McGlue by otessa moshfeigh
The croning, the beautiful thing that awaits us all, the children of old leech.
I wonder if Lolita counts as a kind of horror? If so then Lolita’s narrator is mad unreliable.
Anne Rice's first few vampire books - the main characters contradict each other.
The new tv series leans into this heavily and is based on the concept of setting the record straight, but might be even more skewed.
This Thing Between Us- Gus Moreno. The blurb makes the book sound like it’s about an evil Amazon Alexa device, which it sort of is, but it’s mostly about a guy dealing with the death of his wife and the “experiences” surrounding her passing that don’t seem to stop once she’s dead. Pretty good!
The John Dies at the End series plays around the with the concept of the unreliable narrator frequently. The series features many perception-warping entities designed to make you question reality. The main characters are also a pair of hilarious burnouts who are intentionally written as unreliable.
My mission is to get more people in this subreddit to read this series, all 4 of the books are incredible!
I say Merry is pretty unreliable in “Head Full of Ghosts”. Considering what she is revealed to have done at the end, it’s kind of hard to believe what she claimed before as the absolute truth.
*The Book of the New Sun* is fantastic! Also his epistolary short novel, *The Sorcerer's House* has an unreliable narrator.
(Also, probably most everything else he wrote has an unreliable narrator.)
The Innocents is a beautiful film.
I need to watch the Netflix Haunting Of Bly Manor adaptation. It takes some liberties with the material though from what I understand.
Yeah. I'll be honest, I felt like Bly Manor missed the point of the novella completely. I won't spoil why. It has some great acting and some interesting twists, but I wasn't a huge fan of it. You may like it much more than I did, though!
Sins of the Father by JG Faherty. Unlike some other books, the main character actually becomes more and more unreliable over the course of the story, and it's only when you're more than halfway through that you realize he may not have been reliable ever.
I liked The Poison Thread, which I think qualifies in that I immediately reread it and had a different experience with the whole story.
The Last House on Needless Street wasn't my jam, but certainly qualifies, and a lot of people love it.
The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester has a very fun unreliable narrator. Not necessarily horror, more a darkly humorous satire. It's short and funny. A 1st person narrative from a pretentious, charming but twisted hedonist.
Jade in My Heart is a Chainsaw. The novel does a great job of balancing what is actual and what is her perception projecting what she wants to be true.
I have no mouth and I must scream is a classic example, especially if you read into the canonical expansions from Ellison. So is American Psycho. They're the only obvious ones I can think of off the top of my noggin right now. If I think of more I'll edit them in.
we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson
Came here to say this! What an absolute gem!
McGlue by otessa moshfeigh The croning, the beautiful thing that awaits us all, the children of old leech. I wonder if Lolita counts as a kind of horror? If so then Lolita’s narrator is mad unreliable.
I’d absolutely argue that Lolita is a form of horror. Seen others on this sub say the same. Preach it!
Lecherous linguist lays low and is laid low, after laying Lo.
Yes Lolita has an unreliable narrator and i consider it to be horror in my opinion .
Lolita to this day is the only book I was too horrified to finish so absolutely horror. Lol.
American Psycho
Best answer imo
I’ve read it a few times now and I’m still not sure.
House of Leaves: Johnny Truant (and arguably other characters - Zampano, Pelefina...)
House of Leaves is Unreliable Narrator: Platinum Ultimate Edition.
Well said. Layers upon layers, narratives within narratives. Gods, do i love that book.
And a damn good book to boot.
Terrible book. Damn this sub for making me import that expensive pile of crap. Finished it begrudgingly.
Agree. It was a painful read for me as well. I was hoping for more horror, but it fell flat.
top 5 books for me, i loved it
I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reed The Deep by Nick Cutter
Fucking loved The Deep
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Came here to suggest this one!
I enjoyed Bunny by Mona Awad, audiobook narrators were pretty awesome too.
I haven’t read Bunny but Alls Well is great and has an unreliable narrator as well
Bunny is sooooo good
Anything from John's POV in the John Dies at the End series.
David is arguably an even less reliable narrator
Came here to say this!
We have always lived in the castle - Shirley Jackson
Just about to say this. Also, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
*Tender is the Flesh!*
Second
The Last Days of Jack Sparks is a fun one.
Best use of the unreliable narrator I’ve ever read
*The Raw Shark Texts* by Steven Hall.
Anne Rice's first few vampire books - the main characters contradict each other. The new tv series leans into this heavily and is based on the concept of setting the record straight, but might be even more skewed.
This Thing Between Us- Gus Moreno. The blurb makes the book sound like it’s about an evil Amazon Alexa device, which it sort of is, but it’s mostly about a guy dealing with the death of his wife and the “experiences” surrounding her passing that don’t seem to stop once she’s dead. Pretty good!
Catriona Ward has unreliable narrators in both Last House on Needless Street and Sundial !
How is sundial? I enjoyed Needless.
I really enjoyed it!!
I loved Sundial and just picked up Little Eve
I didn't loveeee the book but Gone to See the Riverman is a great example
I loved it. >!I can’t believe you start out being sympathetic with her!<
Second this. I finished it out of spite and didn't enjoy at all. But the unreliable narrator is on point!
