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10 scariest Stephen King novels
We're devoting the third of our 31 specials for the 31 days of Halloween to Stephen King's 10 scariest novels. And before you leap on us for not including your favorite book, remember—we're not claiming these are the 10 best Stephen King novels, just the ones most likeliest to keep you up at night.
Check back tomorrow at noon for the greatest toys based on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu.
The Shining (1977)
The haunted Overlook Hotel houses a family that, over one long winter, slowly goes insane together. It's scariest inside poor Jack's head. He's a guy who didn't have to be a monster, but who lives the horror of becoming one.
'Salem's Lot (1975)
We get the unnerving impression that something's gone seriously wrong with this sleepy New England town long before King finally—well into the page count—gets around to revealing that the new neighbors are vampires. Then the bloodsuckers start scratching at windows in the dead of night, and we lose it. It's one of the last times vampires were actually allowed to be scary.
Pet Semetary (1982)
Even the author thought this novel a bit too scary to publish, and held on to the manuscript for a number of years, until Tabitha told him he was just being silly. Bless her for interfering. This novel about a backwoods burial ground that resurrects the dead—though not unchanged—starts creepy and gets creepier with every page, arriving at King's most disturbing final sentence.
Cujo (1981)
The scariest part of this tale of a rabid Saint Bernard on the loose is the suggestion that the dog is not just suffering from a deadly neurological infection, but also is possessed by the crazed murderer from The Dead Zone. (Don't look for that, or the much more powerful ending, in the movie.) Cujo himself actually starts out as a fine dog, which is why we give King extra points for reminding us at the end that none of what happens was the poor pooch's fault.
Misery (1987)
One of two King books on this list that trap their main characters in bed, this one's about a best-selling author who barely survives a car crash only to find himself being nursed in the home of his deranged "number-one fan." Annie Wilkes' mood swings are so unpredictable that it's no use placating her, or reasoning with her, or even obeying her every whim: It's still just a matter of time before she does something horrible. One edition came complete with a parody second cover that featured King posing shirtless, a prospect scarier than some entire novels listed here.
The Stand (Complete and Uncut Version) (1990)
The rapid spread of the plague that destroys civilization may be just the beginning, but it happens to be King at his most relentless. Then absolute supernatural evil shows up in the form of Randall Flagg, who gives the few survivors something even worse to worry about. The Gunslinger series aside, this is the one King book that qualifies as epic, as opposed to just long.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999)
A lost child wanders off the Appalachian Trail and almost dies trying to find her way back to civilization, all while being stalked by a beast that may or may not be a figment of her own imagination. Hint: It's not Governor Mark Sanford. This became a pop-up book, which makes it the only King book to literally jump up and say boo.
Cell (2006)
An electronic tone turns everybody who hears it into mindless, rampaging killers. It begins with a terrifying orgy of mass slaughter before the book gradually loses steam. But those early scenes are as nightmarish as anything the man's ever written.
Gerald's Game (1992)
This is the other book where King traps his main character on a bed. The one King work least likely ever to make it to the movies, it thrusts us into the head of a woman who should have spoken her safe word sooner and louder, when an accident leaves her husband dead during an experiment in bondage. Now handcuffed to the headboard with the oaf dead at her feet, she faces an agonizing death by thirst ... only to gradually realize that she's not alone in the house.
Carrie (1974)
A shy, friendless teen who suddenly finds herself invited to the prom. Too bad it's part of a plot to humiliate her. Too bad that she has powerful telekinetic powers and happens to be one cruel prank away from a total freak-out. This is the one that first got King all the attention.
And while you're in a Halloween state of mind, why not check out:
Day 1: 19 amazing Star Wars pumpkins
Day 2: Our 9 favorite crazy zombie kills of all time (video)
Day 4: 14 great Cthulhu toys that make devouring souls fun
Day 5: 15 haunted cereals that will scare your dentist
Day 6: 20 great costumes to dress up your pet
Day 7: 21 (mostly) sexy female stormtroopers (NSFW)
Day 8: 9 movie and TV clowns that scared the hell out of us
Day 9: 10 creepy movie kids even Angelina Jolie wouldn't adopt
Day 10: 6 most awesome Stephen King horror films (plus 3 that sucked)
Day 11: 16 horror movie posters so gruesome they make our eyeballs bleed
Day 12: 16 hot movie and TV vampires who turn us into willing victims
Day 13: 20 awesomely hot Slave Leia costumes (slightly NSFW)
Day 14: 14 lamest horror movie killer costumes (What were they thinking?)
