3.92 avg rating — 82,943 ratings

"Book noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981. Book and author discussed in chapter 9 where King also said this about the book: "My Plan is to discuss ten books that seem representative of everything in the genre that is fine; the horror story as both literature and entertainment, a living part of twentieth-century literature..."
"

3.81 avg rating — 390,267 ratings

"Book noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981. Book and author discussed in chapter 9 where King also said this about the book: "My Plan is to discuss ten books that seem representative of everything in the genre that is fine; the horror story as both literature and entertainment, a living part of twentieth-century literature..."
"

4.02 avg rating — 646,719 ratings

"Stephen King recommended book. Noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981.
"

4.02 avg rating — 1,464,151 ratings

"Stephen King recommended book. In Chapter 3 of Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre, King said: "The three novels I want to discuss in this chapter seem to have actually achieved that immortality, and I believe it's impossible to discuss horror in the years 1950-1980 with any real fullness of understanding unless we begin with these three books."

Those three books are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, and Frankenstein.

Stephen King also said: "Top 10 villains in books:

1. Count Dracula Bram Stoker's courtly, sinister creation is still literature's greatest villain, and although he's been portrayed on the screen by a dozen actors — Christopher Lee is surely the best of them — none can equal the one in the book. And Stoker's most amazing achievement? After the first 100 pages, the sanguinary count mostly lurks off stage. It's a lesson for all of us: Villains are scarier in the shadows.""

3.89 avg rating — 13,845 ratings

"Stephen King recommended author and book.

Book noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981. Book and author discussed in chapter 9 where King also said this about the book: "My Plan is to discuss ten books that seem representative of everything in the genre that is fine; the horror story as both literature and entertainment, a living part of twentieth-century literature..."
"

4.47 avg rating — 11,315,662 ratings

"Stephen King says: "Top 10 villains in books:

4. Voldemort Good God, he tried to kill Harry Potter and all his friends! Do I have to say more?" Even said he enjoyed the audiobook reading of these books, too.


I loved them all! Read 'em twice!
"

4.26 avg rating — 586,388 ratings

"Stephen King recommended."

4.05 avg rating — 158,398 ratings

"Book noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981. Book and author discussed in chapter 9 where King also said this about the book: "My Plan is to discuss ten books that seem representative of everything in the genre that is fine; the horror story as both literature and entertainment, a living part of twentieth-century literature..."
"

3.97 avg rating — 22,878 ratings

"Stephen King recommended book. Noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981.
"

4.16 avg rating — 14,978 ratings

"Stephen King says: "Given Rick McCammon's ten-year silence, I was curious about NIGHTBIRD...eager for a new dose of one of America's truly fine story-tellers...delighted it was a BIG dose...and nervous, too. 'Cause writing novels is NOT like riding a bike--you can forget how to do it. Twenty pages in, I forgot everything but the book itself.

"...an excellent story, full of tension and suspense...

"Speaks the Nightbird is a rarity in popular fiction, a book that manages to be thoughtful as well as entertaining---think 'Burn, Witch, Burn' crossed with Arthur Miller's The Crucible.

"...The week I spent listening to the nightbird every evening between eight and eleven was a very fine one."


I was very pleased to see something new from McCammon and was drawn in to this series immediately. I devoured the first 3 and can't wait for the next one due out next year.


"

3.54 avg rating — 17,595 ratings

"Stephen King says: "Simmons is always good, but Drood is a masterwork of narrative suspense. It's a story of Egyptian cults, brain-burrowing beetles, life-sucking vampires, and an underground city beneath London...or is it? Maybe it's all in the drug-addled mind of Dickens contemporary Wilkie Collins (The Moonstone), whose poison jealousy of the Inimitable becomes more apparent as the story nibbles its way into the reader's head."

SK also says: "The last years of Charles Dickens, as narrated by his increasingly unstable colleague Wilkie Collins. This is a beautifully realized historical novel, but it's also a modern tale that chronicles the descent of a great mind into dope-fueled madness."

I really enjoyed reading this book. It's a long one, so settle in for a good ride!

"

3.90 avg rating — 153,004 ratings

"In 1981's Danse Macabre, King dedicated his book as follows: "It's easy enough - perhaps too easy - to memorialize the dead. This book is for the six great writers of the macabre who are still alive." The six listed were Robert Bloch, Jorge Luis Borges, Ray Bradbury, Frank Belknap Long, Donald Wandrei, Manly Wade Wellman.

Book noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981. Book and author discussed in chapter 9 where King also said this about the book: "My Plan is to discuss ten books that seem representative of everything in the genre that is fine; the horror story as both literature and entertainment, a living part of twentieth-century literature..."
"

4.09 avg rating — 504,326 ratings

"Stephen King recommended. Noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981.

