The Top 30 Best Horror Books You Need to Read Before You Die

I'm taking the unusual step of commenting on my own video. For some reason lots of people seem to be upset by a comment I make near the start. I say that I am conscious that this list is made up largely of white male authors (which is true, it is). Apparently this is a controversial thing to say. "The author's colour shouldn't matter!" people type (interestingly, no one seems to care about the gender part of my statement). Let me explain why I think the colour (and gender, and sexuality) of authors DOES matter. We live in a society where culture has been dominated by white male voice for centuries. Millions of our fellow citizens have struggled their entire lives to find voices in genres like horror who they felt represented their existence. The fact that such authors are now appearing is fantastic, both for the people who haven't been represented in the past, and for people like me. I read to experience and understand things I don't see in my everyday life. Much as I love many white male authors, I don't only want to read about an existence I'm already familiar with. So from now on rather than individually replying to loudly offended people I will just direct them to this statement. And if you're one of the people who does get why it matters, thank you for watching my videos and supporting my channel.

There's almost always something better than a King novel.....

No time to die with such a big and evergrowing TBR. Thanks for the recs!! I must say that the covers for these are astonishing. Pity they don't make them like that anymore.

I am 72 years old and have read all but 5 in your list. I just ordered Night Film. Looking forward to reading it.

Scott Smith's The Ruins is probably the creepiest I've read. I guess you could call this a type of Mother Nature Horror. Another great, classic horror is Richard Matheson's Hell House. I would bring my family for holiday at the Overlook before I'd take one foot in Hell House.

I happened to come across your video tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have read many of the books mentioned. Of course, being 71 I’ve had a lot of years to spend reading. I was glad to see Blackwater mentioned, as I don’t think many people are aware of this book. I’ve subscribed and looking forward to catching up on your other videos.

The Woman in Black is brilliantly done, atmospheric and chilling. I've read the book, watched the terrifying BBC film adaptation (not to be confused with the terrible Daniel Radcliffe remake) and experienced the fabulous Shaftsbury Theatre stage production - minimalist and truly astonishing.

Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in a Castle. What an incredible writer she was.

I have been "beating the drum" of Summer of Night for years. Thank you for including it here. A masterpiece in my opinion!

The Shining, hands down, scariest book I read as a young person. I had to sleep with the closet light on. Neither movie did it service, but Jack Nicholson, chefs kiss!

Gosh, what a great list! It's so hard to pick 30 best horror books! So many of these I love! Like Silence of the Lambs (whether it is more horror or thriller) is an incredibly and chilling book, with Hannibal Lector being one of the greatest fictional killers. The Haunting of Hill House is another truly disturbing one! Jackson creates this creepy atmosphere like no other author!

Usually my suggested videos are not great, but this is perfectly up my alley. Amazing video, have a ton of new books to buy and an awesome new YouTube channel to watch!!

I only saw your thumbnail and for a good few seconds. I thought you were dennis quaid. I will watch this whole video on that basis alone.

That anyone could take offense to any of your statements is unfortunate, and proof that many people these days are quite literally looking for opportunities to take offense. Well done video👍

Good to see Swan Song in there. I actually found the first half of the book pretty funny in areas. Granted I have a pretty twisted sense of humor at times, but I think it's intentionally so.

Starting off with lovecraft and barker i immediately knew this would be a good list. Ty🙏

Brilliant video! This was an ambitious one and it was really great. Of course, I’ve read many of these. The others I will definitely read before I die.

Very late to the party. But can I recommend “Intensity” by Dean R Koontz - as a young woman when I read this it was so empowering. Having read nearly all of Stephen Kings earlier novels, my favorite of his is the short story “The Mist”. The theatrical version was actually pretty good, surprisingly enough. Just ordered Moon Dance looking forward to reading it, unfortunately it wasn’t available as an audiobook on YouTube. Thank you for the referral!

It makes me so happy Richard Laymon made this list. Him and Koontz got me into horror

Great list - loved your video and explanation of each. Two books of horror short stories that I really enjoyed are: Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison, and The October Country by Ray Bradbury - - maybe more just unsettling than horror in some stories, but once you read them, they stay with you. That is the type of writing that I love.