Listened to the Pet Semetary audiobook read by Michael C. Hall about a year into becoming a new dad. It was torture but that is the best version of the story IMO
I've read it 3 times in total and each time was at a different stage in my life and each time it hit me differently. The first was when I was in my late teens and I just thought it was a dark but narly and super cool book. The second time was after becoming a parent and whoo boy did it have a totally different meaning and impact on me. The third time was after losing my parents and brother and the grief within the story resonated with me a lot and I found it very cathartic to read. I took away something different each time I read it as my life experiences grew, it's one of my favourite books because of this
Nice, especially the cathartic part. I just cannot fathom losing my son, that part...nah, can no longer read it.
Very glad it helped you. Thats sorta like me and Roadwork.
The dream where Gage is alive and grows up but then Louis wakes up to reality was so fucking heart-wrenching. Stop reading before he wakes up and it's a happy ending lol.
Yes, definitely, Pet Semetary. The horror of losing the child. The horror of bringing him back. Also, the scenes on the journey to the burial grounds are very creepy.
Don't even get me started on the original movie. I can't watch it anymore ... my heart when he's running toward the road 🥺
I read this book for the first time a couple of months ago. I’ve been a constant reader for many years and read almost 70% of all this work but this book is a deep black horror and terror. Salems lot was the darkest imo before this one, but it cannot compare.
I still remember some passages like Timmy Baterman walking up and down the street day and night and then some other folk trying to talk to the dad in the yard with Timmy also there. And then the horrible funeral. Omg this was so horrible. I could not believe King going this far. Rachel doing her best in vain because she knew something horrible was about to happen. And then arrogant Lois still not understanding the affairs he should not be meddling with. The student jogger trying to warn them
I got to the funeral scene in Pet Semetary, when disaster hit my life like a freight train.
From March 2022- June 2023
- March '22. Stepmom was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer
- November '22. Baby sister was diagnosed with leukemia (she's completely cancer free as of April 2023)
- December '22. 5 year old black lab died from Cancer/Strokes
- March '23 Stepmom died
- June '23. 12 year old Staffy died.
I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to that book.
It’s really a testament to Kings writing that he can almost make you feel sorry for an unrepentant Nazi in a story. That he can make another character *so* awful that you can’t help but empathize with a frikkin’ Nazi. Almost.
Would definitely recommend. I bought Different Seasons a few years back so I could read Shawshank and The Body, knew nothing about Apt Pupil going in and it ended up being the unexpected favorite.
Different Seasons is marketed as a collection of 4 novellas so according to them, it's not a novel. But according to another definition I've seen, 40,000+ words is a novel. That would make all but The Breathing Method in Different Seasons, a novel.
And they frigging made a movie of it! I’m low-key missed that. We never got a movie of the breathing method, which would’ve rounded out the four seasons collection.
I never quite got this take? Apt Pupil is so good because it's pretty much a true story. People are surprised at the kid when mass shootings are a common occurrence these days?
Apparently "The Library Policeman"
Looking forward to it after it getting mentioned all the time here in that context.
Also "The Jaunt" is the clear winner on the short story front.
The Library Policeman was so fucking hard to read. the layers of horror are jarring and uncomfortable, but that's why King is the King.
i still haven't read The Jaunt but need to!!! i hear it mentioned every time his work is discussed and idk how i haven't yet lol
I’m here to say that The Library Policeman is not the most unsettling. I’d advise skipping it for several reasons.
Without spoiling anything, it has a single shocking, cruel and disgusting scene in it. It’s fairly extraneous to the main plot.
Overall, it’s a pretty half-baked short story. There’s an interesting main villain, but the lead characters are forgettable.
In the same collection of short stories (i think) you’ll find The Langoliers and Sun Dog, both of which are better than The Library Policeman, but not too unsettling.
To finally answer your question:
Revival is probably the most unsettling SK book I’ve read in years. It is a glacially-paced slow burn. But it had me up at night for like a week straight after I finished it.
The Body is unsettling, largely because of how grounded in reality it is. The story deals with some big fears and anxieties that start when you’re a kid and never truly leave you.
I thought ‘Salem’s Lot would be kinda corny, and it was, but it was also chilling. Most of the main characters aren’t particularly strong (and are familiar prototypes for later SK books) but it has several haunting scenes, is filled with dread, and is really quite unsettling.
