Stephen King starter book?

Question

I have heard Stephen King is a great horror author. Truely a master. I tried getting into his books and actually started with four of his short stories because they were supposed to be his first. The first one I read was about a walk that was highly praised by society, but they started doing away with the competitors that fell behind or lagged while walking. Anyways, the point of this question. I got through two and a half of his stories before I started losing interest. I am still hearing about how great and scary his books are. What I want to know is, what book would be another good starter book of his? Something to try and get me hooked on his works.

Answer 1

The work you are referring to The Long Walk was written under KIng's pseudonym Richard Bachman and deserves a second reading....it is the only story I have ever read that haunted my dreams while reading it. But for other great reads by Stephen King try starting at the beginning with Carrie and work your way forward. Not all his works are masterful but his characters always have real depth and his ability to create solid images is superb. A relatively quick read that isn't very scary but makes you experience everything with the main character is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. But if real horror is your desire, I agree with those who suggested The Shining and I had to keep a rosary around my neck to read 'Salem's Lot if that tells you anything!

Answer 2

For the most part, King's best work is his older work. Carrie, The Shining, and 'Salem's Lot are some of his best novels. Most of his recent books and short stories just seem to fall flat to me. It's like he was too concerned with churning them out to make a profit that he forgot about characterization and good writing and everything else that made his work good to begin with. He's partially redeemed himself with the Dark Tower series, but that's more of a dark fantasy than real horror.

Answer 3

I'd recommend any of these three: "Salem's Lot", perhaps the ultimate story of a community literally consumed by evil; "The Shining", the tale of a severely haunted hotel that preys on the minds and souls of its victims, and "It", in which a band of children unite in a struggle against their worst fears, and how, when they are grown, must return and battle those same fears, now grown to terrifying proportions.
All three very accessible, very direct and gripping tales, each with more beneath the surface than you might guess.

Answer 4

You should read The Night Shift- it's a collection of really creepy short stories, one of them is the Children of Corn, it will get you hooked on his stories :)

Answer 5

The Black Tower series or Children of the Corn

Answer 6

The dark tower series is great...but it is really hard to keep interest in that first book
The first Stephen King book i read was Firestarter...i liked it alot.
another one i liked was Geralds game (but it was kind of disturbing)

Answer 7

It particularly relies upon on what you're searching for. in case you like the fast tale format of 'each and every thing's Eventual,' then you may to grant a number of his different short tale collections a attempt. i might extraordinarily advise which you look into 'diverse Seasons,' which incorporates King's superb short tale [for my area, 'Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank Redemption,' to boot as a pair of particularly different sturdy thoughts. '4 previous hour of darkness' is yet another e book of short thoughts, with some sturdy content cloth. 'evening Shift' has much extra to % between [and the size of those thoughts is extra consistent with what you sampled in 'each and every thing's Eventual']. in case you're searching for organic horror, then i might advise you provide 'puppy Sematary' a attempt. it particularly is his scariest artwork by technique of an prolonged shot--relatively terrifying. different frightening novels by technique of King incorporate 'Bag of Bones,' 'Salem's Lot,' and 'The Shining.' in case you're searching for an epic, severe high quality study, then i might advise going with 'The Stand,' this is King's superb artwork common for my area. in case you're into sci-fi / delusion, then you may to grant the darkish Tower sequence a attempt. This series is built from 7 novels, and a selection of of alternative thousand pages of fabric--so it particularly is extra of a dedication. yet have confidence me--that is totally addicting, as quickly as you get into it. base line: there is a lot to % between with Stephen King, so take exhilaration in!

Answer 8

I really liked Thinner

Answer 9

My favorite book is "The Stand".