Alan Toner's favorite books in horror fiction that scared me witless and gave me nightmares

The Rats is not only my No. 1 all-time favourite horror novel, but it is also the novel that inspired me to become a horror writer myself. James Herbert’s debut novel is just an absolute horror masterpiece, telling the terrifying story of a plague of giant mutant rats that terrorise London. Their attacks are swift, deadly, and extremely bloody. No one is safe as the hordes of flesh-eating creatures swarm through houses, cinemas, schools, and other public places. I enjoyed the novel that much that I read it in one day, as I was absolutely gripped by all the gruesome set pieces that Herbert always does so well. So if you enjoy a real good animals-on-the-rampage novel, The Rats is the one I would definitely recommend.

This is my all-time favourite modern-day vampire novel. The reason why I love it so much is that the way King describes the horrific process by which Barlow, the Dracula-type main monster of the story, infests the town of Salem’s Lot with vampirism is so realistic, and so gripping, that it just had me on the edge of my seat right to the very end. In fact, after Bram Stoker’s Dracula, I would rate Salem’s Lot as my second all-time favourite vampire novel. If you love a good, chilling vampire story, I would say get yourself a copy of Salem’s Lot now, because I guarantee you will absolutely love it. Oh, and be prepared for some real scary nightmares!

This book is an absolute classic, and spawned an equally classic movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The reason why I love Psycho so much is that it brought horror away from the traditional Gothic haunted house and castle settings right into the modern world. And if you add the aspect of mental illness in the chilling form of the Norman Bates character, then you have a horror story that becomes all too real, all too unsettling. We are not dealing with ghoulies and ghosties here, but with a deranged killer harbouring a split personality, whose warped mentality has often been mirrored in real-life crime cases. For example, Bloch based Norman Bates on an actual killer, Ed Gein. Psycho is a novel that every horror fan must read.

Dracula is my all-time favourite vampire novel. There are so many things I love about this book: the epistolary form in which Stoker wrote it; the chilling atmosphere of Dracula’s home country, with its superstitious locals, its crumbling castles, and its howling wolves; the sheer menace Dracula exudes as he travels to England, slaughtering a whole ship’s crew along the way, with a view to spreading his plague of vampirism. Count Dracula is, without, doubt, one of the greatest, most terrifying characters ever created in horror fiction. I revisit this book many times, as I just love it so much. If you love vampire stories, Dracula by Bram Stoker is the top one you should read. An absolute classic of horror literature.

This is my all-time favourite haunted house novel. The reason why I love the book so much is that, having always been interested in the paranormal, I like the concept of an occult scholar gathering together a group of ordinary people—all of whom have had some brush with the paranormal at some point in their lives—in this huge, rambling house, whose reputation is very dark and disturbing. I also love the ambiguity surrounding both the main character, Eleanor, and the ghostly atmosphere of Hill House itself. I mean, is Eleanor really the victim of any supernatural force that may be in the house, or is it all only in her mind? An absolute masterpiece of a book.