For me it was Gerald’s Game by Stephen King. I think it’s a fantastic novel with amazing character development. The main character is extremely realistic and well written. Despite the seemingly silly premise, I was invested throughout the entire thing. The main character’s development is really what sells it for me.
That being said, I am absolutely not reading it again anytime soon. There are two scenes in particular(if you’ve the book I’m sure you know) that managed to make extremely uncomfortable, mortified, and disgusted. My biggest fear is being trapped and helpless, so this book really got to me. Fantastic book, I’m never picking it up again.
Either that or Lord of the Flies… Dear God.
Not a book but a short: I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison.
It still feels like a story that was meant to hurt people. Every once in a while I’ll have flashes of the story cross my mind and I’ll get a thousand yard stare for a few seconds.