# What are Stephen King’s five worst books/stories? **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/21 "2010-09-10T21:45:32Z")
1. Black House - what a terrible, bland sequel to a fantastic novel. He and Peter Struab should be ashamed 2. The Tommy Knockers - he’s admitted to being chemically altered while writing (it’s in On Writing) and it really really shows the first 200 pages 3. Everything’s Eventual - not every story is bad, but it’s really subpar over all 4. Six Stories - mostly forgetable 5. “Rage” - it’s boring ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/22 "2010-09-10T22:08:34Z")
I haven’t read a lot of King but _Gerald’s Game_ was one of the dullest pieces of trash I’ve ever read by any author. So if he’s written worse material, maybe it’s good that I haven’t plumbed the depths too deeply. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/23 "2010-09-10T22:13:11Z")
1. Tommyknockers 2. From a Buick 8 3. Regulators/Desperation - I think of them as a single distasteful unit 4. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger 5. Black House I see there aren’t too many here who hated The Dark Tower. So many people rave about the series, so I tried the first one and hated it so very very much. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/24 "2010-09-10T22:41:46Z")
> [@](#): > > The Langoliers Well to each their own, this is one of my all time favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/25 "2010-09-10T23:49:55Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > I see there aren’t too many here who hated The Dark Tower. So many people rave about the series, so I tried the first one and hated it so very very much. Ditto. (Well, I might have left out the "very"s.) I’ve read somewhere around half of Stephen King’s books, and this was easily the most disappointing. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/26 "2010-09-11T00:17:43Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > 1. Black House - what a terrible, bland sequel to a fantastic novel. He and Peter Struab should be ashamed Ok, glad I read this far. I loved the Talisman, but I first read it decades ago. When I picked up Black House, I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t in any way even close to as involved with the book. Not at all. I figured it was just me, ‘all grown up now’ or some shit. So…glad it isn’t just me. p.s. If you liked the feel of The Talisman, give another one of Peter Straub’s a try, an older one called ‘Shadowland’. I am not a Peter Straub fan, except for those two books. But Shadowland rocked my scary little world when I was in jr high; you might like it. Similar feel to The Talisman, and I don’t think it’s just because the main characters of each are about the same age. I can’t promise that the reason I liked Talisman so much later WASN’T because I read Shadowland first, though. ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/27 "2010-09-11T00:17:44Z")
**Under the dome** **Bag of bones** **The Tommyknockers** **Rose Madder** **Cujo** ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/28 "2010-09-11T00:27:22Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > > [@elfkin477](#): > > > > 1. Black House - what a terrible, bland sequel to a fantastic novel. He and Peter Struab should be ashamed > > Ok, glad I read this far. I loved the Talisman, but I first read it decades ago. When I picked up Black House, I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t in any way even close to as involved with the book. Not at all. I figured it was just me, ‘all grown up now’ or some shit. So…glad it isn’t just me. > > p.s. If you liked the feel of The Talisman, give another one of Peter Straub’s a try, an older one called ‘Shadowland’. I am not a Peter Straub fan, except for those two books. But Shadowland rocked my scary little world when I was in jr high; you might like it. Similar feel to The Talisman, and I don’t think it’s just because the main characters of each are about the same age. I can’t promise that the reason I liked Talisman so much later WASN’T because I read Shadowland first, though. I own several copies of Straub’s books, Shadowland included. Have you read The Floating Dragon? It could make for an interesting horror movie. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/29 "2010-09-11T00:39:15Z")
King has written an awful lot of books and stories, most of which I have read. Some I have enjoyed immensely, others were terrible. But without a doubt the worse thing of his that I have read is _Faithful_, the story of the 2003 Red Sox season. I knew he was a big Red Sox fan, as I am, and I expected great things from this book. But it stunk! It was mostly about King and his friend going to Fenway Park early to watch batting practice and get balls that were hit into the stands. After I finished the book I didn’t even bother adding it to my collection of books about the Red Sox; I just gave it to Goodwill. ---
**Author:** ![jordanr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/30 "2010-09-11T01:00:13Z")
five novels: _Cell Dark Tower: Wolves of the Calla Black House Christine Thinner_ I was gonna do a list of his bad stories, but I looked at the Wikipedia article and could only find one or two that I disliked as much as I did those novels. Pretty much all his stories have at least something memorable in them, which for a writer as prolific as King is saying a lot. I like a lot of the novels mentioned in this thread! _Gerald’s Game_ is my favorite thing he’s written by far, and I even enjoyed _Tommyknockers_. With regard to those who don’t like _Dark Tower_, yeah, the first book is very slow-going, but with #2 in the series it really picks up (and I say that as someone who has no patience for most fantasy in this vein). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/31 "2010-09-11T01:00:44Z")
