Top 5 Stephen King Horror Novels

The King of Horror and Mistery has written a lot of books - not all of them horror stories, though. For the last couple of years (starting with Under the Dome in 2009, in my opinion) Stephen King's works became suspenseful misteries instead of spooky, scary, psychological horror stories.

This is why this list is going to be about the best horror stories he's written, because - even if those works I mentioned will not be featured in this list - it doesn't mean those works aren't great.
Because in my opinion they are.

#5
Blaze (as Richard Bachmann)

Clayton Blaisdell, Jr., was always a small-time delinquent. None too bright either, thanks to the beatings he got as a kid. Then Blaze met George Rackley, a seasoned pro with a hundred cons and one big idea. The kidnapping should go off without a hitch, with George as the brains behind their dangerous scheme. But there's only one problem: by the time the deal goes down, Blaze's partner in crime is dead. Or is he?
I have read this book quite a while ago, I might have been 13 or 14 years old when I finally read it and it gave me the chills. If you're expecting blood and cold-hearted murder or something like that, you will be disappointed in this book, but it's not always gore that makes a horror novel truly scary. It's the mind of the main character that is so very twisted it still makes me cringe.

#4
The Shining

Danny was only five years old but in the words of old Mr Halloran he was a 'shiner', aglow with psychic voltage. When his father became caretaker of the Overlook Hotel his visions grew frighteningly out of control.
As winter closed in and blizzards cut them off, the hotel seemed to develop a life of its own. It was meant to be empty, but who was the lady in Room 217, and who were the masked guests going up and down in the elevator? And why did the hedges shaped like animals seem so alive? Somewhere, somehow there was an evil force in the hotel - and that too had begun to shine...
 
Although many people would think that this is one of the scariest novel Stephen King ever wrote (because of the movie that was super hyped and disappointing, in my opinion), from my point of view it isn't.

The creepy setting and the state of mind that Jack Torrance is in make the story scary, yes, but all in all, there are just too many descriptions and the book is - like most Stephen King novels, I'm afraid - rather slow-paced, but even slower than most of his other works I've read.There are a few scenes that get the readers to the bones - and there are some major differences to the film! 

#3
Carrie

Carrie knew she should not use the terrifying power she possessed... But one night at her senior prom, Carrie was scorned and humiliated just one time too many, and in a fit of uncontrollable fury she turned her clandestine game into a weapon of horror and destruction...

This is the first novel ever to be published by Stephen King. What makes this story a horror story is not only the telekinetic powers that Carries posesses (and what she does with them), but the day-to-day attitude that goes with the story. It tells us that every kid that gets bullied is likely to take psychic damage of it - whether they retreat into themselves, become self-conscious or, well, escalate the way Carrie does.
It's the story of an unloved child - first bullied and abused by her own fanatic mother and then bullied by her classmates because she is different from them. And I guess everyone that has been bullied or is being bullied (as I have been at the time I read this book) might find they sympathize with Carrie in a way that scares them.

#2
Pet Sematary

Sometimes dead is better....When the Creeds move into a beautiful old house in rural Maine, it all seems too good to be true: physician father, beautiful wife, charming little daughter, adorable infant son -- and now an idyllic home. As a family, they've got it all...right down to the friendly cat.But the nearby woods hide a blood-chilling truth -- more terrifying than death itself...and hideously more powerful.

I made the mistake to watch the film first with a friend of mine in the basement with all the lights out and no windows. And I deeply regret that.
Because once I had watched the film I wanted to peruse the book in a matter of hours (which I did), unfortunately I stopped reading when it was already 3 o'clock in the morning - and there was a full moon greeting me through my opened window.

Consequently, I didn't sleep that night. The book had taken more on me than the film ever could have, and I would have stopped reading, naturally, if I hadn't watched the film. I told myself I knew what was going on, I knew what was going to happen, but I had no idea.

#1
IT

To the children, the town was their whole world. To the adults, knowing better, Derry, Maine was just their home town: familiar, well-ordered for the most part. A good place to live.

It was the children who saw - and felt - what made Derry so horribly different. In the storm drains, in the sewers, IT lurked, taking on the shape of every nightmare, each one's deepest dread. Sometimes IT reached up, seizing, tearing, killing . . .

The adults, knowing better, knew nothing.

Time passed and the children grew up, moved away. The horror of IT was deep-buried, wrapped in forgetfulness. Until they were called back, once more to confront IT as IT stirred and coiled in the sullen depths of their memories, reaching up again to make their past nightmares a terrible present reality.
 
Same with Pet Sematary - I watched the film first. And the film did scare me more than Pet Sematary did, but when I finally read the book I didn't make the mistake again to read it in the course of hours (mainly because this book is so thick, but that's another story) but I put it down every so often. I couldn't sleep, anyway.


There was so much in the book that the film didn't have that creeped me out. I have to mention that I was, maybe, 14 or 15 years old when I read IT for the first time, but still the story lingers with me and I kept having nightmares after finishing this book for several weeks thereafter. 

It takes a lot of work to get through this book, but it is definitely worth it - although, well, the ending is very questionable. And makes the whole thing rather ridiculous, but still - this book scared the hell out of me. 

Stephen King - Revival

In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.

Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family’s horrific loss. In his mid-thirties—addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate—Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.(synopsis taken from goodreads)

To be honest, hadn't I known this was a Stephen King novel, I wouldn't have believed it was a Stephen King novel at all. 

It is widely known that Stephen King hasn't written any horror books in the past five years or so, and this one isn't one, either, although opinions may vary.
It is more of a coming of age story, though, in which we follow the whole life of Jamie. 

