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Stephen King Best Books
50
items Stephen King - what more needs to be said? Buckle up, I'm just getting started! The first time I knew of King, I was a kid, standing in a bookstore, staring at the cover of his novel, The Shining. I got it on a whim. One of the BEST decisions I ever ...
Sections
5
Short Story Collections
Dark Tower Series
My Personal Favs
Non Horror Bests
Holly Gibney Bks
Short Story Collections
King isn't just a master of the novel; he writes amazing short stories too! And frequently, he writes short stories that have links to characters or plots from his novels. These are his short story collections. Enjoy!
Night Shift is King's first collection of short stories, and he starts off strong! In 1980, it won the Balrog Award for Best Collection. It has 20 short stories.
Night Shift
The collection features 22 works, which include 18 short stories, two novellas (The Mist and The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet), and two poems ("Paranoid: A Chant" and "For Owen").
Skeleton Crew: Stories by Stephen King
There are 24 stories in this collection. Some personal favorites of mine include, “Crouch End,” “You Know They Got a Hell of a Band,” and “My Pretty Pony.”
Nightmares & Dreamscapes
Everything's Eventual was a long time coming. King hadn't released a short story collection in years, so readers were excited when it came out in 2002. It has 11 short stories and 3 novellas. Some of my favorites from King are in here, including "140...
Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales
Just After Sunset came out in 2008, and has 13 stories in it, including “N,” which is one of my favorites - wonderfully creepy!
Just After Sunset
This 2015 collection has 20 stories in it, including “UR,” which originally came out as an e-book. The novella “Drunken Fireworks” is a real hoot - you have to read that one!
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
I love the cover of this 2024 collection! There's 12 stories in this one and I really enjoyed it. Classic King - another winner.
You Like It Darker
Different Seasons is technically not a “short story” collection. It contains 4 novellas. But I'm counting it. Do yourself a favor and read this one. It's amazing, cover to cover. Here's what's in it: "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” "Apt Pupi...
Different Seasons: Four Novellas
Another novella collection from 1990. All 4 novellas are terrific. Includes: The Langoliers (adapted into a miniseries - lot of fun), Secret Window, Secret Garden (adapted into the film Secret Window with Johnny Depp), The Library Policeman, The Sun ...
Four Past Midnight
Full Dark, No Stars came out in 2010. It's 4 novellas have a decidedly dark tone to them. It includes: 1922 (adapted into a Netflix film), Big Driver (adapted into a television movie), Fair Extension, and A Good Marriage (adapted into a film).
Full Dark, No Stars
This 2020 collection includes Mr. Harrigan's Phone (adapted into a Netflix Original), The Life of Chuck (made into a movie directed by Mike Flanagan), Rat, and If It Bleeds.
If It Bleeds
Dark Tower Series
The Dark Tower series is King's Magnum Opus. Comprised of eight novels, one novella, and a children's book, the series follows Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger, on his quest for the mystical Dark Tower. The writing represents a mix of horror and ...
The book that started it all. Gunslinger is the first book in the Dark Tower series. You meet Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger, who is chasing the evil "the man in black," across the desolate landscape that is the world now. It is the start of wh...
The Gunslinger (1982)
The Drawing of the Three starts almost immediately after Gunslinger ends. It tells the tale of how Roland finds his future companions Eddie Dean and Susannah Dean.
The Drawing of the Three (Dark Tower #2)
The Waste Lands tells the story of the three working to draw the boy Jake Chambers into their world, and their confrontation with the insane train, Blaine the Mono headed for the ruined city of Lud.
The Waste Lands: The Dark Tower, No. 3
In Wizard and Glass, Roland Deschain's tragic love story with Susan Delgado in the town of Hambry is told as a flashback.
Wizard and Glass
The Little Sisters of Eluria is a prequel novella set during the early days of Roland Deschain's pursuit of the Man in Black. He is attacked by mutants and is then taken in by the "sisters," who first appear to be healers but are actually monsters; c...
Little Sisters of Eluria
In the 5th novel of the series, Roland's quest for the Dark Tower continues with his ka-tet (Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and the animal Oy). They arrive in Calla Bryn Sturgis, a farming community terrorized by masked riders called the Wolves who steal chi...
