13 best books by Stephen King
There is not a single person who has not heard the name "Stephen King." And even people who do not like to read books, once having seen the screen version of the works of the greatest master of horror, become his admirers forever and later with delight enjoy the best-sellers of all times and peoples. The American writer works in a variety of genres. These are thrillers and mystic, drama and fantasy, detective and science fiction. Stephen King - one of the few authors who was awarded the highest awards for his work. These are the awards of O. Henry, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe and many other confessions from dedicated admirers and experts.
In our rating, we have collected 13 books of the great master, which for more than a decade have been in the top of the world's best works, and in the opinion of readers and critics serve as an example of real art.
Top Stephen King Top Books
| Nomination | a place | Name of product | Rating |
| Top Stephen King Top Books | 1 | Green Mile | 4.9 |
| 2 | Rita Hayworth or Shawshank Escape | 4.8 | |
| 3 | Pet cemetery | 4.8 | |
| 4 | Radiance | 4.8 | |
| 5 | It | 4.7 | |
| 6 | Misery | 4.7 | |
| 7 | 11/22/63 | 4.6 | |
| 8 | Langolera | 4.6 | |
| 9 | Losing weight | 4.5 | |
| 10 | Standoff | 4.5 | |
| 11 | Dark tower | 4.5 | |
| 12 | Cujo | 4.4 | |
| 13 | Carrie | 4.4 |
Green Mile
Book author: Stephen King
Rating: 4.9
This book by Stephen King was published in 1996 and immediately gained popularity among fans of horror and mysticism. Her screen version created a sensation, and for almost 20 years, interest in the film and the work has not diminished. In the center of the plot is a prison block for suicide bombers in which they are awaiting sentence. The “Green Mile” is the road along the lime-colored linoleum, which is covered with a corridor, and along which the convict passes his last steps in life to finish it in the electric chair.
The story goes on behalf of prison guard Paul Edgecomb, who is in a nursing home, and surprises his companion not only with a mystical story, but also with his longevity. All his relatives left this world a long time ago, and he lives, and this became his punishment. Paul says that a meeting with a prisoner of African American John Coffey, who possesses supernatural powers, has predetermined his entire future. Big and good-natured, he admits to everyone that he is not guilty of murder, but he is so tired of cruelty and injustice that he is ready to leave this world.
The novel completely immerses itself in history, where suicide bombers can sympathize with and even forgive, and the guards, with their particular cruelty, provoke anger and hatred.
Rita Hayworth or Shawshank Escape
Book author: Stephen King
Rating: 4.8
The book was introduced in 1982 and tells about Andy Dufresna, the former vice-president of the bank, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife and her lover. Filmed in 1994, the film is included in the list of the best films of all time. In Shawshank, the main character will have to feel the whole nightmare of prison life. Intelligent Andy fell to a lot of tests, which he endures in spite of everything.
The acquaintance and subsequent friendship with the black Rad sentenced to three life sentences was pre-determining for both of them.Andy, having heard the guards talk about incredibly high taxes, suggests reducing them in a completely legal way. So he becomes for the administration an indispensable person who helps launder money and hide financial fraud.
When the hero learns from prisoners that there is evidence of his innocence, he goes to the prison director. But he does not want to lose a valuable and free worker and refuses to help him. After 18 years, Dyufresn ran through a manhole, which he dug day after day, centimeter by centimeter, in his cell and which even Rad’s faithful friend did not guess. For lovers of psychological realism, it is this book by Stephen King from our rating that we recommend reading.
Pet cemetery
Book author: Stephen King
Rating: 4.8
Published in 1983, the book was greeted with enthusiasm by the admirers of Gothic literature. The idea of writing came after the funeral of a pet - the cat Smaki. After completion, the maitre considered it so creepy and frightening that he decided never to publish. But problems with finances violated plans, and on November 14 one of the worst stories ever written by a master saw the light. And in 1989, Mary Lambert filmed his work, showing the whole nightmare of losing a child.
The idea is twisted on a married couple who moves with their children from Chicago to the town of Ludlow. Not far from their house is a cemetery, where they bury pets. The neighbor of Creeds Jude, who lived from his very birth in these places, will be a true friend to them. He and his wife, Louis, do not encourage constant talk about death and do not approve of his interest in the graves of animals.
The first resurrection is the cat's daughter Pet's cat. His Lucas buries in the burial place of an ancient Indian tribe. The next morning, he returns alive, but not the kind pet, and Lucas begins to regret his action. But after his son is hit by a truck, his father’s demented mind leads him again to the same cemetery.
Radiance
Book author: Stephen King
Rating: 4.8
In 1977, Stephen King’s third novel, The Shining. It is noteworthy that he was the first to be produced in hardcover. To write it pushed the dream had a dream in which his little son runs away along the long and tangled corridors of the hotel from a certain entity. To get rid of unpleasant and nightmarish sensations, the master put his fear on paper. The novel was adapted for theatrical productions and film, but the most popular film was released in 1980 with Jack Nicholson in the role of Jack Torrance.
