This is way more disturbing and deranged than the likes of many common answers such as Blood Meridian and Tender is the Flesh. BM is purposefully morose in the way a teenager acts out for attention. Tender is the Flesh will definitely make you consider veganism and has its moments but isn't necessarily unsettling. Geek Love is morally and ethically jarring throughout. It is way more disturbing to me than blood, guts, and systematic cannibalism.
Always looking for a good read, so I read the synopsis for this. And what did I just read? I have so many questions and am disturbed just by what it’s about. I will definitely be reading this book.
I started that book with 10 because it was just laying around in our library at home. It was the only book my parents ever forbid me to read, when they saw me reading it. It's good, but yes he's fucked up
I had the audiobook too, I don’t remember the chewing noises exactly, but it could’ve been a different version, plus I worked in a lab at the time when I was listening to it so some of the machinery could be loud at times.
I’ll knock through the cobwebs of memory and get a few suggestions! Off the top of my head, you might try Shirley Jackson and Flannery O’Connor. While not explicitly a horror novel, Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo might scratch that itch since you mentioned you were infantry. Ambrose Bierce as well.
Will try to update this later.
Edit: So here are a few more. Several of all of these might be considered tame by today’s standards but I find the more understated variety to be more impactful. So some of these aren’t necessarily marketed as psychological horror:
Silence of the Lambs
Dracula
Frankenstein
Anything by Jim Thompson
In Cold Blood
As I Lay Dying (Faulkner understood human psychology better than any other writer I know, so also check out some of his short stories)
Misery
And a wildcard to consider: Corrosion by Jon Bassoff.
I also think I’ve become desensitized, as like you, I didn’t find it to be all that disturbing…at all, really. Granted, for years I exclusively read only horror, but it still does kind of make me scratch my head when people talk about BM as though it itself qualifies as horror.
It’s perhaps my favorite book ever, but yeah, I think I’ve read too much actual horror for it to get under my skin the way it does for other people lol
Agreed. I can appreciate BM for its other merits. It really is a piece of art, stylistically and considering all that he accomplished with it. And I know a lot of the gruesome parts are at least inspired by true events, but I find something like In Cold Blood more psychologically gripping. Few people can write sentences like McCarthy, though.
The closest he got to psychological horror imo is Child of God. But he was so averse to any kind of interiority for his characters, the psychological aspect is practically non-existent aside from what we can glean from character actions.
Ive tried to get into BM so many times over the past year but McCarthy's writing style can get pretty disorienting most times - which I think is part of its "flavor". Only recently thought of going the audiobook path though and I've finally been working my way through it.
Now that I've finally been able to get farther I understand why its so highly regarded.
I experienced a real “old-fashion” nervous-emotional breakdown about 7 years ago,and as l curled up in a dark room in fetal position, I surveyed the floors and walls, and my first thought was “Wow, this is just like ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’. True story.
Tell Me I’m Worthless - Alison Rumfitt
Mary - Nat Cassidy
Haunted - Chuck Palahniuk (“Guts” is apparently incredibly disturbing. I haven’t built up the courage to read Guts yet)
Damned - Chuck Palahniuk
Just because no one else has said it:
Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite.
I loved some of their other books so much (Lost Souls and Drawing Blood)that I read this one but it’s the most disturbing book I’ve probably ever read. Definitely not my scene so this whole thread is a good list of books for me to stay far away from.
Tampa, by Alissa Nutting. Very well written and hard to put down, but damn. It's awful to think there are actually people like this character who are out there, and...ugh.
That’s one book I wish I could wash off of my mind. And I have read and enjoyed plenty of the other suggestions here, for some reason Tampa just disgusted me on another level that I can’t shake. I get angry just thinking about it again!
This is my answer too. I threw it across the couch in the first chapter and really pondered if I could continue but I read the whole thing. I think the author made an important point and was gutsy for writing it, but it was rough.
Clive Barker's a great author for that, there's one of his short stories from the Books of Blood collections, "In The Hills, The Cities," that really got to me.
Woom - Duncan Ralston
Cows - Matthew Stokoe
Both are disturbing and extremely fucked up. Definitely the most extreme content I’ve ever read. But both are short reads and in the end I was actually impressed by the authors and the stories. Cows made me very sad at the end.
