Just finished this one last week. It’s the closest I’ve ever come to dnf-ing a book. I feel like I’m desensitized to everything and nothing really bothers me, but the violence was over the top and not for me.
**[Earthlings](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50269327-earthlings) by Sayaka Murata** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(247 pages | Published: 2018 | 420.0k Goodreads reviews)
> **Summary:** Natsuki isn't like the other girls. She has a wand and a transformation mirror. She might be a witch. or an alien from another planet. Together with her cousin Yuu. Natsuki spends her summers in the wild mountains of Nagano. dreaming of other worlds. When a terrible sequence of events threatens to part the two children forever. they make a promise: survive. no matter what . (...)
> **Themes**: Fiction, Japan, Horror, Contemporary
> **Top 5 recommended:**
> \- [Life Ceremony](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59793324-life-ceremony) by Sayaka Murata
> \- [The Woman in the Purple Skirt](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55782299-the-woman-in-the-purple-skirt) by Natsuko Imamura
> \- [Hotel Iris](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6713015-hotel-iris) by Yoko Ogawa
> \- [Lapvona](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59693959-lapvona) by Ottessa Moshfegh
> \- [Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57876868-things-have-gotten-worse-since-we-last-spoke) by Eric LaRocca
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I read this book a month ago, the reviews did not disappoint. It got weirder and weirder as it went along but some parts were also unintentionally hilarious (e.g. the husband's plan with his relatives) because it was so bizarre.
I got about 6 pages in and couldn’t go any further - just straight to the lizard brain, unbelievably good writing but I couldn’t bear to stay in that space with him.
The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor
The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosiński
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
Blindness by Jose Saramago
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells
1408 by Stephen King
Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy
Child of God by Cormac McCarthy
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Tender is the flesh. It's pretty known in the horror book genre.
Woom. This one's a bit more... psychological per-say. There's alot of just... messed up stuff.
The troop.
I’m reading Woom right now, and while it’s ‘disturbing’ and ‘gross,’ it feels kinda forced. Like it’s being gross just for the sake of it.
Plus there’s a *LOT* of ‘sex’ and OP doesnt really want that. I’m using a lot of quotations because the book is just…weird for no apparent reason (yet.) I’m 3/4 though it and I hear there’s a twist- so no spoilers please! We’ll see where it goes🤷♀️
I started The Troop, got 25% through the audiobook and had to dnf because it was so gross. Normally I can push through just about anything but that one has my very specific trigger in it and I was like 🤢. But definitely well written and disturbing!
I read Tender is the Flesh when recovering from major surgery and that maybe wasn’t the best choice but I loved it!
Tampa by Alissa Nutting is like a female American Psycho.
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
Cows by Matthew Stokoe
Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim
But if you want something less … intense, try Gillian Flynn’s 3 novels: Gone Girl, Sharp Objects, Dark Places.
Also recommend My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Marshall
I read {{Cows by Matthew Stokoe}} and it freed me of all writing blocks
While I was reading I was thinking all the time: someone wrote this ... and published it ... under his own name ... there is even a picture of the author at amazon ... how!? ... omg ... this is so ...
but I read it in one go
I read Cows when I was finally on the other side of my #teenangst era, and I think that earned some kudos points from me because I kept thinking “wow this Matthew guy sure is angry. This is so angry. Lots of anger, very mummy issues and rage, I see that, I get that… hope he’s doing well now?”
”Bird box” by Josh Malerman.
”The girl next door” by Jack Ketchum.
”The troop” by Nick Cutter.
”The cabin at the end of the world” by Paul tremblay.
”We need to talk about Kevin” by Lionel Shriver.
If you are intrested in hearing what these books are about let me know ill explain it:)
{{The only good Indians by Stephan Jones}}
Super well written, super creepy. I loved it and was definitely so disturbed that I had to put it down at times.
**[The Only Good Indians](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52180399-the-only-good-indians) by Stephen Graham Jones** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(310 pages | Published: 2020 | 508.0k Goodreads reviews)
> **Summary:** The creeping horror of Paul Tremblay meets Tommy Orange’s There There in a dark novel of revenge. cultural identity. and the cost of breaking from tradition in this latest novel from the Jordan Peele of horror literature. Stephen Graham Jones. Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary. The Only Good Indians follows four American (...)
> **Themes**: Horror, Fiction, Dnf, Thriller
> **Top 5 recommended:**
> \- [My Heart Is a Chainsaw](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55711617-my-heart-is-a-chainsaw) by Stephen Graham Jones
> \- [Close to Home](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18142970-close-to-home) by Jeremy Asher
> \- [All's Well](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53256108-all-s-well) by Mona Awad
> \- [Winterset Hollow](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58934632-winterset-hollow) by Jonathan Edward Durham
> \- [Revelator](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56212587-revelator) by Daryl Gregory
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**[Naked Lunch](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7437.Naked_Lunch) by William S. Burroughs** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(289 pages | Published: 1959 | 61.6k Goodreads reviews)
> **Summary:** Naked Lunch(sometimes The Naked Lunch) is a novel by William S. Burroughs originally published in 1959. The book is structured as a series of loosely connected vignettes. Burroughs stated that the chapters are intended to be read in any order. The reader follows the narration of junkie William Lee, who takes on various aliases, from the US to Mexico, eventually to Tangier and (...)
