I felt particularly bad for the kid who falls through the well and the girl who gets herself locked in the walk in freezer. Nowadays walk ins have a safety knob that allows you to basically remove the locking mechanism so that is basically impossible but I guess it was just a different time when the book was written
Oh yeah even back in 2005 most walk ins were easy to get locked in. A friend worked at an ice cream shop and they had a bell rigged to a button in the walk in so you could let others know you’d been locked in
It: "The terror, which would not end for another twenty-eight years — if it ever did end — began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain."
I listened to the book with Stephen Weber narrating it. By the time the chapter was over, I knew it would be my favorite book of all time. What a masterpiece.
Currently reading Black House and absolutely loving the narration style. Especially when shit starts going down and it'll quickly flip from person to person. Right now I'm at the point where the >!Thunder Five is trying to check out Black House!<. Super intense
I could see how the birds eye view could be a struggle for people. I went into it knowing how the narration style would be from a comment I saw on here, so I think I was a little more ready for it
That scene was such outstanding writing. Something about a gang of huge, fearless bikers charging into the unknown and being violently dismantled by a dark, unexplicable force. The imagery was so vivid that I might as well have been reading a graphic novel.
This is my answer as well. Love the way it whisks you around town, introducing the reader to the various players in the story. Makes me feel like a fly on the wall.
Desperation. I picked it up to read for a little bit and read the first hundred pages without stopping. The suspense in that opening act is practically unparalleled in Stephen Kings work (at least the books I’ve read)
Desperation is the only book to date that scared me so much I almost couldn’t finish it. >! The cop was terrifying to me. They scare me generally, and I’ve done some long drives alone and the only thing that scares me is a cop like that. Once I realized it was supernatural I could go on with reading it, but if he stayed a man, just a person… I don’t think I could have continued. !<
Cane here to say this. I was a bit letdown by the rest of the book but did the same at the start I just couldn't put it down. No Country for Old Men villain vibes for sure.
Really? To each their own i suppose, but I loved it all except for David’s insistence on using the phrase “god bomb” all the time. I read the entire book in five sittings, reading over 100 pages every time I picked it up
>In one way, at least, our lives really are like movies. The main cast consists of your
family and friends. The supporting cast is made up of neighbors, co-workers, teachers, and
daily acquaintances. There are also bit players: the supermarket checkout girl with the
pretty smile, the friendly bartender at the local watering hole, the guys you work out with
at the gym three days a week. And there are thousands of extras—those people who flow
through every life like water through a sieve, seen once and never again. The teenager
browsing graphic novels at Barnes & Noble, the one you had to slip past (murmuring
“Excuse me”) in order to get to the magazines. The woman in the next lane at a stoplight,
taking a moment to freshen her lipstick. The mother wiping ice cream off her toddler’s
face in a roadside restaurant where you stopped for a quick bite. The vendor who sold you
a bag of peanuts at a baseball game.
But sometimes a person who fits none of these categories comes into your life. This is
the joker who pops out of the deck at odd intervals over the years, often during a moment
of crisis. In the movies this sort of character is known as the fifth business, or the change
agent. When he turns up in a film, you know he’s there because the screenwriter put him
there. But who is screenwriting our lives? Fate or coincidence? I want to believe it’s the
latter. I want that with all my heart and soul. When I think of Charles Jacobs—my fifth
business, my change agent, my nemesis—I can’t bear to believe his presence in my life
had anything to do with fate. It would mean that all these terrible things—these horrors —
were meant to happen. If that is so, then there is no such thing as light, and our belief in it
is a foolish illusion. If that is so, we live in darkness like animals in a burrow, or ants deep
in their hill.
And not alone.
*Revival*
*Revival* is so fucking good, absolutely one of my top King novels. The sense of slowly unfolding dread throughout the novel comes like a whisper, ends like a throat rending scream. Also highly recommend David Morse’s incredible narration, all should do themselves a favor and get it from Audible asap.
My dream is an adaptation starring Walton Goggins as Charlie Jacobs. There’d need to be some de-aging and up-aging obviously, but I think Goggins could really capture that sky-eyed enthusiasm and positivity, the carnival hucksterism, and the bitterly crazed obsession. I know Mike Flanagan was attached to film it at one point, but I believe that project sadly fell through.
