10 Most Underrated Stephen King Novels

4. Roadwork

There are the more famous "Bachman Books," of course - titles like The Running Man (which became a popular film) and Thinner (which became a not-so-popular film), and then there are those that have fallen into something resembling obscurity. Roadwork is one such title, an act that feels like a literary misdemeanour of sorts, all things considered - this is a dark, haunting and vastly underrated work. Written at a time when King was trying to make sense of his mother's death, in which "a lingering cancer had taken her off inch by painful inch," Roadwork tells the unsettling tale of a grieving man who learns that his house - and thus his very existence - is set to be demolished to make room for a highway. Let's just say he doesn't take the news well. Without question, this is one of King's most depressing works; not the kind of novel you'd want to read to cheer yourself up. After a slow start, it becomes almost hypnotically gripping, as you're compelled to follow the book's protagonist to a nightmarish finale.