Day 15: 9 of the grossest, goriest X-Files creatures
Day 16: 11 splatterific exploding head scenes from the movies
Day 17: 15 of the most disgusting Halloween candies you can buy
Day 18: 19 freakiest movie and TV neighbors from hell
Day 19: 11 most disturbing Treehouse of Horror segments from The Simpsons
Day 20: 9 rampaging space zombies hungry for our sci-fi brains
Day 21: 10 most nightmarish movie prom nights
Day 22: 11 scary, goofy and just plain revolting movie possessions
Day 23: 13 kick-ass moments from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Day 24:13 real haunted houses you can visit in the U.S.
Day 25: 15 ghoulish apps you can download to your iPhone
Day 26: 20 hot film and TV witches and warlocks that cast a spell on us
Day 27: The 10 most truly, utterly evil things in sci-fi
Day 28: The 15 cursed movie objects you NEVER want to own
Day 29: 14 most twisted original Twilight Zone twist endings
Day 30: 16 sci-fi costumes that would definitely get you fired (NSFW)
Day 31: 12 awesome sci-fi Halloween moments, real and fake
By Zizziana at 1:55 PM ON 10/03/09
Personally, I was waiting for "It" to make the list. I personally hold Stephen King responsible for the fact that clowns freak the heck out of me and to this day I can't watch clown episodes of any show that deals with the supernatural without my husband in the room.
By Jester at 2:02 PM ON 10/03/09
Ah, I see you just made a list of Stephen King books you've read recently.
The fact that "Gerald's Game" is on this list and "IT" is not is a crime. There's no way "Gerald's Game" is scarier than "IT". There just isn't.
By Rayne at 2:03 PM ON 10/03/09
I didn't think The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was scary. :/ And oddly enough, though I'm a huge fan, I haven't read half of these. I gotta get on it!
By WritinginCT at 2:15 PM ON 10/03/09
Very disappointed not to see "It" on this list. For me, it's one of his more terrifying novels. I enjoyed "Carrie", "Gerald's Game", and the "The Stand" but didn't find them particularly scary. I think you find some of his more frightening tales in his short stories rather than his novels.
By mykl at 2:27 PM ON 10/03/09
How is “Gerald's Game” and “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon” scary? Where is “It” and “Needful Things”? Redo the article and put them in stead of those two really lame attempts King wrote.
By Jayguana at 2:31 PM ON 10/03/09
Wow. You guys really did miss a lot of stories. He has some really scary short stories (Night Shift, The Monkey, and The Boogeyman) just to list a few. And then there is at least one truely scary Bachman book and that is The Long Walk. Geralds Game was not scary and one of his worst books really and The Girl who loved Tommy Gordon was interesting but not really scary. These are just opinions.
By snowlady21 at 2:42 PM ON 10/03/09
My 3 favs are The Stand, Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile. Christine was pretty scary. Scarier than Tom Gordon.
By nerdsrocket at 3:01 PM ON 10/03/09
I'm so glad you included The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon on the list. That book was so eerie, I ended up crawling into my sister's bed one night 'cause I couldn't sleep on my own. It's not the same kind of scary as The Shining or Cujo, but I was far more creeped out by it than most other King novels.
By AgentSpectrum at 3:23 PM ON 10/03/09
Got to agree with the majority on this one - "IT" should have definitely made the list. Though there are a few on this list I haven't read yet, I hope to remedy that soon.
By Token at 3:46 PM ON 10/03/09
IT was sh__.
I well remember waiting for CUJO to finally come out, and being bitterly disappointed. It was sorta scary and horrible, but it was the beginning of a change that led King away from the top spot on my favorite author list.
Authors change, readers change... It has been a long time since Steven King seemed at all scary to me.
By 0number4 at 3:49 PM ON 10/03/09
I agree with the top 3; I would put them in a different order: 1) Pet Semetary 2) Salem's Lot 3) The Shining. I also found Bag Of Bones (ghosts) to be scary. "It" should be on the list also many scary short stories.
By Michael at 4:14 PM ON 10/03/09
@Jester: I agree with you totally. GERALD'S GAME is good, but not really scary. And the fact that it holds a slot and IT does not is a travesty.
By Carrie. at 4:28 PM ON 10/03/09
How can "It" not be listed?? Or Tommyknockers? Those two scared the crap out of me.
By stolarin at 4:28 PM ON 10/03/09
I didnt find misery to be scary at all. Christine should have been on the list
By bfwebster at 4:35 PM ON 10/03/09
Yeah, as someone who has been reading King for 35+ years, I disagree with a lot of these selections.
