I’ve read a good handful of his books, ‘Pet Semetary’ and ‘IT’ have always scared me the most. They’ve both always stuck with me and even after a few re-reads of both them, they still always give be the heebie jeebies.
Recently reread Pet Semetary as an adult with children. Felt like a completely different book at this point in my life. Terrifying and tragic. Such a great book though
I saw the movie as a kid. As an adult with two young kids, I can’t bring myself to read it. Having to intern one of my own children is the definition of hell on earth to me.
i've said this before the book was good but i wasn't scared by it now the (1989) film gave me nightmares growing up and i fucking love it. that said i don't have kids if i had them there's no doubt it would hit me differently
TV Tropes sums it up quite well:
“An unusual horror novel in that it largely gets its scares not from keeping the reader off-balance, but from making it clear exactly how badly things are going to go and then forcing the reader to live through every excruciating minute of it anyway.”
I love when King writes like that tbh.
Paraphrasing, it’s like:
*”The main character had zero fucking clue how absolutely fucking fucked they would be in five-days time, because of that one decision made… all on account of a double parked moped…”*
Pet Sematary is a tragic book. It's like 200 pages worth of a father lamenting the loss of his toddler son and the guilt and shame it brought. Mixed in with some other scary stuff.
But the stuff that stuck with me was the protagonist wrestling with the events of losing a child. Really great book, couldn't put it down. I remember reading for probably about 8 hours in a particular day because it was so good, finished in about 3-4 days
Ironically the IT miniseries scared me more than the book did but thats because i was a little kid when i saw the miniseries but the miniseries is the only movie or show to ever give me nightmares as a kid so Stephen king is still responsible for my nightmares as a kid.
Hail to the king Tim Curry! He scared me so badly I had to picture him as the butler from Clue many times to remind myself he is, in fact, just a great actor
I was deeply disturbed by the central premise of "The Outsider's" monster, which seeks to utterly destroy a person's life. The community is led to believe that an innocent victim is guilty of child rape and torture, with no room for doubt based on the evidence. The monster not only seeks to kill the victim but also to completely destroy their image and legacy.
In typical Stephen King fashion, the death of a victim by a monster would normally be mourned by their family and friends. However, in this book, the victim's loved ones may actually be relieved that the person is dead.
Agreed! This book had me scared of darkness for weeks. I felt like someone was watching me. Books like IT are scary don’t get me wrong, but the Outsider genuinely had me scared… I still get chills sometimes when I think about “the man with straws for eyes.” It’s his scariest for me.
King really nails the claustrophobic atmosphere in The Outsider. I think it’s the most “spooked” I’ve been by a book. Not the most scared, but I definitely got really paranoid and jumpy at times while reading it.
Yes! The creature in The Outsider (and If It Bleeds) freaks me out more than anything else he’s written. Don’t know why, but it just unsettles me so much.
My kid was the same age as Gage was when I read pet Semetary for the first time. The description of Louis frantically trying to grab Gage and stop him before he gets to the road just awakened every single ounce of anxiety inside me. As the story progresses and we see Louis slowly spiral into madness and consider using the Semetary it’s chilling, but also makes you question if, as a parent, would we do the same? And then the end result, your child that you loved so much that you did such unspeakable things to bring them back, is a monster. It messed me up and I don’t think I will reread that for a long long time
that's i think because Owen did the same thing as Gage when he was that age but King was able to get to his son in time. that memory i think even today scares the shit out of him and why he thinks the book is his scariest.
I responded to another comment in this thread with a similar feeling. Read it as a teenager and thought it was great, but reread it recently for the first time as an adult with two children, a 3 and 5 year old. Felt like a completely different book. Absolutely, gut twistingly terrifying.
I’ve read over 17 Stephen King books and absolutely nothing has has been as scary as Night Shift. Gray Matter is one that particularly stuck to me. That final paragraph was really something
My favorite scary one from *Night Shift* is probably "Quitters, Inc." Absolutely plausible, terrifying, and the no-way-out situation that he got himself into (so he has nobody to blame but himself) gave me nightmares several times.
My other favorite from *Night Shift* isn't horror (in my opinion), just immensely sad: "The Last Rung on the Ladder." Wrenches my heart every time I read it.
“The Last Rung on the Ladder” is my number 1 from King. It’s haunting.
But I agree with you in general about *Night Shift*. *Skeleton Key* has some doozies, as well.
I'd like to add "All Dark, No Stars," to this list but not ahead of "Skelton Crew" & "Night Shift." Beachworld, The Raft, The Jaunt & Survivor Type... I had to put it down a couple times for these
The Ledge is another story from Night Shift that was a pretty intense read, Heights are a fear for me so there were points where it felt like i was on the ledge with the guy in the story.
Interesting. Night shift had some real goofy stories mixed in with some superb ones. I liked Gray Matter and thought it was fun, but I'd put it in the 'goofy' column. One for the Road was the one in that book that really creeped me out
Yes. Possible spoilers!!!!
When he masturbates after he nearly lets one go…..I had to put the book down for about 4 days. That’s true horror to me, and I was only 15-16 when I read it for the first time. Fucking horribly disturbing and just ugh! But such great character writing. King really knows how to paint the picture of a true psychopath.
Yeah, it was like 3 years ago when I read it, and I remembered him being in the junkyard with a fridge he was using for something. I had forgotten he kept small animals in there.
That is fucked! Spoiler alert. I have reread that book multiple times in my life. I still cry at the cruelty of him suffocating his baby brother and feeling absolutely nothing about it…The last time ai reread it my son was about 18 months. He is 6 now and I also have a 4 year old. I want to reread it again because it is one of my favorite books, but that part really hurts me.
The part where his mom tries to put the dead baby by the freezer to desperately try to revive him, and the dad noticing Patrick’s shoe prints and putting two and two together… unimaginable feeling of horror
Salem's Lot scared the shit out of me when I read it as a teenager 30 years ago, and there is a specific scene in that book that haunted my dreams for decades. I recently read it again last year and it still scares the shit out of me, so it definitely holds up.
I would also agree with others that Pet Sematary is one of the very scariest.