I read this long ago and have very fond memories of it. It was well worth the emotional roller-coaster ride.

I remember the animated film being very good, but disturbing. Not for younger children. "

3.81 avg rating — 15,550 ratings

"Stephen King recommended book. Noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre published in 1981.

Stephen King recommended trilogy as noted in Chapter 9 of Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre"

4.47 avg rating — 3,002,259 ratings

"Stephen King says: "You've probably read it. If not, you're in for a treat as you watch Skeeter Phelan, a child of privilege in pre-civil rights Mississippi, get her consciousness raised — and her social position endangered — as she begins writing about the lives of the maids who polish the silver and make the beds. The book is warm, decent, and often funny, but what elevates it — odd but true — are the hundreds of domestic details."

People are raving about this book, and I can see why! It was heart-warming and heart-breaking and inspirational. I despised the villain and loved the 3 narrators. Ladies and gents (yes, even you gents - see Stephen King's note above - HE read it!), pick up this book. You won't be sorry! Yes, a few "small" people can make a big difference! I'm soooo glad I was too young to understand what was going on back in the 60's and glad I wasn't raised to be a racist.

9/3/11 update. Saw the movie. WOW! Can you say academy award winner!? I laughed, I cried, I despised, I loved. Bring your tissues! My hubby even got misty-eyed and really enjoyed the movie, so it's not just a chic-flick! A must-see... and a must-read!

"

3.92 avg rating — 326,052 ratings

"Stephen King recommended author and book. Author noted for science-fiction stories written in post-war WWII in Chapter one of King's 1983 Berkeley paperback edition of Danse Macabre. Book noted in chapter 9."

4.18 avg rating — 3,428,697 ratings

"Stephen King says: "Instead of a locked-room mystery, this is a ''locked-island'' mystery in which a disgraced journalist is hired to investigate a decades-old crime. He discovers something a lot more awful than a missing girl. The good news is that Larsson delivered two more novels with this one. The bad news is that he died of a heart attack shortly after doing so."

Liked the whole series. The movies were great, too!"

4.30 avg rating — 4,428,600 ratings

"Stephen King recommended book as noted in Chapter 9 of Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre. "

4.06 avg rating — 31,314 ratings

"Stephen King recommended author. He said: "I have seen the future of horror, his name is Clive Barker." "

3.86 avg rating — 33,409 ratings

"Stephen King wrote introduction for Oxford World's Classics edition, ISBN 0195151364. He calls The Monk "a black engine of sex and the supernatural that changed the genre--and the novel itself--forever."

The author was way ahead of his time when he wrote the controversial book. For us horror fans, it has everything: ghosts, dungeons, torture, depravity, demons, you name it (and don't forget a bit of a surprise ending)! A must-read! Don't let the 18th century age of this one put you off; it's not mired down in incomprensible English and is fairly easy to read."

4.25 avg rating — 714,524 ratings

"Stephen King recommended book as noted in Chapter 9 of Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre. "

4.01 avg rating — 165,525 ratings

"Stephen King recommended author and book. King referred to Wilkie's works as "great mystery/suspense novels" in Chapter 3 of Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre.


I almost rated this one 5 stars, but settled on 4. It was bit slow-going in the beginning, but then I got totally rapt up the fate of our hero and heroines. Couldn't help but wonder why the hero fell for the meek, mild Laura when Marion had so much more substance!"

3.76 avg rating — 13,040 ratings

"Stephen King said the following about the audiobook in 2003, before the written book was published. By the time I'd read about the audiobook, the written book has been published and I read it. It was wonderful, I cared about the protagonist, and I'm so glad SK took the time to promote it!

From Entertainment Weekly, 9/11/2003 column titled "Listen Up: The best book you can't read. No, "The Memory of Running" isn't in print, but you can still hear it."

"My gig at EW isn't writing book reviews, but I can still state with a fair degree of certainty that Ron McLarty's ''The Memory of Running'' is the best novel you won't read this year. But you can experience it, and I'm all but positive that you'll thank me for the tip if you do.

''Memory'' is the story of 279-pound Smithson Ide, a smokes-too-much, drinks-too-much, eats-too-much heart attack waiting to happen. I mean, this guy is a mess -- a lovely, addled mess. And then one day, Smithy finds himself riding across America with his ''fat ass'' hanging over the seat of his boyhood bicycle. He's on his way from Rhode Island to L.A. -- where he aims to retrieve his sister's body from the county morgue -- and along the road he meets a parade of colorful characters. Unlike Huck Finn's adventures, Smithy's don't amount to literature, but they are always entertaining and sometimes wildly funny.

