10 Scariest Stephen King Novels

King made his name on large scale horror novels which presented uncanny, terrifying supernatural activity in a semi-realistic context. However, after a while the author decided to try his hand at a number of more intimate, grounded tales which deal with far more plausible horrors - to equally blood-curdling results.

1992's Gerald's Game boasts a truly eye-opening premise, which might lead the reader to expect something a whole lot trashier. Struggling married couple Jessie and Gerald head out to their remote holiday home for a dirty weekend away, in the hopes of rekindling the spark between them.

For Gerald, this means ever kinkier sex games in which he dominates an incapacitated Jessie. But in the moment, handcuffed naked to the bed, Gerald goes too far, forcing an anxious Jessie to fight him off - at which point he suffers a massive heart attack and drops dead, leaving his wife trapped and totally vulnerable.

As the bulk of the novel recounts all that is going in Jessie's head, the result is an immersive and increasingly unsettling read which delves into the protagonist's subconscious, as long-repressed traumatic memories come to the surface.

But of course, Jessie's struggle also has very real physical consequences - and her efforts to get free lead to one of the most wince-inducing passages King has ever composed.