The Ultimate Horror Novel

Actually, I haven't read it yet but I'm ever hopeful I will find it.  It seems the more I try to read horror the more disappointed I become with this genre.

I feel even more despondent after picking up Spiral by Koji Suzuki, NOTHING has happened yet to even give me a shiver and I'm halfway through it.  Supposedly he is Japan's Stephen King.......... but based on this novel I'm not so sure.  I've just read a few chapters of Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami and the story that a hotel receptionist tells the narrator about what happened to her on the 16th floor gave me more shivers than Spiral! 

Horror of course is subjective, and I guess you need to find a novel that plays on your fears, but mainly I find that the covers give me the creeps more than the contents lately.  I want to read a book that can really cause a prickling of the hair on my arms and the back of my neck, and the last one to do that was The Exorcist where Regan licks her mother's heels - now that was pretty nasty.  I got chills in Dracula, and Prey by Graham Masterton did make me feel nervous, probably because I had a possum or some sort of creature in my roof at the time and could relate to the story somewhat there! 

Some of the older novels are really worth reading and HP Lovecraft probably was the master (not forgetting also Robert Aickman) but surely there must be a really good modern horror novel out there.  PLEASE someone tell me what it is,  I want to feel the need to sleep with the lights on! 

Just an aside, I've been following http://twitter.com/#!/1000Novels.  I've enjoyed going through the list selected by The Guardians review team.  It's so different from the 1001 list that I'm following that I'm worried that I'm missing out some really great reads.........., 

PS This article brought out a few goosebumps for me check it out:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2065321_2065320_2065317,00.html