So why can't you read it? Because -- so far, at least -- no publisher will touch it with a 10-foot pole. Publishing houses, once proudly independent, are today little more than corporate wampum beads, their cultural clout all but gone. Novels that were neither dopey best-sellers (think James Patterson) nor dull ''serious fiction'' (think William Gaddis, Paul Auster, and their overpraised ilk) were one of the first things to go when the conglomerates took over. Dull or dopey: These days that's pretty much your choice at the bookstore.

What place does that leave for Ron McLarty (an actor, playwright, and chronic insomniac who scribbled the tale of Smithy Ide in the wee hours of the morning, on a succession of yellow legal pads)? There should be a place, because -- you'll just have to trust me on this, at least for the time being -- Smithy is an American original, worthy of a place on the shelf just below your Hucks, your Holdens, and your Yossarians. And, thanks to a combination of luck and plain old coincidence, there is a place.

One of Ron McLarty's day jobs, you see, is narrating for Recorded Books, a company that's been producing unabridged novels on audio since 1979. His boss is a woman named Claudia Howard, and one day four years ago McLarty showed Howard his novel, which had been turned down ''by the best in the business,'' as we say. She was charmed by Smithy and horrified by the fact that such a fine novel should not only not find an audience but not even find a chance to find one (if you see what I mean). So Howard did what she could do, which was to issue ''The Memory of Running'' as a Recorded Book.

Which brings us to how you can experience the book: Visit www.recordedbooks.com and buy or rent the CD or cassette version of the book, as voiced by McLarty himself. This is why I say it may be the best book you won't read this year. You might listen to it on your Discman while jogging, or in your car while you're going to see Aunt Doris in Des Moines, but you won't actually read it. (I'm not even sure if the hero's Smithy or Smithie, because I've never seen his name in print.)

Recent publishing history is full of worthy novels that were published only by the skin of their teeth. J.K. Rowling's maiden ''Harry Potter'' voyage was one. Then there's the sad case of John Kennedy Toole's ''A Confederacy of Dunces,'' published only after the despairing author had killed himself. (It then reached the best-seller list, which may or may not have been of some comfort to his surviving relatives.) The moral? It's a jungle out there, baby, and in a world where the corporate bottom line is god (or maybe the word I'm searching for is mammon), the strong survive but the worthy often do not.

That ''The Memory of Running'' has found its own little performance stage is a miracle. I hope it won't be a wasted miracle. What I hope is that you'll order a copy and experience it for yourself; I hope, in fact, that EW readers will inundate Recorded Books with orders for Smithy (Smithie?) Ide's adventures. Let's make a little history here, what do you say? If that happens, the book probably will be published -- remember the corporate motto of the '90s and the double zeros: Money talks, bulls--- walks. This is a book that can do more than walk; it has a chance to be a breakout best-seller. No, it's not literature (please remember I said that), but it's bighearted and as satisfying as one of your mom's home-cooked Sunday dinners.

So why not ride across America with Smithy and root for him as he loses weight, falls in love, and rediscovers life? You'll be striking a blow for the good old American novel. More important, you'll do the stuff good novels are supposed to make you do -- laugh a little, cry a little, maybe ride (or jog) an extra time around the block in order to find out what happens next. You'll also discover a fine American voice…and actually get to hear it talking. Do I want some of the credit if this nice thing happens?

You know I do.

Tell 'em Steve sent you."

"

3.90 avg rating — 25,328 ratings

3.70 avg rating — 3,178,025 ratings

3.77 avg rating — 9,235 ratings

3.87 avg rating — 254,190 ratings

"In EW, 11/11/04, A Dozen Thanks, Pop of King, Stephen King said: "I'm thankful that Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke, was almost as good as its lyrical first reviews...but it's not Harry Potter for grown-ups, as so many of them said. Harry Potter is Harry Potter for grown-ups, you dweebs."


This is a long tome, but worth the ride. It took me a long time to read it, but I wasn't hurrying through it. At times it is a page-turner, but mostly it is a tour de force with the reader getting to know, and growing to love/hate the main characters. They are all like old friends by the end of the book with it's bittersweet and satisfying ending. Don't plan to rush through this one; enjoy a nice leisurely ride. Well-written, slow at times, great character-development. "

4.41 avg rating — 3,125,380 ratings

4.09 avg rating — 73,149 ratings

"Stephen King says: "A brilliant, massive combination of history and supernatural horror. Being marooned in arctic ice with nothing to eat but your shoes (or — gulp — a helping of shipmate stew) is bad enough; the unseen white monster stalking the nights is worse. Put a log — or, better yet, two — on the fire while you read this one."

I thought this one moved little slow in places, but overall I enjoyed it. Unique supernatural twist"

3.91 avg rating — 25,376 ratings

"Stephen King gave this book a blurb: "Carrion Comfort is one of the three greatest horror novels of the twentieth century. Simple as that."