Dr. Sleep was pretty unsettling too. Suffers a bit from sequelitis, but it stands on its own pretty well too.
Last one is Gerald’s Game. If you haven’t read it (or seen it) already, less said the better.
Disagree on Library Policeman. That scene is not at all extraneous but was key to the character's healing and growth.
I have a background of abuse, and I both noticed the foreshadowing and appreciated how the character found healing after dealing with the trauma.
I think that’s a fair assessment. I also think SK could have written this particular story better, and for that reason I don’t usually recommend it.
The scene I’m referencing felt gratuitous when I read it. I was also quite young when I read it, so I likely missed a lot of the foreshadowing. May explain why it felt extraneous or out of nowhere.
I’m sorry to hear that you were abused, that’s horrible. Glad you are here to talk SK though!
Thanks for the kind words. You're not the first person I've heard express that the scene in question came out of nowhere. Maybe my lens is different.
But this lens is also why I'm a constant reader now - he hooked me when I saw that he got trauma and abuse in The Shining. His writing is not without flaws, but I always appreciate the heart beneath it all. There haven't been many I didn't connect to on some level.
Circling back to your other comments, I think Gerald's Game is amazingly astute. There is one scene that was hard to read and watch in the movie, but overall I didn't find it disturbing; I found it empowering. I think he nailed the perspective and how a person would process all of that.
It's always so interesting to me to see how differently we all react to different stories.
Fellow trauma abuse survivor here and I concur. King expertly writes the build up and foreshadowing to character abuse rather well. Rose Madder hooked me as a domestic abuse victim. I spent more time in awe of how *he knew* what it felt like emotionally and mentally to be in that situation and trying to escape.
Exactly - he absolutely *knows* and also conveys it better than I ever could. I felt like he was describing my childhood in The Shining.
I'm reading Rose Madder right now! The beginning was rough, but I'm very invested in the story. And I found myself cringing protectively like I used to when the husband was raging at the beginning.
I find it interesting how there's a series of books in the 90s with difficult abusive stories but that all seem to have empowerment as the characters find their way through it or out of it.
I'm getting more into Rose Madder, and it's taking me back in time to the person I used to be... Wow. I'm feeling so many things I haven't felt in years.
The voices in your head, the fear of being happy for a moment lest there be consequences, it's all so spot on.
Thank you for chiming in on this discussion, it's comforting to know there's someone else out there who's getting all this like I do.
What creeped me is that the ending portrayed is *everyone's* fate, even kids, even Roland, Eddie, Susannah and Jake and Oy of Mid-World, even "regular" decent people, and it's irrevocable, inevitable, infinite, and hopeless.
There's no one shining a light saying "Come this way, do this and not that, and it'll be okay."
I'm curious what you mean. I just recently read revival and thought the ending was spooky but also interesting. I'll admit I haven't read the entire dark tower series yet. I had to sell my collection of king and now im working on getting it back. But anyway can you explain why so many feel this ending is so mind blowing?
Oh okay I see thank you for that clarification. I really didn't think of it that way. Perhaps the null is only one option. But of course I haven't read everything yet. I hope that is not the case that null is the only option
Currently reading Salems Lot and the back to back instances of horrible infant abuse followed by a murdered dog tied to the cemetery gates is unsettling af for me. Like what is wrong with this town!?
It’s a town. It has its secrets and dirty and disgust. It’s awful at some times and beautiful at others. The Town is the main character and you have to see all angles of it.
*Dolores Claiborne* and *Gerald’s Game*. I don’t know anything he can come up with that’s more unsettling than incestuous child molestation. Seems pretty cut and dry to me.
Agreed. My brother and I read it when it first came out and we've only read it once, but he still asks me all the time if I think that's what the afterlife is like. He's seriously so afraid of that being an afterlife.
My love for that story even spills over into the movie adaptation, which was horrible. Insultingly bad acting. But I love it because ... it's The Raft.
Needful Things, Leland Gaunt truly disturbs me, it’s subtle in so many ways which makes it extremely unsettling to read, it took me such a long time to finish it
The Library Policeman. But it's not good-unsettling- whilst I don't think there are any topics that shouldn't be written about in fiction books, some topics require a level of tact and care I don't think this story has. For good and unsettling, I'd go The Jaunt, mostly because he manages to make something so terrifying in such a short amount of text
Constant Reader since 1989 or so.