My personal list would have to be:
Kathy Acker, Blood and Guts in High School
William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch
Dennis Cooper, Frisk
Donald Goines, Dopefiend
Gary Indiana, Rent Boy
Cormac McCarthy, Child of God
Fernanda Melchor, Hurricane Season
Hubert Selby Jr., The Room (any of his books would fit though)
Georges Simenon, The Snow was Dirty
Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me
I haven't read Samuel R. Delany's "Hogg" or Peter Sotos' "Tool" but I've heard both are NSFL, presumably more disturbing than the other titles I mentioned, not unlike de Sade I guess. They sound like constant torture and sadism which I have little interest in reading personally.
I actually found that one really wholesome and cozy as far as horror goes. The brother sister relationship was really well done, had a lotta heart to it.
The stabby doll was creepy tho
I agree, a lot of these recs are disturbing books for people who don’t read disturbing books. This one was definitely wholesome in terms of bringing people together. If I laugh while trying to explain the plot of a book to anyone then I wouldn’t call it disturbing.
Bunny by Mona Awad is up there for me. It’s not so much the physical gore but a more physiological aspect. It’s the only book I’ve ever read, finished, then re-read again after reading other’s perspectives online.
It's an older book I read but will never forget. It reminds me today what's happening more and more it seems.
A Child Called It.
Its disturbing but a warning this is based on a true story. The author is the child in the story.
This book was very disturbing. Especially knowing it’s based on a true story. And the real story was even worse than what was written. I think it had a lot of lessons to be learned and was very heartbreaking as well. I really enjoyed the writing style, but some scenes were extremely hard to read.
I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FOLLOWING DISTURBING BOOKS.
Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada
A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCraken
2666 by Roberto Bolaño
A Long Way Gone by Ishamael Beah
A Universal History of the Destruction of Books by Fernando Baez
Mother California by Kenneth Hartman
Honestly love this one, it was the second Sinclair I picked up after Oil! and he’s become one of my all-time favorite authors. The slaughter house stuff is pretty fucked but the portrayal of how brutal life was in general stuck with me way more than any of the factory descriptions. I did not become a vegan after reading lol
Doesn’t fit the bill for this thread at all but the Lanny Budd series he wrote kept me going for like 3 months. I work a seasonal job with winter being my “downtime” to have mostly remote work - summers I’m working nonstop so have had to take a break from them but highly recommend for anyone who enjoys historical fiction set during interwar period / ww1/2
What is the What by Dave Eggers
Autobiographical of a person who was part of The Lost Boys from Sudan and it involves a lot of story telling involving dead children, eating birds, rotting bodies and lots of death …you get the idea.
Chuck Palahniuk excels at disturbing books, for your mission I recommend Haunted but Survivor and Lullaby also put scenes in my brain that should not be there.
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks too
This was recently asked:
https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/s/5vjW16YGLs
*Her Fearful Symmetry* by Audrey Niffenegger.
I was excited for it because *The Time Traveller’s Wife* was a brilliant book that I rate inside my Top 10 books of all time.
This one, however, has a sting in the tail.
I see some people saying Tender Is The Flesh and The Girl Next Door.
In my opinion, don't bother with The Girl Next Door as it is not a very good book. Just torture porn, on a minor too. I suppose it fits your criteria, but as a novel there's no art here.
Tender Is The Flesh is a genuinely good book. Unsettling tone throughout, but may not be as disturbing as you want.
My vote goes to The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. I tend to forget a lot of details about books I've read after years go by, but this book has left a permanent mark on me. I was genuinely so uncomfortable reading it, AND the disturbing bits are creative, AND it's a well done book on its own, AND the ending is very twisty and unexpected. One of my top favourites.
*Lolita* disturbed me more than any I’ve read. *The Hot Zone* is true and disturbing. Stephen King remarks it as being one of the scariest books. I understand the difference. Those aside, The Bible disturbs me for so many reasons.
“Cows” by Matthew Stokoe. I guarantee nothing else even comes close. It’s a wild and insane book that has about every vile thing you can imagine in it. However, it is also a fascinating read and very well written. It got me through COVID because it was so much worse lol.
Maybe not "disturbing" but a book that I was unsettled by from start to finish was Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. He really does a great job of keeping you on edge and feeling like someone is over your shoulder the whole time.
You can check out Amy Cross. She writes like the average person breathes and has tons of horror novels, and something about all of them gets to me in a way most horror I read doesn't. It's just a really unsettling way of writing. Great stuff.
This was ages ago so it's hard to think of any in particular. Just go with the ones with the best reviews. There are a few that are iffy. But the best part is they're all available on Kindle Unlimited.