Anyone know what the other two are????

One of the best horror books I've read in a while. Loved the characters! It's a thick one, and the print is small... so be prepared for a nice long one!"

4.10 avg rating — 988,139 ratings

"Stephen King recommended, including audiobook.

I really enjoyed this one. Gaiman is a great writer; one of my favs! "

3.82 avg rating — 116,618 ratings

"Stephen King recommended. "

3.93 avg rating — 43,265 ratings

"Stephen King says about the first 2 books in series: "We've been down Hannibal Lecter Avenue many times, and these two books shouldn't work...but they do. Chalk it up to excellent writing and Cain's ferocious sense of humor. The Portland (Ore.) setting is refreshing too."

I really enjoyed this series and am looking forward to book 4. Evil and compelling female serial killer and interesting stockhold syndrome explored. Can get pretty gruesome at times, so not for the squeamish. Highly recommended."

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 136,151 ratings

"Book noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981. Author discussed in chapter 9.
"

4.35 avg rating — 9,817,680 ratings

"Stephen King says: "[The Hunger Games] is a violent, jarring, speed-rap of a novel that generates nearly constant suspense...I couldn't stop reading."

1001 Five Star Books March group read.

I stayed up as late as possible reading this book, but I finally HAD to get some sleep. Fantastic. Reminded me a little of "The Long Walk" by Stephen King. On the waiting list for the next one in the trilogy.


"

4.31 avg rating — 714,752 ratings

"Stephen King says: "If you thought the true gothic novel died with the 19th century, this will change your mind. Shadow is the real deal, a novel full of cheesy splendor and creaking trapdoors, a novel where even the subplots have subplots. There's a haunted house (ah, but by what?) called the Angel of Mist, and the only horror greater than the thing rotting in its bricked-up crypt is (but of course, senor) the horror of doomed love."

Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group read and 1001 Five Star Books group read.

Ok... this book moved a bit slow for me in the beginning; I had a hard time getting into it, and I really really wanted to LOVE it. It felt, well the only word that came to my mind was, "heavy." Anyway, I almost put it down and I rarely do that, but half way through the pace picked up and I became intrigued. Therefore, I have mixed feelings about this.

4/18/11 update. I keep thinking about this book... it's haunting me, so I thought I'd do an update to my original tepid review above. I've revised my rating from a 3 to a 4 (sorry, Janis!). If a book sticks with me like this and I keep thinking about the characters, then there has to be something about it (unless, of course, it was so bad that it is unforgettable; which is not the case here). Anyway, I think I'd recommend this book to others, primarily for it's gothic feel and good character-development. I still think the pace was slow in the beginning and may not, at first, grab the reader. However, it does get much better after 200 pages or so.

7/15/11 update. I'm going to read this one again. I was going through a rough patch when I first read this and was having a hard time concentrating and was trying too hard to rush through it. This is NOT a book to rush through. Next time I will take my time and enjoy all its nuances."

4.16 avg rating — 121,087 ratings

"Stephen King says: "one of the most horrifying things I've ever read in my whole life"."

Edge of the seat, scary stuff! And it's non-fiction, folks!"

3.69 avg rating — 66,265 ratings

"Stephen King says: "Americans caught in an escalating nightmare on a Mexican hilltop in the best horror novel of the new century."

Read this one and really enjoyed it. Skip the movie!
"

4.13 avg rating — 77,038 ratings

"Stephen King recommended author and book. In 1981's Danse Macabre, King dedicated his book as follows: "It's easy enough - perhaps too easy - to memorialize the dead. This book is for the six great writers of the macabre who are still alive." The six listed were Robert Bloch, Jorge Luis Borges, Ray Bradbury, Frank Belknap Long, Donald Wandrei, Manly Wade Wellman.

Stephen King noted book as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981.


So you've seen the movie(s), but have you read the book? Whatcha waitin' for?"

3.92 avg rating — 2,436 ratings

"Stephen King recommended book. Noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981.
"

3.98 avg rating — 6,610 ratings

"Stephen King recommended book. Noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981."

3.88 avg rating — 27,606 ratings

"Stephen King recommended author and book. Book noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981. Book and author discussed in chapter 9 where King also said this about the book: "My Plan is to discuss ten books that seem representative of everything in the genre that is fine; the horror story as both literature and entertainment, a living part of twentieth-century literature..."
"

3.57 avg rating — 59,470 ratings

"Stephen King says: "This is a terrifying, engrossing ghost story set in the English countryside not long after World War II, but it's so much more. Although told in straightforward prose, this is a deeply textured and thoughtful piece of work. Several sleepless nights are guaranteed."

Well, I don't agree with this book guaranteeing sleepless nights, unless it's due to staying up late to read more chapters... just one more chapter and then I'll go to sleep, I promise!

