Stephen King wrote five of the ten books at the top of Goodreads’ list of the best horror novels. The remaining five are a Gothic ghost story, a demonic possession tale, two Victorian-era classics, and one 19th-century monster story. The source article says the ranking comes from Goodreads readers’ shelves, so read it as a picture of what members of the site rate highly, not a final literary ruling. As the list shows, those members are big Stephen King fans.
Horror covers a lot of ground. It takes in supernatural stories and tales of ordinary but twisted killers, and it can blend with romance, sci-fi or mystery. Since people fear different things, there’s no single right answer. The countdown below runs from 10 to 1.
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10. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
Mary Shelley began writing this Gothic horror masterpiece when she was only 18. Its hero, Victor Frankenstein, is a scientist who builds new life out of stolen body parts, then recoils in horror at the result. Shelley’s first child was born prematurely and died soon afterward, and the novel conveys the dread of giving birth and of failing one’s offspring more sharply than many Frankenstein adaptations manage.
9. Carrie (1974) by Stephen King
King’s debut novel centers on Carrie White, a bullied 16-year-old who develops telekinetic powers and turns them on the mean girls at her school. Its success launched King’s career and pushed supernatural horror further into the mainstream. The story is lean and says little about where Carrie’s powers come from or why her mother is so religiously fanatical, although it plants many themes King would examine at greater length later.
Brian De Palma’s 1976 adaptation started King’s run as the most adapted living author, and Mike Flanagan recently released a miniseries version for Prime Video.
8. The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson
A classic Gothic ghost story, The Haunting of Hill House centers on a paranormal investigator who brings people together in an isolated mansion in hopes of proving the supernatural is real. As the guests grow close, strange events begin and they learn the house’s dark past. Jackson leaves many descriptions vague, so the reader can’t be sure what the characters are truly experiencing or who is responsible, and that uncertainty deepens the eerie mood.
Flanagan directed an excellent Netflix adaptation that follows one family’s experience with the house across decades.
7. The Exorcist (1971) by William Peter Blatty
Based on a real case of supposed demonic possession, The Exorcist tells of Regan MacNeil, a young girl growing more disturbed and violent. After doctors fail to help, her mother seeks out a Jesuit priest. To save Regan’s soul, the priest, who is in the middle of a crisis of faith, has to struggle with his own doubts as well as the devil.
Blatty also wrote the screenplay for William Friedkin’s iconic 1973 film and carried the franchise forward with The Ninth Configuration and The Exorcist 3.
6. Misery (1987) by Stephen King
King set the supernatural aside for this deeply unsettling story of an obsessed fan who keeps a bestselling romance author captive in her home. Paul Sheldon has finished his popular Misery series and plans to move into crime writing. A car accident leaves him in the care of Annie Wilkes, who nurses him back to health but refuses to let him go until he writes another Misery book.
Rob Reiner’s 1990 film adaptation, in the source’s words, captures the horror perfectly, with an Oscar-winning performance from Kathy Bates.
5. Pet Sematary (1983) by Stephen King
Losing a family pet is always painful, and in this King novel it turns into a nightmare. After his daughter’s cat Church is struck by a car, Louis Creed buries it in an ancient Native American burial ground. The cat returns home changed, releasing an evil that torments the family and exposes the dark history of the town and its pet cemetery.
The book has been adapted twice: a 1989 film from Mary Lambert and a 2019 version from Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer.
4. Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker made the vampire story popular with Dracula, among the best-known works of English literature. In it, a Transylvanian count preys on the English town of Whitby, and the book pulled from folklore and earlier horror fiction to set up many familiar tropes about vampire powers and weaknesses. Adaptations beyond counting have drawn on every part of it, from Dracula’s voyage on the Demeter to his seductive brides to the vampire hunter Professor Abraham Van Helsing.
The source’s advice: if you love Anne Rice or Let the Right One In, you owe it to yourself to read this classic.
3. ‘Salem’s Lot (1975) by Stephen King
One year after his first novel, Carrie, King wrote ‘Salem’s Lot, a book inspired by Dracula. It keeps his attention on the horrors of Maine and follows Ben Mears, an author who goes back to his hometown looking for inspiration for his next book. While Ben looks into an abandoned old mansion and the death of a young boy, he finds that the residents of Jerusalem’s Lot are turning into vampires.
The source’s verdict: read the book and skip Gary Dauberman’s mediocre 2024 film adaptation.
2. It (1986) by Stephen King
Moving back and forth between the 1950s and the 1980s, It tells of a group of misfit kids in the fictional town of Derry, Maine, who are tormented by a shapeshifting evil. Pennywise the Dancing Clown wakes every 27 years to take new victims, and the Losers Club members have to face their traumatic childhoods to protect a new generation.
The source describes Pennywise as one of fiction’s most iconic monsters, brought to life in adaptations such as Andy Muschietti’s 2017 film and the 2025 HBO series It – Welcome to Derry.
1. The Shining (1977) by Stephen King
King’s third novel grew out of his own battles with alcoholism. The Shining follows Jack Torrance, a recovering alcoholic who slowly loses his sanity while working at a remote Colorado hotel. His son Danny has latent psychic abilities that sharpen at the haunted hotel, where an earlier caretaker murdered his family.
The book formed the basis of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film, which the source calls a masterpiece. King went on with Danny’s story in the 2013 novel Doctor Sleep, which Mike Flanagan adapted into a 2019 movie.
