My Most-Awesomely-Horrfiying-Reads-Of-All-Time, aka my MAHROAT

While creating my review for Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles, I realized that I have a lot of favorite titles, for a lot of different reasons. Lessons from a Dead Girl was recently awarded a spot on what I think is my toughest list of favorites: my Most-Awesomely-Horrifying-Reads-Of-All-Time (hereafter referred to as my MAHROAT. I was going to attempt a cooler title, but I like how MAHROAT looks as an acronym, so, it stays.).

Anyway, the qualifications for a book to be included on my MAHROAT list? The book has to deal with a horrific situation in such a realistic setting that readers know it can and probably does happen all the time in real life, but for the most part we remain blissfully unaware that such things happen. Basically, it's a book that's obscenely difficult to read because of the subject matter, but one that sticks with us long after we've finished it. For my MAHROAT, these books have to be realistic fiction; the fear that this is something that could happen to me, to my daughter, to my family is most of what makes the read so terrifying to me.

For me, the bar is set pretty high--as of right now, there are only three titles on my MAHROAT list:

     1. Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott (my review is here)

     2. Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles (my review is here)

     3. Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess (my review is here)

Added July 25, 2011!

4. The Babysitter Murders by Janet Ruth Young (my review is here)

I think Living Dead Girl will always remain at #1 on my MAHROAT--it is the standard by which all other MAHROAT titles must live up to, and I have yet to read anything in YA realistic fiction that is as terrifying to me. (Is that a challenge, authors?) I just re-read the novel while preparing this post, and will be posting a review tomorrow.

I realize, of course, that in reading YA literature for only two years, I have only begun to scratch the surface, and hope to return to this post with updates as I stumble across new titles that will fit my MAHROAT qualifications.

Do you have your own MAHROAT, or is there a title you think I should read, perhaps a contender for my MAHROAT?

Enjoy your reading!
Christi