Stephen King is een fervent Twitteraar. Vaak tweet hij over zijn hond Molly, door hem liefkozend "The Thing of Evil" genoemd, over tv-shows, over politiek en natuurlijk over boeken. Regelmatig beveelt hij boeken aan. Kendall Walters spitte al zijn tweets vanaf oktober 2014 door om na te gaan welke boeken Stephen King heeft aanbevolen. Het is een lange lijst met boeken geworden met onder meer psychologische thrillers en horrorverhalen. Een paar boeken die zijn geschreven door de zoon van King, onder het pseudoniem Joe Hill, mochten niet ontbreken.

Zijn aanbevelingen worden in chronologische volgorde vermeld, te beginnen met de oudste.

1. Anthony Breznican: Brutal Youth

Stephen King: “Loving the book. Hilarious prologue. In a horrifying way.”

En op de cover van het boek: “If you thought high school was hell, has Anthony Breznican got a story for you…”

2. C.J. Sansom: Dominion

Stephen King: “Great alternate-history novel. The Nazis win, occupy Britain… Check it out.” en ook: “That book Dominion is terrific. And no, this isn't one of those publisher-sponsored blurbs. I just fell in love with it. Nice and long, too.”

3. Alex Marwood: The Killer Next Door

Stephen King: “If you read Alex Marwood's The Wicked Girls, her new one—The Killer Next Door—is even better. Scary as hell. Great characters.”

4. Caroline Kepnes: You

Stephen King: “Hypnotic and scary. A little Ira Levin, a little Patricia Highsmith and plenty of serious snark. Cool stuff.” en ook: “Totally original. Never read anything quite like it.”

5. Tana French: The Secret Place

Stephen King: “Read The Secret Place, by Tana French, when it comes out. You'll understand then. Great book.”

6. Kelly Parsons: Doing Harm

Stephen King: “Best damn medical thriller I've read in 25 years. Terrifying OR scenes, characters with real texture.”

7. Ray Garton: Frankenstorm

Stephen King: “Remember when paperback originals were cool? Sex, action, suspense? Try Frankenstorm, by Ray Garton. It's old school.”

8. Sarah Waters: The Paying Guests

Stephen King: “Finishing The Paying Guests, by Sarah Waters. Awesome full-bodied novel. It's like she's saying, ‘Hey, dudes, this is how you do it.’”

9. Paula Hawkins: The Girl on the Train

Stephen King: “Really great suspense novel. Kept me up most of the night. The alcoholic narrator is dead perfect.”

10. Liane Moriarty: Big Little Lies

Stephen King: “Trivia Night is the climax of Big Little Lies... It's a hell of a good book. Funny and scary. She nails the feuding moms.”

11. Carsten Stroud: The Niceville Trilogy

Stephen King: “Reading the last book in Carsten Stroud's horror/suspense Niceville trilogy, The Reckoning… Good God, what an achievement.”

12. Sarah Lotz: Day Four

Stephen King: “The new Sarah Lotz novel, Day Four, is really good… It's the cruise ship from hell.”

13. Susan Hill: The Man in the Picture

Stephen King: “The book in the picture is The Man in the Picture, by Susan Hill. The Thing of Evil mustn't eat it. It's too good.”

14. Joseph Finder: The Fixer

Stephen King: “A great film noir line in the new Joseph Finder novel, The Fixer: ‘She had a body harder than Chinese arithmetic.’”

15. Dennis Lehane: World Gone By

Stephen King: “Dennis Lehane's World Gone By is the best gangster novel since The Godfather. Terrific story, shattering conclusion.”

16. C.B. McKenzie: Bad Country

Stephen King: “Terrific crime/suspense/mystery novel, but the real revelation is his fresh and original voice.”

17. Nadeem Aslam: The Blind Man’s Garden

Stephen King: “An eye-opening, heartbreaking novel of the war in Afghanistan. Reminded me of Conrad's Nostromo.”

18. Lauren Owen: The Quick

Stephen King: “A terrific (and terrifying) novel of the undead in London. Completely involving, impossible to put down.”

19. Michael Robotham: Close Your Eyes

Stephen King: “The best Michael Robotham novel yet. Once I reached the last 100 pages, it really was impossible to put down.”