I just checked my Goodreads and turns out I rated a few of them! Ward Z is the only one I rated 5 stars, so maybe start there. Also The Haunting of Blackwych Grange, The Curse of Wetherley House, and The Ash House, which I rated 4 stars.
Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro really bothered me. It’s not gory or traditionally scary but it disturbed me long after reading it.
Eclipse by Ophelia Rue is next level disturbing. I think indie authors get away with less editorial censorship. There’s a scene in the beginning with an octopus that left me like holy shut, did I just read that, then it gets crazier.
The King in Yellow also is distributing but I don’t really know why. There’s something just off about it.
Obviously House of Leaves. That one goes without saying.
Pet Semetary by Stephen King was pretty disturbing to me. So was The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Perfume - The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind. All for very different reasons.
This was asked just a couple days ago and my answer is the same Perfume: Story of a Murderer
Also the movie and the Netflix series is even more disturbing
Woom, Cows, Living Dead Girl, Exquisite Corpse, Sluts, Earthlings, Any Man, The Summer I Died, and Dead Inside.
A lot of books I read toe the line between normal horror and extreme horror so I often get recs (or warnings) about disturbing books. The only one above that I’ve read was Any Man but I see these pop up frequently. An honorable mention might be Confessions.
I kind of feel like Brother and Tender is the Flesh are good but often come across as most disturbing books for people who don’t read disturbing books.
The most disturbing book I have read is Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. Javier Bardem downplayed the character in the movie. The book is intense and Anton Chigurh is beyond good and evil. That's my take anyway.
Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann
Jimmy by William Malmborg
Sick Boys Book 1 of the Spine Ridge University trilogy (Can be read as standalones) by Clarissa Wild
The Haunting/Hunting Adeline duet by H.D. Carlton
Mark Me Book 1 in the Royals of KnightsGate series by SE Traynor
I have read sick twisted shit but, the last three personally gave me ick and were DNF.
The Good of Small Things made me a little uncomfortable, but I haven’t read it in like 15 years.
It has scenes involving >!child molestation, incest, and marital violence!<. It’s really heavy, but the prose isn’t for everyone.
I just recommended The Bride Collector to my sister yesterday. I read it years ago and I can still quote some messed up scenes that just stuck with me. The whole time I was reading it I kept thinking “someone literally had to write this!!who is messed up enough to write this? I hope they’re in therapy!”
Full brutal.
It’s the most mean spirited book I’ve ever read. Mean spirited isn’t even the word. It’s callous and cruel. Fair warning, it’s splatter punk so the last quarter of the book is VERY gory. The first part of the book is more about psychological abuse, manipulation, and suffering of others.
It’s so fucked up…. Very depraved. One of those books you read and just say “wtf” and wonder if you’re on a watchlist for even reading it.
No specific rec but I highly recommend Bakers reads on TikTok. His whole thing is recommending disturbing books and I’ve gotten some really good recs from him.
I made a few more recommendations here [https://eternalreads.substack.com/p/most-disturbing-books](https://eternalreads.substack.com/p/most-disturbing-books)
Final Truth: The Autobiography of Pee Wee Gaskins.
Some of his descriptions of his crimes haunt me to this day, years after reading it. I have read some disturbing fiction and not gotten uncomfortable or thought twice about it. But something about this being a memoir recounting events that actually happened made it far more disturbing.
Fiction, Ryu Murakami’s, “In the Miso Soup” or “Audition”. I’m reading Kenzaburo Oe’s “Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids” right now, and it’s interesting and disturbing and weird.
I have one that is probably too long for you, but others might be interested, even at 800 pages. It is a Chinese classic translated to English. The book is Water Margin and on my first read I was shocked by the gratuitous violence. One guy gets angry and he slaughters 23 people, including women and children, until his anger subsides. Another character is a genuine homicidal maniac, a man who lives to kill, and he is a comic element to the story. First printed in 1596 and this version in 1646, It involves a gang of robbers who are referred to as heroes. I liken it to Lonesome Dove, but on steroids.
These Violent Delights - Micah Nemerever
Honestly more disturbing for the portrayal of emotionally broken people as opposed to all-out gore/ horror but think it fits based on some of the other titles in this thread.
Haunted by Chuck Palaniuk is a good one … definitely disgusting but overall an entertaining read, definitely one that blew my mind open when I read it in 7th grade haha
Respectfully, this question gets posted pretty frequently. Most suggestions have been covered in the comments already but searching for past posts I'm sure you'll find all the depravity for your bookshelf your heart desires
Geek Love
Hands down the craziest book I have ever read.