Gerald's Game. Hands down, I've read 90% of King's work, and it is haunting. I think the binding part scares me the most if I'm being honest. Just imagining I'm constrained is hard, but his imagery is terrifying.
He really knows how to push your fear buttons.
I definitely agree. I have read a few SK’s over the years, not nearly as many as it seems lots of you have read, and so far Gerald’s game is the one that stands out to me…over and over again.
I might give a nod to Insomnia as well. It was an interesting read, and I think about the threads going up from our heads and the scissors that cut them, on a regular basis, and I just shake my head at his ability to take things that are a part of everyday life and put them in a context that I would never imagine.
Insomnia was one that really messed me up because I've suffered from insomnia, and you literally see tracers and things out of the corner of your eye, and you think you're losing your mind.
King just happened to put it into words.
I personally have a very hard time reading parts of Rose Madder and Bag of Bones. The domestic abuse and rape are very disturbing to me. I’ve read most of his older books, pre 2006 but not much since and those are the two that stick out.
I just finished Bag of Bones. Read it in my teens and really enjoyed it, but forgot about that bit at the end. Almost didn't get through it. >!Matties death also hit me harder now that I have children!< I know we aren't going to get typical happy endings with King, but damn all the women in that story deserved better.
The short story TheLong Walk has stuck with me since the early 80’s. When I see anything like Hunger Games or the Squid Games I feel like it was born out of the story.
Too many to count, and some of these novels are so long that it’s hard to set them apart as solitary experiences, the stand had some of the most unsettling shit I’ve ever read. Conversely so did the long walk.
Amen to this, I watched the movies prior to having my daughter without batting an eye. Read the book when she was 6 months old (don’t ask me why, I have no idea what I was thinking) and almost couldn’t finish it. Brutal
Gerald’s Game. I felt nauseous reading it and had to put it down. Maybe one day I’ll try to read it again, but I don’t foresee that being anytime soon.
Pet Sematary, absolutely. I was freaked out for weeks the first time I read it, and nothing else has come close to that. I think King has a wonderful ability to be deeply unsettling in his writing, but for me PS was overwhelmingly horrifying in exactly the right way. Salem's Lot and the Shining are my close seconds, but damn Pet Sematary f*cks me up
Cujo. Every time the narrator switched, I got so nervous because I knew I was going back to being either scared or terrified and I didn’t want either 😭
From a Buick 8 is the one that chilled me the most, I can't put my finger on the reason why but I found it to be pure nightmare fuel
The scariest short story is The Ledge, I'm terrified of heights and King plugged my spine directly into the high voltage terminal with this one
Revival. No question. I’ve read 90% of his books—started when I was 14. No book stuck in my head in such an awful way. Still creeps me out to this day.
*Ssshhh I’m the Library Polithceman*
**Ms. Ardelia Lortzz**
***turns into a literal bug***
Yeah, I love 4 Past midnight but I’m never rereading The Library Policeman
Cell - with all the technology that we have today and EVERYONE is on their phones. The right frequency can do serious damage and our brains are very very sophisticated computers.
Agree with all the pet sematary chat. The parents grief he describes is horrific. I read it once as a teenager when I was first getting into king and basically blasted through everything he had written up to that point. I found it quite unsettling then and then I read it once after I had children and I will never touch it again.
Duma Key Really made me feel uneasy reading it. It actually gave me very visual dreams/nightmares while I read it. I don’t know what it is. The part when the girl is at the bottom of the stairs in the middle of the night I had to set the book down and come back to reality.
Not a novel though, but "1922" unsettled me the most. That one night in the mother's bedroom. I can't get it off of my head, felt like I was watching a snuff film while reading the scene. It's from his novella collection--Full Dark, No Stars.
Lisey’s Story. I love his work but I find this one very disturbing. Hasn’t stopped me reading it several times though. I think it’s the child abuse aspect of it that’s bothersome to me.
not so much unsettling as revolting but i'd probably say IT because of the child orgy scene king put in there.
seriously it could have been edited out entirely but king for some reason decided to write in CP
Pet Cemetery. I bought it the day it came out and read it immediately . Hated it with a passion and didn’t read another King book until The Girl who loved Tom Gordon.
I know ya said novel n this a short story, but for me the only one of his I'd straight up never read again was about a pedo at a library, don't even remember what it's called. Major icks on that one
Pet Semetary - underneath the horror elements is a study of grief that is unparalleled. Grief is a near-universal human experience and King nails it.
