I don't recall any books scaring me when I was young. I do remember being disturbed by The Pearl when I was 13 or so. Never really got over it...
I read Helter Skelter when I was 14 or so. It was certainly appalling, but I think at that age I was very removed from that kind of horror, and hadn't seen enough of the real world yet to really get it.
As an adult, it's much harder for me to read such things. I had to put For a Song and a Hundred Songs: A Poet's Journey Through a Chinese Prison aside because it was so brutal.
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