A young teacher with his wife and child comes to work at a mountain hotel to calm down and relieve stress. In the recent past, a balanced man becomes unbearable, he spreads his hands, not only in relation to his household, but also to his students. Suspended from work at school, he settled in a hotel and began writing a novel.
Jack's five-year-old son is a clairvoyant and telepath. He begins to see the true face of the hotel, in which are the ghosts of past years. Gradually the mind of Torrance Sr. seizes the "owner of the hotel", which forces him to give Danny with his supernormal abilities. The manuscript ends with a happy ending, but not for everyone.
It
Book author: Stephen King
Rating: 4.7
For lovers of classic horrors, we included in the rating the book “It” - a work that, within 12 months after the publication, sold over 2.5 million copies. The basis of Stephen King put his childhood memories, and the collective image of the monster took the most terrible and terrible nightmares.
The storyline of the book is built on the brutal murders committed in the state of Maine. Heroes live several age periods. First there are seven eleven-year-olds, united in the “Club of losers” to destroy the monster that everyone calls It. Realizing that none of the adults will not help them, the children join the battle and injure the monster.After 27 years, serious respectable citizens, each living their own lives, appear before us. But after the disappearance of children began to occur again, friends remember the oath and are forced to unite to fight evil.
In the clown Pennyvayze, which takes the form of the terrible Ono, the author has connected all the known monsters. According to critics, the serial maniac John Gacy, who lured children in holidays in a clown costume and then brutally killed them, became a prototype of it.
Misery
Book author: Stephen King
Rating: 4.7
Critics and fans of psychological thrillers without horror elements perceived the book “Misery”, which was positively published in 1987. As Stephen King himself noted, the plot dreamed of him in a dream, like the ideas of many of his other works. The name can be interpreted in two ways. Firstly, this is the name of the main character of the novels of the famous writer, who has had an accident and has become a hostage in the house of the psychopathic personality Ann Wilks.
Secondly, the misery from English translates as suffering. And here lies the basic meaning of all the experiences of the hero, who is powerless because of his condition to somehow change his destiny. Obtaining a strong painkiller, Paul gradually gets used and becomes dependent on medication. Ann forces him to resurrect the murdered in the last part of Misery, to which the exhausted man agrees, fearing attacks of cruelty and uncontrollable rage from the former nurse.
Realizing that before him a sophisticated killer who does not stop at nothing, the hero gets rid of Ann. But even after her death, having lived a normal life, Paul feels her presence and it seems to him that she is alive.
11/22/63
Book author: Stephen King
Rating: 4.6
The novel, selected in our rating, was released in November 2011. A fantastic story about the salvation of the American president shocked many, and the book was included in the list of the best bestsellers. A regular English teacher asks you to write an essay on the topic “The Day That Has Changed Everything”. He is deeply shocked by the story of the janitor Harry, who told about the cruel murder of a drunken father to his mother, brothers and sister, and left him forever disabled.
A couple of years Jacob learned about the existence of a temporary portal, which transfers to the distant 1958 year. The owner of the diner, in the back room of which he is located, asks the teacher to help save Kennedy. Not really believing in the move, he nevertheless agrees and immediately finds Harry’s father and kills him, preventing the death of the whole family.
The president is also saved, but at what cost? In the shootout, his beloved Epping is killed, and he, once again in the present, sees a global catastrophe, to which changes in the past have led, and it was he who helped to make them. Trying to rectify the situation, he returns again in 1958. Having moved to our time, he finds his beloved, who is already 80 years old, and she does not remember at all who this man is.
Langolera
Book author: Stephen King
Rating: 4.6
The book was a gift for fans of horror and fiction. Published in 1990, she was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. The idea of time travel has been used more than once by Stephen King in his writings. In the center of the plot, the passengers of the Boeing 767, who fall asleep and, waking up, find that only 11 people are left on board, the rest have mysteriously disappeared. And there were clothes, wigs, dental fillings and even surgical pins on the chairs.
Pilot Brian Angle, who is in the capacity of a passenger, without finding anyone in the cabin, takes control of the vessel. Over time, everyone understands that they are in the past, flying through the northern lights, which was a hole in time. The situation is aggravated by langolera - terrible toothy creatures that devour the surrounding space.
Having united, the survivors confront not only the monsters, but also the inadequate passenger, who does not fully understand the whole complexity of the situation and takes one of the girls hostage, but as a result he himself becomes a victim of langoliers.
Losing weight
Book author: Stephen King
Rating: 4.5
We selected a mystical novel in the rating, which was published in 1984 under the pseudonym of Stephen King - Richard Bachmann. Many fans, comparing the similarity of writing, came to the conclusion that this is one and the same person. The mystery of the "Masters of Horror" was revealed, which increased sales several times. In 1996, the world saw the same film adaptation of a bestseller.