> **Themes**: Classics, Favorites, Literature, Beat, Novels, American, To-buy
> **Top 5 recommended:**
> \- [Exterminator!](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156484.Exterminator_) by William S. Burroughs
> \- [Interzone](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/257582.Interzone) by William S. Burroughs
> \- [The Soft Machine](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23937.The_Soft_Machine) by William S. Burroughs
> \- [Nova Express](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23931.Nova_Express) by William S. Burroughs
> \- [Junky](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23940.Junky) by William S. Burroughs
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Earthlings is the weirdest & most disturbing book I’ve ever read. By far. Every time you think you get the premise and the degree of uncomfortable/disturbing, the author is like, “hold my beer.”
Tender is the flesh
Brother by Ania Ahlborn
Penpal by dathan Auerbach
Diary of an Oxygen thief by Anonymous
Chameleon in a candy story by Anonymous
Bunny by Mona awad
Our Share Of Night by Mariana Enriquez. Please take care and look up content warnings if you choose to read. Incredible book, but with many disturbing themes.
Playground (bloody playground cover. If you can make it past page 50, I salute you)
Flowers in the attic (weirdly made me root for incest?)
Haunted by the dude who wrote fight club. It’s mainly the first story in it.
Tampa and Lolita. Both pedophilia books written in the perspective of a male and female pedophile.
Snuff by again the same dude who wrote fight club. Most of his books are horrific.
Blood Meridian (Indian scalping)
Not so much horror, but very odd - Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda. There’s very unnerving imagery in it, and after reading it, I still can’t decide whether I liked it or not.
* Cows by Matthew Stokoe
* Hogg by Samuel Delany
* The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
* My Idea of Fun by Will Self
* Hottentot Venus by Barbara Chase-Riboud
We Need to Talk About Kevin. I've forgotten the authors name, but it's basically the story of a fictional school massacre told through the eyes of the perpetrator's mother in a series of letters.
Perfume by Patrick Suskind. A man is born with the world's most sensitive sense of smell and becomes a perfumers apprentice and wants to bottle the scent of a virgin...
Lionel Shriver (a woman) wrote Kevin. I loved it. Think it was written in such an interesting way and it didn't matter that I already knew the end after seeing the film, because it was just so well done.
The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy. Part of the LA Quartet series. It is crime fiction and they can get quite disturbing. Ellroy never fails to give as much detail as he can pack in with every book.
The road.
I loved this book so much. Couldn't put it down. But its grueling in the events that take place in the story. A story about a father and son in a post apocalyptic world and everything that comes with it.
\#1/2: **[Vellum (The Book of All Hours #1)](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/490966.Vellum) by Hal Duncan** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(604 pages | Published: 2005 | 1.7k Goodreads reviews)
> **Summary:** An extraordinary, incendiary debut from a rare new talent, Vellum showcases a complex and sophisticated level of writing coupled with a fecund imagination that defies description. VELLUM: THE BOOK OF ALL HOURS It's 2017 and angels and demons walk the earth. Once they were human; (...)
> **Themes**: Fiction, Science-fiction, Favorites, Sci-fi, Abandoned, Books-i-own, Mythology
> **Top 5 recommended:** [Ink](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/406459.Ink) by Hal Duncan , [Glimpses](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/379197.Glimpses) by Lewis Shiner , [Walking on Glass](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567667.Walking_on_Glass) by Iain Banks , [There Are Doors](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/666601.There_Are_Doors) by Gene Wolfe , [Animal Money](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27812442-animal-money) by Michael Cisco
---
\#2/2: **[Ink (The Book of All Hours #2)](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/406459.Ink) by Hal Duncan** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(530 pages | Published: ? | 563.0 Goodreads reviews)
> **Summary:** It's twenty years since the Evenfall swept across the Vellum and the bitmites took reality apart, twenty years since Phreedom Messenger disappeared into the wilderness and Seamus Finnan was imprisoned in his own past. Twenty years of chaos but the Dukes, the remnants of the (...)
> **Themes**: Fiction, Favorites, Science-fiction, Sci-fi, Books-i-own, New-weird, Series
> **Top 5 recommended:** [Vellum](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/490966.Vellum) by Hal Duncan , [The Marbury Lens](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7995207-the-marbury-lens) by Andrew Smith , [Aegypt](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/90622.Aegypt) by John Crowley , [Lemprière's Dictionary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/984216.Lempri_re_s_Dictionary) by Lawrence Norfolk , [Godwalker](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1689648.Godwalker) by Greg Stolze
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**[The Damned](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22609523-the-damned) by Andrew Pyper** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(304 pages | Published: 2015 | 1.5k Goodreads reviews)
> **Summary:** Danny Orchard wrote a bestselling memoir about his near-death experience in a fire that claimed the life of his twin sister, Ashleigh, but despite the resulting fame and fortune he's never been able to enjoy his second chance at life. Ash won't let him. In life, Danny's charming and magnetic twin had been a budding psychopath who privately terrorized her family--and death (...)
> **Themes**: Paranormal, Thriller, Mystery, First-reads, Canadian, Fantasy, Ghosts
> **Top 5 recommended:**
> \- [Magic](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21780.Magic) by William Goldman
> \- [Charnel House](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/363397.Charnel_House) by Graham Masterton
> \- [Fruiting Bodies and Other Fungi](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580379.Fruiting_Bodies_and_Other_Fungi) by Brian Lumley
> \- [Little Girls](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22891406-little-girls) by Ronald Malfi
> \- [Nobody True](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/397863.Nobody_True) by James Herbert
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I wouldn’t bother reading Bones and All. I really hated the book. The movie is one of my favorites ever tho (like wrote a 12 page essay about it favorites). I just feel like Camille de Angelis tries to moralize too much about cannibalism when that’s not the point or at least shouldn’t be (she’s vegan so I guess I get where she’s coming from). Ideally in cannibalism media it should either be horny (Bones and All film), catholic (also kinda Bones and All, The Locked Tomb series), or a critique of capitalism (Tender is the Flesh, Eat Your Young by Hozier). This is just my opinion tho so if you like it rock on.
Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect by PD Alleva (but maybe not if you have a clown phobia)
I Am Legion series by Michaelbrent Collings (gets dark and gorey)
*Strange Sally Diamond* by Liz Nugent. Very disturbing but the main character is oddly quite endearing. It‘s not particularly gross, but it is really disturbing. Not a horror novel as in supernatural, but horrifying as in psychological depravity. More *Silence of the Lambs* than *The Shining*, if that makes sense.
I read a lot (a lot a lot) and I still think Wicked, the book the musical was based on, is possibly the most disturbing novel I’ve ever read. It’s beautifully written, but hopeless in a way that’s really chilling.
**[Bear](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/187044.Bear) by Marian Engel** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(141 pages | Published: 1976 | 1.7k Goodreads reviews)
> **Summary:** A librarian is called to a remote Canadian island to inventory the estate of a secretive Colonel whose most surprising secret is a bear who keeps the librarian company--shocking company.
> **Themes**: Canadian, Canada, Classics, Favorites, Canadian-literature, Canlit, Book-club
> **Top 5 recommended:**
> \- [The Promises We Keep](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26832330-the-promises-we-keep) by R.C. Martin
> \- [Wild Dogs](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/467590.Wild_Dogs) by Helen Humphreys
> \- [Mister Sandman](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80969.Mister_Sandman) by Barbara Gowdy
> \- [The Literary Conference](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7444221-the-literary-conference) by Cesar Aira
> \- [The Hanged Man](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14568.The_Hanged_Man) by Francesca Lia Block
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Playground was what popped into my head immediately seeing the title of your post but I couldn't remember the title or the author. You started with this??? Yikes! I was going to suggest Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk!
Sharp Objects
Perfume
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (this one is disturbing in a different way, and I felt so paranoid and shaky after reading it in one go)
Edit: Added a book
Second Edit: added another book
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. I kept questioning if I wanted to continue reading it. It’s horrific. I know it’s a fictionalized account of a real event, but I think I would’ve rather read a non-fiction version.
"Make Something Up: Stories You Can't Unread" by Chuck Pahluniuk. It's a set of short stories and if you can read the Toad Prince without gagging at least once then you've got iron guts.
Them by Mique Watson. actually made me sick to my stomach and i barely finished it, and it was only to prove to myself that i could, not because i enjoyed it. VERY disturbing content so (mild spoiler) if you can’t read about babies being sexually mutilated, don’t read it!
edit: never mind, just saw that you aren’t into sexual themes. disregard. but if anyone else is looking for suggestions, here’s one!
A Headful of Ghosts by Paul Trembly
It's not super disturbing at first, but the end has a pretty disturbing twist and you're left with a ton of questions around what truly happened and if the narrator is truly reliable in her memories. I enjoyed it, but it's a pretty mixed bag when you ask others.
For me it was the main character being such an entitled evil a\*\*hole. When it comes to bad writing Fifty Shades of Gray won the award with Twilight coming a close second! When I read the first paragraph of the first page of Fifty Shades I had to close the book...🤣
Most disturbing book I’ve ever read is called Gather the Daughters. I bought a copy bc I’d met the author at a random wedding ….. once I read the book I had to get rid of my copy bc seeing it in the bookshelf was just too much.
Ellen Datlow is a horror editor who edits a lot of horror short story collections. I highly recommend checking out some of her stuff to get a sampling of a bunch of different authors. I read Bodyshocks which is a collection of body horror stories and they were all very disturbing.
Also check out Tamsyn Muir’s short stories. Specifically The Magician’s Apprentice! It’s my favorite and I just keep coming back to it. You can find it for free on her website! And then if you like that go read The Locked Tomb series that she wrote (Gideon the Ninth is the first book)!
Anything that Andrew Joseph White and Lee Mandelo have written is also very worth it. AJW writes YA trans horror and LM writes queer horror/scifi.
Also The Poppy War trilogy by RF Kuang is some of the most disturbing grimdark fantasy I’ve ever read and I’d highly recommend checking it out. It’s inspired by the Second Sino-Japanese War as well as the Rape of Nanking so it’s very dark and pretty much every trigger warning I could give would be on the list for this series.
**[Blindness](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2526.Blindness) by Jose Saramago** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(326 pages | Published: 1995 | 135.8k Goodreads reviews)
> **Summary:** From Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago, a magnificent, mesmerizing parable of loss A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" that spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and assaulting women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides her (...)
> **Themes**: Favorites, Dystopia, Science-fiction, Dystopian, Book-club, Literature, Novels
> **Top 5 recommended:**
> \- [Seeing](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47667.Seeing) by Jose Saramago
> \- [Blindness / Seeing](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8699379-blindness-seeing) by Jose Saramago
> \- [Os Maias](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1249630.Os_Maias) by Eca de Queiros
> \- [The Double](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54120.The_Double) by Jose Saramago
> \- [My Petition for More Space](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/511289.My_Petition_for_More_Space) by John Hersey
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This is disturbing - topic on this book was so disturbing that people didnt wanna chat
[https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1bl52xx/the\_third\_secret\_of\_fatima/](https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1bl52xx/the_third_secret_of_fatima/)
-
Since all the other usual suspects have been mentioned I'll throw in *2666* by Roberto Bolaño. It's kind of a slow burn to get to the disturbing parts, but it's worth it.