20. Garth Risk Hallberg: City on Fire

Stephen King: “Dickensian, massively entertaining, as close to a great American novel as this century has produced.”

21. Fiona Barton: The Widow

Stephen King: “If you liked Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, you might want to pick up The Widow, by Fiona Barton. Engrossing. Suspenseful.”

22. Michael Harvey: Brighton

Stephen King: “Helluva Boston crime novel. Helluva novel, period. If you liked The Departed, you'll like this.”

23. Thomas Olde Heuvelt: Hex

Stephen King: “A wicked witch holds an upstate New York town prisoner. This is totally, brilliantly original.”

24. Joe Hill: The Fireman

Stephen King: “Heat up your spring reading with Joe Hill's The Fireman. It will spark your interest and charbroil your nerves.”

25. Paul Tremblay: Disappearance at Devil’s Rock

Stephen King: “Paul Tremblay's uber-creepy follow-up to A Head Full of Ghosts… Don't miss this one.”

En over A Head Full of Ghosts van Paul Tremblay: “Scared the living hell out of me, and I'm pretty hard to scare.”

26. Ridley Pearson: White Bone

Stephen King: “Ridley Pearson's new thriller, White Bone, is in stores now. Perfect for summer. You couldn't do better.”

27. Peter Carey: Amnesia

Stephen King: “I enjoyed Peter Carey's wonderful novel, Amnesia—not least of all because it brought back memories of playing Zork.”

28. Nick Cutter: The Deep

Stephen King: “If you want to cool off this summer with a fine horror novel, hunt up The Deep, by Nick Cutter. Scary as hell, and well written, to boot.”

En over Nick Cutters eerste boek The Troop: “it scared the hell out of me and I couldn’t put it down” en “old school horror at its best.”

29. David Mitchell: Slade House

Stephen King: “Hard to imagine a more finely wrought and chilling tale of the supernatural. One of the rare great ones.”

30. Colson Whitehead: The Underground Railroad

Stephen King: “Terrific novel of escape, sacrifice and redemption. Reminded me a bit of Larry McMurtry”

31. Laura Lippman: Wilde Lake

Stephen King: “Laura Lippman's latest novel, Wilde Lake, is a knockout. You should get right on that.”

32. Nathan Hill: The Nix

Stephen King: “I'm reading The Nix, by Nathan Hill. Just started, but so far it's got me laughing hysterically. First 50 pages are worth the price.”

33. Linwood Barclay: Promise Falls Triology

Stephen King: : “Loving The Twenty-Three, by Linwood Barclay. You should treat yourself to the whole Promise Falls trilogy.”

34. Riley Sager: Final Girls

Stephen King: “The first great thriller of 2017 is almost here: Final Girls, by Riley Sager. If you liked Gone Girl, you'll like this.”

35. Megan Abbott: You Will Know Me

Stephen King: “What an excellent novel. Gave me the creeps in the best possible way.”

36. Thomas Mullen: Darktown

Stephen King: “A brilliant blending of crime, mystery and American history (Atlanta, just after WWII). Terrific entertainment.”

37. Sarah Pinborough: Behind Her Eyes

Stephen King: “Spent most of the day reading the second half of Behind Her Eyes, by Sarah Pinborough. What the Brits call ‘a thumping good read.’ Bravo!”

38. Don Winslow: The Force

Stephen King: “Don Winslow's The Force… is mesmerizing, a triumph. Think The Godfather, only with cops. It's that good.” en ook: “In addition to being compulsively readable, nowhere in Don Winslow's The Force will you find ‘for a long moment’ or ‘for some reason.’”

39. Deon Meyer: Fever

Stephen King: “U.K. readers, you have a nice surprise coming. No, not Brexit, Fever, by Deon Meyer. Reminiscent of The Stand and The Passage. Great stuff.”

40. John Sandford: Golden Prey

Stephen King: “The best Lucas Davenport story so far. The man has a fine touch for outlaws… Get it. Over and out.”

41. Greg Iles: Natchez Burning Trilogy

Stephen King: “What some good summer reading? Grab all 3 volumes of Greg Iles's Natchez Burning trilogy. Pure suspense, pure backroads Americana.”

