10 Scariest Summer-Based Horror Novels Ever

King’s first (and best) collection of shorts was released during his early hot streak, bookended between The Shining and The Stand. However, the majority of these stories were written far earlier for Cavalier magazine, back when the budding author was slaving away on an industrial laundry press, subsidizing his labourers wage as a jobbing writer.

Starting with Jerusalem’s Lot, a desolate and eerier prequel to his vampire novel in waiting and ending with the sombre character study he would later become more inclined to in The Woman In The Room, there is something to sate any mood here. Putting aside the blockbuster stories that are now part of horror lore, such as The Children Of The Corn and Sometimes They Come Back, the ones that really stick in your mind like cuckoo spit to a leaf range from the bizarre (The Lawnmower Man – nothing like the movie, we assure you), the downright terrifying (The Boogeyman), to the monster mash thrills of Trucks.

Every story in this collection adds a dark tinge to even the brightest of days and you really get a sense that during this early phase in his career King was hell-bent on taking his readers on a short, sharp journey into the unknown.