I like the other suggestions but IT is cool because of the 1st chapter throwing you right in, followed but a huge part of backstory for each callback.
I liked the intros for all the Hodges trilogy.
Can’t leave out at he Gunslinger for the banger first line
Hands down: The Body: The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.
I just love how you get introduced to so many characters and get a ton of back story and history
>! And then most of them die, majority of not all being absolutely insignificant to the story as a whole !<
Fastest a book has ever made me well up with tears, this opening paragraph:
>Louis Creed, who had lost his father at three and who had never known a grandfather, never expected to find a father as he entered his middle age, but that was exactly what happened. Although, he called this man a friend, as a grown man must do when he finds the man who should have been his father relatively late in life.
The Stand, without question. The evocation of sheer blind panic is pitch-perfect, and the promise of the horror to come at the end of it... I'd say it was one of the best openings to any book *ever*.
11.22.63 Al steps into the back of the diner, Jake talks to his ex wife, by the end of their conversation Al returns looking aged and extremely unhealthy. How were we to know that in that 2 minutes, Al spent 5 years in the 50's & 60's. Phenomenal read.
Thank you for posting this! I am reading Needful Things now and was very enthralled at first, but it is now getting hard for me to focus on it, it just seems too drawn out. I will keep plugging away knowing it will pull me back in. I know this doesn't answer your question but I just wanted to thanks!
I had a similar feeling, especially the characters and “deeds”/pranks being hard to keep track of, who did what etc. But I learned that you don’t have to keep track of it all for the story to roll along. Plunge through, it’s worth it!
Ever notice how King has a true talent for openings, hooks that draw you in like a hypnotist but has a hard time ending his stories? Too many of his books have insane or weak endings imo
Jack Torrance thought: Officious little prick
Then a verbal tour and description of the beautiful hotel and the list of jobs that require 𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧!
'The Gunslinger,' the first book in the Dark Tower series. The opening line, 'The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed,' is just so iconic. It hooks you and sets up this epic chase. The whole intro has a haunting, desolate feel that sets the stage for Roland's journey.
The stand, both the intro and the sequence of doomed survivors (lived through the virus but died because of it) were amazing passages
No great loss. Someone else has said this here before, but I’d love a book of “No great loss” stories.
I felt particularly bad for the kid who falls through the well and the girl who gets herself locked in the walk in freezer. Nowadays walk ins have a safety knob that allows you to basically remove the locking mechanism so that is basically impossible but I guess it was just a different time when the book was written
Oh yeah even back in 2005 most walk ins were easy to get locked in. A friend worked at an ice cream shop and they had a bell rigged to a button in the walk in so you could let others know you’d been locked in
It: "The terror, which would not end for another twenty-eight years — if it ever did end — began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain."
I feel like it’s a rite of passage among Stephen King fans to be able to recite that exact sentence from the heart
Jesus. What a great opener.
Definitely! The first chapter is a treasured piece of english literature. Till the boat floats away. It grips you from page 1 and does not let go.
I listened to the book with Stephen Weber narrating it. By the time the chapter was over, I knew it would be my favorite book of all time. What a masterpiece.
I need to read it again now
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
How is this not the top answer
because tye opening line is great. The intro itself is cool, but nowhere near as cool as that first sentence
Yup. One of the best opening lines in literature…not just SK.
In the context of the series it's great. It's such a painful intro tho. I started gunslinger multiple times before making it all the way through
This is the only answer
Absolutely
In the context of the series it's great. It's such a painful intro tho. I started gunslinger multiple times before making it all the way through
A beautiful beginning and a bittersweet ending. Ka is a wheel (a bitch of a wheel)
The only right answer.
The opening line yes, no match to it in the kingverse but the rest of the book is hodgepodge - stephen king in song of susannah.
The intro to The Stand is one of the best intros to any book.
Black House (for the same reason as you’re for Needful Things)
Currently reading Black House and absolutely loving the narration style. Especially when shit starts going down and it'll quickly flip from person to person. Right now I'm at the point where the >!Thunder Five is trying to check out Black House!<. Super intense
I hated the narration style for about 45 pages and then something clicked in my brain and it was smooth sailing from there. I’m a big Blavk House fan.
I could see how the birds eye view could be a struggle for people. I went into it knowing how the narration style would be from a comment I saw on here, so I think I was a little more ready for it
I’ve never read any solo Straub but apparently that’s his style.