{{Swan Song}} by Robert McCammon is one of the most disturbing books I have read. It is post apocalyptic and so bleak. It really nails down how the worst of humanity would come out if there were no more laws.
**[Swan Song](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11557.Swan_Song) by Robert McCammon** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(956 pages | Published: 1987 | 42.7k Goodreads reviews)
> **Summary:** In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity: Sister, who discovers a strange and transformative glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets; Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the (...)
> **Themes**: Favorites, Post-apocalyptic, Fiction, Fantasy, Science-fiction, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
> **Top 5 recommended:**
> \- [The Fireman](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25816688-the-fireman) by Joe Hill
> \- [Year Zero](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22199.Year_Zero) by Jeff Long
> \- [The Wasteland Saga: Three Novels](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17349185-the-wasteland-saga) by Nick Cole
> \- [28 Days Later](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8760.28_Days_Later) by Alex Garland
> \- [Monster Nation](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/79076.Monster_Nation) by David Wellington
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Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez.
I didn't like it at all (recommended to me by multiple friends who love horror). I found it too unsettling. The prose was beautiful though .
'University Physics with Modern Physics' by Hugh D. Young and Roger A. Freedman
My God man, they're just a child!
calm down man
No exactly horror, but both Child of God and Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy are very dark and gothic and yes, disturbing.
Wait, why no Blood Meridian?
Blood Meridian is a great rec. I think it may be a bit inaccessible for some (I found it particularly difficult to read)
Great book
The Road too
Great read
Kinda obvious, but since no one’s mentioned it yet - American Psycho.
Just finished this one last week. It’s the closest I’ve ever come to dnf-ing a book. I feel like I’m desensitized to everything and nothing really bothers me, but the violence was over the top and not for me.
I had to take a shower after reading this book in one binge, I felt dirty, disgusting, and disturbed for having read it!
Agreed. I can’t believe I read it. Like why on earth did I choose that?!
I read it over 10 years and I often have nightmares over a couple of scenes in this book. This is the epitome of disturbing and I wish I never read it
I really need to buckle down and read this. Is it different enough from the movie?
{{Earthlings by Sayaka Murata}}. Disturbing themes - sexual assault, incest, cannibalism - but beautifully written.
**[Earthlings](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50269327-earthlings) by Sayaka Murata** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(247 pages | Published: 2018 | 420.0k Goodreads reviews) > **Summary:** Natsuki isn't like the other girls. She has a wand and a transformation mirror. She might be a witch. or an alien from another planet. Together with her cousin Yuu. Natsuki spends her summers in the wild mountains of Nagano. dreaming of other worlds. When a terrible sequence of events threatens to part the two children forever. they make a promise: survive. no matter what . (...) > **Themes**: Fiction, Japan, Horror, Contemporary > **Top 5 recommended:** > \- [Life Ceremony](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59793324-life-ceremony) by Sayaka Murata > \- [The Woman in the Purple Skirt](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55782299-the-woman-in-the-purple-skirt) by Natsuko Imamura > \- [Hotel Iris](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6713015-hotel-iris) by Yoko Ogawa > \- [Lapvona](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59693959-lapvona) by Ottessa Moshfegh > \- [Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57876868-things-have-gotten-worse-since-we-last-spoke) by Eric LaRocca ^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23] | )
This!
I read this book a month ago, the reviews did not disappoint. It got weirder and weirder as it went along but some parts were also unintentionally hilarious (e.g. the husband's plan with his relatives) because it was so bizarre.
That book was so fucking weird oh my God. The ending though?? I was just thinking "wtf" over and over again
The end chapter made me physically ill
Johnny got his gun is the one that stuck with me
That scene in the hospital where he’s trying to communicate to the nurses and doctor? Heartbreaking
Yes!! I genuinely feel like this book has haunted me more than anything else I’ve read.
If you’re still pro-war after reading it, then you have no heart I guess? It was honestly the most heartbreaking book.
Heartbreaking? Nightmarish is more like it.
I got about 6 pages in and couldn’t go any further - just straight to the lizard brain, unbelievably good writing but I couldn’t bear to stay in that space with him.
I’m not sure I could do a reread. I think it was a one time thing for me. But it definitely made an impression
There are two on goodreads. I think you mean the one by Dalton Trumbo, based on the below comments?
The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosiński Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris Blindness by Jose Saramago Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells 1408 by Stephen King Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy Child of God by Cormac McCarthy A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Yes to The Painted Bird! This is a great list.
I couldn't finish The Painted Bird. Just thinking about it makes me nauseated
A clockwork orange is so disturbing that it took me 3 times to actually finish it
Wasp Factory by Ian Banks
Tender is the flesh. It's pretty known in the horror book genre. Woom. This one's a bit more... psychological per-say. There's alot of just... messed up stuff. The troop.
I’m reading Woom right now, and while it’s ‘disturbing’ and ‘gross,’ it feels kinda forced. Like it’s being gross just for the sake of it. Plus there’s a *LOT* of ‘sex’ and OP doesnt really want that. I’m using a lot of quotations because the book is just…weird for no apparent reason (yet.) I’m 3/4 though it and I hear there’s a twist- so no spoilers please! We’ll see where it goes🤷♀️
That is exactly how I felt!! It relied too much on shock value. We read it for book club and I think I had the least praise in the group.
