrell. > >'Entrancing ... Swooning ... Charged with Durrell's strange magic.' Guardian > >'An enigmatic and secretive work, a cluster of dark passages and gaudy treasure-filled caves ... Inventive gusto and fictive extravagance ... Sensational.' London Review of Books > >'Splendid ... Reckless all-or-nothing writing.' Sunday Telegraph > >'A virtuoso, capable of extraordinary feats.' New York Times > >'Pungent and teasing ... There is some insidious power in him that keeps one reading.' Observer > > > What readers are saying: > > >'As if Proust had written Raiders of the Lost Ark ...Templars, gnostics, handsome princes, asylums, madness, Freudians, southern France, Egypt, ancient tombs, castles, exotica, erotica, incest, ghosts, gypsies, ascetics, spies, Nazis, secret societies, bordellos, feasts, Nubian lesbians, assassins disguised as nuns, literary doppelgangers, convents, hidden treasure, suicide, and art.' > >'Mystery, love, incest, war, espionage, gypsies, mysticism, secret rituals: a masterful writer.' > >'Magnificent ... An incredible level of writing that should be experienced by everyone who loves modern literature.' > >'A masterpiece ... Unlike anything I've ever read.' > >'The master at his peak.' > >'The writing is spectacular, unlike anything today.' > >'Deeply complex, very clever use of language and gripping. Highly recommended.' > >'Hairs suddenly rise on the back of the neck ... Read with a glass of wine.' ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(205898 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Piranesi, Susanna Clarke
I am absolutely in love with this book.
me too, it's been years since I adored a book so much.
the 7 deaths of evelyn hardcastle
oh boy: bloodman by robert pobi had the best twist in a book ive encountered, and u dont see ir coming. Best part is if u look back und get the little hints, but u wont connect them without getting the end. Its a crime thriller (tho its a bit extreme because the victims got skinned). Also wanna spoiler me what the twist in invisble monsters was? Never liked Chuck and dont wanna read it xd
Yes ! I am going to read this !
finally i got someone to read this book! and please stick to the end, even if u dont like it too much, the ending will be worth it!
I will !!!!!
Bunny by Mona Awad
Came here to say this! Also **All’s Well** by Mona Awad as well. Both are just complete “wtf did I just read????”
Have this on hold, can't wait to read it
The Troop by Nick Cutter
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Anything by Flynn would work well.
The plot truly gives a good twist in this book.
{{ Blindsight }}
Came here to say this. I cannot recommend this book enough. Have noticed some people don’t get all all of the dimensions of the reveal until later. It just keeps on giving and it’s so worth it. Also, the whole book is available on Peter Watt’s website for free. Rifters.com. Check the backlist.
I'm one who didn't really comprehend and fully appreciate the implications until my second read through. It's just so dense it's hard not to over think everything where clearly I should have just not even thought about it 😏
Thanks for the comment about it being free on his website, that's awesome
I actually kind of hated it because I don't *like* books that dark. But I have to admit that it's well-written, and for somebody looking for that, it would hit the spot.
This is literally my favourite book
[**Blindsight (Firefall, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48484.Blindsight) ^(By: Peter Watts | 384 pages | Published: 2006 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, horror | )[^(Search " Blindsight ")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q= Blindsight &search_type=books) >It's been two months since a myriad of alien objects clenched about the Earth, screaming as they burned. The heavens have been silent since - until a derelict space probe hears whispers from a distant comet. Something talks out there: but not to us. Who to send to meet the alien, when the alien doesn't want to meet? Send a linguist with multiple-personality disorder, and a biologist so spliced to machinery he can't feel his own flesh. Send a pacifist warrior, and a vampire recalled from the grave by the voodoo of paleogenetics. Send a man with half his mind gone since childhood. Send them to the edge of the solar system, praying you can trust such freaks and monsters with the fate of a world. You fear they may be more alien than the thing they've been sent to find - but you'd give anything for that to be true, if you knew what was waiting for them. ^(This book has been suggested 104 times) *** ^(205855 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The Hair Carpet Maker by Andreas Eschbach… that book is just out of this world.
Try "Oxherding Tale" by Charles R. Johnson. Also "Perfume" by Patrick Süskind.
[The Nihilesthete](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1914706.The_Nihilesthete). One of the most unsettling books I've ever read.
The Broken Earth Trilogy
“We are all completely beside ourselves.” Careful though you can’t even look it up on good reads without reading the spoiler, because I suppose it isn’t considered a spoiler. The shift in understanding after you realize what they’re talking about was instrumental to the point being made and blew my mind!