This book captured my attention right away and I read it quickly and without effort. It was intriguing and suspenseful in a subtle and engrossing way. I cared for the characters and wanted the best for them, but what did that haunted house (or ghost of the house) want for them? You will have to read to find out.

I particularly liked the classic feel of this book; found myself thinking of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson which is a 5-star horror story that leaves you wondering what exactly happened in that house. Similar feel with this book.

I recommend it. Enjoy!"

3.72 avg rating — 9,818 ratings

"Stephen King says: "Adam Kindred is an up-and-coming climatologist in London for a job interview. Then he picks up a forgotten briefcase in a restaurant and tries to return it to the owner. Before you can say ''Bad idea, dude,'' he's living on the streets, begging for spare change, and sleeping in an empty lot by the Thames. He's been framed for murder and targeted by an unscrupulous Big Pharma company. Great suspense stuff here, told with flair, compassion, and a high sense of humor. Readers will cheer Adam's survival techniques and never-say-die attitude; I guarantee that you'll think of him every time you see a so-called ''street person'' trolling for spare change or yelling about the end of days. All these books are good, but for me, Boyd's deft combination of suspense and literature makes it the pick of the litter."


This isn't the type of book I normally pick up, but I really enjoyed this one. It clearly held me in suspense through-out. I nice ride. Check it out!"

3.87 avg rating — 21,494 ratings

"Stephen King says: "Chon and Ben, the antiheroes at the center of this novel that’s every bit as savage as its title, aspire to be kinder, gentler drug dealers, but when the smoke clears, one is tempted to quote Sarah Palin: ''How’s that hopey-changey stuff workin' out for ya?'' This is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on autoload. Winslow's stripped-down prose is a revelation."

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, as it is not the type I usually pick up to read. It is often very funny, yet poignant. The writing style is unique, at time almost free-association. An easy, fast read."

3.49 avg rating — 21,843 ratings

"Stephen King says: "The best suspense novel of the year. Eliza Benedict has got a nice house and a nice family, and has managed to put the trauma of her life behind her. At least until the serial killer who kidnapped and raped her — but let her live — when she was 15 gets in touch from death row and says he wants to see her."

I'm not sure I agree with Sai King about this being the best suspense novel of the year (whatever year that was), but it is a very good and unique one. The author really develops her characters well and you can really see how the main character became a victim of Stockholm-syndrome. The book moves from the present to the past as it recalls her experience with the kidnapper and then deals with her emotions as an married adult and mother. The author didn't take this story where I thought it might go and therefore, thankfully, it was not predictable. Highly recommended."

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 222 ratings

"Stephen King recommended Burn, Witch, Burn in Chapter 3 of Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre..

Both novels were suspenseful and compelling reads. Great plots and interesting characters. My only complaint is with my annoyance with the lead charactters' refusal to acknowledge that the supernatural was involved when the evidence was plainly staring them in the face. Both novels were like that... how frustrating! lol

"

3.69 avg rating — 62,846 ratings

"Stephen King recommended author and book.

Book noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, publis...moreStephen King recommended author and book.

Book noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981. Author discussed in chapter 9.
"

3.83 avg rating — 661,194 ratings

"Stephen King recommended book. In Chapter 3 of Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre, King said: "The three novels I want to discuss in this chapter seem to have actually achieved that immortality, and I believe it's impossible to discuss horror in the years 1950-1980 with any real fullness of understanding unless we begin with these three books."

Those three books are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, and Frankenstein. "

3.90 avg rating — 1,862,714 ratings

"Stephen King recommended book. In Chapter 3 of Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre, King said: "The three novels I want to discuss in this chapter seem to have actually achieved that immortality, and I believe it's impossible to discuss horror in the years 1950-1980 with any real fullness of understanding unless we begin with these three books."

Those three books are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, and Frankenstein.


I'm glad, after all these years as an avid horror fan, that I finally got around to reading this novel. I particularly enjoyed this edition which is lithographic reproduction of the original Pennyroyal Press letterpress edition of 3560 copies, illustrated by Barry Moser with an afterword by Joyce Carol Oates.

It is unfortunate that so many folks interpretation of this great novel will be based solely on inaccurate theatrical renditions. But, I know why I've avoided the novel so long; I knew I'd empathize with the monster and I did. Having been one to be judged solely on one's appearance I can relate to wanted to be loved for the person within, not be judged by the cover. Well, this novel takes that concept to the extreme! But there is more depth here than implied by that mere observation. I found Frankenstein, the man, to be deplorable in his feigned guiltlessness... he played God and failed to take responsibility for his creation! How arrogant! Anywho... it's all already been said.

On to the next book on my list!"

