“Stephen King’s the maestro of horror, suspense and psychological profundity. His work deftly mixes supernatural elements with motifs of fear, isolation and human darkness. The characters and creepy places to which King pays particular attention draw the reader into his books, whether its his haunted hotels (The Shining) or towns with vampire problems (Salem’s Lot) or more sophisticated fantasy and horror epics (The Dark Tower Series). Whether examining the macabre in It and Pet Sematary or the psychological terror of obsession in Misery, king is among the most significant horror and popular fiction authors of his time.
In Image: Stephen King, The Book Writer
1. Carrie (1974): How a Horror Icon Was Born
“Carrie, Stephen King’s debut novel, mustered the standard for a career that would redefine horror. At its most basic, Carrie is a story of revenge, isolation and repression. The protagonist is Carrie White, a timid high school teen with an overbearing, deeply religious mother. Carrie, a girl who is mercilessly bullied at school, discovers that she has telekinetic powers, which she unleashes on prom night — devastatingly vengefully — against her tormentors.”
Stephen King’s story is filled with social commentary on the perils of cruelty, the mercilessness of peer pressure and the agony of adolescence. The shape of the fictional tale, with made-up letters, papers and articles thrown in, makes these harrowing moments feel journalistic in a way that gives them a touch of authenticity. Carrie was such a resounding success for Stephen and for the publisher, despite Stephen’s accompanying flotilla of rejection letters, that we could argue that it’s the book that brought us Stephen, and that established the template for so many of his subsequent works that combine supernatural and psychological horror. Brian De Palma’s film adaptation of Carrie, 1976’s Carrie, made it a cultural touchstone.
2. The Shining (1977): An Analysis of Isolation and Madness
“The Shining is widely thought of as one of Stephen King’s most enduring works due to its haunting Overlook Hotel location and its riveting study of the psychological unspooling. Jack Torrance, a struggling writer and ex-alcoholic, takes a job as winter caretaker for the remote hotel. Winter sets in, and Jack’s own inner demons combine with the evil powers of the hotel to destabilize his sanity.”
Stephen King excels at suspense by placing the otherworldly elements plaguing the Overlook in stark contrast to Jack’s descent into lunacy. Jack’s son Danny possesses a psychic gift called “the shining,” which allows him to sense the hotel’s demonic presence and communicate telepathically. Stephen King graphs the ghost story in acutely personal terms in The Shining, thinking also about addiction, violent relationships and the tenuous edge between creativity and mania. And although its interpretation strays from King’s original vision in ways that have proven controversial, this was the year that Stanley Kubrick released his own cinematic adaptation, widely considered a work of genius in its own right, further cementing the novel’s status as a classic.
3. Salem’s Lot (1975): Vampires Have Taken Over America’s Small Towns
Sinister forces are at work in a small town in Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot where a classic vampire story plays out. Here, an ancient vampire named Kurt Barlow settles into a crumbling house in Jerusalem’s Lot and soon sees the village swallowed in darkness. Ben Mears, the protagonist of the story, is a writer who finds this gruesome horror on his return to the town of his youth.”
In Salem’s Lot, the small-town dynamic — everyone knows each other’s secrets — is explored as well as how quickly a community can be soured by a lingering, insidious evil. King explores not only otherworldly dread, but human fallibility, loneliness and the erosion of trust, while bringing his own contemporary sensibility with a vengeance (he seems to have read Dracula more closely than some of its quarry did). Widely known to be among the best vampire stories in modern literature, the book was adapted into multiple miniseries, each managing to do justice to the onscreen interpretation of Stephen King’s vision.
4. It (1986): Childhood’s Horror and Fear
“It’s hardly even a story, but an exploration of dread itself in a sprawling epic of horror and nostalgia. The story, which takes place in the fictional town of Derry, Maine, hops back and forth between two time periods: the late 1950s and the 1980s. Entitled “The Losers’ Club,” misfit youngsters unite to fight a shape-shifting monster that embodies their greatest fears — including a terrifying clown called Pennywise. When Pennywise re-emerges almost 30 years later, the now-adult Losers have to return to Derry — and face the not just the monster but the traumas they never spoke of.”
It’s less about cosmic horror than about the loss of youth and the durability of friendship. Stephen King, the master of deeper themes of pain, memory, and the repetitive nature of evil. Thanks in large part to Tim Curry’s iconic performance in the 1990 miniseries and Bill Skarsgård’s turn in the movie adaptations of 2017 and 2019, Pennywise has come to be one of the most beloved villains in horror. One of King’s hallmark works, the novel explores the darkness of small-town America, and the embedded phobias that follow us from infancy to adulthood.
5. The Dark Tower Series (1982–2012): An Epic That Crosses Genres
Stephen King weaves together elements of sci-fi, horror, fantasy and western in a singular story told over eight volumes in his magnum opus the Dark Tower series. The last of the Gunslingers, Roland Deschain, is at the story’s center. He is traveling to the Dark Tower — the nexus of all worlds — to complete his mission. A wheelchair-using woman with dissociative identity disorder, a child who acts as a bridge between worlds and a heroin addict are among the myriad colorful figures Roland meets along the way.”
