Only 3 Horror Books Are Better Than 'The Shining'

Only 3 Horror Books Are Better Than 'The Shining'




There are plenty of great horror books written by Stephen King, because obviously, or possibly even "duh." Carrie came first, if you're looking at his work in the order of publication (though The Long Walk was written earlier), and then came 'Salem's Lot, which was an arguable improvement upon the already great Carrie. And then King's third published novel, The Shining, was better still, and continues to stand as easily one of King's very best books. It's especially great if you're judging his works that are purely horror-focused, since there's an argument to be made that The Stand (more post-apocalyptic/dark fantasy), The Dark Tower (the whole series is a real mix of genres), and 11/22/63 (sci-fi/time travel) are potentially even better. But to stick with horror, yeah, The Shining. It works as both a psychological horror and a supernatural horror book at the same time, and much of its scares come from the interplay between those two strands of horror, and the ambiguity that arises when it's sometimes hard to tell what's in someone's head, and what's really happening. The reader feels that way because the characters are going through that a lot of the time, too, so it gets understandably immersive.


There are plenty of great horror books written by Stephen King, because obviously, or possibly even "duh." Carrie came first, if you're looking at his work in the order of publication (though The Long Walk was written earlier), and then came 'Salem's Lot, which was an arguable improvement upon the already great Carrie. And then King's third published novel, The Shining, was better still, and continues to stand as easily one of King's very best books. It's especially great if you're judging his works that are purely horror-focused, since there's an argument to be made that The Stand (more post-apocalyptic/dark fantasy), The Dark Tower (the whole series is a real mix of genres), and 11/22/63 (sci-fi/time travel) are potentially even better. But to stick with horror, yeah, The Shining. It works as both a psychological horror and a supernatural horror book at the same time, and much of its scares come from the interplay between those two strands of horror, and the ambiguity that arises when it's sometimes hard to tell what's in someone's head, and what's really happening. The reader feels that way because the characters are going through that a lot of the time, too, so it gets understandably immersive.

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