# What are Stephen King’s five worst books/stories?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 10, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312 "2010-09-10T17:56:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/1 "2010-09-10T17:56:58Z")
Inspired by [this thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=577749) What are Stephen King’s five worst books, in your opinion? No limitations. Anything from novels to novellas to short story collections to ebooks to published screenplays is eligible. It doesn’t actually even have to be a whole book. It could be a story within a book. Herewith, my choices:
1. Dreamcatcher. One of the worst books written anywhere, by anybody. Shitweasels.
2. The Regulators. The image that comes to mind is a little kid covered in Spaghettios and diarrhea. I really just don’t need that.
3. Lisey’s Story. Smucking!
4. Dedication. (short story in Nightmares & Dreamscapes) Okay, I am officially grossed out. I literally gag if I think about this one too much.
5. The Dark Half. Not that it’s so terrible, but it just doesn’t feel like him at all. I keep expecting him to come out and say, “Fooled you guys! Joe wrote that when he was fifteen.”
Steve, this doesn’t mean I don’t still love you.
**MT Cicero** , thanks for writing part of this post. 🙂
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### Author:  [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/2 "2010-09-10T18:07:07Z")
Hearts in Atlantis
The Girl who love Tom Gordon (I even had to google the title, I almost wrote Tom Brady)
Dedication (that is a pretty nasty story)
Sneakers
And I’m sure there are others I didn’t care for, but can’t think of them all now.
I liked Lisey’s story (granted the smucking thing was annoying) and its been a long time since I’ve read it but I recall enjoying the imagery of his other world.
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### Author:  [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/3 "2010-09-10T18:18:17Z")
awww, I loved Hearts in Atlantis and liked The Regulators ☹
Anyhow, I nominate The Plant for all 5 spots. It’s that bad.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/4 "2010-09-10T18:23:39Z")
I enjoyed Hearts in Atlantis, and I absolutely loved The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
I didn’t like:
1. The Breathing Method
2. Dedication
3. Sneakers
4. The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands
5. Sneakers
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/5 "2010-09-10T18:27:02Z")
Sneakers twice, **Annie**? You can list one more!
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### Author:  [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/6 "2010-09-10T18:28:19Z")
Tommyknockers was complete shit.
The Cell, likewise.
From a Buick 8 was terrible
Bag of Bones
Hearts in Atlantis
Tommyknockers can take all five spots though.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/7 "2010-09-10T18:29:49Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#):
>
> Sneakers twice, **Annie**? You can list one more!
I realy really hated Sneakers.
Tommyknockers can take its place.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/8 "2010-09-10T18:40:38Z")
The worst Stephen King books I’ve read, in no particular order (note that I gave up after a while, so there aren’t any recent books on this list):
Insomnia
Desperation
The Tommyknockers
Needful Things
The Dark Half
I excluded short stories, since most of the short stories I didn’t like I barely remember.
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/9 "2010-09-10T18:43:25Z")
Dreamcatchers (so stupid it hurt)
Tommyknockers (there were like 20 good pages in this doorstop of shite)
The Regulators (gross and pointless)
Those three really stand out. I’ll have to think on my last two. “Christine” might be in the running.
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### Author:  [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/10 "2010-09-10T18:43:26Z")
Of the books I’ve read, the only ones I didn’t care for were Dark Tower and Gerald’s Game. Pet Sematary was not memorable and Cujo didn’t do much for me. Among his shorter works, The Running Man and The Body were just OK.
I stopped reading Misery partway through, but I can’t blame King for that – I wussed out.
ETA – Oh, right, I did read Christine and it was stupid. Thx Hello, Again.
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### Author:  [@Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Mockingbird)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/11 "2010-09-10T18:45:31Z")
I hated Tommyknockers.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/12 "2010-09-10T19:01:32Z")
Desperation
Regulators (This and Desperation were so bad I stopped reading King for years.)
Insomnia
Dreamcatcher
Cujo (Really? A rabid dog? Not scary.)
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### Author:  [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/13 "2010-09-10T19:36:22Z")
[ol]
[li]The Tommyknockers[/li][li]The Tommyknockers[/li][li]The Tommknockers[/li][li]It[/li][li]The Langoliers[/li][/ol]
There are probably a couple of short stories that I can’t recall.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/14 "2010-09-10T19:58:33Z")
A surprising amount of Tommyknocker hate! I might have picked it back in the old days, before he cranked out some worse ones. Too much weirdness, and then there are some upsetting scenes (Hilly and David, Peter the beagle).
However, I do like the character of Gardner. I always thought Gardner and Jack Torrance could have had some great times together (well, until they accidentally killed someone).
Bobbi’s sister Anne was fun to read about too.
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### Author:  [@rainwalker78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainwalker78)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/15 "2010-09-10T20:45:32Z")
The Tommyknockers can have all 5 spots as far as I am concerned. This is the only King book (and one of maybe a dozen from any author) that I couldn’t finish (or even get 1/2 way through).
In three tries.
I didn’t care for Gerald’s game, or the Dream Catcher that much. Cujo wasn’t awesome.
so:
1. Tommyknockers (The first time I tried to read it)
2. TommyKnockers (The second time I tried to read it)
3. TommyKnockers (The third time I tried to read it)
4. TommyKnockers (Just thinking about this book upsets me)
5. Tie between TommyKnockers/Gerald’s Game/Dream Catcher/Cujo
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### Author:  [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/16 "2010-09-10T20:56:09Z")
I haven’t read that much Steven King, but I remember not caring for:
1 Needful Things. I tried, honestly I tried more than once, but this one was just plain boring.
2 Apt Pupil. I’m really up to here with evil Nazi stories.
3 Breathing Method. From **Different Seasons**. This one seemed like a desperate scramble for a fourth story when he only had three.
4 Was there one about his wife finding shorter and shorter shortcuts while driving the car to some town? Stories where the climax is reading a car odometer are less than gripping. I don’t remember the title, or even if this was one of Steven King’s short stories though.
5 It Grows on You. Story about a house that builds itself. The anthology it’s in says this story was never in print before. There’s a reason for that.
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### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/17 "2010-09-10T20:58:11Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#):
>
> 4 Was there one about his wife finding shorter and shorter shortcuts while driving the car to some town? Stories where the climax is reading a car odometer are less than gripping. I don’t remember the title, or even if this was one of Steven King’s short stories though.
“Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut.” I kind of liked this one, actually, although I’ll agree it’s not one of his best.
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/18 "2010-09-10T20:59:35Z")
I can’t list 5 because after I read Needful Things, I stopped reading King. What a stupid, repetitive, stupid example of automatic writing.
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### Author:  [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/19 "2010-09-10T21:01:03Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> > [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#):
> >
> > 4 Was there one about his wife finding shorter and shorter shortcuts while driving the car to some town? Stories where the climax is reading a car odometer are less than gripping. I don’t remember the title, or even if this was one of Steven King’s short stories though.
>
> “Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut.” I kind of liked this one, actually, although I’ll agree it’s not one of his best.
That’s the one, thank you.
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### Author:  [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/20 "2010-09-10T21:24:57Z")
[ol]
[li]The Cell - Awful. Really awful.[/li][li]'Salem’s Lot - I think I’m one of the few who doesn’t like this. It’s one of his earlier works, and it shows, IMO.[/li][li]Under the Dome - This started out so well, I was hopeful. Then the last third goes to shit. And not in a good way.[/li][li]Graveyard Shift - Mutant bat rats? Really?[/li][li]From a Buick 8 - Just couldn’t get into it.[/li][/ol]
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