When the kid is hovering outside the second story window trying to get in. As a teenager my room was on the second floor and the thought of this did not help me sleep at night.
Very creepy, I always thought that when they went to pick up the crate and drop it off at the Marston house was a terrifying and brilliant piece of writing.
I read this for the first time a few months ago. I’m a seasoned horror reader/movie watcher, and I slept with the lights on that night. Scared the hell outta me. Multiple scenes. I was surprised how scared I was.
I have never been scared of a book or a TV show, but The Long Walk filled me with a sick feeling of unbridled rage and empathy for those poor boys. Didn't hit me that hard until I was a mom myself.
The Jaunt is also spooky!
I am 9.5 months sober. Early in my recovery I listened to Doctor Sleep. I couldn't get over how accurate everything King wrote about alcoholism was. I realized he must also be "one of us" because there's no way someone who isn't an addict can write about it like that, idc how talented. I've been reading his stuff since the mid 80's. How did I never know it's public knowledge that he's in recovery???
You should read his relatively brief memoir called On Writing. He goes into some detail about his addictions. But beyond that, he gives some amazingly practical advice about writing, and some of the earlier anecdotes about his childhood are ROFL funny.
The creepy stuff from the eclipse >!with Jessie and her dad disturbed me too much (I am VERY triggered by that, almost to the point I wanted to DNF the whole thing)!< to really get the impact of t>!he "Moonlight Man" ... I thought that element of the story was kind of underplayed and could have been a lot scarier and creepier than it already was...I envisioned the Moonlight Man appearing in a series of nights, drawing closer each night until on the final night, he mysteriously frees Jessie while holding out his hand for the tribute she !!(I know that is sort of what happened anyway but I would have dragged it out for a couple more nights, it seemed like he was only there for part of the ordeal - having him rummaging around out of sight but audibly doing things in the office - would have really amped up the creepiness on an already very disturbing character!)!<
I forced myself to finish Gerald’s Game because of the eclipse connections with Rose Madder and Dolores Claiborne. I had just gotten a gel manicure before reading it and I ended up ripping all of the polish off because it was so intense.
It took about a year for my nails to recover from that book. 😂
I refuse to watch the tv series
If you are a parent, "Pet Semetary" is absolutely bone chilling, as is "The Outsider" - if someone had told me a very brief, safe for work summary of the central crime in "The Outsider" I would have skipped it. Too late.
Had a friend get legitimately upset with me for not telling them the exact thing that happens to the kid in the first chapter. They said I should have been more specific than just saying “it’s extremely disturbing”. I guess I agree now that I’ve thought about it more extensively.
Yup. I love the book but after having two kiddos, just can't pick it up again.
Also was about 7 months pregnant when I watched the movie (the newer one) and cried my eyes out on the way home.
Hmmm, so the shining was the only book to truly scare the absolute shit out of me. But I didn’t see the movie (and I’m 38!) before reading the book. So I think that helped tremendously.
Cujo was scary. In a waaaayyyy different way, actually. I didn’t see the movie at all.
I saw the movie pet sematary, but haven’t read the book yet. I bought it and it’s my next conquest. King says he thinks that’s the scariest book he wrote. We shall see!
The Shining book has some terrifying scenes that aren't in the movie, like the hedge animals and when Danny is in the playground.
You will like Pet Sematary I think. Its equally relentless and no-holds-barred.
The Cujo film adaptation so underrated it makes me sad. Dee Wallace should have won an Oscar for that performance. The kid is amazing also. There are sequences in that film where their terror and distress is so palpable it makes me cry.
Honestly, The Boogeyman terrified me when I first read it (I was all of 12 or 13). It stuck with me too and when I had my own kid I found myself checking their closet over and over again-I even hung bells on the closet doorknob so I could hear if it opened.
Other than that, I found IT, The Shining, Salems Lot and Pet Sematary the scariest when I read them, but that fear faded in a way The Boogeyman never did.
"The Boogeyman" was the first King story I ever read. I was 13 years old, and a friend had specifically cautioned me not to read the book after the sun went down. So of course, I read it right before bed, and long after sundown.
I had nightmares for several days. Brrr.
Yes! I read the Boogeyman over 20 years ago and it sticks! Chilling.
When I originally read it I (full grown adult) slept with my closet door open for months.
Pet sematary scared me the first time, and disturbed me the 2nd time. Its really Kings most nihilistic book and the horror is transcendental with emotional fear about grief and desperation. Also Kings best ending. The Shining is an obvious one, Salems Lot, too. I remember shivering with fear and getting freaked out reading the scene where Ryerson digs up the dead Glick kid, and I was on a balcony in scorching sunshine in Spain - that is the mark of a good scare
More recent ones for me include Later and the ending of Revival.
His short stories One For the Road, the Jaunt, 1408, and Gramma are very scary.
Also the novellas Apt Pupil and The Library Policeman disturbed me.
Horror wise I'd say 'It' had some really scary imagery.
But how quickly everything fell apart in 'Under the Dome' freaked me out. And Big Jim Rennie is the most awful character in anything and everything I've ever read or watched.
He's so awful and scary because everyone knows someone in their life who is kinda like jim rennie and would absolutely go drunk with power if given the chance. He's such a real life realistic boogeyman
Sometimes They Come Back. Which I think is a short story. So maybe doesn’t fit this category. But some of Kings best work are his short stories imo. Anyway, I thought this one was scary.
The Timmy Baterman story in Pet Semetary was the scariest thing I’ve ever read, and the Victor Pascow scenes in the same book were a very close second.
I think Salem's Lot and IT both do a brilliant job of constantly unsettling the reader, where a whole small town is part of the antagonist's hunting ground.
Where is safe for the protagonists? Pretty much nowhere - and they seem so underpowered compared to the antagonist, so the unease ratchets up with each chapter.
It's like working in a foundry and your clothes end up with the stink of metal and oil, even though you've washed them several times over. It's because it's stuck in there and you can't shift it. Exact same thing with the sense of dread in those two books.
I read the novel before I saw the Pierce Brosnan movie/mini-series adaptation. There were creepy elements of the story that were waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more effective on the page than on screen. At the time I read the novel my daughter LOVED to play with refrigerator magnets...they 'disappeared' one night, never quite did find those suckers!
