After Midnight by Richard Laymon kept me looking over my shoulder for days.

Two books from the 70's by Thomas Tryon are pretty frightening. I haven't looked at a scarecrow or cattails the same way since. The titles are Harvest Home and The Other.

One of the scariest back in the day would have to be The Amityville Horror.  I was very young when I read that book and it scared the bejesus out of me.

An oldiie I read a long time ago that I still haven't forgotten, was Suffer the Children by John Saul.  I think mainly because it was one of the first real horror books I read and  it just disgusted me.  But I kept on buying Saul books after that. 

I read Jaws when I was in 3rd grade and it scared the crap out of me.  The movie had just come out and my Mom wouldn't let me go see it because she thought it would be too violent.  My grandfather had the paperback at his house so I would hide somewhere and read it.  Between the movie commercials and the book it got to where I didn't even want to take a bath.

I also read Amityville Horror when it first came out.  I remember all of the hype about how it was a true story and all.  I started using a night lite again and would sleep with the covers over my head.

I've reread both of these books in the past few years and I guess I'm desensitized or something, because I didn't find them remotely scary at all.

The most frightening book I have ever read had to be King's Pet Sematary.  i actually did not mind it too much--until I had children. Now, not only can i not read that book again, but I can't watch the film either.

Scariet hands down: The Shining, By Stephen King. That book had me terrified and shaking but I couldn't stop reading. Haven't read Pet Semetary yet, its on my 'to read' list.

Pet Semetary and The Shining are deffinately in my top 10.  I thought the Friends tv show where Joey kept his copy of The Shining in the freezer because it scared him was hilarious.

I was also thinking about Joey and The Shining, I love that!!  When I was young and reading a horror book, I would have to lay it down upside down, and the book had to be closed so the evil wouldn'lt leak out!  I'm beyond that now!

I liked The Shining, but for once thought the movie was better than the book.  Love The Stand.  Amityville scares the crap out of me.  I remember reading some John Saul, and think I read Suffer the Children (was there like a sink-hole/death fort??) as a teen, but can't really remember his stuff.  Helter Skelter is one of the scariest things I've read.

The most frighting book I ever read was offspring by Jack Ketchem....  I finished it i one night and had to bring to to work because I was so disturbed I didn't want to keep it in the house.  His other book The girl next door was just as bad.  So good you can't put it down so bad you can't stop thinking about it!!!!

Ann Rule's "The Stranger Beside Me" and "I-5 Killer (something like that)".  I still won't read any true mysters.

The Prison by R. Patrick Gates, and The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker.

Pet Semetary did it for me.

When I was in high school, I picked up a copy of Amityville Horror at a garage sale.  I stayed up all night reading it...with the lights on.  When I finished, I shoved it under the bed.  The next day, I took it back to that nice little lady that sold it to me and told her that I didn't want my money back, but I couldn't keep it.  To this day, it is still the scariest book I have ever read.

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum haunted me for weeks. In fact, it still does now and then... its one of those books you can't escape from once you've read it...

Salem's Lot did it for me...I still cannot sleep with the blinds up.

Without a doubt, Salem's Lot.  It was plain scary!

Deleted my original answer because I just realized it had nothing to do with the question. The scariest book I ever read is a toss up between The Exorcist or Amityville Horror.  Both were read when I was in young & impressionable and both dealt with possession by the devil (or one of his pals) and that subject still scares me.

I just finished Off Season by Jack Ketchum. It didn't scare me but it was pleasantly gory. It definately isn't for the faint  of heart! I have Off Spring and I'm about to start it, I can't wait!! You just don't find too many books this gory, I really liked this book.

Very graphic cannibalism scenes

Christa:)

Scariest? The Shining, absolutely hands down, couldn't close my eyes all night.   But the one book of Stephen King's I cannot ever read again - Gerald's Game. The description of how the woman got out of the handcuffs was literally making my skin crawl. I could see where he was going with it and I simply could not bear to read it, I skipped ahead about 50 pages and while I kept the book for many years, I never was able to crack it open again.

I like a lot of horror novels, but no author gets to my nerves much except King.

The exact moment of the hand getting loose in Gerald's Game is the ONLY King scene ever to get to me.  Other than that, he never really did anything.  It's neat hearing someone had the same reaction.