This is way more disturbing and deranged than the likes of many common answers such as Blood Meridian and Tender is the Flesh. BM is purposefully morose in the way a teenager acts out for attention. Tender is the Flesh will definitely make you consider veganism and has its moments but isn't necessarily unsettling. Geek Love is morally and ethically jarring throughout. It is way more disturbing to me than blood, guts, and systematic cannibalism.
Always looking for a good read, so I read the synopsis for this. And what did I just read? I have so many questions and am disturbed just by what it’s about. I will definitely be reading this book.
Apparently free on audible right now if you have a membership.
I loved this book so much! It’s one of the few books I’ve stayed up all night reading. It’s definitely one of the strangest books I’ve ever read.
Perfume by Patrick Süskind a fascinating read!
True, but my God, that ending!
I started that book with 10 because it was just laying around in our library at home. It was the only book my parents ever forbid me to read, when they saw me reading it. It's good, but yes he's fucked up
Tender as the flesh: I am not usually one who is spooked by gore or guts, especially if I’m just reading about it, but MAN this book is terrifying
the audio book was even worse for me - it has chewing sound effects!
I almost downvoted you my reaction to this was so immediate. I cannot imagine how awful this would be.
I had the audiobook too, I don’t remember the chewing noises exactly, but it could’ve been a different version, plus I worked in a lab at the time when I was listening to it so some of the machinery could be loud at times.
Yeah I don't remember any chewing either but it definitely was chilling.
I just finished it so the chewing is VERY fresh in my mind. It’s when one of the characters is talking while eating and it is gross.
Yeah I love disgusting books and I felt like I needed to take a shower after this one.
Been vegetarian for almost a year because of this book…
It reinforced my decision to be vegetarian, factory farming is horrifying
I couldn’t gat past the second chapter because I was so nauseated.
This book will turn you vegetarian real quick. It was really good though, as crazy as it was.
Came here to say this one. Ending was quite unexpected. Well written disgusting book😂
Blood meridian
This book is beautiful and awful in the exact same proportion
I say this as a McCarthy fan, but I didn’t find BM that bad. Maybe I’m just desensitized. I find psychological stories far worse than blood and gore.
What psych horrors would you recommend? I was infantry, so blood and guts mean nothing, I need true terror
I’ll knock through the cobwebs of memory and get a few suggestions! Off the top of my head, you might try Shirley Jackson and Flannery O’Connor. While not explicitly a horror novel, Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo might scratch that itch since you mentioned you were infantry. Ambrose Bierce as well. Will try to update this later. Edit: So here are a few more. Several of all of these might be considered tame by today’s standards but I find the more understated variety to be more impactful. So some of these aren’t necessarily marketed as psychological horror: Silence of the Lambs Dracula Frankenstein Anything by Jim Thompson In Cold Blood As I Lay Dying (Faulkner understood human psychology better than any other writer I know, so also check out some of his short stories) Misery And a wildcard to consider: Corrosion by Jon Bassoff.
I also think I’ve become desensitized, as like you, I didn’t find it to be all that disturbing…at all, really. Granted, for years I exclusively read only horror, but it still does kind of make me scratch my head when people talk about BM as though it itself qualifies as horror. It’s perhaps my favorite book ever, but yeah, I think I’ve read too much actual horror for it to get under my skin the way it does for other people lol
Agreed. I can appreciate BM for its other merits. It really is a piece of art, stylistically and considering all that he accomplished with it. And I know a lot of the gruesome parts are at least inspired by true events, but I find something like In Cold Blood more psychologically gripping. Few people can write sentences like McCarthy, though. The closest he got to psychological horror imo is Child of God. But he was so averse to any kind of interiority for his characters, the psychological aspect is practically non-existent aside from what we can glean from character actions.
Ive tried to get into BM so many times over the past year but McCarthy's writing style can get pretty disorienting most times - which I think is part of its "flavor". Only recently thought of going the audiobook path though and I've finally been working my way through it. Now that I've finally been able to get farther I understand why its so highly regarded.
Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
I came here to say just that. That book is messed up (in a good way). Haha
The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan was all kinds of messed-up.
[The Yellow Wallpaper](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1952) short story
I experienced a real “old-fashion” nervous-emotional breakdown about 7 years ago,and as l curled up in a dark room in fetal position, I surveyed the floors and walls, and my first thought was “Wow, this is just like ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’. True story.