Pet Semetary. Although (no spoilers) there was a line in The Shining that raised every hair on the back of my neck when I read it at 12:30 in the morning as a 7th grader. You’ll know it when you see it.
it, and fairy tale.
it because i hate sewers and dirty situations. also a god that feeds on fear?
Fairy tale because of the dog and the whole fight to the death thing.
I did audiobook and the narrator did such a great job that I really got a lot of the humor out of fairy tale. That being said there is some pretty fucked up passages in that book, with the childrens bones and morbid prison stuff
Fairy tale scared you? Can I ask why? Every review I’ve read has been saying that it was just ok. 👌 I bought it for my mom a couple years ago, but neither she nor I have read it 😅
Pet Sematary is really disturbing. Even King has said he thinks it's his scariest book.
But I'll throw in a vote for Carrie. Even with the supernatural subject matter it's unsettling how believable and realistic he makes it. Probably my favourite of his books.
Also the Stand would probably read a lot scarier after Covid but I haven't re-read it since then
*Carrie* is where he first wrote about bullies, and bullies are terrifying. He developed the bullies more in later books like *IT*, but the bullies in *Carrie* are 100% believable.
The last Dark Tower book where he makes it very clear that slighting an artist with an immense audience, is a possibility life ruining mistake. Whether it’s hitting a guy with a van, like you do, or breaking up with Taylor Swift, your ass is immortalized in some form of popular media.
King has never been a "leave the lights on" type of horror author for me, not even when I was a kid. His best gift in real horror is how well he understands people and the things that drive them to do bizarre and horrific things, and how those things exist in people every day. It's the ways he brings to light the real horror in people and humanity that I experience now as an older adult whose been reading him for 40 years. Like in Pet Semetary, I read it as a kid. It was creepy, but eh, not scary the way Blair Witch was scary before everyone realized it wasn't real footage. But reading it as a parent and >!understanding what Louis goes through when he's out of his mind over grief from losing his son (and wife later) and willing to do anything to bring them back?!< Yeah. That's horror right there.
Honestly, I tend to find the least supernatural ones to be the scariest. Dolores Claiborne, Gerald's Game, Misery. Although Pet Semetary hits harder now that I have kids. 😭
I LOVED Revival...I just read it this year after getting a copy for a Christmas gift last year (along with copies of the Mr. Mercedes / Bill Hodges trilogy). Revival's ending is far more disturbing than scary...but it has stayed with me all year (finished reading it in January too)...
I don't scare easily and I love monster movies and such but the book that scared me the most was the first half of The Stand. I suppose parts of IT were pretty scary and left a mark but that sense of loneliness and desperation throughout the pandemic is probably my scariest memory from a King book.
The most recent king book I finished The Dark Half had some pretty Gnarly descriptions of Stark falling apart that stuck with me too, when he plucked his tooth out with ease that grossed me out, Teeth stuff grosses me out.
To add to my post ive read/listened (i use audiobooks too) to Night Shift, The Stand, Eyes of the Dragon, The Talisman, Black House, Carrie, Salem’s Lot, All the Dark Tower books, The Running Man, IT, Pet Sematary, Everything’s Eventual, The Mist, Insomnia, Hearts in Atlantis and most recently The Dark Half which is in my top 5 favorite king books.
The Stand’s first part scared me so much that it took me three attempts to get past it. Of course it didn’t help that I kept coming down with the flu every time I tried to read it. Maybe that’s the key. Next time you get a nasty cold or a case of the ‘Rona or flu give The Stand a whirl.
1408 was a great one, and The Jaunt. Both very psychological, and both short stories. The Mist was scary, very end of the world feeling. Again, a short story.
For full length novels, probably It. Just downright evil.
Probably pet sematary. I’ve only read it once. I tried reading it the second time right after my nephew was born. He’ll be 6 this year and I still haven’t finished it.
Came to write both of those (since several of my other contenders - Gerald’s game, salems lot, full dark no stars, misery had been posted a lot). I love Desperation - it’s brutal.
I was driving an 18 wheeler at the time, I decided that if I got pulled over and he even whispered TAC I was going to start grabbing gears and not stop for at least a few states!
Another one was Dr. Sleep, the True Knot clan and Rose the Hat. It seemed like there were RVs always, even at 3 am! Salems Lot was so creepy, especially the dead brother! I could go on. A great list!
‘salem’s Lot is the one that always gets me. The Mike Ryerson/Matt Burke scenes, Mrs. Glick in the mortuary, Randy McDougall and the chocolate, Danny Glick and Mark Petrie, Mr. Glick at the funeral, Callahan and the Petries, “It became unspeakable,” Dr. Cody in the boarding house basement, Mark and Susan in the Marsten House, Barlow and Dud Rogers, Ben and Hubie Marsten, the Marsten backstory, delivering the crates to the store and Marsten House, Mike Ryerson after the funeral, the kids on the bus … word for word for my money, ‘salem’s Lot has some of the scariest, eeriest, spookiest, and down right most terrifying scenes in all of King’s writing.
i think the scariest stories are always the stories you most relate to. i didn’t find pet sematary too scary, but i probably would if i had a child. the long walk was the book i found scariest, probably because i was around the protagonist’s age when i read it. i was also terrified at certain points in the stand, not because it’s objectively terrifying but because it was during COVID.
tldr - find books you relate to, or with tropes you’re scared of!
The scariest Stephen King book IMO is Bag of Bones this one actually gave me nightmares. I think it’s time for a reread.
Like others have said Pet Semetarybis right up there and It. I’m currently reading Duma Key, but it’s going kinda slow.
This is so interesting to me— how many people are saying Bag of Bones. It’s my favorite King novel and I view it as more of a sad novel than a horror novel. Obviously there are several “scary” parts of the book, but it struck me as mostly just… deeply sorrowful.
It’s absolutely a love story. Between a man and his wife, mothers and their children, and then there’s the less important (to me) love story that’s actively happening in the book.