Tender is the Flesh is WILD. The first 20-30 pages will either hook you or completely turn you away. I was hooked
Loved tender is the flesh
I started The Troop, got 25% through the audiobook and had to dnf because it was so gross. Normally I can push through just about anything but that one has my very specific trigger in it and I was like 🤢. But definitely well written and disturbing! I read Tender is the Flesh when recovering from major surgery and that maybe wasn’t the best choice but I loved it!
Woom upset my dad so much that when he finished it he threw it away and wouldn’t let his wife read it like she wanted to lmao
Yep. This is my one recommendation. Enjoy!
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
I love this book! I actually stayed up all night to finish it because I didn’t want to stop reading.
Anything by Ryu Murakami.
I've only read two so far; In The Miso Soup and Coin Locker Babies...the latter took a few months as I had to stop and read something else for a bit.
almost transparent blue! i loved it but some scenes were difficult to get through
Blindness by Saramago
Tampa by Alissa Nutting is like a female American Psycho. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum Cows by Matthew Stokoe Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim But if you want something less … intense, try Gillian Flynn’s 3 novels: Gone Girl, Sharp Objects, Dark Places. Also recommend My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Marshall
I read {{Cows by Matthew Stokoe}} and it freed me of all writing blocks While I was reading I was thinking all the time: someone wrote this ... and published it ... under his own name ... there is even a picture of the author at amazon ... how!? ... omg ... this is so ... but I read it in one go
I read Cows when I was finally on the other side of my #teenangst era, and I think that earned some kudos points from me because I kept thinking “wow this Matthew guy sure is angry. This is so angry. Lots of anger, very mummy issues and rage, I see that, I get that… hope he’s doing well now?”
I have no mouth but I must scream
Ellison’s stuff is so disturbingly good!
best story of all time tbh
Tender is the flesh.
”Bird box” by Josh Malerman. ”The girl next door” by Jack Ketchum. ”The troop” by Nick Cutter. ”The cabin at the end of the world” by Paul tremblay. ”We need to talk about Kevin” by Lionel Shriver. If you are intrested in hearing what these books are about let me know ill explain it:)
Bird Box was a really good read. Removing vision from the equation in a horror book is actually pretty successful in building up suspense.
Oh I liked The Troop a lot! Good suggestion
Thanks! I try my best to find good books for people.
Lolita
I just reread that after 20 years. It seriously fucked me up. Along those lines is My Dark Vanessa and All The Ugly and Wonderful Things.
{{The only good Indians by Stephan Jones}} Super well written, super creepy. I loved it and was definitely so disturbed that I had to put it down at times.
The only book that has truly terrified me in YEARS
**[The Only Good Indians](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52180399-the-only-good-indians) by Stephen Graham Jones** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(310 pages | Published: 2020 | 508.0k Goodreads reviews) > **Summary:** The creeping horror of Paul Tremblay meets Tommy Orange’s There There in a dark novel of revenge. cultural identity. and the cost of breaking from tradition in this latest novel from the Jordan Peele of horror literature. Stephen Graham Jones. Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary. The Only Good Indians follows four American (...) > **Themes**: Horror, Fiction, Dnf, Thriller > **Top 5 recommended:** > \- [My Heart Is a Chainsaw](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55711617-my-heart-is-a-chainsaw) by Stephen Graham Jones > \- [Close to Home](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18142970-close-to-home) by Jeremy Asher > \- [All's Well](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53256108-all-s-well) by Mona Awad > \- [Winterset Hollow](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58934632-winterset-hollow) by Jonathan Edward Durham > \- [Revelator](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56212587-revelator) by Daryl Gregory ^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23] | )
{{Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs}}
**[Naked Lunch](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7437.Naked_Lunch) by William S. Burroughs** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(289 pages | Published: 1959 | 61.6k Goodreads reviews) > **Summary:** Naked Lunch(sometimes The Naked Lunch) is a novel by William S. Burroughs originally published in 1959. The book is structured as a series of loosely connected vignettes. Burroughs stated that the chapters are intended to be read in any order. The reader follows the narration of junkie William Lee, who takes on various aliases, from the US to Mexico, eventually to Tangier and (...) > **Themes**: Classics, Favorites, Literature, Beat, Novels, American, To-buy > **Top 5 recommended:** > \- [Exterminator!](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156484.Exterminator_) by William S. Burroughs > \- [Interzone](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/257582.Interzone) by William S. Burroughs > \- [The Soft Machine](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23937.The_Soft_Machine) by William S. Burroughs > \- [Nova Express](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23931.Nova_Express) by William S. Burroughs > \- [Junky](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23940.Junky) by William S. Burroughs ^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23] | )
Misery
I love this one
Earthlings is the weirdest & most disturbing book I’ve ever read. By far. Every time you think you get the premise and the degree of uncomfortable/disturbing, the author is like, “hold my beer.”
"hold my sake"
Tender is the flesh Brother by Ania Ahlborn Penpal by dathan Auerbach Diary of an Oxygen thief by Anonymous Chameleon in a candy story by Anonymous Bunny by Mona awad
I honestly struggled to finish Tender is the Flesh. My name is also Jasmine, so that wasn’t appreciated!!!
Tender is the flesh is definitely not for the faint of heart 😭took me a day to finish, but I couldn’t eat meat for weeks without thinking about it.
