I've only read the first one, it's pretty good, it has a different feel from the films though. Ending is different but I prefer it. As for being scary, its about on the same level as the films. Theres a few disturbing bits that they've left out of the film but they're not really scary. The translation is good but as I often find with translated works it lacks a wee bit of passion. I read it on a train to and from Newcastle and it passed the time pretty quickly. If you liked the movies you would probably like it.