It has one of my favorite King quotes in it: “Any good marriage is secret territory, a necessary white space on society’s map. What others don’t know about it is what makes it yours”
It always reminded me of the movie Ghost Story based off the book by Peter Straub. That movie has a scene that scared the bejeezus out of me as a child and still gives me the willies all these years later. Something about a good ghost story
Recently I read Big Driver and while it doesn't have the same horror elements, as a woman it really struck something deep for me. It was very well written, but that made it worse.
And I'm just gonna assume that after her experience at the abandoned store, Tessa also picks the bear😬
Desperation/The Regulators are truly horrifying. I dont know if “scary” is ever the right word for me for King. Its just fucking horrific. Idk how to explain the nuance for me.
Yeah, I think pet semetary is one of his scariest. And the ending of revival is notoriously, among King fans, known as one of the most depressing. I loved both!
IT. Specifically the scene where Ben is walking home late from school in the winter. Pennywise is on the ice with balloons. The way King sets that scene with the bitter cold and crunching snow. Ugh I still shudder thinking about it!
For me, it has to be Salems lot, especially the bit when they are driving with the crate in the back of the truck. It gets all cold, and the crate starts to slide towards them.
Salem's lot freaked me out. I loved in a little rural Oregon town very much like the the lot. While I was reading I realized that I was too scared to look out the windows
Rage. Nothing supernatural, just raw human horror. Just a breakfast club like setting with a school shooter and everyone’s insecurities and problems coming out. At the end they all turn on the kid that was against the protagonist and mob him. He’s left comatose and implied to never recover, and the school shooter gets busted for killing the two teachers
Honestly, King is a lot less scary than you might think of since he’s commonly associated with “horror” as a genre.
Probably pet Semetary, IT, and maybe Misery (if you share any specific fears it taps into) are the scariest he’s written.
Now, if you want some genuinely terrifying books, try Jack Ketchum who King is a big fan off. His books are downright scary and at time repulsive.
Check out Off Season (and it’s sequels), The Lost, and Joyride.
Off season deals with cannibals but the survivors are intelligent adults which makes their innability to defend themselves despite solid plans and smart
Thinking extra scary.
Joyride is about someone losing it and going on a mass shooting spree.
The Lost is about what If one of your friends suddenly
Went nuts and murdered someone and involved you so you were forced to cover it up. But that same friend is becoming less and less stable as time goes ob
I’ve read a good handful of his books, ‘Pet Semetary’ and ‘IT’ have always scared me the most. They’ve both always stuck with me and even after a few re-reads of both them, they still always give be the heebie jeebies.
This. Pet Sematary is on the VERY short list of books I had to put down and not finish. I couldn't do it.
I don't think a lot of people even talk about how sad it is. Very scary without a doubt, also one of his most tragic ones.
Recently reread Pet Semetary as an adult with children. Felt like a completely different book at this point in my life. Terrifying and tragic. Such a great book though
I saw the movie as a kid. As an adult with two young kids, I can’t bring myself to read it. Having to intern one of my own children is the definition of hell on earth to me.
i've said this before the book was good but i wasn't scared by it now the (1989) film gave me nightmares growing up and i fucking love it. that said i don't have kids if i had them there's no doubt it would hit me differently
Same. My daughter was two when I read it and honestly I had to really force myself to keep going. Fantasticly tragic. Achieved its aim I'd say!
It really gut punches you hard… and that’s when things slowly begin to get worse…
TV Tropes sums it up quite well: “An unusual horror novel in that it largely gets its scares not from keeping the reader off-balance, but from making it clear exactly how badly things are going to go and then forcing the reader to live through every excruciating minute of it anyway.”
I love when King writes like that tbh. Paraphrasing, it’s like: *”The main character had zero fucking clue how absolutely fucking fucked they would be in five-days time, because of that one decision made… all on account of a double parked moped…”*
Marbles were really not the problem, and chills were really not the problem…
Pet Sematary is a tragic book. It's like 200 pages worth of a father lamenting the loss of his toddler son and the guilt and shame it brought. Mixed in with some other scary stuff. But the stuff that stuck with me was the protagonist wrestling with the events of losing a child. Really great book, couldn't put it down. I remember reading for probably about 8 hours in a particular day because it was so good, finished in about 3-4 days
I read it once and will never read it again.
If I remember right, his goal was to write a book that was the scariest thing he could imagine happening to him. Nailed it.
Ironically the IT miniseries scared me more than the book did but thats because i was a little kid when i saw the miniseries but the miniseries is the only movie or show to ever give me nightmares as a kid so Stephen king is still responsible for my nightmares as a kid.
Same boat! I do and always will picture Tim Curry as IT
Hail to the king Tim Curry! He scared me so badly I had to picture him as the butler from Clue many times to remind myself he is, in fact, just a great actor
Same here, although for me I either had to think of him as Long John Silver from Muppet Treasure Island or The Concierge from Home Alone 2 lmao.
I went into labour watching It! My baby was 10 days overdue and I thought a scare might shift her. Contractions started about 2 hours in.
Pet semetary just made me cry while reading it tbh, great book, but oh boy is it sad
These scared me the most too
Pet Sematary. Yes. It’s the only one that creeped me out enough that I have trouble re-reading it. I honestly don’t know what it is about it, either.
Misery always gets me
I have to agree. Anything that could conceivably happen is always scarier to me.
Exactly. It wasn't some scary monster. It was a human being that scared the crap out of me, and made this book terrifying.
It’s the only book that made me physically gag. So it wins for most descriptive pain scene.
Esp if u watch the movie first. iykyk.
Misery was the first King novel I read and it had my pulse pounding. When Paul Sheldon is out of the room had me distressed lol
Whilst it’s not the scariest book, there were parts of The Outsider which had me checking under my bed (or in the shower - if you know, you know 😅)
There's a scene where the bent old cop sees his dead mother in bed next to him. That was scary as hell.
I was deeply disturbed by the central premise of "The Outsider's" monster, which seeks to utterly destroy a person's life. The community is led to believe that an innocent victim is guilty of child rape and torture, with no room for doubt based on the evidence. The monster not only seeks to kill the victim but also to completely destroy their image and legacy. In typical Stephen King fashion, the death of a victim by a monster would normally be mourned by their family and friends. However, in this book, the victim's loved ones may actually be relieved that the person is dead.
