What is the scariest SK book?

For me, the scariest SK was absolutely The Shining.

This is a tough one. Some of them are scary in different ways. I'd have to say the scariest as far as childhood fears goes is It. Then there's one particular scene in Pet Sematary that scared me more than anything ever has and that's in the cemetary when he's getting Gage. I haven't read The Shining yet but I'm sure that one will be up there on the list because the movie was really scary.

I think IT, Pet Sematary, The Tommyknockers,
Needful Things, Cujo and Skeleton Crew could also be added to the list as well.

Beatles1964

Hmm... I agree, The Shining, Needful Things, and It were scary... Skeleton Crew, as a collection, didn't scare me too much... yet that collection contains what I think is probably the scariest, or one of the scariest stories of all; The Mist. Then, of course, you have some of Stephen King's newest work, Duma Key in which the horror really creeps up on you... but the ending of Duma Key was prime horror if I've ever read it.

Just thinking about Survival Type from Skeleton Crew gives me the creeps.

Beatles1964

Yeah, Survivor Type was a good one. I think my fav from Skeleton Crew is The Raft. That's like classic nightmare scary.

I think he only really gets scary when he goes into 'full tilt madness' as in 1408 - - otherwise I regard his books as dark fantasy. I haven't read any King that accomplishes what Lovecraft, Bierce, Jackson, etc. did (but I wouldn't read them to really sink into a world for a while, I read them to be scared and read King for fun).

They are all scary in one way or another. As far as I am concerned Stephen is the best author ever!!

Salem's Lot and most of the stories in Night Shift

Night Shift is really dark, love it so far.

A lot of his stuff isn't outright scary. It sneaks up on you. You finish the book, and tell yourself it wasn't bad, then you find yourself leaving a nightlight on, or peeking under the bed just in case.

I have to go with Pet Semetary for the King book that has the most human motivations and the best classic horror conventions. Other books of his are scary as well, but the husband and father trying to save his family and the terrible way those intentions played out always gave me the shivers in a way other things didn't.

The ones you guys mentioned are, I think, probably universally, the scariest.

I think the scariest book by Stephen King is Pet Cemetery! I have two little boys that look a lot like Gage. Since I have had children I can not ever look at the book! I will never ever watch the movie again either! It scares me to much. It has my biggest fear in it something happening to my children, my children dying.

A vote for Salems Lot.

I would definitely have to say It.

For me, Salem's Lot..I couldn't even finish it! and then IT..it really creeped me out!

I'd have to say Jerusalem's lot, a short story from Night Shift.
Its a very good story with that Lovecraft feel to is.
After it, Salem's Lot and the third one would be the Shinning, but its only due to the room 217 scene...

Different ones for different scares and most for me have already been mentioned. IT and The Stand are the two that scared me the most but the bit towards the end with the bees/sub-audible in The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was also very creepy.

I think the Salem's Lot vampires were very scary in a classic horror way but some of the scariest things for me have been the 'real' people.

Greg Stillson from Dead Zone is an outright fruitcake yet he could put on so convincing an act he fooled everyone.

Patrick Hockstetter from IT was another one like that, the sort of evil that goes undiscovered for a long time. If he had grown up I think he could have 'starred' in a book of his own.

And then the situations that could happen in real life, such as in Cujo. No supernatural monsters needed in that one, just an old car and a big dog.

And even The Stand is possible (if incredibly unlikely) given that we have all sorts of biological weapons and viruses etc now.

I don't know about book but the most scary SK movie to me was The Pet Semetary! I couldn't sleep for days without dreaming about that cat!

Pet Semetary, hands-down, is his scariest novel. It's borderline "disturbing" with all the human elements....Not to mention the movie is also one of the scariest movies I've yet to see. He's absolutely amazing.

I'd have to say so far The Shining but i think that Pet Sematary will be the scariest - for me anyway.

One of the best for is Bag of Bones. Not just a scary story but a great story!

The one that really put me over the edge was Misery. By far, the one that scared me the most.

The Shining, hands down. Second place would probably have to go to Misery.