Listened to the Pet Semetary audiobook read by Michael C. Hall about a year into becoming a new dad. It was torture but that is the best version of the story IMO
Best performance of a ln audiobook imo. I can't say enough about Michael C Hall! Wish he would do more
For me, MCH will always be the real Jud Crandall (this opinion never goes over well here 😂)
I absolutely need to listen to this.
Let's gooooo
No other book or movie gave me chills like Pet Semetary.
This. Kid is 19 now, tried reading it 5 or so years ago. No go. Even before becoming a dad it was a rough read, after becoming a dad, nope.
I've read it 3 times in total and each time was at a different stage in my life and each time it hit me differently. The first was when I was in my late teens and I just thought it was a dark but narly and super cool book. The second time was after becoming a parent and whoo boy did it have a totally different meaning and impact on me. The third time was after losing my parents and brother and the grief within the story resonated with me a lot and I found it very cathartic to read. I took away something different each time I read it as my life experiences grew, it's one of my favourite books because of this
That’s beautiful it helped you grieve. I found the shining to be modern horror literature. He is just next level. I will read pet next
Nice, especially the cathartic part. I just cannot fathom losing my son, that part...nah, can no longer read it. Very glad it helped you. Thats sorta like me and Roadwork.
I read it when my son was 3 or 4 and yikes. It was rough.
I misread that as “I read it _to_ my son when he was 3 or 4” and almost spit out my drink. 😆
Haha! I would NEVER.
Same with Cujo. Breezed through it in College. Can't stand the stress now.
The dream where Gage is alive and grows up but then Louis wakes up to reality was so fucking heart-wrenching. Stop reading before he wakes up and it's a happy ending lol.
I lost a 10-year old nephew in a traffiic accident and when I did a reread of the book, I could only think "Man he nailed what it's like"
Im so sorry for your loss
Thank you
Yes, definitely, Pet Semetary. The horror of losing the child. The horror of bringing him back. Also, the scenes on the journey to the burial grounds are very creepy. Don't even get me started on the original movie. I can't watch it anymore ... my heart when he's running toward the road 🥺
I read this book for the first time a couple of months ago. I’ve been a constant reader for many years and read almost 70% of all this work but this book is a deep black horror and terror. Salems lot was the darkest imo before this one, but it cannot compare. I still remember some passages like Timmy Baterman walking up and down the street day and night and then some other folk trying to talk to the dad in the yard with Timmy also there. And then the horrible funeral. Omg this was so horrible. I could not believe King going this far. Rachel doing her best in vain because she knew something horrible was about to happen. And then arrogant Lois still not understanding the affairs he should not be meddling with. The student jogger trying to warn them
I got to the funeral scene in Pet Semetary, when disaster hit my life like a freight train. From March 2022- June 2023 - March '22. Stepmom was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer - November '22. Baby sister was diagnosed with leukemia (she's completely cancer free as of April 2023) - December '22. 5 year old black lab died from Cancer/Strokes - March '23 Stepmom died - June '23. 12 year old Staffy died. I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to that book.
And the evil won
As a father - yes.
Definitely Apt Pupil. That kid was so unhinged that it made me feel bad for a literal Nazi, at times.
It’s really a testament to Kings writing that he can almost make you feel sorry for an unrepentant Nazi in a story. That he can make another character *so* awful that you can’t help but empathize with a frikkin’ Nazi. Almost.
🤣. I guess I need to read that next.
Would definitely recommend. I bought Different Seasons a few years back so I could read Shawshank and The Body, knew nothing about Apt Pupil going in and it ended up being the unexpected favorite.
Same! So chilling
Yeah I really need to reread it. Only read it once about 20 years ago. I need a refresher.
Wow. You liked it that much!
Oh I highly recommend it.
I recommend following it up with the movie adaptation. Excellent acting.
I was planning to read under the dome..but change in plans
It’s a relatively short story too, so you can start under the dome soon! It’s a great book
Just finished rereading it. When I was a teen, it was boring. Now, it’s terrifying.
Different Seasons is marketed as a collection of 4 novellas so according to them, it's not a novel. But according to another definition I've seen, 40,000+ words is a novel. That would make all but The Breathing Method in Different Seasons, a novel.
