The 15 Most Terrifying Stephen King Books, Ranked

This 2018 novel, recently adapted into a miniseries by HBO, blends the traditional detective story with supernatural elements. The Outsider follows the case of Terry Maitland, accused by Detective Ralph Anderson of murdering an 11-year-old boy based on seemingly definitive forensic evidence. There's just one problem: Terry also has an airtight alibi, leaving Anderson to figure out how Terry could be in two places at once. King renders this intriguing premise with his typical skill, making for a gripping story that recalls the pulpy style of some of his earlier work.

Firestarter is one of King's more underrated forays into science fiction. The novel follows Andy and Charlie, a father and daughter on the run from "The Shop," the government agency that gave them telekinetic and pyrokinetic abilities. Elements of the novel, such as corrupt government experiments and Charlie's destructive superpowers, continue to recur in popular media like Stranger Things. Since a remake of the 1980s adaptation is in the works, now might be the perfect time to give Firestarter a read.

Cujo is admittedly pretty schlocky, but that doesn't mean it's not effective. The novel centres on two families, the Trentons and the Cambers. As the Cambers are preparing to leave town, their good-natured Saint Bernard Cujo contracts rabies and promptly turns murderous. It doesn't quite reach the supernatural heights or philosophical heft of some of King's later work, but Cujo's blunt, visceral prose still makes for an enjoyable narrative.

The highly anticipated follow-up to The Shining had no hope of living up to fandom hype, but it still comes pretty close. Doctor Sleep focuses on Danny Torrance's adulthood, as he forcibly attempts to shut out his "shine" and memories of the ordeal his family endured at the Overlook Hotel. Danny soon forms a psychic bond with Abra, a young girl who also has supernatural abilities, and sets out to protect her from The True Knot, a group of immortals who murder individuals who "shine" in order to absorb their life force. The novel's focus on Danny's interiority recalls the haunting tone of The Shining, and the introduction of new characters like Abra and creepy antagonist Rose the Hat make this sequel a must read.

Gerald's Game is an example of King's talent for atmospheric, psychological horror. When Jessie Burlingame's husband Gerald dies while she is handcuffed to their bed, she becomes stranded with no help on the way. Trapped, Jessie begins to hallucinate and unearths previously repressed childhood trauma. Gerald's Game is grounded in Jessie's psyche, giving her character a humanizing arc while still conjuring up some terrifying imagery. There's a reason that this novel resulted in one of the best onscreen adaptations of King's work.

King named Lisey's Story as his best novel in a 2014 interview, saying of the story: "I wanted to talk about two things: One is the secret world that people build inside a marriage, and the other was that even in that intimate world, there's still things that we don't know about each other." It might seem like an unconventional pick for fans of King's gorier fare, but this character-focussed look at a wife unearthing her husband's secrets after his death is equal parts cerebral horror and touching romance.

The Dead Zone features yet another character with psychic powers. This time it's Johnny Smith, an everyman who wakes up from a coma with the ability to see the future. Johnny eventually has a vision of Greg Stillson — a dishonest, selfish businessman — being elected president and causing a world-ending conflict. Johnny, though initially hesitant, resolves to prevent that future and goes after Stillson. If that plot summary conjures up thoughts of present-day politics, you're not alone — perhaps King is the one who can see the future?

Engrossing and heavily researched, 11/22/63 sees King dabble in historical fiction to great effect. The novel is about Jake Epping, a high school teacher who discovers a portal in a local diner that can transport him back in time to 1958. Jake tries to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, as well as circumvent other tragic events. Like most time travellers, though, Jake soon has to contend with the "butterfly effect" and the havoc his actions wreak on the future. 11/22/63's conception of time travel and maneuvering of alternate histories are compelling features that make the novel stand out from the rest of King's work.

Pet Sematary is a quintessential King novel. This simple yet chilling story has spawned two film adaptations and remains a well-known horror staple. The plot revolves around Louis Creed and his family as they discover that the cemetery near their home has the eerie ability to reanimate the corpses that are buried there. When tragedy befalls the family and Louis tests the limits of the burial ground's power, he finds out the hard way that "sometimes dead is better." King's writing elevates an otherwise corny zombie premise with sobering depictions of what it's like to cope with loss.

King's second published book introduces features that crop up often in the rest of his work — a writer protagonist, a small Maine town with local colour, adults reckoning with repressed childhood-nightmares-turned-reality. In the novel, writer Ben Mears returns to his hometown, Jerusalem's Lot, around the same time as another strange visitor. Turns out this visitor is a vampire, and it's up to Ben to stop the whole town from being turned into vampires, too. 'Salem's Lot is a classic story, energized by King's singular ability to build out a sense of place and inhabit it with distinct characters who are easy to root for.

Right now might not be the best time to read The Stand, a post-apocalyptic novel about a strain of influenza that wipes out 99 percent of the planet's population. Still, it's considered by many fans to be King's magnum opus. The novel clocks in at over 1000 pages, blends a collection of genres, and explores lofty themes of morality and survival. The fact that King was able to conceive of such a complex, sprawling story seems miraculous; the end result is an eerie epic that might hit a little too close to home.

Misery is a personal novel for King, who once described the character of Annie Wilkes as the personification of his cocaine addiction. This emblematic King work is the story of novelist Paul Sheldon and Annie, his "biggest fan," who refuses to release him from captivity until he writes a novel that resurrects her favourite character. Annie is a horrifying villain made all the more memorable by Kathy Bates's unforgettable portrayal in the 1990 film adaptation. Misery doesn't rely on supernatural elements for its scare factor — its claustrophobic setting and an unhinged antagonist are more than enough to get under readers' skin.

King's debut novel, a raw look at the tortures of adolescence and female rage, has been adapted more times than any of his other works and remains one of his most well-known stories. The titular protagonist of Carrie is a teenage girl with telekinetic powers, bullied by her peers at school and abused by her mother. Carrie's pain finally finds its outlet at the novel's end, a bloody catharsis that still looms large in pop-cultural imagination, even years later.

Nowadays, Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of The Shining has arguably eclipsed the legacy of the original novel — a statement that would likely annoy King, who infamously despises Kubrick's version of his book. But whatever your feelings are on the differences between novel and film, it's impossible to deny the fact that The Shining is King's most iconic work. The Overlook Hotel is perhaps the most frightening, atmospheric setting in any of his books, and King plots the slow deterioration of Jack Torrance's sanity so as to induce maximum dread.

Yes, It is the reason legions of readers developed a fear of clowns. But it's also King's masterpiece.

It is the Moby Dick of horror novels: long, unwieldy, filled with digressions and metaphor, sometimes disturbing, sometimes poetic. The members of the Losers Club are some of King's most well-drawn characters; there's anxious hypochondriac Eddie Kaspbrak, loud-mouthed Richie Tozier, compassionate leader Bill Denbrough, and of course, there's Pennywise. "It" is King's most terrifying villain, a demented shapeshifter who poisons the whole town of Derry from its perch in the sewers and feeds on the fear of children.

The novel's narrative unfolds with the Losers returning to their hometown to face an evil they barely remember, the boundaries between their adult and childhood identities becoming increasingly porous as they begin to relive long-repressed terrors. It is about destiny, friendship, and the adolescent horrors that shape our adult selves. The novel is required reading for fans of King and lovers of literature. If you're a fan of clowns, though, you might want to sit this one out.