King's best work was his earliest: to have written "Carrie", "Salem's Lot", "The Shining", "The Stand", "The Dead Zone", "Firestarter", and "The Mist" as successive novels (the last is really a novella) is a stunning achievement.
But when "Cujo" came out, I bought it, read it, and said "Meh." A woman trapped in a Pinto by a large rabid St. Bernard just didn't do much for me. "Pet Sematary" lost me even earlier. When it came out (1982), I had two small children and a third on the way; I lost all sympathy for the main character when he chooses to bring his dead boy back to life even though he's already seen how the cat turned out. I mean, what kind of parent would do that?
"IT" (1986) is one of his best novels but the ending is a bit weak (and the ultimate solution a bit creepy -- and not in a good way).
From that point on, I found most of King's novels to be hit or miss. His work became a bit repetitive -- same themes, same stereotypes, same profanities. There's a few I've skipped along the way, though not many.
On the other hand, I was very encouraged by "Duma Key" (2008), which is one of his best and scariest novels in many years.
King's best novel (IMHO) is his collaboration with Peter Straub, "The Talisman". I consider it to be one of the best American novels of the 20th Century. Likewise, his novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" is one of the great American novellas of the 20th Century.
For me, his single scariest work was a short story, "The Jaunt". If you have young kids (as I did when I first read it), you'll know why. ..bruce..
By Brurrrrggghhh at 4:45 PM ON 10/03/09
The author of the article has said elsewhere that he knew there'd be a stink over his failure to include "IT" -- but that he despises that novel and considers it one of King's most bloated and self-indulgent.
Also, this was a list of King's scariest novels. Short stories (and novellas) were not eligible, and there's no doubt that many of them would have made the list over some of the novels.
By crichton007 at 4:58 PM ON 10/03/09
He's written something good? If he has I haven't read it. There are far too many other writers who write good stuff to waste time on any more stuff by Stephen King.
By Beggly at 6:13 PM ON 10/03/09
It and Needful Things should be on the list. Even if the writer didn't like them personally. Gerald's Game should be consigned to a landfill someplace. And never reserected. I thought Thinner (Bachman) was pretty gnarly, as well, and it didn't make this list.
By Michael at 6:24 PM ON 10/03/09
@crichton007: Huh. You're pretty funny. But actually, if you study English at the University level, you'll find that King is one of the few contemporary horror writers that college instructors consider "literary" enough to be allowed in the curriculum. So how's them apples?
By Paul B. at 7:10 PM ON 10/03/09
Who considers "The Stand" to be scary? It's an epic science fiction novel, really. (I loved the book, but it's not scary.)
And why is "Cujo" on this list? Did ANYBODY actually find that book scary in the least?
Some of these were no-brainers (Shining, Salem's Lot). I understand people clamoring for "IT" to be on the list, and I almost agree--it would be better than Cujo, at least--but IT's finale and ending sucked.
I'd vote for "Desperation" over IT or Cujo or The Stand. There are some truly freaky/frightening moments, and it's one of King's least bloated books.
But, really...Cujo? The Stand? "Scariest" King novels? HA!
(Oh, this is my third attempt with your crappy Captcha system. How many people have to complain before you fix it, huh?)
By jlh101572 at 7:21 PM ON 10/03/09
Desperation was very scary...should have been on the list! That was the only one that gave me nightmares.
By azathoth at 10:35 PM ON 10/03/09
Stephen King suffers from "bad ending" disease. Some of his books start well, but when god kills the villain with a nuke, you just aren't trying very hard. If God is going to kill the villain, why didn't he do so in the first chapter and save everyone the grief?
By rutan07 at 1:45 AM ON 10/04/09
Who made this list and have they ever read "IT". I man hands down that is the scariest novel ever written and as a life long King fan who has read all his novels there can be no doubt. Kids...clowns...balloons...somehow in that novel they all scare the crap out of you. AND IT IS NOT EVEN ON THIS LIST! Pathetic.
By davidhrosen at 6:01 AM ON 10/04/09
Totally agree with your thoughts on Talisman, bfwebster, and with the majority here on IT. The one Stephen King movie that turned out to be scarier than the book had to be The Mist.
By sscroggins at 7:08 AM ON 10/04/09
I've read a bunch of King books and I've never been scared by any of them. At all. However, years ago I came across an audio "play" of The Mist. For the scariness factor it blew the recent movie out of the water. Truly recommended.
By radiodaze at 7:40 AM ON 10/04/09
The only King book that really scared me was Salem's Lot. Rumor had it at one point that King was gonna do a sequel, but never did. I'd take Gerald's Game, Tom Gordon and The Cell off this list and add Talisman, IT and Tommyknockers, but I don't know if that would make it a list of King's scariest or just my favorites.