I agree with this. I watched the movie and read the story soon after. That kid made me feel so uncomfortable.
I was like 8 when I read that.
And they frigging made a movie of it! I’m low-key missed that. We never got a movie of the breathing method, which would’ve rounded out the four seasons collection.
Movie was terrible (shocking, right?). Stick with the book
Respectfully I disagree. Ian McKellen and Brad Renfro (RIP) gave a master class in acting.
I never quite got this take? Apt Pupil is so good because it's pretty much a true story. People are surprised at the kid when mass shootings are a common occurrence these days?
I read Apt Pupil exactly once. Never again. It was just so well done and … wrong. I can’t hang.
Misery. 95% of the book is Paul's pain, torture, addiction and trying to navigate Annie's volcanic mood swings
I know it's Bachman, but the long walk left me feeling disturbed and kinda hopeless and just disappointed in myself for some reason
I read that over a decade ago and I swear I must think of it at least on a weekly basis.
Just immediate dread that is sustained throughout. One of his best.
As soon as squid games came out I couldn’t help but think it was based loosely on the long walk
Squid game fucked with me deeply, especially the bridge, that makes me uncomfortable if I even think about it
I stopped watching squid game at the bridge…I still haven’t finished it because of the anxiety I would get. I just can’t
God's garden is full of weeds
It’s the on SK book I could relax to when reading. It kept me quite tense throughout
Novella - Apt Pupil
Apparently "The Library Policeman" Looking forward to it after it getting mentioned all the time here in that context. Also "The Jaunt" is the clear winner on the short story front.
The Library Policeman was so fucking hard to read. the layers of horror are jarring and uncomfortable, but that's why King is the King. i still haven't read The Jaunt but need to!!! i hear it mentioned every time his work is discussed and idk how i haven't yet lol
I read The Jaunt a couple of times a year. Just to feel that feeling. Sooooo good.
I thought Survivor Type was more disturbing personally. The Juant is disturbing on a cosmic level though. Both are really good.
I’m here to say that The Library Policeman is not the most unsettling. I’d advise skipping it for several reasons. Without spoiling anything, it has a single shocking, cruel and disgusting scene in it. It’s fairly extraneous to the main plot. Overall, it’s a pretty half-baked short story. There’s an interesting main villain, but the lead characters are forgettable. In the same collection of short stories (i think) you’ll find The Langoliers and Sun Dog, both of which are better than The Library Policeman, but not too unsettling. To finally answer your question: Revival is probably the most unsettling SK book I’ve read in years. It is a glacially-paced slow burn. But it had me up at night for like a week straight after I finished it. The Body is unsettling, largely because of how grounded in reality it is. The story deals with some big fears and anxieties that start when you’re a kid and never truly leave you. I thought ‘Salem’s Lot would be kinda corny, and it was, but it was also chilling. Most of the main characters aren’t particularly strong (and are familiar prototypes for later SK books) but it has several haunting scenes, is filled with dread, and is really quite unsettling. Dr. Sleep was pretty unsettling too. Suffers a bit from sequelitis, but it stands on its own pretty well too. Last one is Gerald’s Game. If you haven’t read it (or seen it) already, less said the better.
Disagree on Library Policeman. That scene is not at all extraneous but was key to the character's healing and growth. I have a background of abuse, and I both noticed the foreshadowing and appreciated how the character found healing after dealing with the trauma.
I think that’s a fair assessment. I also think SK could have written this particular story better, and for that reason I don’t usually recommend it. The scene I’m referencing felt gratuitous when I read it. I was also quite young when I read it, so I likely missed a lot of the foreshadowing. May explain why it felt extraneous or out of nowhere. I’m sorry to hear that you were abused, that’s horrible. Glad you are here to talk SK though!
Thanks for the kind words. You're not the first person I've heard express that the scene in question came out of nowhere. Maybe my lens is different. But this lens is also why I'm a constant reader now - he hooked me when I saw that he got trauma and abuse in The Shining. His writing is not without flaws, but I always appreciate the heart beneath it all. There haven't been many I didn't connect to on some level. Circling back to your other comments, I think Gerald's Game is amazingly astute. There is one scene that was hard to read and watch in the movie, but overall I didn't find it disturbing; I found it empowering. I think he nailed the perspective and how a person would process all of that. It's always so interesting to me to see how differently we all react to different stories.
