Okay, a few suggestions! I have read all of these at least twice, which means they were not only good, they were good enough to re-read!
Cujo
Synopsis:
The Cambers' once-friendly St. Bernard turns into a killer after being bitten by a rabid bat. Donna Trenton's husband is in New York trying to contain a disastrous ad campaign. Feeling abandoned by her workaholic husband, who is frequently out of town, Donna Trenton embarks on an affair with a local handyman. Left to fend for herself, she takes her ailing Pinto to Joe Cambers' garage for repairs only to be trapped with her son Tad in the sweltering car by the monstrous dog.
This was the first SK book I read, my freshman year of high school, and I loved it! Who would ever guess you could get a whole horror novel out of the scenario of a woman and her little kid trapped in a car by a big dog? Of course, that's not the whole novel; there is a lot of back story that leads up to that and makes the story deeper than the movie. It builds slowly, and even though you know what's eventually going to happen, it's still very suspenseful, as everything starts to fall into place for disaster to strike.
Misery
Synopsis:
Novelist Paul Sheldon has plans to make the difficult transition from writing historical romances featuring heroine Misery Chastain to publishing literary fiction. Annie Wilkes, Sheldon's number one fan, rescues the author from the scene of a car accident. The former nurse takes care of him in her remote house, but becomes irate when she discovers that the author has killed Misery off in his latest book. Annie keeps Sheldon prisoner while forcing him to write a book that brings Misery back to life.
I got "Misery" after seeing the movie, which is good, but as always, the book is even better. Only Stephen King could write basically a whole novel that's set in one place, mostly in one room, with only two real characters, one of whom is barely mobile, and make it interesting! And he does! This book is suspenseful, sadistic, and downright scary. I like it because it's about a writer, which adds some personal interest to it, and it's fairly gory, or at least graphic... it'll make you squirm, but that adds to the effect! Also, Annie Wilkes is one of my favorite novel villains... she's so delightfully demented!
Salem's Lot
Synopsis:
Author Ben Mears returns to ‘Salem's Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more victims, Mears convinces a small group of believers to combat the undead.
This is one of his longer books... I found it hard to get into the first time I tried to read it because it has a lot of characters and builds very slowly... setting the stage. You get a real feel for the town of 'Salem's Lot and the characters who live in it before any real action begins. It makes for a slow start, but it's worth it in the end because it means more when you see it all fall apart throughout the story, as the town becomes infested with vampires. Once I got into it, I loved this book, and I read it a second time recently and loved it just as much, if not more! This is not a Twilight-esque book that romanticizes vampires. It portrays vampires as what they were intended to be - creatures of horror, monsters. It's truly a scary book; I don't scare easily, especially from a book, but there were several scenes in this one that really did give me chills and make my blood run cold.
Author
Topic: Next book club discussion will be a Stephen King book (Read 2509 times)