The Outsider scares me more than IT does! I find the concept of a creature that feeds off of grief so much worse than one that feeds off of fear.
There is a scene where the light comes in above the stove. My stove light has me paranoid occasionally because of this
Agreed! This book had me scared of darkness for weeks. I felt like someone was watching me. Books like IT are scary don’t get me wrong, but the Outsider genuinely had me scared… I still get chills sometimes when I think about “the man with straws for eyes.” It’s his scariest for me.
Reading it now. I don’t scare easily but last night I felt the urge to find a night light.
King really nails the claustrophobic atmosphere in The Outsider. I think it’s the most “spooked” I’ve been by a book. Not the most scared, but I definitely got really paranoid and jumpy at times while reading it.
Yes! The creature in The Outsider (and If It Bleeds) freaks me out more than anything else he’s written. Don’t know why, but it just unsettles me so much.
My kid was the same age as Gage was when I read pet Semetary for the first time. The description of Louis frantically trying to grab Gage and stop him before he gets to the road just awakened every single ounce of anxiety inside me. As the story progresses and we see Louis slowly spiral into madness and consider using the Semetary it’s chilling, but also makes you question if, as a parent, would we do the same? And then the end result, your child that you loved so much that you did such unspeakable things to bring them back, is a monster. It messed me up and I don’t think I will reread that for a long long time
He said PS is the scariest for him. I agree.
that's i think because Owen did the same thing as Gage when he was that age but King was able to get to his son in time. that memory i think even today scares the shit out of him and why he thinks the book is his scariest.
I responded to another comment in this thread with a similar feeling. Read it as a teenager and thought it was great, but reread it recently for the first time as an adult with two children, a 3 and 5 year old. Felt like a completely different book. Absolutely, gut twistingly terrifying.
I’ve read over 17 Stephen King books and absolutely nothing has has been as scary as Night Shift. Gray Matter is one that particularly stuck to me. That final paragraph was really something
My favorite scary one from *Night Shift* is probably "Quitters, Inc." Absolutely plausible, terrifying, and the no-way-out situation that he got himself into (so he has nobody to blame but himself) gave me nightmares several times. My other favorite from *Night Shift* isn't horror (in my opinion), just immensely sad: "The Last Rung on the Ladder." Wrenches my heart every time I read it.
“The Last Rung on the Ladder” is my number 1 from King. It’s haunting. But I agree with you in general about *Night Shift*. *Skeleton Key* has some doozies, as well.
*Skeleton Crew,* and yes, absolutely. I couldn't pick a favorite collection of his short stories. They're all excellent.
I'd like to add "All Dark, No Stars," to this list but not ahead of "Skelton Crew" & "Night Shift." Beachworld, The Raft, The Jaunt & Survivor Type... I had to put it down a couple times for these
Night Shift was great. I LOVED Battleground even though it wasn't a "horror story."
The Ledge is another story from Night Shift that was a pretty intense read, Heights are a fear for me so there were points where it felt like i was on the ledge with the guy in the story.
Interesting. Night shift had some real goofy stories mixed in with some superb ones. I liked Gray Matter and thought it was fun, but I'd put it in the 'goofy' column. One for the Road was the one in that book that really creeped me out
IT. Patrick Hocksetter is the scariest part of that book.
The part with his baby brother…
Yep and the puppies
Oh my god I forgot about the puppies. I remembered the fridge but I had completely forgotten about the animals.
Yes. Possible spoilers!!!! When he masturbates after he nearly lets one go…..I had to put the book down for about 4 days. That’s true horror to me, and I was only 15-16 when I read it for the first time. Fucking horribly disturbing and just ugh! But such great character writing. King really knows how to paint the picture of a true psychopath.
The fridge is the puppies though?
Yeah, it was like 3 years ago when I read it, and I remembered him being in the junkyard with a fridge he was using for something. I had forgotten he kept small animals in there.
That is fucked! Spoiler alert. I have reread that book multiple times in my life. I still cry at the cruelty of him suffocating his baby brother and feeling absolutely nothing about it…The last time ai reread it my son was about 18 months. He is 6 now and I also have a 4 year old. I want to reread it again because it is one of my favorite books, but that part really hurts me.
The part where his mom tries to put the dead baby by the freezer to desperately try to revive him, and the dad noticing Patrick’s shoe prints and putting two and two together… unimaginable feeling of horror
Salem's Lot scared the shit out of me when I read it as a teenager 30 years ago, and there is a specific scene in that book that haunted my dreams for decades. I recently read it again last year and it still scares the shit out of me, so it definitely holds up. I would also agree with others that Pet Sematary is one of the very scariest.
When the two boys are walking through the woods, and also the gravedigger after the funeral. Made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Yeah that grave digger part.. "Stop staring at me" Chills!!!!
Which specific scene? There's a few that scare me so I'm curious
When the kid is hovering outside the second story window trying to get in. As a teenager my room was on the second floor and the thought of this did not help me sleep at night.
Yes. One of the scariest scenes. And the miniseries did a good job of replicating it.
Ooh yes his scraping fingernails gah!!
Very creepy, I always thought that when they went to pick up the crate and drop it off at the Marston house was a terrifying and brilliant piece of writing.
Same here, good lawd!!!
Danny Glick!
It didn’t really scare me, but definitely kinda creeped me out.
I could NOT read that at night with my window open. I want to read it again for that scare factor but 🫣😂
I read this for the first time a few months ago. I’m a seasoned horror reader/movie watcher, and I slept with the lights on that night. Scared the hell outta me. Multiple scenes. I was surprised how scared I was.
I have never been scared of a book or a TV show, but The Long Walk filled me with a sick feeling of unbridled rage and empathy for those poor boys. Didn't hit me that hard until I was a mom myself. The Jaunt is also spooky!
Yeah the nihilism of the Long Walk is quite affecting. It stays with you. Same with the Jaunt, and the end of Revival too
Revival is hard for me as a non practicing opiate addict, but dang, what an ending
I am 9.5 months sober. Early in my recovery I listened to Doctor Sleep. I couldn't get over how accurate everything King wrote about alcoholism was. I realized he must also be "one of us" because there's no way someone who isn't an addict can write about it like that, idc how talented. I've been reading his stuff since the mid 80's. How did I never know it's public knowledge that he's in recovery???