By BrianaMJ at 9:22 AM ON 10/04/09
While I love The Stand, I have to agree that it isn't scary in the normal sense. Randall Flagg is by far NOT the scariest part of the book. It's the fact that the US Government created Captain Tripps, which then got loose and infected the world. When you realize that this could truly happen, it becomes worrisome. I love the book not for the scare factor, but rather for the interesting look at the breakdown of society.
I haven't read many Stephen King novels. I read a few, and it was about chapter 6 of Needful Things that I realized that the book was depressing the hell out of me. I had to take a nice break after that, but did finally enjoy The Shining and Tommyknockers. I'm still wary on reading him.
By madcat at 9:24 AM ON 10/04/09
I've read everything King ever wrote, some books twice. By far and away the scariest book he ever wrote wasn't a novel. Ita an anthology..."Everything's Eventual" It is simply the scariest thing I've ever read, and I have read everything, lovecraft, Poe, Barker, Bradbury and more. You guys don't know what you talking about. You're probably half my age and don't read all that much.
By rj472 at 9:39 AM ON 10/04/09
When i first saw previews for the movie "The Happening" I thought it was an adaptation of Stephen King's "Cell" but, alas, it was not. Although i do feel M Knight must have gotten some ideas for the initial carnage and destruction from that book.
By TrekkieTX at 3:47 PM ON 10/04/09
OK, I agree that IT should be on the list, but have any of yall read "Survivor Type?" It is the freakiest Stephen King short story i have ever read!!! That was WAY scarier than Cujo or Gerald's Game...
By Jonas72 at 4:58 AM ON 10/05/09
The only way King's books keeps me up at night, is because I can't put them down. Tommyknockers and IT should have made your list, though.
By Callie at 11:27 AM ON 10/05/09
I think you're all missing the mark. This is one person's opinion of Stephen King's scariest work. If you don't like it, go make your own list.
I don't agree with all the author's choices but I will defend his right to state them.
By quiet.adjuvant at 12:47 PM ON 10/05/09
Cell was the worst book King has ever written. It was only scary by how absolutely horrible it was. FODDER.
By closettreckie at 2:51 PM ON 10/05/09
I think that his short stories should be done in separate category here are my favourites
Apt Pupil, The Breathing Method, Dolans Cadilliac,The Mist,The Night Flier,Quitters Inc and The Ten O'Clock People
By staciestinker at 9:07 PM ON 10/05/09
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon? Are u kidding me???? That was sooooo not scary!!! What about "N", that was a lot creepier!!!!
By rpg at 3:31 AM ON 10/06/09
I like the Cell. It's one of the new King's stories but also one of the best in my view (not scary, but with good story). Pet Sementary was also great. Slow and heavy. :)
By rurib at 10:46 PM ON 10/06/09
What about IT???
By suteko at 1:42 PM ON 10/08/09
Like RJ472 said this is this one person's list. He didnt like IT but I do agree it is certainly a scary story. And everyone remember that this is a list of BOOKS, not King's short stories. Short stories are generally, to me anyways, scarier because you get right to the point. They are harder to write even though they are shorter.
By Samuel71 at 4:24 PM ON 10/10/09
Gerald's Game was one of, if not the, scariest Stephen King novel I've read (although Misery and Pet Sematary were in the running, too). The big novels like It, The Stand, and Dreamcatcher were better overall, but they weren't scary.
Still, the short stories are scarier than any of the novels. The Sun Dog comes to mind, and The Monkey.
By emilyjem at 12:00 AM ON 10/11/09
His most recent novel, Duma Key, was absolutely terrifying!
By buffyrat at 1:52 PM ON 10/23/09
The Shining was my first King novel. I would read it late at night alone in the house while my wife was working pm shift as a nurse. Scared me fierce. At times I could only read a few pages before I had to put it down. Still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up just thinking about it.
Salem's Lot is the scariest Vampire book I've ever read. They weren't very nice at all!
Pet Sematary, Cujo, Carrie, Christine---all hair raisers!
By woolfer at 9:11 PM ON 12/06/09
These are all a bit scary, but none comes close to 'The Shining' at #1 & ,years later, 'Duma Key' at #2.
By sid at 3:24 PM ON 01/28/10
The Shining is in a different league all together...pity the movie went so far from the novel.
By kellym198200 at 4:32 AM ON 02/04/10
I think Gerald's Game should've been at the top of the list. It was the most terrified I've ever been reading a book in my entire life.
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kellym198200:
I think Gerald's Game should've been at the top of the list. It was the most terrified I've ever been reading a boo...More »