This was a nice quick read!
We Need to Talk about Kevin
If it actually stuck to the book plot, the movie was bad enough. I wouldn't want to read that.
it's actually extremely well written and worth a read, and makes you think. but yes, disturbing.
I found American Psycho pretty horrific at one point. I’ve not read any of the books you’ve mentioned though.
It was so distrusting that I *still* think about it years later
Same. I still feel the disgust. Couldn't finish it.
The Troop by Nick Cutter.
I read that one on a flight! The descriptions are so vivid, I liked it a lot
The People in the Trees.
Tell Me I’m Worthless - Alison Rumfitt Mary - Nat Cassidy Haunted - Chuck Palahniuk (“Guts” is apparently incredibly disturbing. I haven’t built up the courage to read Guts yet) Damned - Chuck Palahniuk
Came on here to say Haunted, especially Guts. Deeply disturbing. I’ve read many of the books on this thread but nothing even comes close.
While helpful to OP, this is detrimental to my finding courage to read it haha.
Just because no one else has said it: Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite. I loved some of their other books so much (Lost Souls and Drawing Blood)that I read this one but it’s the most disturbing book I’ve probably ever read. Definitely not my scene so this whole thread is a good list of books for me to stay far away from.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. It's freaking messed up.
Tampa, by Alissa Nutting. Very well written and hard to put down, but damn. It's awful to think there are actually people like this character who are out there, and...ugh.
That’s one book I wish I could wash off of my mind. And I have read and enjoyed plenty of the other suggestions here, for some reason Tampa just disgusted me on another level that I can’t shake. I get angry just thinking about it again!
This is my answer too. I threw it across the couch in the first chapter and really pondered if I could continue but I read the whole thing. I think the author made an important point and was gutsy for writing it, but it was rough.
Yep, this one. I’ve read most mentioned in other comments, but nothing turned my stomach like Tampa did. Great book though, and ballsy as hell.
Clive Barker's a great author for that, there's one of his short stories from the Books of Blood collections, "In The Hills, The Cities," that really got to me.
PAINTED BIRD
Child of God by Cormac McCarthy It’s about a necrophilic serial killer
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote still sparks my parasympathetic nervous system to think about and it's been years since I read it.
Woom - Duncan Ralston Cows - Matthew Stokoe Both are disturbing and extremely fucked up. Definitely the most extreme content I’ve ever read. But both are short reads and in the end I was actually impressed by the authors and the stories. Cows made me very sad at the end.
I have Woom on my reading list!
Woom was the first to come to mind for me too! The ending was so disturbing but it really did tie the story up well.
Cows had such an unexpected emotional hold on me by the end. It was a wild ride.
Nobody recommends A Little Life? by Hanya Yanagihara.
My personal list would have to be: Kathy Acker, Blood and Guts in High School William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch Dennis Cooper, Frisk Donald Goines, Dopefiend Gary Indiana, Rent Boy Cormac McCarthy, Child of God Fernanda Melchor, Hurricane Season Hubert Selby Jr., The Room (any of his books would fit though) Georges Simenon, The Snow was Dirty Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me I haven't read Samuel R. Delany's "Hogg" or Peter Sotos' "Tool" but I've heard both are NSFL, presumably more disturbing than the other titles I mentioned, not unlike de Sade I guess. They sound like constant torture and sadism which I have little interest in reading personally.
The Collector by John Fowles
The Butterfly Garden
Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Brite Also want to echo The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum—this was EXTREMELY hard to finish but very well written.
Apparently The Girl Next Door was also (loosely) based on a true story.
Yes it was. Ketchum speaks on it in his authors notes. Here is the Wiki. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sylvia_Likens
Sylvia Likens, yes.
How to Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix Nothing could have prepared me for the absolute wild ride this book was
I actually found that one really wholesome and cozy as far as horror goes. The brother sister relationship was really well done, had a lotta heart to it. The stabby doll was creepy tho
I agree, a lot of these recs are disturbing books for people who don’t read disturbing books. This one was definitely wholesome in terms of bringing people together. If I laugh while trying to explain the plot of a book to anyone then I wouldn’t call it disturbing.
Cozy?? Even when the saw comes into play? That was one of the hardest parts of the book for me to read 🤢
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum I remember throwing the book across the room at one point while I was reading it
Yeah the scenes in the cellar are just… ugh….
Earthlings.