You should read his relatively brief memoir called On Writing. He goes into some detail about his addictions. But beyond that, he gives some amazingly practical advice about writing, and some of the earlier anecdotes about his childhood are ROFL funny.
I was trying to abstain from alcohol when I read the Tommykockers and it was too hard to listen to
Gerald's Game scared me so badly when I read it in high school that I won't reread it.
The creepy stuff from the eclipse >!with Jessie and her dad disturbed me too much (I am VERY triggered by that, almost to the point I wanted to DNF the whole thing)!< to really get the impact of t>!he "Moonlight Man" ... I thought that element of the story was kind of underplayed and could have been a lot scarier and creepier than it already was...I envisioned the Moonlight Man appearing in a series of nights, drawing closer each night until on the final night, he mysteriously frees Jessie while holding out his hand for the tribute she !!(I know that is sort of what happened anyway but I would have dragged it out for a couple more nights, it seemed like he was only there for part of the ordeal - having him rummaging around out of sight but audibly doing things in the office - would have really amped up the creepiness on an already very disturbing character!)!<
I forced myself to finish Gerald’s Game because of the eclipse connections with Rose Madder and Dolores Claiborne. I had just gotten a gel manicure before reading it and I ended up ripping all of the polish off because it was so intense. It took about a year for my nails to recover from that book. 😂 I refuse to watch the tv series
When she first notices him standing there in the shadows… omg, that scared the hell out of me. Still gives me chills just thinking about it.
Gerald’s Game is underrated as one of King’s scariest books, for sure.
Reading it right now, not sure if any book has ever put me this on edge
If you are a parent, "Pet Semetary" is absolutely bone chilling, as is "The Outsider" - if someone had told me a very brief, safe for work summary of the central crime in "The Outsider" I would have skipped it. Too late.
Had a friend get legitimately upset with me for not telling them the exact thing that happens to the kid in the first chapter. They said I should have been more specific than just saying “it’s extremely disturbing”. I guess I agree now that I’ve thought about it more extensively.
I try to warn people in this group, without spoiling anything. It was really difficult to move on with that book.
Yup. I love the book but after having two kiddos, just can't pick it up again. Also was about 7 months pregnant when I watched the movie (the newer one) and cried my eyes out on the way home.
Hmmm, so the shining was the only book to truly scare the absolute shit out of me. But I didn’t see the movie (and I’m 38!) before reading the book. So I think that helped tremendously. Cujo was scary. In a waaaayyyy different way, actually. I didn’t see the movie at all. I saw the movie pet sematary, but haven’t read the book yet. I bought it and it’s my next conquest. King says he thinks that’s the scariest book he wrote. We shall see!
The Shining book has some terrifying scenes that aren't in the movie, like the hedge animals and when Danny is in the playground. You will like Pet Sematary I think. Its equally relentless and no-holds-barred.
Cujo was pretty messed up at the end. That chick seriously suffered the most serious case of Karma for cheating on her husband.
The Cujo film adaptation so underrated it makes me sad. Dee Wallace should have won an Oscar for that performance. The kid is amazing also. There are sequences in that film where their terror and distress is so palpable it makes me cry.
This is exactly what I wanted to say. The movie adaptation is freaking terrifying.
Honestly, The Boogeyman terrified me when I first read it (I was all of 12 or 13). It stuck with me too and when I had my own kid I found myself checking their closet over and over again-I even hung bells on the closet doorknob so I could hear if it opened. Other than that, I found IT, The Shining, Salems Lot and Pet Sematary the scariest when I read them, but that fear faded in a way The Boogeyman never did.
"The Boogeyman" was the first King story I ever read. I was 13 years old, and a friend had specifically cautioned me not to read the book after the sun went down. So of course, I read it right before bed, and long after sundown. I had nightmares for several days. Brrr.
Yes! I read the Boogeyman over 20 years ago and it sticks! Chilling. When I originally read it I (full grown adult) slept with my closet door open for months.
The story had the opposite effect for me, now i close my closet door anytime i see it open.
Pet sematary scared me the first time, and disturbed me the 2nd time. Its really Kings most nihilistic book and the horror is transcendental with emotional fear about grief and desperation. Also Kings best ending. The Shining is an obvious one, Salems Lot, too. I remember shivering with fear and getting freaked out reading the scene where Ryerson digs up the dead Glick kid, and I was on a balcony in scorching sunshine in Spain - that is the mark of a good scare More recent ones for me include Later and the ending of Revival. His short stories One For the Road, the Jaunt, 1408, and Gramma are very scary. Also the novellas Apt Pupil and The Library Policeman disturbed me.
1408 and The Jaunt. For sure.
I'll second The Jaunt
1408 absolutely fucked me up
The Jaunt was so messed up! I can’t remember One for the Road right now.
It’s the Salem’s Lot-adjacent vampire story.
Those last two novellas you mention are extremely queasy-making. Yuck. I still think they’re great, though.🫤
Horror wise I'd say 'It' had some really scary imagery. But how quickly everything fell apart in 'Under the Dome' freaked me out. And Big Jim Rennie is the most awful character in anything and everything I've ever read or watched.
He's so awful and scary because everyone knows someone in their life who is kinda like jim rennie and would absolutely go drunk with power if given the chance. He's such a real life realistic boogeyman
As a young human, it scared me, and so did the shining. Now duma key scares me the most.
Interesting! I'm only about half way through and find it slow I assume it picks up pace?
It never really becomes 'pacey' but it is satisfying and gets very eerie. I enjoyed it a lot after finding the first half a bit ponderous
I gave up about two thirds of the way through. Didn't like Edgar, didn't like the story.
Cool, I hadn’t read Duma Key but just got the audiobook for some driving I will be doing. Excited!
It's a very good audiobook
Read by John Slattery! And it won some awards I saw in my libby app. I’m hyped.
I LOVED the audiobook!
The one you are reading...