4.19 avg rating — 244,508 ratings

"Stephen King recommended author and story. First noted in Chapter 3 of Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre.

King specifically recommended The Tell-Tale Heart. He said it is "perhaps the best tale of inside evil ever written" in Chapter 3 of Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre."

4.03 avg rating — 93,045 ratings

"Stephen King recommended. The is what he said in his review of The Good Guy: "While not up with his best (Intensity, the incomparable Phantoms), this is Koontz at his Hitchcockiest: Nice guy is mistaken for contract killer, mayhem ensues. Koontz can be preachy. Not here, though."

I found it hard to put down and very disturbing; so disturbing that I never want to read it again! lol!"

3.86 avg rating — 25,871 ratings

"In the introduction to Now and On Earth, Stephen King says he most admires Thompson's work because "The guy was over the top. The guy was absolutely over the top. Big Jim didn't know the meaning of the word stop. There are three brave lets inherent in the forgoing: he let himself see everything, he let himself write it down, then he let himself publish it."

“He was crazy,” Stephen King, a long-time admirer of Thompson, says. “He went running into the American subconscious with a blowtorch in one hand and a pistol in the other, screaming his goddamn head off. No one else came close.”

"My favourite crime novelist - often imitated but never duplicated – is Jim Thompson" - Stephen King


This was my first Thompson read and won't be my last. It was rough being inside the head of a sociopath; Thompson really puts you there. He justifies everything he does so easily with such twisted logic. Highly recommended. A short page-turner."

3.72 avg rating — 9,105 ratings

"Stephen King recommended author. He said: "I have seen the future of horror, his name is Clive Barker.""

4.13 avg rating — 34,003 ratings

"Stephen King recommended author. He said: "I have seen the future of horror, his name is Clive Barker.""

3.94 avg rating — 178,606 ratings

"Stephen King recommended. "

3.75 avg rating — 19,775 ratings

"hen King recommended author and book. He says: "Who's the scariest guy in America? Probably Jack Ketchum."
and
"He is, quite simply, one of the best in the business, on par with Clive Barker, James Ellroy, and Thomas Harris."
and
“Ketchum has become a kind of hero to those of us who write tales of horror and suspense. He is, quite simply, one of the best in the business.”

In EW, 11/11/04, A Dozen Thanks, Pop of King column King says: "Who's the scariest guy in America? Probably Jack Ketchum, the outlaw horror writer whose terrifying first novel is finally available uncut from Overlook Connection Press. That would be Off Season: The Unexpurgated Edition ($21.95, paperback). If you read it on Thanksgiving, you probably won't sleep until Christmas. Don't say your uncle Stevie didn't warn you (heh-heh-heh). Other Ketchum titles include She Wakes (Leisure Books, paperback) and The Crossings, a blood-spattered Western — think Sam Peckinpah in maximum overdrive (Cemetery Dance Publications, $35, hardcover)."
"

3.65 avg rating — 30,750 ratings

"Stephen King recommended. He says a lot about this book:

"I was browsing the Borders in Boston one day in late August when a clerk cruised up and murmured, ''Dude! Bret Easton Ellis is blaming his new book on you!''

I thought he must have been joking — city-glitterati Bret Easton Ellis doing Stephen King seemed about as likely as Stephen King doing Philip Roth — but that night I put our names together on the computer, more or less on a whim, and was shocked when the Google search spat out something like 72,000 hits.

Turns out Bret Easton Ellis is calling Lunar Park a Stephen King homage, and claims to have read Salem's Lot at least a dozen times as a kid...or so says Elizabeth Hand in The Washington Post, but she also calls the demonic toy in Lunar Park a Yerby (it's actually a Terby, and yes, it matters). If Ellis really did read Salem's Lot a dozen times as a kid, the reasons for the past drug use he's spoken of become much clearer to me.

In any case, of course I went back to the bookstore, bought Lunar Park, and read it. At one point the narrator asks, ''Who was going to buy the pitch I was making in order to save myself?'' Me, for one, and I get a 20 percent discount, too. I started looking for my own footprints, and ended up following Ellis'. Not a wasted trip, either. Not at all.

I'm not quite a Bret Easton Ellis virgin. I read American Psycho just to see what all the bellowing was about, and thought it was bad fiction by a good writer, the sort of hectoring narrative you can't wait to get away from at a party, delivered by a guy who's backed you into a corner and keeps telling repetitive anecdotes while his drink dribbles slowly onto your shirt.

Lunar Park is nothing like that. I got no sense that Ellis has any real grounding in American horror fiction (I'm pretty sure he's read Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury, and, of course...me), but he's clearly seen enough movies to know what works and what to avoid. Surely it will be the only work of mainstream American fiction to be reviewed in Fangoriamagazine this year. Think of it as...I don't know...John Cheever writes The Shining. If that turns your stomach, fine; many of the critics who've reviewed Lunar Park have stuck it in the literary microwave and given it about four hours on high. If it sounds interesting, however, maybe you're with the group who finds the book a strange triumph.