Fellow trauma abuse survivor here and I concur. King expertly writes the build up and foreshadowing to character abuse rather well. Rose Madder hooked me as a domestic abuse victim. I spent more time in awe of how *he knew* what it felt like emotionally and mentally to be in that situation and trying to escape.
Exactly - he absolutely *knows* and also conveys it better than I ever could. I felt like he was describing my childhood in The Shining. I'm reading Rose Madder right now! The beginning was rough, but I'm very invested in the story. And I found myself cringing protectively like I used to when the husband was raging at the beginning. I find it interesting how there's a series of books in the 90s with difficult abusive stories but that all seem to have empowerment as the characters find their way through it or out of it.
I'm getting more into Rose Madder, and it's taking me back in time to the person I used to be... Wow. I'm feeling so many things I haven't felt in years. The voices in your head, the fear of being happy for a moment lest there be consequences, it's all so spot on. Thank you for chiming in on this discussion, it's comforting to know there's someone else out there who's getting all this like I do.
The Jaunt is a rough one for sure. I listen to audiobooks and it's narrated very well. Very unsettling.
The Jaunt is really disturbing. Read it decades ago and still think about it occasionally.
Full Dark, No Stars has some great stuff
1922
Fucking brutal. That one really got me. Especially the botched murder...too realistic
It didn't hit me as hard as Revival, but it was pretty close.
Three really dark novellas, and, um, “A Fair Extension”. “Elvid”, indeed.
Those first 3 were all made into movies and all 3 were pretty decent adaptations.
I didn't know they made Big Driver into a movie! Thanks for the info! I have to go now. I 've got a movie to watch.
Addendum: I've just found it and am watching it. I'm 25 seconds (by the onscreen timer) into the intro and I'm already getting chills.
It’s not a life changing movie or anything, but it’s not bad.
Definitely one of my favorites as far as his collections go. 1922 was probably my favorite of all four stories.
Revival
What creeped me is that the ending portrayed is *everyone's* fate, even kids, even Roland, Eddie, Susannah and Jake and Oy of Mid-World, even "regular" decent people, and it's irrevocable, inevitable, infinite, and hopeless. There's no one shining a light saying "Come this way, do this and not that, and it'll be okay."
I put my fingers in my ears and say that the Null only exists on the Revival level of the tower, because **fuck that**. Jake deserves **PEACE**!
I'm curious what you mean. I just recently read revival and thought the ending was spooky but also interesting. I'll admit I haven't read the entire dark tower series yet. I had to sell my collection of king and now im working on getting it back. But anyway can you explain why so many feel this ending is so mind blowing?
To some it implies that all these characters we love end up in the Null when/if they die.
Oh okay I see thank you for that clarification. I really didn't think of it that way. Perhaps the null is only one option. But of course I haven't read everything yet. I hope that is not the case that null is the only option
Existential crisis inducing
I still think about the ending all of the time.
Yep. Bleak. No hope for anyone in that afterlife. Believer, atheist, we’re all destined for the Null.
I've just finished reading this for the first time, and it's so, so good, but that ending is just, phew.... There's no coming back from it.
I picked it up a while back based on a very similar comment thread lol, I guess I should get around to reading it eh?
This is it. Incredibly bleak for King.
Currently reading Salems Lot and the back to back instances of horrible infant abuse followed by a murdered dog tied to the cemetery gates is unsettling af for me. Like what is wrong with this town!?
It’s a town. It has its secrets and dirty and disgust. It’s awful at some times and beautiful at others. The Town is the main character and you have to see all angles of it.
Goddd the scene of the “baby want choccy?”
*Dolores Claiborne* and *Gerald’s Game*. I don’t know anything he can come up with that’s more unsettling than incestuous child molestation. Seems pretty cut and dry to me.
I saw the movie version of Gerald's game and almost had to shut it off. I felt literally sick to my stomach during it. That movie is just unsettling.
Revival Mother says so
The Null
Agreed. My brother and I read it when it first came out and we've only read it once, but he still asks me all the time if I think that's what the afterlife is like. He's seriously so afraid of that being an afterlife.
The ones that are the most unsettling to me are those that seem utterly hopeless...The Long Walk and The Raft have stuck with me for 20+ years.
