15. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. I was off reading for a few weeks after I finished it.
16. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a very famous allegorical novel that asserts the existence of an innate savagery within us all. You may or may not have read it before, but if you haven’t, then heed my warning: there is not a shred of optimism to be found anywhere in its ~200 pages. It’s about a group of boys trying to survive while stranded on a desert island. As time goes on, they become more and more uncivilized, and the situation deteriorates to the point of extreme violence and cruelty.
17. The Stand is pretty intense.
There is literally a chapter dedicated to telling short stories of how several people died in the plague in gruesome detail. Pretty depressing story, but a fun ride for sure.