I found this more confusing than disturbing, yeah parts of it were horrific but over all I was thoroughly confused once I’d finished the book
The Girl Next Door 1000%
Let's Go Play at the Adams' by Mendal W. Johnson I read it almost 30 yrs ago and the only other book that disturbed me this much was The Road.
Oh, The Road, god yes. Horribly disturbing.
The Sluts by Dennis Cooper was the most depraved and disturbing book I’ve ever read but it was actually quite good.
Cows by Matthew Stokoe
This is the answer.
Bunny by Mona Awad is up there for me. It’s not so much the physical gore but a more physiological aspect. It’s the only book I’ve ever read, finished, then re-read again after reading other’s perspectives online.
I will say again, HOGG by Samuel Delaney
It's an older book I read but will never forget. It reminds me today what's happening more and more it seems. A Child Called It. Its disturbing but a warning this is based on a true story. The author is the child in the story.
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum I read it back in 2020 and I still sometimes think about it. Shit fucked me up for months
This book was very disturbing. Especially knowing it’s based on a true story. And the real story was even worse than what was written. I think it had a lot of lessons to be learned and was very heartbreaking as well. I really enjoyed the writing style, but some scenes were extremely hard to read.
I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FOLLOWING DISTURBING BOOKS. Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCraken 2666 by Roberto Bolaño A Long Way Gone by Ishamael Beah A Universal History of the Destruction of Books by Fernando Baez Mother California by Kenneth Hartman
The Jungle
Honestly love this one, it was the second Sinclair I picked up after Oil! and he’s become one of my all-time favorite authors. The slaughter house stuff is pretty fucked but the portrayal of how brutal life was in general stuck with me way more than any of the factory descriptions. I did not become a vegan after reading lol Doesn’t fit the bill for this thread at all but the Lanny Budd series he wrote kept me going for like 3 months. I work a seasonal job with winter being my “downtime” to have mostly remote work - summers I’m working nonstop so have had to take a break from them but highly recommend for anyone who enjoys historical fiction set during interwar period / ww1/2
Perfume the Story of a Murderer by Suskind
What is the What by Dave Eggers Autobiographical of a person who was part of The Lost Boys from Sudan and it involves a lot of story telling involving dead children, eating birds, rotting bodies and lots of death …you get the idea.
JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN by Dalton Trumbo
Incredibly disturbing!! In a much different way than a lot of the other books here.
Probably Hogg. I read it after a thread like this one recommended it over 10 years ago. It was just ridiculous and gross.
Chuck Palahniuk excels at disturbing books, for your mission I recommend Haunted but Survivor and Lullaby also put scenes in my brain that should not be there. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks too This was recently asked: https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/s/5vjW16YGLs
*Her Fearful Symmetry* by Audrey Niffenegger. I was excited for it because *The Time Traveller’s Wife* was a brilliant book that I rate inside my Top 10 books of all time. This one, however, has a sting in the tail.
I read Sharp Objects when I was 13; I’m 26 now and I still remember everything that happened and think about how fucked up it was on a regular basis
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
[удалено]
Girl Next Door was beyond disturbing
I see some people saying Tender Is The Flesh and The Girl Next Door. In my opinion, don't bother with The Girl Next Door as it is not a very good book. Just torture porn, on a minor too. I suppose it fits your criteria, but as a novel there's no art here. Tender Is The Flesh is a genuinely good book. Unsettling tone throughout, but may not be as disturbing as you want. My vote goes to The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. I tend to forget a lot of details about books I've read after years go by, but this book has left a permanent mark on me. I was genuinely so uncomfortable reading it, AND the disturbing bits are creative, AND it's a well done book on its own, AND the ending is very twisty and unexpected. One of my top favourites.
1984 No longer human Brave New World
The Lightbearer by Donna Gillespie Deerskin by Robin McKinley The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley
Misery by Stephen King
And the ass saw the angel, by Nick Cave
*Lolita* disturbed me more than any I’ve read. *The Hot Zone* is true and disturbing. Stephen King remarks it as being one of the scariest books. I understand the difference. Those aside, The Bible disturbs me for so many reasons.
The End of Alice, if you can find it anywhere. It's been out of print for ages, I believe. I was told not to read it. So if course I read it.
“Cows” by Matthew Stokoe. I guarantee nothing else even comes close. It’s a wild and insane book that has about every vile thing you can imagine in it. However, it is also a fascinating read and very well written. It got me through COVID because it was so much worse lol.