The Raft is definitely up there, it stuck with me too
I read The Raft about 15 years ago and i literally think of it at least once a week
My love for that story even spills over into the movie adaptation, which was horrible. Insultingly bad acting. But I love it because ... it's The Raft.
TIL: there's a Raft movie.
Oh, Ciiisco!
Needful Things, Leland Gaunt truly disturbs me, it’s subtle in so many ways which makes it extremely unsettling to read, it took me such a long time to finish it
There were several "pranks" that made me squirm.
The Library Policeman. But it's not good-unsettling- whilst I don't think there are any topics that shouldn't be written about in fiction books, some topics require a level of tact and care I don't think this story has. For good and unsettling, I'd go The Jaunt, mostly because he manages to make something so terrifying in such a short amount of text
The jaunt is such a short and perfect little horror tale
You’re saying the Jaunt is Short? It’s longer than you think…
Laughed and shivered at the same time
Nice one
Constant Reader since 1989 or so. Gerald's Game. Hands down, I've read 90% of King's work, and it is haunting. I think the binding part scares me the most if I'm being honest. Just imagining I'm constrained is hard, but his imagery is terrifying. He really knows how to push your fear buttons.
I was surprised at how far I scrolled for this. Definitely agree.
I definitely agree. I have read a few SK’s over the years, not nearly as many as it seems lots of you have read, and so far Gerald’s game is the one that stands out to me…over and over again. I might give a nod to Insomnia as well. It was an interesting read, and I think about the threads going up from our heads and the scissors that cut them, on a regular basis, and I just shake my head at his ability to take things that are a part of everyday life and put them in a context that I would never imagine.
Insomnia was one that really messed me up because I've suffered from insomnia, and you literally see tracers and things out of the corner of your eye, and you think you're losing your mind. King just happened to put it into words.
Whichever had the puppy in the refrigerator. I won’t sleep tonight after thinking of it.
It. I still read the book, but I skip that part. I just can't do it.
I personally have a very hard time reading parts of Rose Madder and Bag of Bones. The domestic abuse and rape are very disturbing to me. I’ve read most of his older books, pre 2006 but not much since and those are the two that stick out.
I just finished Bag of Bones. Read it in my teens and really enjoyed it, but forgot about that bit at the end. Almost didn't get through it. >!Matties death also hit me harder now that I have children!< I know we aren't going to get typical happy endings with King, but damn all the women in that story deserved better.
The short story TheLong Walk has stuck with me since the early 80’s. When I see anything like Hunger Games or the Squid Games I feel like it was born out of the story.
The Hunger Games seems like practically a direct ripoff.
Salems Lot gave me the heebie geebies
Just looking at the (many) book covers of Salems' Lot gives me the heebie jeebies.
The long walk
I’m at a loss for the name but the one about the surgeon who eats himself on an island?
Survivor Type. From Skeleton Crew
Thank you! Definitely can’t read it again, still scares me when I think of it, but wow - what a story.
Revival, and it's the only one that ever unsettled me in the slightest.
The Man in the Black Suit Edit: Short story, but it terrified me
I still can’t get the image of him out of my head
The Library Policeman is even more unsettling in audiobook form. That lisp is truly sinister.
Come with me shun, I’m a poleeshman…
[удалено]
lady fingers
Too many to count, and some of these novels are so long that it’s hard to set them apart as solitary experiences, the stand had some of the most unsettling shit I’ve ever read. Conversely so did the long walk.
Apt Pupil.
Pet Sematary. Hard to believe it was the first one I attempted to read
Pet Cemetary pre-kid, no problem. Post-kid? Good lord.
Amen to this, I watched the movies prior to having my daughter without batting an eye. Read the book when she was 6 months old (don’t ask me why, I have no idea what I was thinking) and almost couldn’t finish it. Brutal
Gerald’s Game. I felt nauseous reading it and had to put it down. Maybe one day I’ll try to read it again, but I don’t foresee that being anytime soon.
Pet Sematary, absolutely. I was freaked out for weeks the first time I read it, and nothing else has come close to that. I think King has a wonderful ability to be deeply unsettling in his writing, but for me PS was overwhelmingly horrifying in exactly the right way. Salem's Lot and the Shining are my close seconds, but damn Pet Sematary f*cks me up
I guess I would say Misery because the hobbling scene still lives rent free in my head 30 plus years after reading it.
N.
Odd numbers are bad. Even numbers are safe.