Wolves of the Calla
Song of Susannah tells of the ka-tet's efforts to rescue Susannah Dean. Susannah has been possessed by the demon Mia and taken to 1999 New York City to give birth to a child. Jake, Oy, and a priest we met in ‘Salem’s Lot (Father Callahan) pursue Susa...
Song of Susannah
The final book in the Dark Tower series, this novel is a roller coaster ride, full of twists and turns . . . joy and heartbreak. I will not say anymore about this one. You have to read it for yourself.
The Dark Tower (7) by Stephen King
A “story in a story in a story.” Set between books 4 & 5 in the Dark Tower series, it's a dark fairy tale about a boy named Tim, told to the ka-tet by Roland. It is not a story you need to know for the series.
The wind through the keyhole
My Personal Favs
While I think I've enjoyed almost everything King has written, these novels and short stories were my all-time favorites.
Evil arrives in Jerusalem's Lot, Maine in the form of a vampire and it's up to author Ben Mears and his friends to stop him. One of King's first novels and one of his best.
Salem's Lot by Stephen King 9780307743671
Probably my favorite short story from King. Writer Mike Enslin spends a night in Room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel and his life is never the same. For me, though, one of the more interesting parts of the story is the conversation that occurs between Ens...
1408 in Everything's Eventual
I flat-out love this book. It wasn't one of King's more popular novels, but I think it's awesome. It's about a a vintage blue 1953 Buick Roadmaster, that's been secretly stored away by Pennsylvania State Polic Troop D since 1979. The story is told in...
From a Buick 8: A Novel - Stephen King
This is a novella tells the strange tale of Dr. Emlyn McCarron and an episode that took place early in his career in the 1930s. The story is told by a colleague of his, David, the designated storyteller that night at a gentleman's club where the stor...
The Breathing Method in Different Seasons - King, Stephen
This 1981 non-fiction book analyzes the horror genre in literature, film, and television. King creates even more interest by blending autobiographical elements to his narrative. It's a surprisingly readable “scholarly” book; very knowledgeable, but a...
Danse Macabre by Stephen King 9781439170984
People are abducted by an evil deputy named Collie Entragian, and taken to a desolated mining town named Desperation in Nevada. They have to fight an evil being named Tak with the help of 11 year old David Carver, who has a unique link to God. It's a...
Desperation by Stephen King 9780670868360
The short story Jerusalem's Lot takes place after ‘Salem’s Lot. It's a wonderful afterthought to the novel, full of horror. Great read!
Jerusalem's Lot in Night Shift: King, Stephen
This novella will haunt you long after you read it. The boys in the story are so well developed, so real. I don't like the way the movie ended - I prefer the novella's ending, personally. It is so good.
The Long Walk in The Bachman Books by King
The Mist: HATE the movie ending. LOVE the novella. Forget what you saw and read the book. Trust me.
The Mist in Skeleton Crew: Stories by Stephen King
‘N’ is a powerful, creepy story in the book, Skeleton Crew. It's hard to describe - very Lovecraftian. Don't want to give anything away. Trust me, just read it!
N in Just After Sunset: Stories by Stephen King
Yep! That Shawshank Redemption! The movie is actually pretty close to King's novella, but it is different enough to make it worth a read. I love it.
Rita Hayworth & Shawshank Redemption: Four Novellas
It's interesting to me that King doesn't actually consider this to be one of his better novels. No matter - it's one of my favs. Rose sticks with me. The story does too. I really recommend it.
Rose Madder
This is a really creepy story about a guy who is convinced an established author named Mort Rainey stole one of his story ideas. Mort says he hasn't. And it goes VERY much downhill from there.
Secret Window, Secret Garden - Stephen King
One of King's masterpieces. Became a movie classic as well. The book is different than the movie, so it's well worth a read. The father-son dynamic is moving. Love this one. And I will never stay in a hotel by myself.
