Hey guys, I am looking for books that are disturbing. I have googled a ton of lists but I have read a lot of them.

Some examples of books I read and liked are; American Psycho, Cows by Matthew Stokoe, the End of Alice, all of Gillian Flynn's novels, The Room and Requiem for a Dream, both of Carol Topolski's novels and all of William S Burrough's novels.

Huge thanks in advance

[firewing]

As much as I love Stephen King books, I have found quite a few of them to be disturbing: Pet Sematary, Duma Key, The Shining, Misery. The series by Thomas Harris, which starts with Silence of the Lambs. A couple of authors you might check would be Ramsey Campbell, Dan Simmons, and Clive Barker.

the fight club

I think you should check anthologies and short stories collections. The most "disturbing" fictions I've read are from short stories, mainly when I was reading old sci-fi.

Some authors you might look for :
* Damon Knight (To Serve Man)
* Harlan Ellison (I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, All the Sounds of Fear, The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World)
* H. P. Lovecraft
* Ray Bradbury (The Veldt, The Long Rain)

A good idea is to check the episodes of The Twilight Zone on Internet and see on what they are based on. Most are based on great short stories, and reflect very well the s-f of that generation.

My choice would be Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist.

'The Girl Next Door' by Jack Ketchum
'Books of Blood' by Clive Barker
Any collection by Ramsey Campbell
Necro-Files: Two Decades of Extreme Horror by various authors

[deniseg53]

I really liked The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison better than Gone Girl.

The two books written by Herman Koch (The Dinner & Summer House with Swimming Pool) are very disturbing in their own ways.

OUT by Natsuo Kirino, though, is the most disturbing book I have read in a long long time!

Sara's Face by Burgess, definitely!

[emmilina]

Candy- Luke Davies
Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh

As well as the above, especially Clive Barker:

You could try Edward Lee's brand of hardcore horror:
viewtopic.php?t=586462

I'd also recommend having a nose through Bizarro fiction (a lot of which has been uploaded on here) and see if anything there tickles your pickle:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bizarro_fiction

[deniseg53]

Mother, Mother by Koren Zailckas has a crazy mother. I liked it.

[jaysee]

The Long Walk by Stephen King is pretty disturbing.

Aleatha Romig Consequence series.

If you havent read it, I suggest Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin.

[Merlose]

Almost Transparent Blue- Ryu Murakami

It permeated a sense of ill-feeling for me throughout. Closest relation to your list would be Requiem for a Dream but it's not like that really. To go into it would potentially dampen it.

He also wrote the book Audition (you've probably seen the Takashi Miike film). And "Coin Locker Babies" has a heartwarming Page 1 lol. But that might be too long of a book to sustain the disturb factor. Still a great read though.

Clive Barker is my first literary idol so---yeah I vote for him. The Hellbound Heart, Books of Blood---love it all. THH, BoB 1-6 and Cabal would be in your wheelhouse though to start.

Thomas Ligotti for moody, existential dread.