Best Stephen King novel and why?

Question

There are a lot of different answers. It is going to be hard to choose.

Answer 1

I believe his best novel is the one still left unwritten, however if I must choose I will pick Needful Things.  For years his settings have taken place in castlerock and in this book, he promised to destroy it forever.  I liked how he brought back cujo in the book which was not done in the movie.<SPOILER> the sheriff was known for doing shadow puppets well in the end when he fought leland gaunt, he made a shadow puppet of a dog and the next thing you hear a howl and then there is cujo attacking leland.  Btw, anyone notice the car Leland was driving is christine.  Very cool movie and book.

Answer 2

The body

Ok a novella, but it shows what he could have been if he hadn't wasted his life writing 500 page screen plays.

Answer 3

Definitely The Talisman! Peter Straub wouldn't allow King to mess up the ending on that one, like he does with so many other novels, and it turned out fantastic. I read it at least once a year.

Oh and if you like Stephen King, check out where most of his ideas were pulled from...read Richard Matheson's short stories, which were almost all published in the 50s, and you'll see why King refers to Matheson as his "greatest influence".  

Answer 4

IT, because it scared the c**p out of me so badly, I couldn't finish it.  

Answer 5

The Green Mile, hands down.  The moral outline can't be ignored, the characters are unforgettable (even before the movie), and the plot is excellent!

Answer 6

In my opinion his best novel hands down is The Stand. The characters are wonderfully drawn & the although the idea is far fetched he makes the devastation caused by human error (Captain Trips) & the resulting battle between good & evil seem all too possible.

Answer 7

Mine is The Stand, I have read this every year since it came out and just think it so brilliant.

I Love it because it could really happen to us! A virus/disease getting out of a lab bit at least!

Answer 8

IT.  It is the best because of how far into the realm of philosophy it enters.  And just how deep the story in general is.  It'll give you nightmares and make you rethink many things.

Answer 9

I would have to say "The eyes of the dragon" simply because he wrote it for his daughter~

And it is a great read.

Can you imagine being his kid, "Do you want daddy to read you a bedtime story?"  NNNNOOOOOOOOOOO DDDDDDDDDDAAAAAADDDDDYYYYYYYYY NNNOOOOO LMAO

Answer 10

well, from what i've read, Thinner. one of my favorites because it is a reasonable length and doesn't go on and on about government agents like many King novels do.

Answer 11

No question, "The Bachman Books".  King is a phenomenal author who generally doesn't get the respect he deserves from the literati.  He would if more of them read this book.  There's usually a minimal thread of social commentary in his fiction, but it's closer to the surface here.  He also threw away his vocabulary filter when he wrote these books, as he was writing under a psuedonym and didn't have to worry about offending his readers.  In this collection of four novellas, he "predicted" both Columbine and 9-11, and did it before 1980.  Tres` prescient.