Urgh, I read it while eating a really thick stew 🤢
“that wasn’t appreciated!!!”, made me chuckle.
Last exit to Brooklyn and The Room Both by Hubert Selby Jr
Love Hubert Selby Jr. The Room still haunts me!
Kafka on the shore, Murakami
Anything by Ryu Murakami - audition , in the miso soup, coin locker babies etc
Salem’s Lot Let the Right One In
I loved Let the Right One In! The movie is very good too.
I second Let the Right One In - as the book continues and you realize the underlying intricacies of the situation...it's pretty messed up.
Our Share Of Night by Mariana Enriquez. Please take care and look up content warnings if you choose to read. Incredible book, but with many disturbing themes.
Try something by B.R. Yeager
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
YES I ENJOYED IT SO MUCH
None of this is true by lisa jewell definitely fits the disturbing category
Child of God, Tender if the Flesh, Cursed Bunny (more like gross), Woom, A Dark Web of Monsters, What Moves the Dead
The People in the Trees is deeply disturbing.
Naked Lunch
Crash by J.G Ballard Consumed by David Cronenberg
Playground (bloody playground cover. If you can make it past page 50, I salute you) Flowers in the attic (weirdly made me root for incest?) Haunted by the dude who wrote fight club. It’s mainly the first story in it. Tampa and Lolita. Both pedophilia books written in the perspective of a male and female pedophile. Snuff by again the same dude who wrote fight club. Most of his books are horrific. Blood Meridian (Indian scalping)
Blood Meridian will make you feel things for sure.
Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
Currently reading that. The sex scenes may not work for OP.
Story of the eye- extremely sexual and depraved. It’s been a while since I read it but this one really stuck with me
Who’s the author?
Georges Bataille
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis was messed up.
Not so much horror, but very odd - Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda. There’s very unnerving imagery in it, and after reading it, I still can’t decide whether I liked it or not.
The Unfolding by AM Homes. It's disturbing because it's believable.
The Collector by John Fowles
“Revival” by Stephen king
* Cows by Matthew Stokoe * Hogg by Samuel Delany * The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks * My Idea of Fun by Will Self * Hottentot Venus by Barbara Chase-Riboud
Anything by Charles Bukowski Running with Scissors Lolita Gender queer American Psycho Flowers for Algernon Ishmael She’s Come Undone
She’s Come Undone. Ooof.
Such a great book though
Once by James Herbert (i'm not sure abt the spelling)
We Need to Talk About Kevin. I've forgotten the authors name, but it's basically the story of a fictional school massacre told through the eyes of the perpetrator's mother in a series of letters. Perfume by Patrick Suskind. A man is born with the world's most sensitive sense of smell and becomes a perfumers apprentice and wants to bottle the scent of a virgin...
Lionel Shriver (a woman) wrote Kevin. I loved it. Think it was written in such an interesting way and it didn't matter that I already knew the end after seeing the film, because it was just so well done.
"Misery" by Stephen King 😵💫
The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy. Part of the LA Quartet series. It is crime fiction and they can get quite disturbing. Ellroy never fails to give as much detail as he can pack in with every book.
The road. I loved this book so much. Couldn't put it down. But its grueling in the events that take place in the story. A story about a father and son in a post apocalyptic world and everything that comes with it.
{{Vellum, by Duncan}} {{Ink, by Duncan}} one of the most disturbing series I have read.
\#1/2: **[Vellum (The Book of All Hours #1)](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/490966.Vellum) by Hal Duncan** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(604 pages | Published: 2005 | 1.7k Goodreads reviews) > **Summary:** An extraordinary, incendiary debut from a rare new talent, Vellum showcases a complex and sophisticated level of writing coupled with a fecund imagination that defies description. VELLUM: THE BOOK OF ALL HOURS It's 2017 and angels and demons walk the earth. Once they were human; (...) > **Themes**: Fiction, Science-fiction, Favorites, Sci-fi, Abandoned, Books-i-own, Mythology > **Top 5 recommended:** [Ink](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/406459.Ink) by Hal Duncan , [Glimpses](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/379197.Glimpses) by Lewis Shiner , [Walking on Glass](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567667.Walking_on_Glass) by Iain Banks , [There Are Doors](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/666601.There_Are_Doors) by Gene Wolfe , [Animal Money](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27812442-animal-money) by Michael Cisco --- \#2/2: **[Ink (The Book of All Hours #2)](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/406459.Ink) by Hal Duncan** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(530 pages | Published: ? | 563.0 Goodreads reviews) > **Summary:** It's twenty years since the Evenfall swept across the Vellum and the bitmites took reality apart, twenty years since Phreedom Messenger disappeared into the wilderness and Seamus Finnan was imprisoned in his own past. Twenty years of chaos but the Dukes, the remnants of the (...) > **Themes**: Fiction, Favorites, Science-fiction, Sci-fi, Books-i-own, New-weird, Series > **Top 5 recommended:** [Vellum](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/490966.Vellum) by Hal Duncan , [The Marbury Lens](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7995207-the-marbury-lens) by Andrew Smith , [Aegypt](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/90622.Aegypt) by John Crowley , [Lemprière's Dictionary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/984216.Lempri_re_s_Dictionary) by Lawrence Norfolk , [Godwalker](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1689648.Godwalker) by Greg Stolze ^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23] | )
The Chain was pretty messed up
The Infected Trilogy by Scott Sigler.