Check this out: A newly married writer with substance-abuse problems moves to the burbs with his very troubled family. (He's named Bret Easton Ellis, but never mind; that's your basic critic-kryptonite tossed out by a gun-shy novelist who's been shot in the ass too often by The New York Review of Books.) The house starts coming to life around him, reinventing itself as the one he lived in as a child. Neighborhood children begin to disappear. The ghost of his father appears. Worse, he starts getting blank e-mails from the bank where Dad's ashes are stored — at two in the morning, the time of his father's death. The e-mails have a spooky Blair Witch Project-like home movie attached. His little girl's favorite toy (Terby the stuffed birdy) comes to life. And then, like George Stark in The Dark Half, Patrick Bateman from American Psycho turns up and begins to commit murders.

There's some annoying hugger-mugger — a phantom wind strong enough to knock over a vending machine that doesn't seem to bother Bret at all, for instance — but there are also some dandy set pieces (as the Fangoria review, probably the best and certainly the most knowledgeable, points out). I kept expecting Ellis to cop out and retreat to the hackneyed haven of the ''serious novelist'': Was it real or was it a dream? You must decide for yourself, dear reader. Nope; in the last couple of chapters, Lunar Park goes all out, balls to the wall. I respect that.

And Lunar Park's denouement offers real and affecting insight into how fathers and sons can draw apart, and yet never stop yearning for some reconciliation. The creepiest insight the book has to offer — and the most mature — is that some such longings may even survive death.

Whether or not Bret Easton Ellis is ''doing'' Stephen King at the beginning of Lunar Park (little parenthetical expressions and all) doesn't matter, because by the end, all the masks, imitations, and pharmacological shopping lists have been set aside. Even in American Psycho, that boringly bloodthirsty book, it was clear to me that Ellis was a fine storyteller. It's this facet of his writing that has most appealed to readers and been most overlooked by critics. It seems at times to have appalled Ellis himself (one could almost believe it's the Terby hidden inside his laptop, flexing its claws). I got a clear sense of Lunar Park having started almost as a joke — perhaps a rather desperate one, part apology for American Psycho — and having finished as what is close to a credo. That is the true magic of novels, which often possess more strength (and reality) than their creators suppose: They see into our secret hearts.

Speaking of hearts, readers of Lunar Park may be surprised to find that Bret Easton Ellis has a surprisingly large one. Here is a book that progresses from darkness and banality to light and epiphany with surprising strength and sureness."

I really enjoyed this book and so did my son! lol He and I don't often agree on books, but both agreed this one was well-written and creepy!

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3.28 avg rating — 60,058 ratings

"phen King says: "Sisters Ava and Ossie Bigtree are left in charge of their family’s fading Everglades theme park, Swamplandia!, when a flashier attraction (World of Darkness — think hell with roller coasters) opens nearby. Russell is a tremendously gifted writer, and Swamplandia! goes rollicking right along...until you get to the bone-chilling second half, which is as terrifying as Deliverance. It’ll be published in early 2011. Don’t miss it."


I thought this book was wonderful; the writing sublime, the characters well-developed and compelling. The inside flap does not hint at the sinister side of the story; I found it surprising they omitted this important component. There is a definite supernatural and haunting feel to a good part of this book. A great coming-of-age, loss-of-innocence tale. The descriptions of the swamp made me want to be there; even with all the mosquitoes! I'm surprised by how many less-than-enthusiastic reviews there are here. I thought it was unique and enthralling. "

4.20 avg rating — 5,401,526 ratings

"Stephen King says: "Top 10 villains in books:

7. Big Brother He's watching you from every telescreen in George Orwell's more-relevant-than-ever novel of a nightmare dictatorship where war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, and one man struggles for a better, saner life. (Good luck on that.)""

3.88 avg rating — 54,842 ratings

"Book noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981. Author discussed in chapter 9.

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4.05 avg rating — 241 ratings

"Stephen King foreword. Recommended author and forward. King calls Harlan Ellison a "ferociously talented writer."

Author discussed in chapter 9 of Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre.

I read the novel in this collection called "Spider Kiss." At times I found myself thinking: "This guy writes like Stephen King!" The novel was excellent with a subtle suspense. You really wanted the "bad" guy to get his just desserts, and the "good" guy to be redeemed. An interesting plot. Not terribly horrifying from a "boo-scary" point-of-view; just scary how low some people will sink, how some people are just plain E.V.I.L! I will get back to the short stories in the collection some time later, as I had to return the book to the library. Nice introduction by Stephen King for the short stories.
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3.71 avg rating — 41,227 ratings

"Stephen King recommended. June 2011 EW Summer Reading list. He says: "All the gadgets that inhabit our lives — from the biggest supercomputers to the humble Roomba vacuum cleaner — rise up and go to war against the humans who made them. It's going to be a Spielberg movie, and actually reads a little like a script, but so what? It's terrific page-turning fun."