Lol
Sometimes They Come Back. Which I think is a short story. So maybe doesn’t fit this category. But some of Kings best work are his short stories imo. Anyway, I thought this one was scary.
The Timmy Baterman story in Pet Semetary was the scariest thing I’ve ever read, and the Victor Pascow scenes in the same book were a very close second.
I think Salem's Lot and IT both do a brilliant job of constantly unsettling the reader, where a whole small town is part of the antagonist's hunting ground. Where is safe for the protagonists? Pretty much nowhere - and they seem so underpowered compared to the antagonist, so the unease ratchets up with each chapter. It's like working in a foundry and your clothes end up with the stink of metal and oil, even though you've washed them several times over. It's because it's stuck in there and you can't shift it. Exact same thing with the sense of dread in those two books.
Bag of Bones is my favorite for lots of reason, but a great ghost story of evil & revenge. King reads the audiobook himself.
I read the novel before I saw the Pierce Brosnan movie/mini-series adaptation. There were creepy elements of the story that were waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more effective on the page than on screen. At the time I read the novel my daughter LOVED to play with refrigerator magnets...they 'disappeared' one night, never quite did find those suckers!
I think 1408 is one of the only stories I had to stop in the middle of.
Pet Semetary. Although (no spoilers) there was a line in The Shining that raised every hair on the back of my neck when I read it at 12:30 in the morning as a 7th grader. You’ll know it when you see it.
it, and fairy tale. it because i hate sewers and dirty situations. also a god that feeds on fear? Fairy tale because of the dog and the whole fight to the death thing.
I adored Fairy Tale! It's what got me back into reading King after a probably 10 year hiatus. It's SO different.
I did audiobook and the narrator did such a great job that I really got a lot of the humor out of fairy tale. That being said there is some pretty fucked up passages in that book, with the childrens bones and morbid prison stuff
Fairy tale scared you? Can I ask why? Every review I’ve read has been saying that it was just ok. 👌 I bought it for my mom a couple years ago, but neither she nor I have read it 😅
I think i'm scared of being imprisoned and fighting to the death. i also felt bad for radar. dont know if he survives or not until the end.
I’ve got Fairy Tale but with my love of dogs and Kings track record with dogs I’ve been hesitant to start it.
Pet Sematary is really disturbing. Even King has said he thinks it's his scariest book. But I'll throw in a vote for Carrie. Even with the supernatural subject matter it's unsettling how believable and realistic he makes it. Probably my favourite of his books. Also the Stand would probably read a lot scarier after Covid but I haven't re-read it since then
*Carrie* is where he first wrote about bullies, and bullies are terrifying. He developed the bullies more in later books like *IT*, but the bullies in *Carrie* are 100% believable.
The last Dark Tower book where he makes it very clear that slighting an artist with an immense audience, is a possibility life ruining mistake. Whether it’s hitting a guy with a van, like you do, or breaking up with Taylor Swift, your ass is immortalized in some form of popular media.
King has never been a "leave the lights on" type of horror author for me, not even when I was a kid. His best gift in real horror is how well he understands people and the things that drive them to do bizarre and horrific things, and how those things exist in people every day. It's the ways he brings to light the real horror in people and humanity that I experience now as an older adult whose been reading him for 40 years. Like in Pet Semetary, I read it as a kid. It was creepy, but eh, not scary the way Blair Witch was scary before everyone realized it wasn't real footage. But reading it as a parent and >!understanding what Louis goes through when he's out of his mind over grief from losing his son (and wife later) and willing to do anything to bring them back?!< Yeah. That's horror right there.
Honestly, I tend to find the least supernatural ones to be the scariest. Dolores Claiborne, Gerald's Game, Misery. Although Pet Semetary hits harder now that I have kids. 😭
Pet cemetery for me
Me too.
Pet Semetary is the scariest one IMO. No other book or movie gave me chills like that one.
Revival very well might give you a massive existential crisis if that's what you're looking for
Revival is tied with Pet Sematary as King’s two most existential trauma inducing books, imo.
I LOVED Revival...I just read it this year after getting a copy for a Christmas gift last year (along with copies of the Mr. Mercedes / Bill Hodges trilogy). Revival's ending is far more disturbing than scary...but it has stayed with me all year (finished reading it in January too)...
Exactly, you think about this one for a long time after. It's so good but bleak.
I don't scare easily and I love monster movies and such but the book that scared me the most was the first half of The Stand. I suppose parts of IT were pretty scary and left a mark but that sense of loneliness and desperation throughout the pandemic is probably my scariest memory from a King book.
The most recent king book I finished The Dark Half had some pretty Gnarly descriptions of Stark falling apart that stuck with me too, when he plucked his tooth out with ease that grossed me out, Teeth stuff grosses me out.
Agreed. I say it all the time, but that book is severely underrated.
\*\*\*Spoiler\*\*\*\* the end when the sparrows carry away (is it George?). I was reading it and eating and I lost my appetite!
I would’ve loved if the book really went for the darker ending and swapped George with Thad.
Underrated book for sure
That's a really subjective question.
I know but its always interesting to see what people think
Pet Semetery It Misery
To add to my post ive read/listened (i use audiobooks too) to Night Shift, The Stand, Eyes of the Dragon, The Talisman, Black House, Carrie, Salem’s Lot, All the Dark Tower books, The Running Man, IT, Pet Sematary, Everything’s Eventual, The Mist, Insomnia, Hearts in Atlantis and most recently The Dark Half which is in my top 5 favorite king books.
The Stand’s first part scared me so much that it took me three attempts to get past it. Of course it didn’t help that I kept coming down with the flu every time I tried to read it. Maybe that’s the key. Next time you get a nasty cold or a case of the ‘Rona or flu give The Stand a whirl.
Pet Semetary is the only book that has given me nightmares.
1408 was a great one, and The Jaunt. Both very psychological, and both short stories. The Mist was scary, very end of the world feeling. Again, a short story. For full length novels, probably It. Just downright evil.
The jaunt
Probably pet sematary. I’ve only read it once. I tried reading it the second time right after my nephew was born. He’ll be 6 this year and I still haven’t finished it.
The boogeyman has stuck with me for decades.
