There’s no doubt that writer Stephen King is best known for the horror novels that haunt his special corner of American literature. But the extremely prolific writer has also written plenty of dark/epic fantasy, science fiction, literary, mystery, and even romance. In fact, there are plenty of examples of genre-mixing in his writing. Books like Lisey’s Story (a truly fantastic read), Duma Key, The Green Mile, The Eyes of the Dragon, Bag of Bones, and The Dark Tower series are fantastic examples of what King can do with just about any genre of fiction.

It can be hard to make a distinction between King’s true horror books and those that happen to have some scary moments in them. But that’s why we’re here. We’ve made a ranked list of ten pure horror novels by King that we think will keep you up for plenty of nights to come. A Halloween treat!

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We really tried to focus on novels where horror was at the forefront of the story, where without the scares, the book wouldn’t be a book at all. That’s why you probably won’t see The Dark Tower books or The Stand, largely considered to be the King’s magnum opus, on this list. But you should read those, too.