Worst Stephen King novel

[BenG]

Originally Posted by BenG

King is currently working on a sequel to The Shining called Doctor Sleep with a grown-up Danny Torrance. Does anyone think this is a good idea?

One of the networks is making a prequel to The Shining about some of the things that happened before Jack got there.

[GlenBarrington]

Seemed to go on FOREVER! Had to admit defeat half way through.

[hard-boiled pat]

i'd say song of susannah, part of the dark tower series... all his books after that one have been garbage in my opinion... speaking from the heart as a die hard steve king fan, he totally sucks donkey balls now compared to his earlier work.

[Paveuta]

For me the absolute worst are "The regulators" and its twin book, cannot remember the title right now.

Also, I am NOT fond of the Dark Tower series.

My Dad finds the first books brilliant but just by reading the first page of the first one, I got discouraged and did not pick it up again until many years later (only to find out that every demon in sight wants to get laid with the gunslinger... go figure).

For the rest, I can read just about any other of his books, SK must have cast a spell on me since I read the "Night Shift" collection in my early teens, and I tend to agree with the current "the earlier books the better".

I think a lot of it has got to do with his gift of "visual" writing.

I think it's not by chance that so many of his books got adapted into movies

[BlueSky77]

I read (or tried to read) pretty much all of his stuff from the 1970's and early 1980's. Of that era, The Stand was the only one I could never get through. I tried so many times but it just didn't keep my attention. So that gets my vote for worst King novel that I've tried to read.

My favorite Stephen King novel has to be 'Salem's Lot. Second favorite is The Shining (off topic: The Kubrick movie did it absolutely no justice. If you want to watch an accurate representation of the book try watching the mini series with Steven Weber & Rebecca De Mornay).

I revisited King when he released Bag of Bones which I thought was pretty good. I haven't read anything by him since then though.

[RolandD]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

For me, it was "The Tommyknockers."

A flushing toilet has more action.

Originally Posted by ManosHandsOfFate

Yep. I think this was written at the height of his substance abuse. It shows.

I've read everything that I am aware of that King has published, and consider him one of my most favorite authors, but that doesn't mean that he hasn't written some real stinkers.

I agree that "The Tommyknockers" is his worst published novel, closely followed by "Dreamcatchers" (even though I enjoyed it).

I feel that "The Stand" and "Rage" are two of his best.

[taosaur]

Man, I loved Tommyknockers as a young teen, and I don't think I was abusing any substances at the time.

[hard-boiled pat]

Originally Posted by taosaur

Man, I loved Tommyknockers as a young teen, and I don't think I was abusing any substances at the time.

me too... i think he based that book on 'five million years to earth'


http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/five-m...ears-to-earth/

[hard-boiled pat]

double post

[carld]

Originally Posted by Paveuta

For me the absolute worst are "The regulators" and its twin book, cannot remember the title right now.

I believe that title was "Desperation." I was at least able to finish those, unlike some of his other books. I'm still determined to give "Under the Dome" another try.

[carld]

Originally Posted by hard-boiled pat

me too... i think he based that book on 'five million years to earth'


http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/five-m...ears-to-earth/

I haven't seen that movie in years. It was pretty freakin' scary when I first saw it as a kid.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by carld

I believe that title was "Desperation." I was at least able to finish those, unlike some of his other books. I'm still determined to give "Under the Dome" another try.

I found Desperation okay--it had a good monster, if not the greatest protagonists--but The Regulators was quite bad, and the whole alter egos / alternate universes shtick connecting the two books didn't add up to anything. Under the Dome, like I said, had a certain B-movie entertainment value mostly owing to the premise, not the characters or plot (though whatsisname at the meth lab was an okay reprise of the Trashcanman). I'd call it unremarkable, whereas Dreamcatcher and The Regulators produced an active stink.

[hard-boiled pat]

'under the dome' referenced jack reacher. just saying.

[MissKittiness]

Cujo - 219 pages of meandering nothingness, 100 pages of an ordinary rabid dog.

[VaporPunk]

No way is Cujo the worst SK novel, imo. I haven't read it since I was a teen but I loved it. And for once, one of his endings actually took me by surprise.

Desperation is way worse than Cujo, but still way better than Dreamcatcher, which is pure puppy pooh.