Good 1st Person Horror Novels?
- Thread starter redfalcon
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Sorry, I hate first-person in fiction. I can only stand it for non-fiction in something like autobiograpical stories. Hopefully, someone else can help.
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Most of Edgar Allen Poe's stories are 1st person, if memory serves. Also American Psycho, although not everyone counts that as "horror." Also parts of House of Leaves, but that's a seriously ambitious read, and probably not quite what you're looking for. The short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper."
Hm. I feel like there are loads more, especially more recent ones, but I just can't think of them... Hang on...
ETA: Was The Turn of the Screw 1st person? I honestly don't remember. Where's my copy?
Hm. I feel like there are loads more, especially more recent ones, but I just can't think of them... Hang on...
ETA: Was The Turn of the Screw 1st person? I honestly don't remember. Where's my copy?
Thanks Rhoda
House of leaves looks good, just a little costly. It has been on my to get list for awhile but I am in a used book store desert here.
I am not a big 1st person fan but after reading From a Buick 8 by King I wondered how you could pull it off for horror in a non- sit down and let me tell you a story style.
He did Shawshank redemption also this way. But perhaps these are considered semi 3rd person.
House of leaves looks good, just a little costly. It has been on my to get list for awhile but I am in a used book store desert here.
I am not a big 1st person fan but after reading From a Buick 8 by King I wondered how you could pull it off for horror in a non- sit down and let me tell you a story style.
He did Shawshank redemption also this way. But perhaps these are considered semi 3rd person.
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much as i loathe koontz for his more recent shit...er, stuff.....er, no, shit, Twilight Eyes is in first, so is the entire Odd Thomas and Chris Snowe series.
Agyar hardly counts as horror but is first-person, by Brust.
Piccirilli wrote several first-person horror novels, including Every Shallow Cut (best) and A Lower Deep (also very, very good, good enough I gave my sole copy to someone I love very dearly), Matheson's I am Legend, and The Cormorant are all first person. Forgot Cormorant's author, sorry. Also, Bag of Bones by King, a sort of re-working of Rebecca and the novel that got me into writing in the first place.
Agyar hardly counts as horror but is first-person, by Brust.
Piccirilli wrote several first-person horror novels, including Every Shallow Cut (best) and A Lower Deep (also very, very good, good enough I gave my sole copy to someone I love very dearly), Matheson's I am Legend, and The Cormorant are all first person. Forgot Cormorant's author, sorry. Also, Bag of Bones by King, a sort of re-working of Rebecca and the novel that got me into writing in the first place.
I'm more into YA Horror, but here's a few from my bookshelf.
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard
Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith
Quarantine by Lex Thomas
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard
Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith
Quarantine by Lex Thomas
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke
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Stephen Gregory wrote The Cormorant. I second quicklime on this one, it's a foreboding tale if nothing else.
Stephen King's The Mist (one of my favorites), World War Z is written in interview format, so it's all first person but may not be what you're looking for. Also Dracula, an oldie but a goody, is written in first person as a recollection/diary sort of story. Though they're not novels, a lot of Lovecraft's work is first person. Someone mentioned I Am Legend already but I'm seconding it
Stephen King's The Mist (one of my favorites), World War Z is written in interview format, so it's all first person but may not be what you're looking for. Also Dracula, an oldie but a goody, is written in first person as a recollection/diary sort of story. Though they're not novels, a lot of Lovecraft's work is first person. Someone mentioned I Am Legend already but I'm seconding it
I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson is widely considered one of the finest horror novels of the 20th century *.
caw
* Please ignore the atrocious movie starring Will Smith, which is a travesty.
caw
* Please ignore the atrocious movie starring Will Smith, which is a travesty.
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I Am Legend has one of the best action scenes ever. I reread the book a few years ago with my writer's eyes, and I actually stopped and reread the scene over again with an eye to the hows of it. 
(It's the scene where he's fighting off the vamps in his driveway while in and around the station wagon.)
(It's the scene where he's fighting off the vamps in his driveway while in and around the station wagon.)
One of my favorites is Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg - hard boiled detective meets the supernatural. The book that got made into the movie Angel Heart.
I just bought this via Amazon. Been wanting to read it for years. Should be coming in the mail today. Can't wait.
I Am Legend has one of the best action scenes ever. I reread the book a few years ago with my writer's eyes, and I actually stopped and reread the scene over again with an eye to the hows of it.
... thnx for the additional recommendation
And discreet spoiler. Didn't read it.
Yes! I loved Bag of Bones so much and it is an excellent first-person POV book. I just finished The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum and that was pretty good, too. More thriller than horror I think, though.
Definitely House of Leaves. One of the best horror novels ever written. Up there with Poe and Lovecraft. Just wish Daniel would write another book instead of touring and doing lectures.
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Joyland, Bag of Bones and The Mist by Stephen King, and anything by Susan Hill.
Oh, and I Am Legend is a masterpiece in every respect.
Oh, and I Am Legend is a masterpiece in every respect.
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