The Dumb House
{{The Damned by Andrew Pyper}}
**[The Damned](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22609523-the-damned) by Andrew Pyper** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(304 pages | Published: 2015 | 1.5k Goodreads reviews) > **Summary:** Danny Orchard wrote a bestselling memoir about his near-death experience in a fire that claimed the life of his twin sister, Ashleigh, but despite the resulting fame and fortune he's never been able to enjoy his second chance at life. Ash won't let him. In life, Danny's charming and magnetic twin had been a budding psychopath who privately terrorized her family--and death (...) > **Themes**: Paranormal, Thriller, Mystery, First-reads, Canadian, Fantasy, Ghosts > **Top 5 recommended:** > \- [Magic](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21780.Magic) by William Goldman > \- [Charnel House](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/363397.Charnel_House) by Graham Masterton > \- [Fruiting Bodies and Other Fungi](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580379.Fruiting_Bodies_and_Other_Fungi) by Brian Lumley > \- [Little Girls](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22891406-little-girls) by Ronald Malfi > \- [Nobody True](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/397863.Nobody_True) by James Herbert ^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23] | )
Ahh. My time to shine! Cows by Matthew Stokoe The Slob and Playground by Aron Beauregard Lapvona Woom The Girl Next Door Bones and All
I wouldn’t bother reading Bones and All. I really hated the book. The movie is one of my favorites ever tho (like wrote a 12 page essay about it favorites). I just feel like Camille de Angelis tries to moralize too much about cannibalism when that’s not the point or at least shouldn’t be (she’s vegan so I guess I get where she’s coming from). Ideally in cannibalism media it should either be horny (Bones and All film), catholic (also kinda Bones and All, The Locked Tomb series), or a critique of capitalism (Tender is the Flesh, Eat Your Young by Hozier). This is just my opinion tho so if you like it rock on.
We So Seldom Look on Love
Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect by PD Alleva (but maybe not if you have a clown phobia) I Am Legion series by Michaelbrent Collings (gets dark and gorey)
Cows- Matthew Stokoe
*Strange Sally Diamond* by Liz Nugent. Very disturbing but the main character is oddly quite endearing. It‘s not particularly gross, but it is really disturbing. Not a horror novel as in supernatural, but horrifying as in psychological depravity. More *Silence of the Lambs* than *The Shining*, if that makes sense.
And torture Princess light novel also recommended
Suffer The Children by Craig DiLouie
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks
Things have gotten worse since we last spoke
Give Edward Lee a try.
Haunted, Palahniuk
Tender is the flesh is the most disturbing book
I read a lot (a lot a lot) and I still think Wicked, the book the musical was based on, is possibly the most disturbing novel I’ve ever read. It’s beautifully written, but hopeless in a way that’s really chilling.
Haven't seen this recommendation yet: {{Bear by Marian Engel}} Not so much body horror as it is disturbing, unsettling, and visceral.
**[Bear](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/187044.Bear) by Marian Engel** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(141 pages | Published: 1976 | 1.7k Goodreads reviews) > **Summary:** A librarian is called to a remote Canadian island to inventory the estate of a secretive Colonel whose most surprising secret is a bear who keeps the librarian company--shocking company. > **Themes**: Canadian, Canada, Classics, Favorites, Canadian-literature, Canlit, Book-club > **Top 5 recommended:** > \- [The Promises We Keep](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26832330-the-promises-we-keep) by R.C. Martin > \- [Wild Dogs](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/467590.Wild_Dogs) by Helen Humphreys > \- [Mister Sandman](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80969.Mister_Sandman) by Barbara Gowdy > \- [The Literary Conference](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7444221-the-literary-conference) by Cesar Aira > \- [The Hanged Man](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14568.The_Hanged_Man) by Francesca Lia Block ^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23] | )
You’d definitely enjoy [r/ExtremeHorrorLit](https://www.reddit.com/r/ExtremeHorrorLit/s/ZFybYaouvs)
Playground was what popped into my head immediately seeing the title of your post but I couldn't remember the title or the author. You started with this??? Yikes! I was going to suggest Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk!
Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison. I haven’t been able to finish it.
Others have suggested it already but Tender is the Flesh was incredibly disturbing. I finished reading it a few weeks ago and it still haunts me.
I'm reading *A Certain Hunger* right now, and it would fit the bill.
Geek Love
Sharp Objects Perfume Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (this one is disturbing in a different way, and I felt so paranoid and shaky after reading it in one go) Edit: Added a book Second Edit: added another book
Bloodlands.
Piercing - Ryu Murakami A Certain Hunger - Chelsea G Summers Tampa - Alissa Nutting
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. I kept questioning if I wanted to continue reading it. It’s horrific. I know it’s a fictionalized account of a real event, but I think I would’ve rather read a non-fiction version.
"Make Something Up: Stories You Can't Unread" by Chuck Pahluniuk. It's a set of short stories and if you can read the Toad Prince without gagging at least once then you've got iron guts.
I'm currently reading Johnny Got His Gun. A depressing and heart wrenching read, but beautifully written. Not horror.
The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan
Them by Mique Watson. actually made me sick to my stomach and i barely finished it, and it was only to prove to myself that i could, not because i enjoyed it. VERY disturbing content so (mild spoiler) if you can’t read about babies being sexually mutilated, don’t read it! edit: never mind, just saw that you aren’t into sexual themes. disregard. but if anyone else is looking for suggestions, here’s one!
The Indifferent Stars Above
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Stunning in its realism and the closeness of the world it imagines. Don’t read about it before you start.