I've read 4 of his books, and only like 1. I'm done.
Queue the song Ripple soon…
RIP Mousey. We get all the beer now
The Thunder 5 were an amazing group of characters
That scene was such outstanding writing. Something about a gang of huge, fearless bikers charging into the unknown and being violently dismantled by a dark, unexplicable force. The imagery was so vivid that I might as well have been reading a graphic novel.
This is my answer as well. Love the way it whisks you around town, introducing the reader to the various players in the story. Makes me feel like a fly on the wall.
Desperation. I picked it up to read for a little bit and read the first hundred pages without stopping. The suspense in that opening act is practically unparalleled in Stephen Kings work (at least the books I’ve read)
Desperation is the only book to date that scared me so much I almost couldn’t finish it. >! The cop was terrifying to me. They scare me generally, and I’ve done some long drives alone and the only thing that scares me is a cop like that. Once I realized it was supernatural I could go on with reading it, but if he stayed a man, just a person… I don’t think I could have continued. !<
I read as a teen (when more afraid of cops because teen borderline behavior and such) scared me so much. Recently reread, still freaky 100%
I’m middle aged and never break the law lol but I don’t trust them.
Yeah that was one hell of an attention grabber. Another similar intro is cell.
Yeah, Cell starts strong. It's a pity the ending is so weak.
Desperation is definitely top tier for me. I don't know how many times I've read it. More than 5.
Cane here to say this. I was a bit letdown by the rest of the book but did the same at the start I just couldn't put it down. No Country for Old Men villain vibes for sure.
Really? To each their own i suppose, but I loved it all except for David’s insistence on using the phrase “god bomb” all the time. I read the entire book in five sittings, reading over 100 pages every time I picked it up
'*The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed*.'
Misery. Instantly thrown into our two main characters and our setting. Such an awesome book.
Just tore through misery. Such a thrilling read for a book that takes place mostly in one room.
Especially when you realise the gibberish in the beginning was "number 1 fan"
>In one way, at least, our lives really are like movies. The main cast consists of your family and friends. The supporting cast is made up of neighbors, co-workers, teachers, and daily acquaintances. There are also bit players: the supermarket checkout girl with the pretty smile, the friendly bartender at the local watering hole, the guys you work out with at the gym three days a week. And there are thousands of extras—those people who flow through every life like water through a sieve, seen once and never again. The teenager browsing graphic novels at Barnes & Noble, the one you had to slip past (murmuring “Excuse me”) in order to get to the magazines. The woman in the next lane at a stoplight, taking a moment to freshen her lipstick. The mother wiping ice cream off her toddler’s face in a roadside restaurant where you stopped for a quick bite. The vendor who sold you a bag of peanuts at a baseball game. But sometimes a person who fits none of these categories comes into your life. This is the joker who pops out of the deck at odd intervals over the years, often during a moment of crisis. In the movies this sort of character is known as the fifth business, or the change agent. When he turns up in a film, you know he’s there because the screenwriter put him there. But who is screenwriting our lives? Fate or coincidence? I want to believe it’s the latter. I want that with all my heart and soul. When I think of Charles Jacobs—my fifth business, my change agent, my nemesis—I can’t bear to believe his presence in my life had anything to do with fate. It would mean that all these terrible things—these horrors — were meant to happen. If that is so, then there is no such thing as light, and our belief in it is a foolish illusion. If that is so, we live in darkness like animals in a burrow, or ants deep in their hill. And not alone. *Revival*
*Revival* is so fucking good, absolutely one of my top King novels. The sense of slowly unfolding dread throughout the novel comes like a whisper, ends like a throat rending scream. Also highly recommend David Morse’s incredible narration, all should do themselves a favor and get it from Audible asap. My dream is an adaptation starring Walton Goggins as Charlie Jacobs. There’d need to be some de-aging and up-aging obviously, but I think Goggins could really capture that sky-eyed enthusiasm and positivity, the carnival hucksterism, and the bitterly crazed obsession. I know Mike Flanagan was attached to film it at one point, but I believe that project sadly fell through.
It’s been a minute since I read revival and now I need to go reread it
I like the other suggestions but IT is cool because of the 1st chapter throwing you right in, followed but a huge part of backstory for each callback. I liked the intros for all the Hodges trilogy. Can’t leave out at he Gunslinger for the banger first line
Duma Key. That page about drawing a line is one of the most beautiful things he's ever written.
