Books

‘The Stand’ is Stephen King’s best novel

More than 21,000 total votes were cast in our bracket of Stephen King's most iconic novel. "The Stand" clinched the title in a landslide vote against "'Salem's Lot."

'The Stand' is Stephen King's best novel, Boston.com readers

October 23, 2024

2 minutes to read

Earlier this month, Boston.com asked readers to help narrow down the best Stephen King novels to their top sixteen and launched a bracket to decide the definitive favorite from the list. Despite their cultural relevance and various adaptations, hits like “It”, “The Shining”, and “Carrie” failed to make it to the championship round.

It was “‘Salem’s Lot” and “The Stand” that instead persevered to the last round, resulting in over 1,000 votes cast. “The Stand” dominated with about 70% of the more than 1,300 votes cast, and “‘Salem’s Lot” took the remaining 30%. In total, we received more than 21,000 votes to our bracket.

“The Stand”, a post-apocalyptic novel released in 1978, details the forces of good and evil in the context of a deadly pandemic. Many readers and reviewers believe that the novel hits close to home today in the context of COVID-19. “After reading two paragraphs, I was hooked and stayed up till 4 a.m. to finish it,” said George P. from Franklin. “Absolutely gripping, because at the time, it was highly likely.”

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“‘The Stand’ is my favorite Stephen King novel because the horror comes not from a monster, but from humanity itself,” says reader Diane from Natick. “King does an excellent job with the character arcs of many of the main characters and the theme of good vs. evil, sane vs. insane, in a kind of post apocalyptic world doesn’t seem so far-fetched anymore.”

King’s other works didn’t go down without a fight, though. “Misery” lost to “‘Salem’s Lot” in the semi-finals by a 16% margin: less than 200 votes. Meanwhile, in the first round, “‘Salem’s Lot” almost lost to “Pet Sematary,” winning by just under 50 votes in a matchup with 14,000 votes.

“Salem’s Lot” gained widespread attention earlier this month due to its Max adaptation, but it still couldn’t grab the win. (Justin Lubin/Warner Bros.) *– Justin Lubin/Warner Bros.*

“The Stand” always won by a margin of more than 15% in the bracket rounds, even exceeding 10,000 votes against “The Dead Zone” in the first round. The novel wiped out “It” in the second round by about 600 votes, and “Carrie” by over 750 in the semi-finals.

“‘The Stand’ held my interest from the beginning to the end and ”Salem’s Lot’ is the Stephen King book that scared me the most! Overall, ‘The Stand’ is my favorite and every friend I shared it with (all of dog eared pages), really liked it and it was their first King book,” added Mike from Cochituate.

See all of the results at our bracket of Stephen King’s best novels.