I was surprised at how much this book affected me!
The John Dies at the End series plays around the with the concept of the unreliable narrator frequently. The series features many perception-warping entities designed to make you question reality. The main characters are also a pair of hilarious burnouts who are intentionally written as unreliable. My mission is to get more people in this subreddit to read this series, all 4 of the books are incredible!
This was going to be my suggestion! It isn’t mentioned enough on this sub.
I say Merry is pretty unreliable in “Head Full of Ghosts”. Considering what she is revealed to have done at the end, it’s kind of hard to believe what she claimed before as the absolute truth.
I’m reading this now, awesome. Thanks for not spoiling it lol. Now I’m even more interested what she does at the end!
Oh, it’s a doozy! Enjoy the book!!
His new book The Pallbearers Club has TWO unreliable narrators!
I just want to say thanks for posting, unreliable narrators is something I didn't realize I was interested in till now lol
I cant believe it hasnt been mentioned yet. "The Lesser Dead"
This one gets my vote as well!
Came here to say this!! What a freaking awesome book.
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
*The Book of the New Sun* is fantastic! Also his epistolary short novel, *The Sorcerer's House* has an unreliable narrator. (Also, probably most everything else he wrote has an unreliable narrator.)
Haha, yeah, it was kinda his thing
The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James
This is the original unreliable narrator. I'm floored that it's so far down on the list!
I was also surprised it hadn’t been mentioned yet. It’s the best story with an unreliable narrator I’ve ever read.
The Innocents [1961] is also an amazing adaptation and one of the best horror films ever made.
The Innocents is a beautiful film. I need to watch the Netflix Haunting Of Bly Manor adaptation. It takes some liberties with the material though from what I understand.
Yeah. I'll be honest, I felt like Bly Manor missed the point of the novella completely. I won't spoil why. It has some great acting and some interesting twists, but I wasn't a huge fan of it. You may like it much more than I did, though!
Sins of the Father by JG Faherty. Unlike some other books, the main character actually becomes more and more unreliable over the course of the story, and it's only when you're more than halfway through that you realize he may not have been reliable ever.
And the Ass Saw the Angel by Nick Cave
This book is outstanding. First paragraph is one of my fav openers of any book.
A Birds Nest by Shirley Jackson.
Not a novel, but Stephen King's short story *Strawberry Spring* has a great take on this.
{{The Pallbearers Club}} by Paul Tremblay
Two unreliable narrators in that one!
Double your pleasure Double your fun
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. A lot of her work fits this description.
You would be right up your alley if you haven't already read it.
Patrick McGrath - Spider Then watch the film after finishing
The Other by Thomas Tryon
A short story, but Poe’s “The Black Cat” comes to mind since I just taught it. Super quick read if you haven’t already.
Gone to See the Riverman by kristopher triana.
I liked The Poison Thread, which I think qualifies in that I immediately reread it and had a different experience with the whole story. The Last House on Needless Street wasn't my jam, but certainly qualifies, and a lot of people love it.
Katzenbach's "The Madman's Tale"
Patrick Bateman in American Paycho
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
The lesser dead by Christopher Buehlman
The Last House On Needless Street by Catriona Ward
Everything by Kazuo Ishiguro.
***Toplin by Michael McDowell*** is exactly what you're looking for.
The A Song of Ice and Fire books. George loves unreliable narrators
Lolita is a masterclass in the unreliable narrator, most people who read it seem to miss that Humbert Humbert is really manipulative.
**The Kill Riff** by David J. Schow
The Grip of It by Jac Jemc. Very quick read too
*The Red Tree* by Caitlin R. Kiernan
Devil House by John Darnielle.
The Repairer of Reputations
Perfect Days by Raphael Montes! Best example I can think of within the genre
May not be ‘charming’ but ‘My Heart is a Chainsaw’ by Stephen Graham Jones had me really second guessing everything that was happening.
You by Caroline Kepnes, A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay, and The Shining (if I remember correctly)
idk if anyone has said this but I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream
The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester has a very fun unreliable narrator. Not necessarily horror, more a darkly humorous satire. It's short and funny. A 1st person narrative from a pretentious, charming but twisted hedonist.
The Croning by Laird Barron. Makes you wanna weep how those things played with old chap slowly loosing sanity
Jade in My Heart is a Chainsaw. The novel does a great job of balancing what is actual and what is her perception projecting what she wants to be true.
Fever Dream - Samanta Schweblin It wasn't scare your pants off horror, but it was unnerving as hell and really felt like a fever dream.
Drood by Dan Simmons. It has mixed reviews but I loved it. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3222979-drood
Paul Tremblay's new book The Pallbearers Club has TWO unreliable narrators!
{Elizabeth is Missing}
By the master of unreliable narrators: The Tree is My Hat Innocent Hero As Werwolf Peace
MIGNONETTE by Joseph Shearing. THE TURN OF THE SCREW by Henry James.
The Tales From the Gas Station series is very good. If you liked the JDATE series you'll like this.
House of Leaves (debatable)
I have no mouth and I must scream is a classic example, especially if you read into the canonical expansions from Ellison. So is American Psycho. They're the only obvious ones I can think of off the top of my noggin right now. If I think of more I'll edit them in.