The Push by Ashley Audrain was pretty fucked up. Probably compounded if you are a parent.
The Slob, it was just disgusting…
Tampa
Naked Lunch - William S Burroughs
Girl next door by Jack Ketchum
We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver
Maybe not "disturbing" but a book that I was unsettled by from start to finish was Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. He really does a great job of keeping you on edge and feeling like someone is over your shoulder the whole time.
You can check out Amy Cross. She writes like the average person breathes and has tons of horror novels, and something about all of them gets to me in a way most horror I read doesn't. It's just a really unsettling way of writing. Great stuff.
What are a couple of hers that got to you?
This was ages ago so it's hard to think of any in particular. Just go with the ones with the best reviews. There are a few that are iffy. But the best part is they're all available on Kindle Unlimited.
I just checked my Goodreads and turns out I rated a few of them! Ward Z is the only one I rated 5 stars, so maybe start there. Also The Haunting of Blackwych Grange, The Curse of Wetherley House, and The Ash House, which I rated 4 stars.
Sweet, thanks
House Of Leaves
The Road Sharp Objects
Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro really bothered me. It’s not gory or traditionally scary but it disturbed me long after reading it. Eclipse by Ophelia Rue is next level disturbing. I think indie authors get away with less editorial censorship. There’s a scene in the beginning with an octopus that left me like holy shut, did I just read that, then it gets crazier. The King in Yellow also is distributing but I don’t really know why. There’s something just off about it. Obviously House of Leaves. That one goes without saying.
Earthlings, by Murata. Be. Careful.
Brothers
By Ania Ahlborn?
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez
While not a disturbing book in its entirety a few chapters in the terminal list were pretty messed up
Into the wolves den
Little Star — John Ajvide Lindqvist In the Miso Soup — Ryū Murakami
The Notebook Trilogy by Agota Kristof. Like, years later... Still getting nightmares. WTA*
Pet Semetary by Stephen King was pretty disturbing to me. So was The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Perfume - The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind. All for very different reasons.
Tangerine.
Bubblegum by Adam Levin. If you can stomach 100+ pages of torturing little animals.
Lord of the Flies. I'm still disturbed.
Wedding Day Massacre
Endgame by Nancy Garden. Crash into me by Albert Borris. Both messed up. Also the Odd Thomas series
Apocalypse Culture by Adam Parfrey.
The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Reijneveld.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
The Vegetarian by Han Kang Blindness by Jose Saramago
100% Match by Patrick Harrison III was pretty disturbing and has stayed with me. More vile than anything I’ve read, for sure.
Irvine Welsh -- Marabou Stork Nightmares
Cows
The Sleep Experiment by Jeremy Bates That one definitely threw me for a loop that I was not expecting.
I've got a different kind of disturbing recommendation: Docile by KM Szpara
This was asked just a couple days ago and my answer is the same Perfume: Story of a Murderer Also the movie and the Netflix series is even more disturbing
I’m not sure if it counts, since it is a comic book, but Batman Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth.
Woom, Cows, Living Dead Girl, Exquisite Corpse, Sluts, Earthlings, Any Man, The Summer I Died, and Dead Inside. A lot of books I read toe the line between normal horror and extreme horror so I often get recs (or warnings) about disturbing books. The only one above that I’ve read was Any Man but I see these pop up frequently. An honorable mention might be Confessions. I kind of feel like Brother and Tender is the Flesh are good but often come across as most disturbing books for people who don’t read disturbing books.
Woom
Reprieve by James Hans Mattson
Woom…omfg it’s a lot
The most disturbing book I have read is Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. Javier Bardem downplayed the character in the movie. The book is intense and Anton Chigurh is beyond good and evil. That's my take anyway.
If You Tell by Gregg Olsen. It’s a true story and involves HORRIFIC torture and murders including kids
Intensity - Dean Koontz is such a good and twisted one!
Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann Jimmy by William Malmborg Sick Boys Book 1 of the Spine Ridge University trilogy (Can be read as standalones) by Clarissa Wild The Haunting/Hunting Adeline duet by H.D. Carlton Mark Me Book 1 in the Royals of KnightsGate series by SE Traynor I have read sick twisted shit but, the last three personally gave me ick and were DNF.
The Good of Small Things made me a little uncomfortable, but I haven’t read it in like 15 years. It has scenes involving >!child molestation, incest, and marital violence!<. It’s really heavy, but the prose isn’t for everyone.
