10 Scariest Stephen King Novels

For his third novel, King took on another of the great staples of horror: the haunted house. However, The Shining proved to be a great deal more than your standard ghost story, and it remains one of his best-known, biggest selling books after more than 40 years in print.

The novel takes us to The Overlook, a sprawling hotel up in the Colorado Rockies with a long and colourful history - some of it not pretty. Into this place comes Jack Torrance, a recently fired teacher, recovering alcoholic and struggling writer, who accepts a job as the Overlook's caretaker, taking up residence with his wife and child whilst the hotel is closed for the winter.

However, with the cold and the isolation come deeper disturbances, as a dark force in the hotel seeks to possess its new residents. The troubled Jack proves susceptible to their influence, but unbeknownst to him his young son Danny has a much better idea of what's going on, thanks to his latent psychic ability.

There's long been some divide regarding The Shining, given that Stanley Kubrick's acclaimed 1980 film adaptation took significant liberties with the text. But no matter what anyone says, it's quite alright to think both versions are excellent. Because they are.