And because it is mostly just that - the coming of age story of Jamie, how he becomes an addict, he visits Jacobs a few times and does research on him. The other parts, though, where he talks about his first girlfriend and his second girlfriend (at least the second one that is mentioned), were skippable. Entirely. 
One thing I love about Stephen King is that he can create believable characters that feel just like real people, but this time it didn't work for me. 
Jacobs did a 180-degree turn from when he was a Reverend in Jamie's hometown to the person he was later on in the novel. This made him seem like entirely different persons, and not a sparkle of what the old Jacobs used to be like was mentioned. 

Another thing that bothered me was that in the course of this novel, he meets Jacobs only two or three times after his childhood, and the reader never really gets to know what Jacobs is up to and what exactly happened during Jamie's treatment. Something happened. Something something happened happened -Yes, but what, exactly? There were so many questions left open. 

I had a hard time getting into the story, and I think I never really did, because only in the last two chapters it is revealed what this book really is about. This story would have been sufficient as a short story, but to make a whole novel out of it was too much, in my opinion. It was slow-paced and boring at times. The only parts that were interesting were the beginning in which the narrator introduces all the persons, and the second-to-last chapter.

There is really not much going on, there are persons mentioned that are being mentioned over and over again, the symptoms they suffer from, how Jacobs was able to help them (or not, in some cases) but there was never anything really new to the story, except for the second-to-last chapter. 
The conclusion, though, left me in tears. Not because I was touched, but because it reminded me so much of a certain (and very grotesque) Pink Floyd album. And I am guessing that was where the idea was taken from. And that made it very cliché and not scary at all.
The last chapter wasn't really a resumé, either, but really, really boring and hard to get through.

I have been a Stephen King fan for the most part of my life, but I have to say that this is my least favourite book by him so far. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to finishing the Bill Hodges Trilogy.

Stephen King - Joyland

Joyland - Stephen King

College studen Devin Jones took the summer job at Joyland hoping to forget the girl who broke his heart. But he wound up facing something far more terrible: the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and dark thruths about life - and what comes after - that would change his world forever.

I really liked the premise of this book - a murder in an amusement park, at least that’s what I thought it was about. It was more about Jonesy (that’s what the ‘carnies’ call him) and how he found his place among the Joyland people and what happens after the summer business is over.

What kept me reading was not necessarily the story itself, but I really, really liked the setting and the atmosphere that Stephen King created with this book. The main character was thrown into all that stuff and what was going on beyond the neon lights of the amusement park and I really liked those insights that I got. I also liked the characters, they were well-created and well-described. I just didn’t care for them as much as I did with other characters in other boooks - for example I didn’t cry at the end.

As for the murdered girl - the story didn’t really much revolve around her as I’d thought it would. She was more of a seldom-mentioned character that didn’t necessarily have a great part in the story. Even when her storyline ended (that’s about all I can say without spoilering anything) it wasn’t that big of a deal. Just gone.

Joyland had aspects of a crime/mystery book, I guess, because in the end - you can guess - they found the killer (which isn’t very surprising in a crime novel). And that’s all there was to it.
I’m not sure if I’d read this book again, but if so, I’d read it just for the atmosphere. And for the humour that was brought across. Stephen King did a very good job at this one. All in all, I thought it was a little slow-paced and long at times, but then again I’m not really sure. Let’s just go with this:
Many, many Stephen King tropes (main character from Maine, psychic kid, creepy and wise old men… you get it), but nevertheless it was an original story, although some of the characters had a familiar touch to them.

Stephen King - Four Past Midnight

Four Past Midnight - Stephen King [This is the German version]

This is basically two novels put together into one binding. The first one is about a plane that ends up in another time where everyone has vanished and where nothing is ever the same.
The second one is about an author who finds himself confronted with someone who claims he has stolen his short story ideas and tries to prove him wrong.

The Langoliers
I didn’t really like the first novel. Like in so many Stephen King books you get to know each character and each of their stories first. Since there are only six main characters (and next-to-no supporting ones) there’s a lot to it. I thought it was a bit boring and the setting and the time travelling just weren’t my thing. I didn’t feel the urge to read it, actually, but I’m glad I did because..

Secret Window, Secret Garden
…The second novel was the absolute best mental breakdown process Stephen King has ever written. I don’t want to spoil anything but … man.. THAT plot twist. I didn’t see that coming, honestly! I loved, loved, loved it! Why didn’t they put it first in this collection?! Why isn’t this a hyped thing?! Why isn’t this popular!

(originally posted October 2015)

Stephen King - Mr Mercedes (Bill Hodges #1)

Mr. Mercedes - Stephen King

A stolen Mercedes rushes into a crowd - killing eight people and leaving dozens wounded; approximately six months after the incident the killer sends retired detective Bill Hodges a letter….
Another Stephen King book I read, and another one I’ve loved. I didn’t love this quite as much as his other work, though. I think this is the only contemporary novel that I ever read from him without a supernatural aspect. It doesn’t matter which genre Stephen King chooses - he masters them all. This one’s a really good psycho-thriller.

Almost from the beginning, the audience knows who the mysterious Mercedes Killer is. His name is Brady and he lives with his mother and he’s …. well, having issues. Major issues. I’ve always loved how Stephen King portrays his villains, but this one’s perfect! I felt myself shake when reading about his fantasies, he felt credible! Sometimes he was sympathetic, and then he was antagonistic in a way that I wanted him dead.

It even went so far that in the end I didn’t even know whose side I was on. And that creeps me out. It made me question my sanity. And that shows the true quality of Mr King’s work.

(originally posted September 2015)