Random Underrated Stephen King Stories (15 items)

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  (#1) Dolores Claiborne

  Dolores Claiborne is one of those King adaptations that's hard to define, which is probably why you don't hear about it more often. Part psychological thriller, part domestic drama, this mystery novel finds the title character under questioning for murder, telling her life story to the police. The movie adaptation with Kathy Bates in the starring role also qualifies as underrated, most likely overshadowed by a different King adaptation featuring a memorable performance by Bates.
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  (#2) The Jaunt

  Published in The Twilight Zone Magazine in 1981 and later assembled as a part of the 1985 collection Skeleton Crew, The Jaunt is a perfect combination of science fiction and horror.

  Probably as close to hard sci-fi as Stephen King will ever get, the story explores complex ideas about time and space, specifically in regards to the possibility of human teleportation. The end is pure cosmic horror, as terrifying as it is unforgettable, and made all the more so by the fact that King's ideas actually make a lot of sense.
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  (#3) Doctor Sleep

  A sequel to The Shining. Could it be done? Should it be done? Stephen King answered both these questions with 2013's Doctor Sleep, which picks up with Danny Torrance 36 years after we first met him at the Overlook Hotel. 

  What makes Doctor Sleep memorable is King's unflinching look at alcoholism through Danny's - who inherited the disease from his father - experience. King has talked openly about how the alcoholic who wrote The Shining was a lot different from the AA member who wrote Doctor Sleep, and the way he looks at recovery makes the book a stirring and vital addition to his catalog.
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  (#4) Full Dark, No Stars

  • Stephen King

  Of all the stories that comprise 2010's Full Dark, No Stars, 1922 is the best. Every yarn King spins here is relentlessly bleak, even by his standards, exploring human immorality and its boundless depths in shocking detail.

  1922, about a farmer who kills his wife and pays the consequences for it, is an unforgettable depiction of time and place. His writing has never been more cinematic, and the matter of fact violence King describes here is almost Coen brothers-esque. 
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  (#5) Graveyard Shift

  Originally released in a 1970 issue of Cavalier magazine, Graveyard Shift went on to appear in the similarly titled Night Shift, King's first collection of short stories. For creepy, crawly, gross-out horror, it remains hard to beat.

  Following a group of men recruited to clean the basement of an old mill, the story takes a nasty turn when they find a horde of giant, mutant rats living beneath the surface. This includes a mother rat the size of a cow, with no eyes and legs, who only exists to breed. Needless to say, things don't go well for the cleaning crew. If you've got a rat phobia, this story is your worst nightmare. 
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  (#6) Night Shift

  • Stephen King

  A classic Stephen King short story, Sometimes They Come Back appeared in 1978's Night Shift. A tale of trauma and revenge, the story centers around a high school English teacher named Jim. When a new student joins his class, he begins to recall the death of his brother in 1957 at the hands of some local greasers. What happens from there is best left unspoiled, but without giving too much away, Jim discovers that the title of the story is true in more ways than one.
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  (#7) Firestarter

  • Stephen King

  One of Stephen King's first major novels, and the inspiration for a 1984 film starring Drew Barrymore, Firestarter is strangely forgotten among the King novels of the same era (Pet Cemetery, Christine, The Dark Tower). It's a shame, because this book - about the spawn of two research subjects with pyrotechnic abilities - is a prime example of King at his broad sci-fi best. The premise isn't complicated, but lead character Charlie's flame-throwing powers provide an endless supply of great set pieces. 
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  (#8) Everything's Eventual

  • Stephen King

  The premise of The Man in the Black Suit is pretty simple: a boy has an encounter with the devil, who tries to scare him into believing things that aren't true, and recounts what happened as an old man. Originally published in The New Yorker in 1994, it was later compiled as part of the collection, Everything's Eventual, and still stands as one of the best short form pieces from the mid-point of Stephen King's career. 

  The Man in the Black Suit evokes fears we all had when we were young, and makes us remember what they felt like. By framing it through the eyes of an old man, afraid of his own mortality, it forces us to examine how those fears morph and change with age. 
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  (#9) Gerald's Game

  • Stephen King

  You may or may not be familiar with the 2018 film Gerald's Game, but regardless, it is the perfect time to go back and catch up on the book that inspired this confined spaces thriller.

  In a sex act gone wrong, Jessie Gurlingame is handcuffed to the bed by her husband, Gerald. This quickly turns into a fight for survival, as Jessie is forced to battle malevolent forces real and imaginary from the confines of the bed. 
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  (#10) Cycle of the Werewolf

  • Stephen King

  Cycle of the Werewolf is a 1985 novel about a werewolf preying upon the town of Tarker's Mills, and a young man in a wheelchair named Marty Coslaw who recruits his uncle to help stop it. It's standard horror fare, except that it also comes with striking illustrations by Berni Wrightson. It's not quite a graphic novel, but it adds another fun, unique element to King's expansive oeuvre.
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  (#11) Different Seasons

  • Stephen King

  All of the novellas from Stephen King's 1982 anthology Different Seasons have been turned into movies but this one, and considering that two of them became legitimate classics (The Shawshank Redemption, and Stand By Me) it's hard for The Breathing Method not to seem slight by comparison. But just because this story is smaller doesn't mean it isn't worth taking a look at. 

  A story within a story, The Breathing Method recalls a woman's strange approach to giving birth, as told by a man in an offbeat club. Like all the novellas in Different Seasons, there are otherworldly elements to it, but its genre is difficult to pin down. This odd, unclassifiable nature is what makes The Breathing Method, and indeed all the stories in Different Seasons, worth reading, even as it remains perplexing. 
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  (#12) Insomnia

  • Stephen King

  At 787 pages, Insomnia is nothing short of a tome. And although it has some things in common with his other longest works (It, The Stand) it perhaps doesn't have the epic, sweeping quality that made those books instant classics. 

  Stephen King has dismissed the novel himself at times, describing it as one of his lesser works. That's not to say that even with its daunting length, however, Insomnia is worth skipping.  This story of a man who can't sleep and begins to see strange visions after his wife's death is particularly affecting for anyone who's suffered from the titular infliction. There's a moody, dream-like quality here, present in other King works but never more at the forefront. 
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  (#13) The Tommyknockers

  • Stephen King

  The Tommyknockers is another giant Stephen King epic, poised to become a classic in its time but largely forgotten in the years since its release. Starting small then expanding vastly, the novel begins with writer Bobbi Anderson trying to dig up a mysterious metal object in the woods near her home and eventually turns into a full on alien invasion story. 
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  (#14) Roadwork

  • Stephen King

  Roadwork is the second novel in Stephen King's series of Bachman Books, all published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Typically passed over in favor of more famous Bachman titles like The Running Man, there's definitely a case to be made for Roadwork not just as King's best story under the pseudonym, but as one of his best books period. 

  The novel traces the path of Barton Dawes towards vigilante justice after a construction crew forces him out of his home. As Dawes drives away his family and friends, railing against the bureaucracy which he believes has destroyed his life, King paints a deft portrait of obsession and defiance.
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  (#15) Lisey's Story

  • Stephen King

  Among Stephen King's stories, Lisey's Story is unique. A novel about the wife of a famous author who recounts their marriage after his death, it does not fit neatly into horror, science fiction, thriller, mystery, or any other prototypical genre category.

  Instead, it is an exploration of grief, memory, and storytelling—both apart from and apiece with the rest of his canon. It's these reasons that make it so under-read, and these reasons that make it so worth reading. 

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