I want to play!
- The Shining—Stephen King
- Harry Potter—JK Rowling (especially Chamber of Secrets, if I had to limit it to just one)
- Jurassic Park—Michael Crichton
- Frankenstein—Mary Shelley
- Goosebumps—RL Stine (loved these as a kid, and they were definitely pretty formative in my life)
- NOS4A2—Joe Hill
- Brother—Ania Ahlborn
- Intensity—Dean Koontz
- Off Season—Jack Ketchum
- In the Dark—Richard Laymon
- Bird Box—Josh Malerman
- Lord of the Flies—William Golding
- Summer of Night—Dan Simmons
- Boys Life—Robert McCammon
- The Road—Cormac McCarthy
There are many other King books I'd add (especially Misery, Pet Sematary, and The Drawing of the Three), but I decided to limit it to one per author to give the list a little more variety.
Edit: I can't believe The Ruins wasn't one of the first ones to pop into my head. I won't go back and add it now, because I guess that would defeat the whole point, but it's definitely a book I love and think about often.
As stated earlier, hard to pick just 15. All of these may be on others lists already but, in no particular order:
1. The Dark Tower (King)
2. Carrion Comfort (Simmons)
3. Swan Song (McCammon)
4. The Stand (King)
5. Abarat (Barker)
6. Matthew Corbett series (McCammon)
7. It (King)
8. The Terror (Simmons)
9. The Ceremonies (Klein)
10. Headhunter (Slade)
11. Straw Man series (Michael Marshall Smith)
12. Natchez Burning trilogy (Iles)
13. Bob Lee Swagger series (Hunter)
14. Pendergast series (Preston &Child)
15. Watership Down (Adams)