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Stephen King

Stephen King

Born 21 September 1947

From Portland, Maine, United States · Nationality: United States · Writes fiction and nonfiction

Wikipedia

Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. His books have sold more than 350 million copies, and many have been adapted into films, television series, miniseries, and comic books.

Books Stephen King has recommended →

Listen: Stephen King in 2 min

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Stephen King mostly writes about ordinary people in ordinary places. A Maine town. A hotel shut up for the winter. A stalled car in a summer heat wave. Then something goes wrong that nobody can explain. The scary part is often less the monster than the way the people around it decide what to do, and how often they get it wrong.

His voice is plain and chatty, like someone talking across a kitchen table. He'll name a brand of soda or a TV show in the middle of a scene, then drop you into something sudden and brutal. That mix of the everyday and the ugly is most of the effect. A lot of the pleasure is in the small talk before the bad thing happens, because you come to like these people, and then you're worried about them. You'll hear it in the way he describes a meal or a song on the radio.

The catch is length. His early books are tight. The later ones often run very long, with many characters, frequent shifts between points of view, and digressions some readers love and others find exhausting. Critics have said some of them need a hard edit. The content can be hard going too. The violence is graphic, some books have sexual material, and several have been challenged, and in some school districts banned. If you want something gentle, this isn't the place to start.

So start with Carrie. It's his first published novel, and it's short and direct. A high school outcast with a frightening power, and classmates who are cruel to her in ways that feel painfully real. Bullying and the supernatural are tangled together here, and the book shows you how he works without the sprawl.

If it grabs you, the bigger books will still be there. If it doesn't, you'll know by the end whether his voice and his appetite for ugliness suit you.

Where to start with Stephen King

  • Carrie: Someone new to horror who wants a short, direct entry point. It is his first published novel, about a high school student with telekinetic powers, and it was adapted into a film in 1976.
  • The Shining: Readers who want the author's best-known side of horror. It follows a family during a winter caretaking job at an isolated hotel, and it was adapted into a film in 1980.
  • Joyland: Readers who want something less typical. This 2013 novel is set in a seaside amusement park and is more of a coming-of-age story than a horror book.

Written with AI from the books' details and checked by hand. How BookSense works

Quotes

  • “It was low tide, dead ebb, the time when the sea washes back, leaving slick mudflats covered with straggled weed, rusty beer cans, rotted prophylactics, broken bottles, smashed buoys, and green-mossed skeletons in tattered bathing trunks.”
    The Long Walk
  • “Silent white light filled the world. And the righteous and unrighteous alike were consumed in that holy fire.”
    The Stand, p. 1085
  • “She had never dreamed there could be so much pain in a life when there was nothing physically wrong. She hurt all the time.”
    The Shining
  • “When asked, “How do you write?” I invariably answer, “one word at a time.””
    The Stand, Part 2

Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Books by Stephen King in order

Books by Stephen King in the order they were published, from Carrie (1974) to Never Flinch (2025).

  1. 1CarrieCarrie1974
  2. 2'Salem's Lot'Salem's Lot1975
  3. 3The ShiningThe Shining1977
  4. 4RageRage1977 · as Richard Bachman; out of print at the author's request
  5. 5The StandThe Stand1978
  6. 6The Long WalkThe Long Walk1979 · as Richard Bachman
  7. 7The Dead ZoneThe Dead Zone1979
  8. 8FirestarterFirestarter1980
  9. 9RoadworkRoadwork1981 · as Richard Bachman
  10. 10CujoCujo1981
  11. 11The Running ManThe Running Man1982 · as Richard Bachman
  12. 12The GunslingerThe Gunslinger1982
  13. 13ChristineChristine1983
  14. 14Pet SemataryPet Sematary1983
  15. 15Cycle of the WerewolfCycle of the Werewolf1983
  16. 16ThinnerThinner1984 · as Richard Bachman
  17. 17The TalismanThe Talisman1984 · with Peter Straub
  18. 18The Eyes of the DragonThe Eyes of the Dragon1984
  19. 19ItIt1986
  20. 20The Drawing of the ThreeThe Drawing of the Three1987
  21. 21MiseryMisery1987
  22. 22The TommyknockersThe Tommyknockers1987
  23. 23The Dark HalfThe Dark Half1989
  24. 24Needful ThingsNeedful Things1991
  25. 25The Waste LandsThe Waste Lands1991
  26. 26Gerald's GameGerald's Game1992
  27. 27Dolores ClaiborneDolores Claiborne1992
  28. 28InsomniaInsomnia1994
  29. 29Rose MadderRose Madder1995
  30. 30The Green MileThe Green Mile1996
  31. 31DesperationDesperation1996
  32. 32The RegulatorsThe Regulators1996 · as Richard Bachman
  33. 33Wizard and GlassWizard and Glass1997
  34. 34Bag of BonesBag of Bones1998
  35. 35The Girl Who Loved Tom GordonThe Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon1999
  36. 36DreamcatcherDreamcatcher2001
  37. 37Black HouseBlack House2001 · with Peter Straub
  38. 38From a Buick 8From a Buick 82002
  39. 39Wolves of the CallaWolves of the Calla2003
  40. 40Song of SusannahSong of Susannah2004
  41. 41The Dark TowerThe Dark Tower2004
  42. 42The Colorado KidThe Colorado Kid2005
  43. 43CellCell2006
  44. 44Lisey's StoryLisey's Story2006
  45. 45BlazeBlaze2007 · as Richard Bachman
  46. 46Duma KeyDuma Key2008
  47. 47Under the DomeUnder the Dome2009
  48. 4811/22/6311/22/632011
  49. 49The Wind Through the KeyholeThe Wind Through the Keyhole2012 · set between books 4 and 5
  50. 50JoylandJoyland2013
  51. 51Doctor SleepDoctor Sleep2013 · the sequel to The Shining
  52. 52Mr. MercedesMr. Mercedes2014
  53. 53RevivalRevival2014
  54. 54Finders KeepersFinders Keepers2015
  55. 55End of WatchEnd of Watch2016
  56. 56Gwendy's Button BoxGwendy's Button Box2017 · with Richard Chizmar
  57. 57Sleeping BeautiesSleeping Beauties2017 · with Owen King
  58. 58The OutsiderThe Outsider2018
  59. 59ElevationElevation2018
  60. 60The InstituteThe Institute2019
  61. 61LaterLater2021
  62. 62Billy SummersBilly Summers2021
  63. 63Gwendy's Final TaskGwendy's Final Task2022 · with Richard Chizmar
  64. 64Fairy TaleFairy Tale2022
  65. 65HollyHolly2023
  66. 66Never FlinchNever Flinch2025

