Things That Go Bump...

Books to make you sleep with the light on.

Okay, let's clear up some myths about vampires. First of all, you won't see me using the V-word much. In the Night Watch, we prefer the term parasite-positives, or peeps, for short.

The main thing to remember is that there's no magic involved. No flying. No transforming into bats or rats either . . .
This is vampires meets science. And man, is it scary.

There was no initial pain, only one violent tug on her right leg. She reached down to touch her food, treading water with her left leg to keep her head up, feeling in the blackness with her left hand. She could not find her foot.

This classic thriller which inspired the Steven Spielberg movie will make you afraid to visit the beach…

Shrugging off his jacket, he grabbed the headstone and began tugging at it. 'Open,' he wailed. 'Open!'

Beth’s family are just learning to cope with the death of her sister, when her little brother, Sam, becomes inhabited by a malevolent creature called Del-Del. Is he possessed? A chilling psychological thriller.

Of the doors that she found, thirteen opened and closed. The other – the big, carved, brown, wooden door at the far corner of the drawing room – was locked.
She said to her mother, ‘Where does that door go?’
‘Nowhere, dear.’

Coraline’s Other Parents live behind the door. They are a bit like her normal parents, but her Other Mother has black button eyes, and wants Coraline to stay with her forever…

When suddenly, on an ordinary Wednesday, it seemed to Barney that the world tilted and ran downhill in all directions, he knew he was about to be haunted again.

One person in each generation of Barney’s family has had supernatural powers… And now there’s a ghost boy following Barney around telling him that he’s dead!

Not hear it? --yes, I hear it, and have heard it. Long --long --long --many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard it --yet I dared not --oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am! --I dared not --I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb!

An oldie but a goodie.

We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.

Titus and his friends all have 'feeds', transmitters implanted in their brain that tell them where to shop, what to eat, what to wear. It’s like a constant commercial, plugged into your brain.

Outside the wind was blowing the wrong way and the world was filled with the smell of death...

When Nathanial moves to Cheshunt, it seems like it’s the perfect town. But there is something terribly, terribly wrong.

The first book in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, this one is about a lovely, comfortable, hobbity world being turned upside down by the appearance of some nasty men in black cloaks. The scenes with the black riders used to scare me senseless. Who am I kidding, 'used to'?? I still have to do it in broad daylight.

^ Books marked with a ^ contain content suitable for older readers