House of Leaves [suggested by Wendy Gibson]

Johnny Truant wild and troubled sometime employee in a LA tattoo parlour, finds a notebook kept by Zampano, a reclusive old man found dead in a cluttered apartment. Herein is the heavily annotated story of the Navidson Report.

Will Navidson, a photojournalist, and his family move into a new house. What happens next is recorded on videotapes and in interviews. Now the Navidsons are household names. Zampano, writing on loose sheets, stained napkins, crammed notebooks, has compiled what must be the definitive work on the events on Ash Tree Lane.

But Johnny Truant has never heard of the Navidson Record. Nor has anyone else he knows. And the more he reads about Will Navidson’s house, the more frightened he becomes. Paranoia besets him. The worst part is that he can’t just dismiss the notebook as the ramblings of a crazy old man. He’s starting to notice things changing around him … [product description from Amazon]

The book has its own Wikipedia page.

Author’s Wikipedia page.
Author’s website.

Shortlisted for this month

The book selector for the month can choose up to three books for nomination. This month, Wendy’s other choices were:

Salem’s Lot

‘Salem’s Lot’ is a small New England town with the usual quota of gossips, drinkers, weirdos and respectable folk. Of course there are tales of strange happenings — but not more than in any other town its size.

Ben Mears, a moderately successful writer, returns to the Lot to write a novel based on his early years, and to exorcise the terrors that have haunted him since childhood. The event he witnessed in the house now rented by a new resident. A newcomer with a strange allure. A man who causes Ben some unease as things start to happen: a child disappears, a dog is brutally killed — nothing unusual, except the list starts to grow.

Soon surprise will turn to bewilderment, bewilderment to confusion and finally to terror… [Product description from Amazon]

One of King’s most famous works, the book inevitably has its own Wikipedia page, and has also been made into TWO TV series, each of which has its own entry: One made in 1979, and the second in 2004.

About the Author

Author’s Wikipedia entry.
Author’s website.

Hannibal

You remember Hannibal Lecter: gentleman, genius, cannibal. Seven years have passed since Dr. Lecter escaped from custody. And for seven years he’s been at large, free to savor the scents, the essences, of an unguarded world.

But intruders have entered Dr. Lecter’s world, piercing his new identity, sensing the evil that surrounds him. For the multimillionaire Hannibal left maimed, for a corrupt Italian policeman, and for FBI agent Clarice Starling, who once stood before Lecter and who has never been the same, the final hunt for Hannibal Lecter has begun. All of them, in their separate ways, want to find Dr. Lecter. And all three will get their wish. But only one will live long enough to savor the reward… [Product description from Amazon]

Hannibal also has its own Wikipedia page, has of course been made into a movie (see Wikipedia, or IMDb), but also ran for three seasons between 2013-15 as a TV series, which as usual also has an entry on IMDb.

About the Author

Author’s Wikipedia entry.
Author’s website (hosted by Random House).