Stephen King by thread

Each thread follows the same characters or story, so you can read one through in order and skip the rest.

The Dark Tower (8 books)

  1. The Gunslinger (1982)
  2. The Drawing of the Three (1987)
  3. The Waste Lands (1991)
  4. Wizard and Glass (1997)
  5. Wolves of the Calla (2003)
  6. Song of Susannah (2004)
  7. The Dark Tower (2004)
  8. The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012, set between books 4 and 5)

Bill Hodges and Holly Gibney (6 books)

  1. Mr. Mercedes (2014)
  2. Finders Keepers (2015)
  3. End of Watch (2016)
  4. The Outsider (2018)
  5. Holly (2023)
  6. Never Flinch (2025)

More books

Story collections and novellas

Nonfiction

Stephen King on screen

  • Carrie (film, 1976)
  • The Shining (film, 1980)
  • Stand by Me (from The Body, in Different Seasons) (film, 1986)
  • Misery (film, 1990)
  • The Shawshank Redemption (from Different Seasons) (film, 1994)
  • The Green Mile (film, 1999)
  • It (film, 2017)

Series by Stephen King

Lists with books by Stephen King

If you like Stephen King

For the small town where something is quietly wrong

  • The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
    It builds slow, creeping dread in an old house that seems to turn against the people living in it.
  • Ghost Story by Peter Straub
    It moves between old secrets in a New England town and the friends who slowly realise they share a terrible past.
  • The Other by Thomas Tryon
    It finds menace in a quiet rural childhood, where the unease grows out of ordinary summer days.

For the sprawling story of the world coming apart

  • The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
    A small group of survivors tries to rebuild society after a sudden disaster, with the danger spreading through everyday life.
  • Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
    It follows many lives across years after a pandemic, linking strangers through a travelling theatre company.
  • Swan Song by Robert McCammon
    A nuclear war leaves a young boy and a few others fighting for hope against a dark, supernatural threat.

For the ordinary person pulled into something enormous

  • I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
    One man holds out alone in a changed world, and the story turns on the isolation and grit of his daily routine.
  • Time and Again by Jack Finney
    A commercial artist is sent back in time to 1882 New York, and the detail of the past is as vivid as the mystery.
  • Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
    A travelling carnival arrives in a quiet town, and two boys see its dark magic for what it really is.

For the crime novel with a dark, human edge

  • Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
    Three childhood friends are pulled back together by a murder, and the cost of an old boyhood wound drives the story.
  • Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
    A missing wife and a husband under suspicion are told through two voices, with the marriage slowly coming apart on the page.
  • Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
    An investigator tracks a killer with the help of a brilliant, disturbed prisoner, and the tension rests on close, unsettling detail.

Written with AI from the books' details and checked by hand. How BookSense works

Questions readers ask

How many books has Stephen King written?
He has published 63 novels, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman, and five nonfiction books. He has also written about 200 short stories, most of which appear in collections.
Do I need to read Stephen King's books in order?
Most of his books stand alone, so you can start anywhere. The Dark Tower series is the main exception, and its books are best read in series order, with The Wind Through the Keyhole set between books four and five.
Which Stephen King books have been made into films?
Seven have been adapted for film, including Carrie (1976), The Shining (1980), Stand by Me (from The Body, 1986), Misery (1990), The Shawshank Redemption (from Different Seasons, 1994), The Green Mile (1999) and It (2017).

Written with AI from the books' details and checked by hand. How BookSense works

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