Top 10 Stephen King Stories

By Alice Booth /

3. Apt Pupil (1982)

€œHe looked like the total All-American kid..." This novella comes from the book €˜Different Seasons€™ and tends to get looked over for it€™s more famous compatriots €˜Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption€™ and €˜The Body€™. Both of those are indeed great stories however €˜Apt Pupil€™ and €˜The Breathing Method€™ have stayed with me far longer, possibly because of the propensity of both to send a chill up your spine. The story€™s main character, who appears to be a boy-next-door type, discovers that one of the people on his street is a Nazi war criminal, Kurt Dussander. He uses this information to blackmail the man into telling him all about the Holocaust, in particular the atrocities he committed. The boy€™s appetite for the gruesome and obscene is more unnerving than the man€™s crimes and his desires and exploits make for disturbing reading. Although the ending isn€™t a happy one, it is satisfying.