The Shining by Stephen King - 9780307743657
This is probably my favorite King novel. (But I may have said that about another King novel too - it's hard to choose!) I fell in love with the characters. The story pulls you in and won't let you go. I full-out cried when one of the characters died ...
The Stand: King, Stephen - Amazon.com
Non Horror Bests
Stephen King is known as the “king” of horror, but some of his best work isn't in the horror genre at all. This list includes those writings.
While this novel has some creepy moments to it, I suppose, it's more a time travel story than a horror story. One might even say it's a love story. Read it and decide for yourself!
11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King
As the novella 1922 opens, a former farmer named Wilfred James is writing his confession to the murder of his wife, Arlette, on their farm in Hemingford, Nebraska. And it goes on from there . . .
1922 in Full Dark, No Stars
A traveling salesman sits in his room at a Motel 6. In one hand, is his notebook holdingthe bizarre, but poetic bathroom graffiti he has gathered from interstate rest stops all over the country. In his other hand is a gun. Will he kill himself or fin...
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away - Everything's Eventual
Vince and Dave are the operators of a small Maine newspaper. When their intern asks them if they've ever come across a mystery that was never solved in the fifty years they'd been at the paper, they tell her the story of The Colorado Kid.
The Colorado Kid (Hard Case Crime, 013-I)
This is an adult fairy tale, set in a mythical medieval kingdom. The story has political intrigue and involves a conflict between two royal brothers, but it also represents a classic tale of good versus evil.
The Eyes of the Dragon: A Novel by Stephen King
A seventeen-year-old boy named Charlie Reade and a dog named Radar are thrown into a parallel world where good and evil are at war and they become pivotal to the fight.
Fairy Tale: King, Stephen - Amazon.com
An old style mystery, with a little scare thrown in. Teenager Devin Jones decides to take a summer job at Joyland, an amusement park. He makes friends with Tom and Erin who work there too. He also gets to know his neighbors Annie and her young son Mi...
Joyland by Stephen King - 9781781162644
An elderly man on his deathbed gives his young grandson a pocketwatch and warns the boy against the dangers of letting time slip away.
My Pretty Pony - Nightmares and Dreamscapes
Holly Gibney Bks
One of King's favorite characters that he created is Holly Gibney, who he characterizes as "an obsessive compulsive with a huge inferiority complex." Readers get to watch Holly grow from a supporting character in the Bill Hodges trilogy of novels to ...
A crime thriller novel and the first in the trilogy about retired detective, Bill Hodges, who is chasing "Mr. Mercedes." He is a killer who drove a stolen Mercedes into a crowd and has reemerged through a taunting letter. What follows is a cat-and-mo...
Mr. Mercedes: A Novel (Bill Hodges Trilogy)
In Finders Keepers, Bill, Holly, and their friend Jerome are after a deranged fan, Morris Bellamy who murdered author John Rothstein in 1978. Imprisoned for another crime, he is released decades later, only to find out that a teenager named Pete Saub...
Finders Keepers: A Novel (Bill Hodges Trilogy)
In the last book of the trilogy, retired detective Bill Hodges and his partner Holly Gibney have to fight a different kind of foe: Brady Hartsfield, a comatose patient in a hospital bed, who has the supernatural ability to force people to commit suic...
End of Watch: A Novel (Bill Hodges Trilogy)
In The Outsider, Holly is now a private investigator with her own firm. She is approached by Detective Ralph Anderson about a strange case he is dealing with: a murder of an 11-year-old boy. The main suspect is a man named Terry Maitland, who despite...
The Outsider: A Novel - Stephen King
The novella If It Bleeds follows Holly Gibney as she investigates a psychic vampire, an "outsider" feeding on tragedy.
If It Bleeds, the title story from the book.
This 2023 novel finds Holly taking on a missing persons case that leads her to a pair of elderly, cannibalistic serial killers. (This is not a spoiler - it is revealed to the reader at the beginning of the novel!)
Holly by Stephen King - 9781668016138
This time, Holly is dealing with two cases that are intertwined. One involves a killer threatening 14 people; in the other, she must guard a controversial feminist activist against a dangerous stalker.
Never Flinch: A Novel by Stephen King