42. Howie Carr: Killers

Stephen King: “While you wait for the next great Boston crime movie, pick up a copy of Killers, by Howie Carr. It's a terrific read.”

43. Gabriel Tallent: My Absolute Darling

Stephen King: “This is one shattering can't-put-it down book. Both shocking [and] tender. Read it.”

44. Joe Hill: Strange Weather

Stephen King: “It's a gem. Am I prejudiced, sure, but Kirkus says ‘pitch perfect’; PW touts ‘emotional resonance.’” en ook: “This is a really good book. I'd say the same if I wasn't related to the guy.”

45. Paul Tremblay: The Cabin at the End of the World

Stephen King: “Paul Tremblay’s new one, The Cabin at the End of the World, comes out in June. You should: mark it on your calendar, it’s that good. Thought-provoking and terrifying.”

46. Meg Gardiner: Into the Black Nowhere

Stephen King: “Excellent. You know the drill, bookstore near you. Buy now, thank me later.”

47. C.J. Tudor: The Chalk Man

Stephen King: “Want to read something good? You won’t find it on the front bestseller table at your bookstore, but it’s new and will be there… If you like my stuff, you’ll like this.”

48. Laura Lippman: Sunburn

Stephen King: "Suspenseful as hell and she writes like a dream. It's got a cool James M. Cain vibe. Lippman's always good, but this is a cut above."

49. Alma Katsu: The Hunger

Stephen King: "Deeply, deeply disturbing, hard to put down, not recommended reading after dark."

50. Alex Marwood: The Darkest Secret

Stephen King: "If there has been a better mystery-suspense story written in this decade, I can't think of it."

51. Michelle McNamara: I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

Stephen King: "It appears police have caught the Golden State Killer. Go get Michelle McNamara's excellent book about the case."

52. Anthony Horowitz: Magpie Murders

Stephen King: "...a great whodunnit. It's as good as an Agatha Christie. Better, in some ways. Cleverer."

53. Paul Simon: The Life by Robert Hilburn

Stephen King: "Every now and then—rarely!—a book casts a little light on the creative development of a gifted artist... Read it if you like Simon; read it if you want to discover how talent unfolds itself."

54. Rachel Kushner: The Mars Room

Stephen King: "Most literary fiction doesn't last very long. This is going to be around. It's the real deal. Jarring, horrible, compassionate, funny. BTW, Kushner reads the audio and knocks it out of the park."

55. Carsten Stroud: The Shimmer

Stephen King: “The Shimmer is one terrific read.”

56. Michael Koryta: How it Happened

Stephen King: Excellent mystery-suspense novel. Page turner. Perfect summer reading.

57. Robert McCammon: The Listener

Stephen King: The new McCammon is really, really good.

58. Chevy Stevens: Those Girls

Stephen King: Incredibly scary and suspenseful.

59. Gillian Flynn: Sharp Objects

Stephen King: I don't know any more about it than you do (read the book, but long ago), but I will say that Adora's husband Alan gives me the creepy-crawlies.

60. Joan Lindsay & Maile Meloy: Picnic at Hanging Rock

If you liked SHARP OBJECTS, you'll like PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK even more. It's spooky, atmospheric, beautiful. And Natalie Dormer is amazing as the malignant Mrs. Appleyard.

61. Matthew Thomas: We Are Not Ourselves

The best book I've read so far this year is WE ARE NOT OURSELVES, by Matthew Thomas. An old-fashioned page turner. Deep emotional resonance. 4 years old now, so try Amazon or your library. You'll thank me. Hope he's writing a new one.

62. Peter Blauner: Sunrise Highway

First rate suspense, with a soupcon of horror in the Hannibal Lecter vein. On sale today. You won’t be disappointed.

Lou Berney: November Road

When people say they want to read a really good novel, the kind you just can't put down, this is the kind of book they mean. Exceptional.

Deze informatie is verzameld door Kendall Walters van de Edmonton Public Library (en aangevuld op basis van Stephen Kings laatste tweets door Onno).

Wat is jouw favoriete boek van deze lijst?