“Losing weight” was created during the period when the author suffered from obesity and underwent annual research with a doctor. The plot is twisted around a lawyer who, distracted while driving a car, knocks a gypsy to death. Using his connections, he manages to escape punishment. But it will definitely overtake him. And it will be something mystical and frightening that cannot be explained by scientific means.
The old Gypsy, the father of the deceased, imposes a curse on him, with the result that Billy Halleck begins to lose weight rapidly, and no medical examinations can find the cause of the illness. Persuasion and threats do not act on the gypsy, and he does not remove the curse that overtakes not only a lawyer, but his family.
Standoff
Book author: Stephen King
Rating: 4.5
The book "Confrontation" was published in 1978. But in 1990, the world saw the novel without reductions in the amended form. He tells about the consequences of the apocalypse, which was created not by nature, but by man. A bacteriological weapon, a dangerous flu virus that leads to catastrophic consequences, is being pulled out of the secret laboratory of the USA. Nearly 3 weeks of a pandemic led to mass killings of civilians, but the epidemic is spreading with lightning speed and goes beyond America.
Those who escape death are united in small groups and try to survive. A black woman comes to them all in a dream, and, waking up, they go to her in the state of Nebraska and make her their spiritual leader. Together they are trying to build a renewed society. But in the west, Randall Flagg gathers under his banners murderers, rapists and followers of the fascist ideology who will do everything to destroy Boulder.
Everything ends well, but not only for followers of mother Abagail. Flagg survives a nuclear explosion and gathers new like-minded people into his ranks.
Dark tower
Book author: Stephen King
Rating: 4.5
Readers will surely enjoy the series of works included in our rating, thanks to the mixing of numerous genres. There are horror, detective, fantasy, science fiction, western. A total of 7 books were published, starting in 1982, ending in 2004. In 2012, a sequel was written, in which there are no familiar main characters, and the action takes place between the works of “The Sorcerer and the Crystal” and “The Wolves of Cali.
The author tells about the life and wanderings of Roland Diskeyn, the last of the ancient knightly order, who first alone, and then with a group of like-minded people, travels on the earth in order to restore the fragile peace. Hoping to reach the Dark Tower, he wants to understand who is at the top and controls the Universe.
The shooter falls into a variety of temporary spaces and eras, which are described in other works of Stephen King. The Dark Tower is one of the best creations of the author, which left no one indifferent. And if the chase, mystical transformations, and everything connected with the salvation of the world is close to you, then do not postpone these books for later.
Cujo
Book author: Stephen King
Rating: 4.4
Unlike many other works whose plots were taken from Stephen King’s dreams, the idea of writing the book “Cujo” arose after a real confrontation between the writer and the evil St. Bernard. The animal has become not only the fundamental line of this book, the dog can be found in other works of the author. Released in 1981, the novel immediately attracted the attention of lovers of horror and mysticism. He entered the top ten best-selling eminent wizard.
In a small town nothing foreshadows trouble, everything goes on as usual.St. Bernard young Brett turns into a ruthless killer, infected with rabies. The boy, not knowing about the danger, goes with his mother to his relatives, leaving the dog in the care of a cruel and rude father. Donna Trenton and her little son find themselves at the house of Brett locked in their own car, realizing that there is no way out of it - a rabid dog is roaming around, who has subsequently torn to pieces by innocent people.
In 1983, the novel was filmed. Both critics and readers agreed that the film further reinforced the impression of the novel.
Carrie
Book author: Stephen King
Rating: 4.4
We finish the rating with a mystical thriller, which brought the author not only fame and success, but also a fabulous fee of $ 200,000 for those times. The main character Carrie White is an unremarkable teenage girl. But she is under pressure from a mother who has become a religious fanatic after the death of her father, and terror from her classmates who are trying in every way to humiliate the quiet and downtrodden Carrie. After a joke at the graduation ball, she took advantage of the supernormal abilities discovered at the age of three and is ready to destroy anyone who has ever tried to offend her.
Through telekinesis, she explodes the school boiler room, and all those who did not have time to run out into the fire die in the fire. The town is declared a disaster area. And although the government allocates money for its restoration, many leave this place to forget about the terrible night that took 440 human lives forever.
Carrie dies after stopping her mother's heart. The commission of inquiry does not reveal any significant abnormalities in the structure of the girl's brain and believes that the repetition of this phenomenon is impossible. But King would not be the greatest master of horror, if the story ended simply by the death of a girl. There are still many children in the country who have telekinesis, and no one knows what will happen next and what their superpowers will lead to.
Attention! This rating is subjective, is not advertising and does not serve as a guide to the purchase. Before buying, you should consult with a specialist.