When I first heard about this book, I didn't think it would be my cup of tea. But it surprised me. This book is about brave individuals put in dire circumstances and how they fight to save mankind. If you are looking for endless battles between robots and men, don't look here. Although there are battles, that isn't the main focus of the book. An enjoyable page-turner with characters you care about.

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3.65 avg rating — 4,533 ratings

"Stephen King says: "This is a great story. It has an exotic locale, mystery, and a narrative voice full of humor and sadness. Reading Fieldwork is like discovering an unpublished Robertson Davies novel; as with Davies, you can't stop reading until midnight (good), and you don't hate yourself in the morning (better). It's a Russian doll of a read, filled with stories within stories. The first belongs to the book's narrator, also called Mischa Berlinski. The fictional Berlinski is a lazy-ass journalist in Thailand who makes out — barely — reviewing books, music, and men's clothes. Mischa's friend Josh has his own story to tell. ''You ever been in a Thai jail?'' he asks Mischa over lunch, and we're off and running.

Prison is where Josh met Martiya van der Leun, an American anthropologist who studied an obscure mountain tribe, ended up in prison for the murder of a missionary, and killed herself by swallowing a ball of opium (what a way to go).

All this happens in the first 15 pages, and I defy any reader not to press on. The core of Fieldwork is the Maugham-esque tragedy of Martiya, who loses not just one culture but two, for the oldest reason in the world: love. It's also the story of David Walker, who leaves his missionary calling to follow Jerry Garcia and his bandmates across America. He is called back to Thailand — and his fatal appointment with Martiya — when he hears Jerry sing a hymn at a Dead concert in Eugene, Oregon.

It's the mystery of Martiya and David that tugs the reader through these colorful, smoothly written pages. How could two such fundamentally nice people end up as murderer and victim? Berlinski eventually provides an answer that's as shocking as it is satisfying."

He also says: "I've already written about this one, and once is enough. Suffice it to say there hasn't been a more readable story about religions in conflict since Somerset Maugham created Sadie Thompson. The fact that Berlinski gives the Christians a fair shake is a breath of fresh air."

Group read Oct-Nov 2011 Books Stephen King Recommends

11/19/11. We read this one for our group read and at first I didn't know if I was going to enjoy it. But I did! I really began to care about the characters and found I was immersed in looking at worlds I would never be able to see with my own eyes - the world of the missionaries and their generations of work and the world of Martyia and the Dyalo tribe. The fact that David and Maritya are both heading on a collision course adds the mystery to this novel. It's not a face-paced thrilling read, but I found it extremely interesting and moving. Stephen King chose a good one to rave about.
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4.05 avg rating — 20,255 ratings

"Stephen King recommended book and author. He says: "Okay, Sandra Brown is not Eudora Welty, but if you want romantic suspense that has teeth — big ones — she's your gal. This one features a Beautiful Disc Jockey With a Secret in Her Past who starts getting calls from a psycho named ''Valentino'' on her late-night show (tunes for lovers — forget the playlist unless you're deep into Barry White). A great deal of violence and steamy, graphic sex ensues. And ensues. And ensues. The finale is a shocker worthy of Agatha Christie...although I don't think there was ever an Internet sex club in any of Dame Agatha's books."


I read this in a day. A quick, easy, read - but no surprises here, folks. I'm used to thrillers that just baffle me, and this one didn't. Although I wasn't sure of who Valentino was, I wasn't surprised when his identity was finally revealed. He had been handed to us earlier on and never strayed far from my list of suspects. It was a no-brainer read, but it flowed well.
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3.92 avg rating — 54,958 ratings

"Stephen King recommended author and book. He says: "Who's the scariest guy in America? Probably Jack Ketchum."
and
"He is, quite simply, one of the best in the business, on par with Clive Barker, James Ellroy, and Thomas Harris."
and
“Ketchum has become a kind of hero to those of us who write tales of horror and suspense. He is, quite simply, one of the best in the business.”

and
Stephen King wrote introduction to 2002 limited edition printing by Overlook Connection. A blurb of his says: "The Girl Next Door is alive...in a way most works of popular fiction never attain; it does not just promise terror but actually delivers it. But it's a page-turner, all right; no doubt about that."


This books is BRUTAL! I didn't want to turn each page, but I was compelled to. Horrifying!"

3.37 avg rating — 1,261 ratings