From the article:
10 - Doctor Sleep (2013)
9 - Thinner (1984)
8 - 11/22/63 (2011)
7 - The Gunslinger (1970)
6 - Carrie (1974)
5 - Salem’s Lot (1975)
4 - Misery (1987)
3 - Pet Semetary (1989)
2 - IT (1986)
1 - The Shining (1977)
What do you think about the list? Anything you would like to change / add / remove?
Wow they got this list completely wrong…ffs IT at #2? Shining at #1? Have these idiots even read King?
The drawing of the 3 is #1… Fight me.
Night shift a close second.
Ranked and in Order
As opposed to ranking them and listing them in a random order.
I’ve read probably 90% of everything he published.
IT is definitely up there. I feel like a lot of the others were probably a lot more shocking at the time they came out, which was before my time.
King’s grandest opus is the Dark Tower, especially the former half of the collection, but ALSO all the other books and stories that tie in with that universe (like Insomnia etc). I’m also an avid reader of his short stories, some of which are more bizarre and ‘special’ than his full feature works. Plenty of those have spawned decent movies or series in their own right (and some failed miserably, but not due to King’s writing).
I feel like the only person who absolutely hated IT and found it a complete slog to get through. It has all of King’s worst habits of over-characterisation and needless waffle. Combine that with some very weird story elements that were introduced near the end of the book more as shock value than any meaningful addition to the plot, and it’s just over 1,000 pages of tedium.
I hated Pet Semetary. Regardless of the disturbing content, I thought the writing was terrible. Maybe I was too young when I read it, but it was one of the few books I’ve ever stopped reading before finishing. I just had zero interest in it, and I’ve read everything he wrote up until 2007.
That said, it was still better than Gerald’s Game.
I’m surprised The Stand isn’t on here, even with its terrible ending.