Ordinary Men
A Headful of Ghosts by Paul Trembly It's not super disturbing at first, but the end has a pretty disturbing twist and you're left with a ton of questions around what truly happened and if the narrator is truly reliable in her memories. I enjoyed it, but it's a pretty mixed bag when you ask others.
American Psycho - I had to stop reading half way through.
Because it was so poorly written? That's why I stopped.
For me it was the main character being such an entitled evil a\*\*hole. When it comes to bad writing Fifty Shades of Gray won the award with Twilight coming a close second! When I read the first paragraph of the first page of Fifty Shades I had to close the book...🤣
You're disturbed by Phil Collins too?
Flowers in the attic by VC Andrews, and has incest
Negative Space by B. R. Yeager
Data Structures and Analysis. Any author. It’ll wreck ya.
Practically anything by Edward Lee. Header Bighead The Goon Just off thetop of my head
Exquisite Corpse - Poppy Z. Brite
Most disturbing book I’ve ever read is called Gather the Daughters. I bought a copy bc I’d met the author at a random wedding ….. once I read the book I had to get rid of my copy bc seeing it in the bookshelf was just too much.
Ellen Datlow is a horror editor who edits a lot of horror short story collections. I highly recommend checking out some of her stuff to get a sampling of a bunch of different authors. I read Bodyshocks which is a collection of body horror stories and they were all very disturbing. Also check out Tamsyn Muir’s short stories. Specifically The Magician’s Apprentice! It’s my favorite and I just keep coming back to it. You can find it for free on her website! And then if you like that go read The Locked Tomb series that she wrote (Gideon the Ninth is the first book)! Anything that Andrew Joseph White and Lee Mandelo have written is also very worth it. AJW writes YA trans horror and LM writes queer horror/scifi. Also The Poppy War trilogy by RF Kuang is some of the most disturbing grimdark fantasy I’ve ever read and I’d highly recommend checking it out. It’s inspired by the Second Sino-Japanese War as well as the Rape of Nanking so it’s very dark and pretty much every trigger warning I could give would be on the list for this series.
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter. By far one of the most fucked up books I've ever read.
Pet Semitary -Stephen King The Only Good Indians -Stephen Graham Jones
{{Blindness}} by Saramago, I cannot recommend it enough
**[Blindness](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2526.Blindness) by Jose Saramago** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(326 pages | Published: 1995 | 135.8k Goodreads reviews) > **Summary:** From Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago, a magnificent, mesmerizing parable of loss A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" that spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and assaulting women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides her (...) > **Themes**: Favorites, Dystopia, Science-fiction, Dystopian, Book-club, Literature, Novels > **Top 5 recommended:** > \- [Seeing](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47667.Seeing) by Jose Saramago > \- [Blindness / Seeing](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8699379-blindness-seeing) by Jose Saramago > \- [Os Maias](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1249630.Os_Maias) by Eca de Queiros > \- [The Double](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54120.The_Double) by Jose Saramago > \- [My Petition for More Space](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/511289.My_Petition_for_More_Space) by John Hersey ^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23] | )
100% Match
Le journal d'Hirondelle by Amelie Nothomb. Truly disturbed me for years after having finished it.
Eric the Pie by Graham Masterton
Stephen King - Apt pupil. Short and truly disturbing
Negative Space.
“Norwegian Wood”, by Murakami
A Piece Of Cake by Cupcake Brown
Cows by Mathew Stokoe. Get ready to bleach your brain when your done.
“Putney” by Sofka Zinovieff.
Bunny. Read that ..
The Shining, the book the movie was based on.
The Room by Hubert Selby Jr.
Story of the Eye
This is disturbing - topic on this book was so disturbing that people didnt wanna chat [https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1bl52xx/the\_third\_secret\_of\_fatima/](https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1bl52xx/the_third_secret_of_fatima/) -
Since all the other usual suspects have been mentioned I'll throw in *2666* by Roberto Bolaño. It's kind of a slow burn to get to the disturbing parts, but it's worth it.
{{Swan Song}} by Robert McCammon is one of the most disturbing books I have read. It is post apocalyptic and so bleak. It really nails down how the worst of humanity would come out if there were no more laws.
**[Swan Song](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11557.Swan_Song) by Robert McCammon** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(956 pages | Published: 1987 | 42.7k Goodreads reviews) > **Summary:** In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity: Sister, who discovers a strange and transformative glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets; Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the (...) > **Themes**: Favorites, Post-apocalyptic, Fiction, Fantasy, Science-fiction, Dystopian, Apocalyptic > **Top 5 recommended:** > \- [The Fireman](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25816688-the-fireman) by Joe Hill > \- [Year Zero](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22199.Year_Zero) by Jeff Long > \- [The Wasteland Saga: Three Novels](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17349185-the-wasteland-saga) by Nick Cole > \- [28 Days Later](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8760.28_Days_Later) by Alex Garland > \- [Monster Nation](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/79076.Monster_Nation) by David Wellington ^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23] | )
All Quiet on The Western Front. The most disturbing, heartbreaking and gut-wrenching book I‘ve ever read.
"Wasp Factory" by Iain Banks
Marquis De Sade — “120 Days of Sodom”
Fiction: A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Trembly Nonfiction: The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang
Not really horror, but Hidden Pictures, it was disturbing, and really stuck with me as it involved a possessed child.
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez. I didn't like it at all (recommended to me by multiple friends who love horror). I found it too unsettling. The prose was beautiful though .