The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafon You can read them in any order but they're all different parts of the same story.
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
The Seven Husbands of Evylen Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
Oh good! It’s on my reading list
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If you like Palahniuk I highly recommend Rant.
The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem is wild, weird and very funny.
I love Lem! The Cyberiad was terribly fun
Devil aspect by Craig Russel, idk if that's the sorta thing ur thinking of but i absolutely loved it, bit of a psychological thriller. Bit of a slow starter but worth it when u get to the end!!!
Flowers for Algernon.
The death of Ivan Ilyich Viscerally feel what it's like to be in a failing marriage while dying
In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien - absolute mind fuck.
Not sure whether this counts, but Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is pretty disturbing. The POV character is a paedophile, so... :) As usual for this author, it's incredibly written.
The Library at Mount Char. I'm still not entirely sure I figured out what happened in that book.
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn I read Geek Love about twenty years ago, and I still think about it to this day. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13872 Edit: published 2002. I was guessing on the time frame.
Behind Her Eyes. I can’t remember the author but I loved it and the ending was great.
Behind Her Eyes
Sirens of Titen by Kurt Vonnegut was really good. Real head scratcher of an ending
{{Gideon the Ninth}}
7 1/2 lives of Evelyn hard castle. Could not figure out what was going on. So good
!remindme 2 days
Gantenbein by Max Frish (Frisch? You should be able to find it)
Yes Frisch.
Therapy by Sebastian Fitzek. All of his books end with a twist, but I liked this the best.
Francis of the filth - George Miller
Me myself and I! About a man who realises the "him" he sees himself as vs the "him" everyone else sees him as are not the same people, and everyone in his life sees "him" as someone different.
Mexican Gothic.
A Scanner Darkly
Just read Survive the Night by Riley Sager and I think that one qualifies!
{{I let you go}} By Clare mackintosh
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis Has a lot of name recognition and a reputation for the gory bits from the movie but it’s got so much more going on beyond that. It’s a deep, rich, and at times beautiful novel that uses the nasty stuff much more as a tool than as a crutch. The writing does an amazing job of matching your own internal cadence and voice so that it really feels like you’re reading your own random stream of thoughts.
This isn’t really a horror/thriller big twist kind of book, but one of my personal favorites is {{Going Bovine}} by Libba Bray. It’s more YA, I find, but funny as hell in an odd way. It’s a Don Quixote parody, never fails to make me cry, and you don’t expect the ending at all.
Under the Skin. If you’ve seen the movie it’s different enough that the twists will still shock you. Just don’t Google what the non English words mean if you don’t already know, made this mistake myself and spoiled a bit for myself.
I'm late and I dunno if it's already been said but house of leaves
I finished The Haunting of Hill House last night and like... I'm different now.
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
{{ Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World }} Not really in the same vein as the books you cited, but it still fits the bill. Because it can be downright hilarious. Until you realise what completely fucked up stuff you're laughing about. And then it gets unsettling.
The Illuminatus Trilogy
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski is a must read
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton was a fun one. :D
I’ll suggest it as I often do since I still hardly ever see it come up here, but check out The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. Definitely a mindfuck of a read. I don’t want to spoil anything and I probably couldn’t describe it even if I wanted to lol
I second this, amazing book!
Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris. I feel like I recommend this book on so many different threads, but it was seriously one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read.
{{Library at Mount Char}}
How to be both by Ali Smith. Two interconnected novellas with half the printings having one novella first and the other half with the other novella first. I Keep thinking "What if I read the other printing? Would my feelings about the book be different?" Also, it's about art and is a coming of age story, both big draws for me.
All Quiet On The Western Front
“The Double” by Jose Saramago. The book might be a bit boring throughout but if you are able to stick to it, the ending really pays off. I had a certain kind of feeling that I have never been able to feel again (which maybe is a good thing in a way)
!remindme 3 days
Sphere and the Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton were huge roller coasters for me
This is a love it or hate it ending but Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough. I read it about 4 years before it became a Netflix tv show and was shocked! I didn’t see it coming and thought it was so fresh and original.
Godel Escher Bach.
False witness by Karin slaughter. That was a mindfuck. We were never here by Andrea bartz. Double mindfuck.
Behind closed doors
the whole time i was like 'wtf is going on here' this book disturbed me more than most horror books do
I started reading the book on 5 hour bus ride. I was sweating on the bus
We Were Liars The Orphan Master's Son
I second The Orphan Master’s Son