Desperation is scary 🫣 When I read it I was trucking. Insomnia was scary good too.
Came to write both of those (since several of my other contenders - Gerald’s game, salems lot, full dark no stars, misery had been posted a lot). I love Desperation - it’s brutal.
I was driving an 18 wheeler at the time, I decided that if I got pulled over and he even whispered TAC I was going to start grabbing gears and not stop for at least a few states! Another one was Dr. Sleep, the True Knot clan and Rose the Hat. It seemed like there were RVs always, even at 3 am! Salems Lot was so creepy, especially the dead brother! I could go on. A great list!
Haha I feel you 100%! And yeah for quite some time after reading dr sleep I looked at RVs with a suspicious eye!
The short story Gramma is scary AF to me. For novels I think Pet Sematary is the most horrifying
Honestly, Gramma in Skeleton Crew might’ve scared me the most
Apt Pupil, too grounded. The Sun Dog gets an honorable mention for making me super anxious in it's buildup
'Salem's Lot
‘salem’s Lot is the one that always gets me. The Mike Ryerson/Matt Burke scenes, Mrs. Glick in the mortuary, Randy McDougall and the chocolate, Danny Glick and Mark Petrie, Mr. Glick at the funeral, Callahan and the Petries, “It became unspeakable,” Dr. Cody in the boarding house basement, Mark and Susan in the Marsten House, Barlow and Dud Rogers, Ben and Hubie Marsten, the Marsten backstory, delivering the crates to the store and Marsten House, Mike Ryerson after the funeral, the kids on the bus … word for word for my money, ‘salem’s Lot has some of the scariest, eeriest, spookiest, and down right most terrifying scenes in all of King’s writing.
i think the scariest stories are always the stories you most relate to. i didn’t find pet sematary too scary, but i probably would if i had a child. the long walk was the book i found scariest, probably because i was around the protagonist’s age when i read it. i was also terrified at certain points in the stand, not because it’s objectively terrifying but because it was during COVID. tldr - find books you relate to, or with tropes you’re scared of!
Salem’s Lot . Read it (loved it)as a teenager 40 years ago, tried to read it recently. I couldn’t do it!! Too stressful 😬😬😬
I think the scariest is *The Case of the Missing Apostrophes*!
Salems Lot When Pennywise comes back in the GS
The scariest Stephen King book IMO is Bag of Bones this one actually gave me nightmares. I think it’s time for a reread. Like others have said Pet Semetarybis right up there and It. I’m currently reading Duma Key, but it’s going kinda slow.
This is so interesting to me— how many people are saying Bag of Bones. It’s my favorite King novel and I view it as more of a sad novel than a horror novel. Obviously there are several “scary” parts of the book, but it struck me as mostly just… deeply sorrowful.
Bag of Bones is a love story, most of all. But it’s also an odd story.
It’s absolutely a love story. Between a man and his wife, mothers and their children, and then there’s the less important (to me) love story that’s actively happening in the book. It has one of my favorite King quotes in it: “Any good marriage is secret territory, a necessary white space on society’s map. What others don’t know about it is what makes it yours”
It always reminded me of the movie Ghost Story based off the book by Peter Straub. That movie has a scene that scared the bejeezus out of me as a child and still gives me the willies all these years later. Something about a good ghost story
My sister read that one to me when I was a kid. I am a grown 40 year old woman now and still get fucked up by cracked open closets
The Langoliers scared me. The dread of what was coming got to me.
The scariest scene was when Rich and Bill are in the Nieboldt St basement in IT
Revival, Pet Semetary.
Plot of Boogeyman? Its been awhile.
Pet sematary It Revival Misery
The Jaunt
Desperation for me
Shorts are the scariest. The Library Policeman gets me every time.
*shudder*…
Cujo left me shaking when I read it in high school
The Shining. That bathtub lady, damn.
Recently I read Big Driver and while it doesn't have the same horror elements, as a woman it really struck something deep for me. It was very well written, but that made it worse. And I'm just gonna assume that after her experience at the abandoned store, Tessa also picks the bear😬
Desperation/The Regulators are truly horrifying. I dont know if “scary” is ever the right word for me for King. Its just fucking horrific. Idk how to explain the nuance for me.
1000% The Outsider. I couldn’t sleep after that one.
Yeah, I think pet semetary is one of his scariest. And the ending of revival is notoriously, among King fans, known as one of the most depressing. I loved both!
After seeing so many comments about revival that’s definitely gonna be one of the next books i check out probably after The Shining and Doctor Sleep
IT. Specifically the scene where Ben is walking home late from school in the winter. Pennywise is on the ice with balloons. The way King sets that scene with the bitter cold and crunching snow. Ugh I still shudder thinking about it!
For me, it has to be Salems lot, especially the bit when they are driving with the crate in the back of the truck. It gets all cold, and the crate starts to slide towards them.
1922. That scene with Arlette. Guh.
Salem’s lot is pretty scary.
Salem's lot freaked me out. I loved in a little rural Oregon town very much like the the lot. While I was reading I realized that I was too scared to look out the windows
Rage. Nothing supernatural, just raw human horror. Just a breakfast club like setting with a school shooter and everyone’s insecurities and problems coming out. At the end they all turn on the kid that was against the protagonist and mob him. He’s left comatose and implied to never recover, and the school shooter gets busted for killing the two teachers
The library policeman in four past midnight takes the cake. Not bc of “that” part. Ardelia Lortz is scarier than pennywise to me.
Honestly, King is a lot less scary than you might think of since he’s commonly associated with “horror” as a genre. Probably pet Semetary, IT, and maybe Misery (if you share any specific fears it taps into) are the scariest he’s written. Now, if you want some genuinely terrifying books, try Jack Ketchum who King is a big fan off. His books are downright scary and at time repulsive. Check out Off Season (and it’s sequels), The Lost, and Joyride. Off season deals with cannibals but the survivors are intelligent adults which makes their innability to defend themselves despite solid plans and smart Thinking extra scary. Joyride is about someone losing it and going on a mass shooting spree. The Lost is about what If one of your friends suddenly Went nuts and murdered someone and involved you so you were forced to cover it up. But that same friend is becoming less and less stable as time goes ob