1983 Classic Ranked ‘Scariest Book Ever Printed’ Became Stephen King’s Most Frightening Work

There is nothing better than a book that leaves you hanging off the edge of your seat, and no one does it better than the horror king himself, Stephen King.

Last October, Shortlist ranked the 50 greatest horror books ever printed, compiling a list of some of the most bone-chilling novels ever written. Unsurprisingly beating out both William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel The Exorcist at No. 3 and Thomas Harris’s book The Silence of The Lambs at No. 4, Stephen King took the top spot with Pet Sematary.

Published in 1983, the book follows Dr. Louis Creed, a general practitioner who moves his family to Ludlow, Maine. After they arrive, the family’s neighbor, Jud Crandall, introduces them to a pet cemetery in the woods where local children go to bury their dead companions.

While it seems innocent at first glance, just beyond the cemetery lies an old Mi’kmaq burial ground which allows people to bring dead things back to life. After a series of unfortunate accidents, Dr. Creed, ridden by grief, uses the burial ground to bring some things back to life, setting off a disturbing and unnatural sequence of events.

Despite King’s initial reluctance to publish the novel, it reached massive amounts of commercial success immediately after its release. Within the first few months of release, the 374-page book sold over 750,000 hardcover copies in the U.S., becoming a New York Times bestseller for 32 consecutive weeks.

In 1989, the novel’s first film adaptation was produced, bringing the horrifying story to the screen. Since then, the book has been adapted two more times, with a modern remake releasing in 2019 and a prequel releasing in 2023—solidifying the story as a cultural phenomenon.

Pet Sematary wowed readers with its slow-burn atmospheric horror. The book explored themes of grief and parental guilt while holding the capacity to disturb readers to their core. Even King, who has made a living writing about gruesome death, is disturbed by what he wrote.

“I just had the greatest time writing the book until I was done with it. And I read it over, and I said to myself, “This is awful. This is really f—ing terrible,” said King to Entertainment Weekly in 2019.

Widely credited with elevating psychological horror themes in the modern genre, Pet Sematary remains relevant today. Its brilliant exploration of dark, visceral themes and nail-biting suspense makes it a timeless novel, terrifying and captivating modern readers the same way it did in the ’80s.

Related: ‘Awful’ 1987 Novel Ranked Stephen King’s ‘Weirdest’ Book Ever

Related: Legendary ’80s Horror Movie Franchise Begins Production on 7th Film