Scariest Stephen King book?

**JamesMWatts** · July 26th, 2010

I would have to say it is a toss up between Pet Semetary, 'Salem's Lot, The Stand and Misery. Being freshly published, Misery strikes me with terror. Just thinking of a crazed fan like Anne Wilkes...shivers.

**Andre Linoge** · July 27th, 2010

Actually, yeah.......Pet Semetary was pretty creepy

**fredandy** · August 30th, 2010

I, too would have to agree with KennethHurd, Pet Semetary and It were probably the ones that grabbed me the most, although the movie version of It came no where near to doing it justice.

**BlunkLaura** · September 2nd, 2010

I read It at the age of,oh, ten or 11 (I was an advanced reader even in grade-school..) and It scared the bejeezus out of me....I am very visual....and I remember reading it one rainy night, and getting SO scared I screamed and threw it clear across the room.
I never looked at it since.I had to have my dad hide It from me (ha!).
Then,I just finished It a few days ago....I shouldn't have re-picked it up.
I am stay wayyyyy jumpy and have problems sleeping with my back to a a door or window (well,more than I already had).
No other book has creeped me out as much as It has !!!!
I'm going through and re-reading as much of SK as I can,so far I've gone through:

Lisey's Story (LOVED it !)
Insomnia (not dull like others said, but long time to get into the story)
Eyes of the Dargo (good for a YA-fantasy type book)
It (oooooh boogery jeez, I am NOT going to read It ever again !!!!!!)
~and~
am currently reading 'Night Shift' ,which is prett good.The short story the Mangler made me chuckle out loud.

But,I am getting off subject.
The short-and-short of it (no pun intended) is that....It scares me.
Not Pennywise.
Not the movie.
The BOOK.

Bool ! The End !

**cormac** · September 2nd, 2010

Looking thru this thread it looks like 'Pet Sematary' is hands-down the winner and ... I'd agree ... I read Pet Sematary in one night because it scared the hell out of me ...

The Shining ... This is so creepy and frightening ... both the peril Danny is in because of something he was born with ... the alcoholism of Jack and these passages where he is thinking of a drink, just one drink, are frightening in the power it has over him ... and Room 217 ...

Salem's Lot -- pretty darned scary as well lol ... just the thought that there might be another explanation for ghost towns

Misery -- has to be right up close to these as well ... people who i know that saw the movie and didn't read the book would always say how horrible the 'hobbling' scene was ... weeeelllll ...

**Emdee** · September 2nd, 2010

Oh, i'd like to say that all of them are scary

but the two books i've had night mares from are Pet sematary (dead guy in red shorts who resembels my brother a lot is in my doorway with a crazy smile) and Firestarter, which i actually had two night mares from. (Rainbird got me in both. Bleh.) So i suppose that my subconsious finds them the scariest. X)
While awake I think that Misery and the shining are the scariest ones. Insanity, crazed fans and som more insaniy. Whee!

**zachjames** · September 26th, 2010

Pet Sematary is probably the scariest. Misery the most intense I've read.

Under the Dome although a great book didn't seem very scary, but I haven't read even close to half of his books so I can't give a good opinion.

**Garriga** · December 10th, 2010

The Stand is the scariest book, because it could actually happen ( I have a B.S. in biology it is possible to engineer a virus that keeps mutating antigens )

**Carolyn Carlisle** · December 10th, 2010

There are only two SK books that actually made me leave my bedroom and go out into the living room with my parents because I was so scared when reading them. 'Salem's Lot and The Shining. Also (and I've said this in another thread) his son's book The Heart Shaped Box scared the living crap outta me. It actually kept me up at night and gave me nightmares.

**Carolyn Carlisle** · December 13th, 2010

also when I was in high school, I got my best friend into Stephen King books as well. She called me at 3am because she had stayed up reading Pet Sematary and the part where it described the green trash bag fragments in Church's teeth freaked her out and she wanted to talk to someone so she wouldn't be so scared and could go to sleep LOL. She also read IT, and told me that she couldn't have it out in her room at night, she turned it face down under some clothes in her dresser every night before she went to sleep.