1922
Pet Sematary
Gerald’s game is a heavily lift so far. Halfway in.
Was talking about this earlier but Survivor Type
I think they are all unsettling in their own way; that’s sort of the point, but Thinner haunted me for a long time.
Mostly thinking about the new endings her but probably Per Semetary or Revival.
Pet cemetery. I’ve never cringed so much reading a book
The Achilles tendon cutting….
N., Revival, and The Mist were the first ones that came to mind.
Gerald’s game
Gerald’s Game or I guess not a novel technically but The Library Policeman
Cujo really made me feel empty and sick when it was over.
The library policeman for me
As I’m scanning the replies though, probably all of them. What a writing mind.
Insomnia
Cujo. Every time the narrator switched, I got so nervous because I knew I was going back to being either scared or terrified and I didn’t want either 😭
The Tommyknockers. Creeped me out.
From a Buick 8 is the one that chilled me the most, I can't put my finger on the reason why but I found it to be pure nightmare fuel The scariest short story is The Ledge, I'm terrified of heights and King plugged my spine directly into the high voltage terminal with this one
Buick 8! Yes, it was so unsettling
I really hated the ending of "Later." Ruined what was to that point one of my favorites.
Pet Sematary. Death just as a concept scares me and part of me would want to bring certain people back from the dead If I could.
Revival. You’ll never look at death the same…
Revival. No question. I’ve read 90% of his books—started when I was 14. No book stuck in my head in such an awful way. Still creeps me out to this day.
Gerald’s Game and Pet Sematary immediately come to mind
Not sure if short stories/novellas count, but In The Tall Grass unsettled me quite a bit.
*Ssshhh I’m the Library Polithceman* **Ms. Ardelia Lortzz** ***turns into a literal bug*** Yeah, I love 4 Past midnight but I’m never rereading The Library Policeman
Surprised to see that nobody mentioned Misery. It's not really Pet Semetary-level unsettling, but it has its fair share of horror and gore
Cell - with all the technology that we have today and EVERYONE is on their phones. The right frequency can do serious damage and our brains are very very sophisticated computers.
Revival and Pet Sematary. The ending of both are horrifying
In Salems Lot a BABY is beaten to death by his mother. How am I the first time bring this up.
Pet Sematary, no doubt
Agree with all the pet sematary chat. The parents grief he describes is horrific. I read it once as a teenager when I was first getting into king and basically blasted through everything he had written up to that point. I found it quite unsettling then and then I read it once after I had children and I will never touch it again.
The Sun Dog is pretty scary. Some of the scenes in Desperation are really rough.
Per Semetary. I quit reading Stephen King after that book.
Pet Sematary and Cujo especially after having children. It hits in a whole different light.
Duma Key Really made me feel uneasy reading it. It actually gave me very visual dreams/nightmares while I read it. I don’t know what it is. The part when the girl is at the bottom of the stairs in the middle of the night I had to set the book down and come back to reality.
Not a novel though, but "1922" unsettled me the most. That one night in the mother's bedroom. I can't get it off of my head, felt like I was watching a snuff film while reading the scene. It's from his novella collection--Full Dark, No Stars.
The short story where they have Deja vu, and it keeps looping. I can’t remember the name but I shudder just thinking about it.
That feeling, you can only say what it is in french?
Lisey’s Story. I love his work but I find this one very disturbing. Hasn’t stopped me reading it several times though. I think it’s the child abuse aspect of it that’s bothersome to me.
and the can opener.
Dolores Claiborne
not so much unsettling as revolting but i'd probably say IT because of the child orgy scene king put in there. seriously it could have been edited out entirely but king for some reason decided to write in CP
Revival
I loved Revival
Revival got me because it’s a fairly basic story by King’s standards then that ending comes out of nowhere. One of my favorite King Endings.
Pet Cemetery. I bought it the day it came out and read it immediately . Hated it with a passion and didn’t read another King book until The Girl who loved Tom Gordon.
The Library Policeman. How King was able to personify trauma was impressive yet creepy to read.
Gerald's Game. It's too realistic. Same for Cujo.
Revival. The ending made me stare at the ceiling for a while.
Patrick Hofstetter.
I know ya said novel n this a short story, but for me the only one of his I'd straight up never read again was about a pedo at a library, don't even remember what it's called. Major icks on that one
The long walk is so fucked knowing everyone will die and just waiting for it to happen.