This week I'd like to share one of the scariest books I remember reading: 'The Lost,' by Jonathan Aycliffe.
On the surface there is no reason why this novel should have been so scary. It's little more than an updated version of 'Dracula,' even told in the same epistolary style and once again takes place in a creepy castle nestled away in the Carpathian mountains. And I've read 'Dracula' so many times that there was no way I didn't see every part of 'The Lost' coming a mile away.
And yet...
Once upon a time a movie director gave me this advice: don't try to tell an original story, just try to tell a familiar story in an original way. That's precisely what Aycliffe does here. Even when I went back and read 'The Lost' a second time, it still terrified me.
Just because you know how something will end doesn't mean it won't terrify you. With 'The Lost,' the terror comes from Aycliffe's expert scene setting pacing, and subtlety. It is exactly a familiar tale told in a (quasi-) original way, and it's done brilliantly.
What scares you? What is the scariest book you've ever read?
Looks pretty fun - I look forward to more Terror Tuesday! Blogging... what a complex and weird endeavor it is. I still feel like I'm figuring it out - probably I think about it too much :-)
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