Stephen King's Best Novel?

[Miss Taylor]

Try Pet Sematary, very eerie and well written IMO.

Definitely agree! Only read about four or five of King's, but this one freaked me right out. Extremely creepy! Definitely one of my top ten of all time.

 

[Nesacat]

I like hi short stories best of all. As far as novels go here are the ones I like best:

Salem's Lot ... I like the way the vampire is not always the bad guy and how he really takes the trouble to describe everyone so you feel you know them.

Cycle of the Werewolf ... I guess this really is a novella and it's been published in a nicely illustrated volume. I like how the story evolves with the werewolf realising what's going on.

IT .... see I told you clowns were nasty horrid creatures. Aside from that I liked that the horror was not precisely defined until the end (sigh).

The Shining .... the movie is great too in my opinion. Well written and well paced.

Pet Cemetary ... seriously creeped me out. I guess we have all wondered about bringing loved ones back ...

 

[AE35Unit]

I've not read a great deal of King but the best I have read is Misery! Just superb edge-of-your-seat story telling

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Necacat's choices are more or less identical to my own, although I would consider The Dark Half too.

 

[Nesacat]

I have not actually read the Dark Half books though I have been seriously thinking about doing so ... the graphic novels are lovely as well. This thread might just tip the balance. We'll see how my purse feels after all the bills are paid.

 

[AE35Unit]

Do you mean the Dark Tower series Nesa? The Dark Half is a stand alone horror(very good too!)

 

[AE35Unit]

(Interesting that i think that the Stand and It were not very good films, yet Christine, Salsm's lot and the Shining i were great movies IMO.)

Surely you jest;IT is a fabulous film! And the book is just far too long to be readable! I've tried twice and I'm like, Get on with it for gods sake! Just like Clive Barker's books-too big by far!

 

[Fried Egg]

I forgot to report back after getting around to reading "The Mist". I've now also seen the film as well.

To be honest, whilst the story was ok, his style is a little too wooden for my tastes. The film was a good adaptation and a superior ending in my opinion. I can see why so many of his stories are turned into films, it seems as if he writes with one eye on the camera, as if it's half novel, half screen play. A bit like Michael Crichton in that regard.

I know I should probably give another one of his books a chance, and I probably will at some point, I just have other horror authors that are higher priority for now...

 

[Nesacat]

Do you mean the Dark Tower series Nesa? The Dark Half is a stand alone horror(very good too!)

Ah yes I did ... I have read the Dark Half. Thanks for spotting that. I had a feeling something was wrong when I was typing.

 

[Omphalos]

Anyone read the new one? the one about the glass dome covering the town? Can't remember the name.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Under the Dome. I started reading it, got about halfway or so through it, but had to stop due to other things. Was enjoying it up to then, anyway, although I could see things were going to start going downhill fast -- the good guys were getting one over the bad guys too often...

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

I've been a King fan for a long while now and have read almost all of his works. The ones that stand out for me:

The Stand
Salem's Lot
It

And one that stands out over the others but had the worst sequel ever (The Black House was boring!):

The Talisman (absolutely amazing)

 

[drush9999]

Salem's Lot or The Shining

Both are top-notch horror stories.

 

[Disturbed Dee]

personally, and its probably not his best but I love Salems Lot, it really creeped me out when I read it which made it so good for me.

 

[museatlantis]

I would have to say The Stand its just amazing to read

 

[kcs_hiker]

King's best novel depends a lot on where you are in your life... for example I read The Stand when it was first released in 1978 and I was 19 years old and thus it made a great impression on me. The Stand was the first King novel that I read... I read the rest of his published work in college (which consisted of half a dozen books at the time), I recall Salem's Lot standing out. Hearts in Atlantis (1999) and Duma Key (2008) round out my list of favorites.. in order they probably go like this:

1. Duma Key
2. The Stand
3. Hearts in Atlantis
4. Salem's Lot

with honorable mention going to The Shining (but I actually like the movie more)

 

[clovis-man]

I agree with several others that The Stand may be his best. But I also found Needful Things to be worthwhile among his many other works. I actually found an antique shop on the Oregon coast with the same name and discovered the best "finds" there in comparison to any other such retail establishment I've ever visited.

 

[dask]

THE STAND was very good. I read the bowdlerized version but don't feel the need to get the unabridged edition even though I've had the chance to pick one up real cheap. THE MIST, though, was my favorite.

 

[Hober Mallow]

I stopped reading his works in the mid '90s, just because I wanted to move on from horror to other genres. For me, the scariest was Pet Cemetery. Though his short stories from Skeleton Crew and Night Shift were scary too.

I have also read Carrie, Christine, Cujo, Needful Things, Thinner, The Stand, The Dark Half, Salem's Lot, Dark Tower 1-3, The Eye's of the Dragon, Firestarter, IT, The Talisman, and The Tommyknockers,...whew. I know there's some really good ones I've never read like The Shining, and Desperation.

 

[nixie]

I also enjoyed Four Past Midnight...