The best Stephen King books
The top 3 according to 43 votes from people: It · The Stand · Carrie. (Updated Apr 20, 2026.)
The Stephen King novels and novellas that rank highest across critics' and readers' rankings (Reader's Digest, CBR, Ranker's crowd vote), from Carrie to Fairy Tale.
Top 20
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1
It
1986. The Losers' Club against Pennywise in Derry, in childhood and adulthood; often called his magnum opus.
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2
The Stand
1978. A superflu wipes out humanity and the survivors split between good and Randall Flagg.
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3
Carrie
1974. His first published novel, rescued from the bin by his wife Tabitha.
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4
The Shining
1977. Jack Torrance, winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, and his son Danny's 'shine'.
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5
Cujo
1981. A rabid St. Bernard traps a mother and her son in a car.
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6
11/22/63
2011. A teacher travels back in time to stop the Kennedy assassination; a love story in disguise.
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7
Misery
1987. The writer Paul Sheldon held captive by his 'number one fan', Annie Wilkes.
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8
Salem's Lot
1975. Vampires take over a small town in Maine.
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9
Under the Dome
2009. An invisible dome cuts off the town of Chester's Mill.
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10
Different Seasons
1982. Four novellas including 'Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption' and 'The Body' (Stand by Me).
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11
Doctor Sleep
2013. Danny Torrance grown up, sober and working in a hospice; the sequel to The Shining.
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12
Pet Sematary
1983. A burial ground in Maine that brings back the dead, changed; King considered it his scariest book.
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13
The Long Walk
1979. One hundred teenage boys walk until only one is left; published as Richard Bachman.
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14
Night Shift
1978. His first story collection, with 'Children of the Corn' and 'The Mangler'.
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15
The Institute
2019. Children with psychic powers kidnapped to a secret facility in Maine.
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16
Fairy Tale
2022. Seventeen-year-old Charlie Reade and a portal to another world under an old man's shed.
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17
The Green Mile
1996. Death row in 1932 and the gentle giant John Coffey; first published in six monthly parts.
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18
Lisey's Story
2006. A widow and her late writer husband's secret world; King's personal favourite of his books.
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19
The Dead Zone
1979. After a coma, Johnny Smith can see the future of anyone he touches.
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20
Christine
Stephen King's 1983 novel about a possessed 1958 Plymouth Fury, adapted by John Carpenter the same year.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 20… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
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21
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
1982. 'The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed': the start of his seven-book saga.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (6)
Finally read The Stand this summer. 1,100 pages and worth every one.
The Long Walk adaptation got me to reread it, still brutal.
It at #1 is fair, but The Stand is his masterpiece imo.
Christine should be on here!
11/22/63 is so underrated, best time travel book I've read.
Different Seasons has The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me in one book. Insane.