Just started it today, 60 pages in and cant put it down
IT. The classic Georgie and his paper boat and then into the 6 phone calls is so iconic.
Hands down: The Body: The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.
Honestly I am not a huge fan of the book as a whole, but I really enjoyed the opening sequence in **Under the Dome**.
I love that beginning! “Their lives had about 20 seconds left to run”
I just love how you get introduced to so many characters and get a ton of back story and history >! And then most of them die, majority of not all being absolutely insignificant to the story as a whole !<
Exactly this. The opening sequence pulls you right into the story and makes you want to keep reading to satisfy the curiosity.
Pet Sematary. It’s sweet how Louis sees Judd as the father he never had (even though Judd kind of causes most of Louis’s problems).
Fastest a book has ever made me well up with tears, this opening paragraph: >Louis Creed, who had lost his father at three and who had never known a grandfather, never expected to find a father as he entered his middle age, but that was exactly what happened. Although, he called this man a friend, as a grown man must do when he finds the man who should have been his father relatively late in life.
I just happened to watch Pet Sematary: Bloodlines which was pretty decent. The backstory.
I’ve been meaning to check that out, thanks for the recommendation!
The intro for Fairy Tale was insanely good imo. It got me really hooked
That Goddamn’ bridge man!
The Stand, without question. The evocation of sheer blind panic is pitch-perfect, and the promise of the horror to come at the end of it... I'd say it was one of the best openings to any book *ever*.
Needful Things easily
Desperation, it gets right into the action straight away.
Jack Torrance thought: officious little prick.
Joyland…a beautiful book all the way through.
I know it’s probably not for everyone but mine is. The man black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed. Had me hooked.
11.22.63 Al steps into the back of the diner, Jake talks to his ex wife, by the end of their conversation Al returns looking aged and extremely unhealthy. How were we to know that in that 2 minutes, Al spent 5 years in the 50's & 60's. Phenomenal read.
Rose Madder. I've read the prologue probably 50 times
The first hundred or so pages of Desperation are perfect. After that it loses steam but it’s worth the read.
Thank you for posting this! I am reading Needful Things now and was very enthralled at first, but it is now getting hard for me to focus on it, it just seems too drawn out. I will keep plugging away knowing it will pull me back in. I know this doesn't answer your question but I just wanted to thanks!
I had a similar feeling, especially the characters and “deeds”/pranks being hard to keep track of, who did what etc. But I learned that you don’t have to keep track of it all for the story to roll along. Plunge through, it’s worth it!
Thanks!
*Billy Summers*
Rose Madder
He has sooo many good intros, but I’ll throw out Desperation and Mr. Mercedes.
11/22/63 for me.. I’ve never been what you would call a crying man.. and the whole following sequence
I thought The Outsider had a hard hitting intro. A lot faster than most King. It was very intriguing too
The Strain by G.Del Toro and C.HOgan.
I second Needful Things.. the odd, 4th wall breaking, conversational tone really grabbed me.
Ever notice how King has a true talent for openings, hooks that draw you in like a hypnotist but has a hard time ending his stories? Too many of his books have insane or weak endings imo
I loved how Black House opened the story.
Jack Torrance thought: Officious little prick Then a verbal tour and description of the beautiful hotel and the list of jobs that require 𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧!
Under the dome.. just the brutality that happens when the dome starts really picks the book up
I love Stephen King but I've always been more of a fantasy fan. So my favorite intro is the one for Eyes of the Dragon
Bag of Bones “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” I ended up reading Rebecca because of this and loved it too.
Gunslinger, offhand but would have to reflect and come back later
Needful and if you listen to it on audio over on YT I swear it sound like King himself. The accent is so delicious!!!!
IT will forever be my favorite one. However, recently, I've read Mr. Mercedes for the first time, and damn if that opener wasn't thrilling! 😮
The Gunslinger.
‘Salem’s Lot. Mark Petrie
'The Gunslinger,' the first book in the Dark Tower series. The opening line, 'The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed,' is just so iconic. It hooks you and sets up this epic chase. The whole intro has a haunting, desolate feel that sets the stage for Roland's journey.
I loved that the outro mirrors the intro.