Horror Novel

I think John Saul is freakier than Stephen King, just for pure scare value ... (I think King is a better writer for other reasons), also, I like Saul's earlier books better than his later ones.

http://www.johnsaul.com/Books.html

If you don't mind young adult fiction, I think John Bellairs wrote classics ... don't let the cheesy blurbs put you off; these are great books.

http://www.bellairsia.com/the_work/index.html

Dracula is a great, super-spine-tingler if you've never actually read it.

If you can get your hands on some of Roald Dahl's adult fiction, it is very dark. I shiver just thinking of it! It's mostly short stories, though, so for a book you'd need to get a compendium.

Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box is really good. I liked Horns, too, but HSB was better. Although I've not

The Red Tree, by Caitlin R. Kiernan is pretty good. I haven't read any of her other stuff, but liked that one.

And any of Matheson's other stuff, of course.

I don't consider King to be entirely a horror writer, esp. not anymore. But he is still one of my favorites.

Agreed on both counts.

That's one of the things that I really think is neat about fiction.  Pet Semetary, while creepy, didn't scare me that much.  IT on the other hand, I slept with the lights on for 3 months after reading that one.

Both these are good, but "Salems Lot" scared the snot out of me.

I thought Cell was a fun little book.  It wasn't my favourite, but it was enjoyable and creepy.  All in all, I tend to find his short stories scarier than the novels.  The Raft in his book Skeleton Crew is one of the scariest he's done.

As was mentioned earlier in the thread, Horns by Joe Hill was a very fun book, I just finished it.  I wouldn't call it scary, but it was a book I had a hard time putting down, with a unique story.

The Raft was def. creepy. Skeleton Crew is a solid collection. If I had to pick between his short stuff and his novels...he is a better short story writer, IMO. Actually, I think he is WONDERFUL at the novella--which is sort of a forgotten/underused format. SK's novellas are great. (The Mist, in Skeleton Crew is very good, too). Four Past Midnight is one of my faves--The Langoliers is just downright creepy.

(Although, I will say...The Stand is my favorite SK work, by far. The unabridged version. And it is DEFINITELY not a novella :D)