Assuming the stories in _Four Past Midnight_ count as separate entities I’d include: **Secret Window, Secret Garden-** a bad story with a “please don’t go there please don’t go there aw damn it he went there!” cliche twist ending that somehow managed to spawn an even worse movie yet appeal to Johnny Depp and John Turturro. **Library Policeman** - great buildup, really intriguing character, and then the classic textbook “Damn, this is due at my publisher’s in 15 minutes!” Stephen King at his worst ending **The Stand** - I know it’s one of his most beloved, and I liked a LOT about it, but the ending sucked ass when it turns out Aunt Clara from _Bewitched_ and Neville Longbottom in his second year could have teamed up to kick Randall Flagg’s ass, plus there were lots of little things that bothered me.\* **Christine** **Cujo** The last two for reasons already stated. (Cujo I couldn’t even finish.) \*One example, which I know to be a major nitpick, but things like this bother me: Mother Abigail is said to have had 6 children who bore her 32 grandchildren, 91 great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great-grandchildren. She’s 108 years old and (per the book) her oldest child was born when she was 18 and four more before she was 30, then two more in her late 30s. Okey-dokey: that means that her oldest children were they alive (the book says they all died of natural causes before the Flu) would rang from 90 to about 80. Even assuming that none of them had kids before they were 30 then that means her oldest grandchildren would range from 60 to 50. Assuming that none of them had children until they were 30, that means her oldest great-grandchildren would range from about 30-20, and there would be several of them. The odds that several (let’s say a dozen) people between the ages of 20 and 30 would only have three children between them is very low. Again, this is assuming none of her sons or grandchildren had children before they were 30. If, more realistically, at least some had kids in their early-to mid 20s then that would make her oldest grandchildren in their 60s and the oldest great-grandchildren well over 30, which means there would be many well over the age at which most people start families. There would be lots more great-great-grandchildren and very probably one or two great-great-great-grandchildren. Add to this- why is Mother Abigail not particularly concerned with the fates of her dozens of progeny? It says her children are all dead, but weren’t there _any_ of her 120 plus grandchildren and great-grandchildren she was close to? Pragmatism and acceptance of a divine mission aside, that’s got to really hurt to have an entire tribe that you spawned wiped out. I recognize this is very anal, but it’s stuff that irks me. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/32 "2010-09-11T01:05:16Z")
> [@Hockey\_Monkey](#): > > 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. I had three come to mind immediately when I saw the thread title, but I concede that Zamboni-man hit the nail on the head with all five. I’d put The Dome on the list, but I couldn’t finish it. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/33 "2010-09-11T01:15:10Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > p.s. If you liked the feel of The Talisman, give another one of Peter Straub’s a try, an older one called ‘Shadowland’. I am not a Peter Straub fan, except for those two books. But Shadowland rocked my scary little world when I was in jr high; you might like it. Similar feel to The Talisman, and I don’t think it’s just because the main characters of each are about the same age. I can’t promise that the reason I liked Talisman so much later WASN’T because I read Shadowland first, though. I own several copies of Straub’s books, Shadowland included. Have you read The Floating Dragon? It could make for an interesting horror movie. [/QUOTE] Sorry to briefly divert this. Over the last year I read through all of Straub’s loosely-connected books (like the Throat, Blue Rose, Koko, etc.), and I have to say, that’s some fine writing. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/34 "2010-09-11T03:58:05Z")
For all of you who hate The Tommyknockers (and that includes me), here is a thread arguing that King jumped the shark with The Tommyknockers: > **[When Did Stephen King Jump the Shark?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=244255)** > > When Did Stephen King Jump the Shark? http://www.bookslut.com/fear\_factor/2004\_01\_001311.php Does half-assed crap like \*The Girl Who Loved of Tom Gordon \* make \*Carrie \* and \*Salem’s Lot \* any less readable? But before we dismiss King faster than... ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/35 "2010-09-11T03:58:12Z")
Been too damn long since I’ve read a bunch of these, but as I recall, in order of shittiness: [ol] [li]Dreamcatcher[/li][li]The Cell[/li][li]The Cincinnati Kid[/li][li]Insomnia[/li][li]From a Buick 8[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/36 "2010-09-11T04:11:08Z")
All righty then. Here goes: [ol] [li] **Rose Madder** [/li][li] **Desperation** [/li][li] **The Regulators** [/li][li] **Dreamcatcher** [/li][li] **Lisey’s Story** [/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/37 "2010-09-11T04:35:54Z")
> [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](#): > > For all of you who hate The Tommyknockers (and that includes me), here is a thread arguing that King jumped the shark with The Tommyknockers: > > [When Did Stephen King Jump the Shark? - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=244255) It might not be his worst work, but Stephen King was dead to me after “The Tommyknockers”. I mean that in a very actual way. I had read every single book of his up until then, and always looked forward to anything new by him. Then I picked up the Tommyknockers, and leaned back to get into that old “enjoy reading Stephen King” feeling. And I couldn’t get into it. And I couldn’t get into it. And then I put the book down halfway through and never picked it up again. And Stephen King was now finished. Oh, I’ve read a couple of things he’s done since then. But “The Tommyknockers” flipped me from a hard-core fan to “meh”. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/38 "2010-09-11T05:06:44Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > It might not be his worst work, but Stephen King was dead to me after “The Tommyknockers”. Tommyknockers only missed out on my list as I have no recollection of reading it, though I know I did. I do recall the TV miniseries, and it was shit. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/39 "2010-09-11T10:33:40Z")
1. The Tommyknockers, yet again. 2. Cell. Unlike most of his books, I haven’t bothered to reread it. 3. Black House. Loved Talisman, never really got into the sequel. 4. Regulators/Desperation 5. Thinner. ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312/40 "2010-09-11T11:42:03Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > It might not be his worst work, but Stephen King was dead to me after “The Tommyknockers” It was always my understanding that Steve got sober during or right after “Tommyknockers”. His gain, our loss. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stephen-king-s-five-worst-books-stories/553312.md?page=3)