I might be a little sensitive, but I found sharp objects by gillian a bit too dark and disturbing. Like i internally didnt feel good after reading it
Johnny Got His Gun is definitely up there
Hogg by Samuel Delaney is in the same vein of disturbing as 120 days of Sodom, though shorter and much less overtly philosophical.
I have no mouth and I Must Scream, it’s an amazing short story!! Incredibly disturbing, and only seems to be more relevant with time.
I just recommended The Bride Collector to my sister yesterday. I read it years ago and I can still quote some messed up scenes that just stuck with me. The whole time I was reading it I kept thinking “someone literally had to write this!!who is messed up enough to write this? I hope they’re in therapy!”
Full brutal. It’s the most mean spirited book I’ve ever read. Mean spirited isn’t even the word. It’s callous and cruel. Fair warning, it’s splatter punk so the last quarter of the book is VERY gory. The first part of the book is more about psychological abuse, manipulation, and suffering of others. It’s so fucked up…. Very depraved. One of those books you read and just say “wtf” and wonder if you’re on a watchlist for even reading it.
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks fits the bill.
Thanks for the recs guys, my kindle will yet AGAIN have another field trip with these
No specific rec but I highly recommend Bakers reads on TikTok. His whole thing is recommending disturbing books and I’ve gotten some really good recs from him.
I made a few more recommendations here [https://eternalreads.substack.com/p/most-disturbing-books](https://eternalreads.substack.com/p/most-disturbing-books)
A Little Life
Stacking in Rivertown
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany Jackson
Final Truth: The Autobiography of Pee Wee Gaskins. Some of his descriptions of his crimes haunt me to this day, years after reading it. I have read some disturbing fiction and not gotten uncomfortable or thought twice about it. But something about this being a memoir recounting events that actually happened made it far more disturbing.
Audition by Ryu Murakami. [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3392668-audition](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3392668-audition)
Earthlings. Can’t get it out of my head! And I read it a year ago.
I wouldn't say it gets really crazy or anything but I found The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell to be really disturbing emotionally
Fiction, Ryu Murakami’s, “In the Miso Soup” or “Audition”. I’m reading Kenzaburo Oe’s “Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids” right now, and it’s interesting and disturbing and weird.
Son of the slob, the slob was bad but the son of the slob was just on another level
She’s Come Undone Wally Lamb
Tried to read - but If This is a Woman by Sarah Helm.
Lolita. It's stunningly-written but profoundly disturbing. Fully in the head of a charismatic monster.
{{The Cabin at the End of the World}} {{I'm Thinking of Ending Things}}
Disturbing but also a bit of a bore - I who have never known men.
If you look on the REDDIT pages, there are a couple of Horror book subs that you can go to.
I have one that is probably too long for you, but others might be interested, even at 800 pages. It is a Chinese classic translated to English. The book is Water Margin and on my first read I was shocked by the gratuitous violence. One guy gets angry and he slaughters 23 people, including women and children, until his anger subsides. Another character is a genuine homicidal maniac, a man who lives to kill, and he is a comic element to the story. First printed in 1596 and this version in 1646, It involves a gang of robbers who are referred to as heroes. I liken it to Lonesome Dove, but on steroids.
I just googled 120 Days of Sodom and I have to say what the f*ck
woom by duncan ralston was my first read of 2023. i expected horror but not *that.*
The End of Alice by A.M Holmes. Do not read if you can't handle reading graphic child abuse.
Dead of winter Darcy Coates - fave
These Violent Delights - Micah Nemerever Honestly more disturbing for the portrayal of emotionally broken people as opposed to all-out gore/ horror but think it fits based on some of the other titles in this thread. Haunted by Chuck Palaniuk is a good one … definitely disgusting but overall an entertaining read, definitely one that blew my mind open when I read it in 7th grade haha
Dead inside by chandler morrison, first line surprised me as when it got recommended to me I thought it was purely a romance book lol.
*Misery* and *The Stand*, both by Stephen King
Respectfully, this question gets posted pretty frequently. Most suggestions have been covered in the comments already but searching for past posts I'm sure you'll find all the depravity for your bookshelf your heart desires
"Earthlings"
*The Kiss* by Kathryn Harrison. I read it all in one rainy day and the heaviness of that book still sits with me over a decade later.
My Dark Vanessa
I haven't read a ton of the horror genre but I just finished Misery the other day and it was pretty scary for me.
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote and Helter Skelter - Vincent Bugliosi