10 Most Underrated Stephen King Books Of All Time
6. Joyland
Because he's so frequently seen as a horror writer, it can be easy to forget just how amazing Stephen King is at writing people and creating an emotionally devastating story. Think The Green Mile or The Body, or The Gunslinger and Bag of Bones. Joyland is on their level in every way, from narrative power to brilliantly realised characters.
The short novel, published in 2013, is told from the perspective of university student Dev Jones, who takes a summer job at an amusement park. There, he tackles a long distance relationship and finds himself sucked into a frightening murder mystery.
But as fun and typically horrifying and twisting as the murder plot is, Joyland's true power comes from Dev's relationship with a local woman and her son, Mike, who both become big parts of his life.
Yes, it's got all the ghosts and murder as you'd expect from a King novel, but it's also bursting with heart like the best of his work and deserves much more attention.