The series has also been noted for its complex world-building, connecting to characters and events in Stephen King’s previous works but also combining multiple realities and timelines. The story writerly gestures towards themes of fate, obsession and absolution as Roland reckons with the sacrifices necessary in seeing that ambition through. King’s ability to weave complex, layered stories beyond easy categorization is evidenced in the Dark Tower series. The books are cult hits among fans of fantasy and dark literature, even as the film version, made in 2017, drew poor reviews.
6. Misery (1987) : Control and Obsession
“From the terrifying psychological thriller, Misery when your one true fan transforms into your worst nightmare — because obsession with fandom has a dark side.” Paul Sheldon is a bestselling author who writes a long-running series of romance novels featuring a character named Misery Chastain. Paul has an accident and is injured; in comes Annie Wilkes, his “number one fan,” to help — or, more accurately, to take him hostage. When Annie discovers that Paul has killed off Misery in his new book, she flies into a rage and starts psychologically and physically torturing Paul to force him to write a new book that brings the character back to life.
Paul’s life as a bedridden captive in Annie’s rambling, remote farmhouse turns the tension and the fear up another notch throughout the book. The band is Misery, and its work comments on control, creative individuality, and the blurry line between reverence and possession. Maybe best-known as one of Stephen King’s more magnetic antagonists, Annie Wilkes, she’s a deeply wrong woman as well as maddeningly relatable. Kathy Bates and James Caan starred in the critically celebrated film version in 1990, which also won an Academy Award for Bates’s portrayal of Annie.
7. Pet Sematary (1983): The Tragic Loss of Your Favorite Things
Pet Sematary: One of Stephen King’s darkest, scariest books, Pet Sematary touches on the fallout of toying with death. That story Ivan was interested in was the second one with a doctor named Louis Creed who moved to a village in Maine along with his family. But, below their newly purchased house lies a cemetery with the power of resurrection, but with troubling and unpredictable effects. After a fateful day, Louis buries his beloved in the “Pet Sematary,” which leads to a horrific sequence of events.”
Is it any surprise Stephen King calls Pet Sematary the scariest book he ever wrote? The novel touches on people’s deep fear of losing a loved one and what humans will do to undo what cannot be undone. It also serves as a meditation on the dangers of playing god, death and denial. The movie is fairly dark and uncompromising about death, forcing all of us to feel especially soulless. King’s grim vision took flesh in the films of Pet Sematary, released in 1989 and 2019.
8. The Stand (1978, uncut version in 1990): A Magnificent Conflict Between Evil and Good
In the post-apocalyptic epic The Stand, a horrible virus has wiped out most of the world. When the Captain Trips virus wipes out 99% of the population, the survivors are drawn into a battle of good and evil led by the darkly charismatic Randall Flagg and kind yet geriatric Mother Abagail. And at the Apocalypse, the sides of good and evil must face off as civilization crumbles and the remaining few must decide who to fight for, says the logline.
The Stand is considered one of Stephen King’s best works, combining fantasy, horror, and adventure while exploring moral, human nature, and the fragility of society. With a sprawling cast of characters, expansive world-building and complicated moral dilemmas, the novel is a dense and engrossing read. The unabridged edition of King’s already ambitious tale, originally published in 1990, filled it out and complicated it richly. A staple of post-apocalyptic literature The Stand has been adapted multiple times, most recently as a miniseries in 2020–21.
9. The Green Mile (1996): An Upsetting Story of Justice and Salvation
“‘The Green Mile,’ which was published in six installments as a serialized book, marked a departure from the horror that typically accompanied a Stephen King work toward themes of justice, compassion and the paranormal. Set in the 1930s, the story is told from the perspective of Paul Edgecombe, the death row guard at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. The protagonist of the story is John Coffey, an innocent giant with miraculous healing abilities on death row for a murder he didn’t commit. Paul and the other guards debate the ethics of executing an innocent man as the story unfolds.”
A deeply emotional novel, The Green Mile examines racism, injustice and the dichotomy of human nature. Stephen King’s Christ-like man—made a figure of atoning sacrifice by his monstrous, giant frame—remains coiled in my soul. The book was also adapted into an acclaimed 1999 film directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan. The film was a success, and solidified The Green Mile as one of King’s most treasured story forms.
10. 11/22/63 (2011): A Historical and Temporal Journey
“11/22/63 is a time travel novel, intermingling elements of historical fiction with the terror and supernatural mystery that are hallmarks of Stephen King’s writing. It centers on the story of Jake Epping a high school teacher who stumbles upon a time portal in a nearby cafe. Through that vortex, Jake travels back to 1958, where he takes steps to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. “Jake struggles with the morality of changing the past while also experiencing the intricacies of the 1960s, and getting wrapped up in the lives of those around him.”
11/22/63 is a dazzling mash of character-driven drama, science fiction and historical fact. Speaking of time travel, Stephen King’s exploration of destiny, free will and the consequences of jumping back in time adds layers to the already riveting narrative, and his painstaking research and vivid evocation of the time period brings the past to life. Each of his most sprawling works, it’s simultaneously a ferociously racing adventure and a heartbreaking romance. (11/22/63 was adapted into a miniseries starring James Franco in 2016, an adaptation that only contributed to the book’s influence and popularity).
In Summary
“Stephen King’s fiction continues to resonate with readers in part because of his ability to tap into our shared fears and to create stories that are as much about humanity as they are about the strange or supernatural,” Amy A. Stewart, a vice president and editor in chief at Knopf, said in a statement.”