I was around 9 when I decided I was old for Goosebumps books. They simply weren’t scary, so Pop (maternal grandfather) gifted me my first Stephen King along with a pocket dictionary. I was sworn to secrecy and asked to eventually return the latter. I read Pet Sematary in a matter of days but couldn’t sleep for weeks. Mission accomplished. The last thing Pop gave me before he died, then, was this collection of King’s first three novels. Like it was something to carry on the tradition. As such, I’ve been terrified to read this tome… less because of the content and everything to do with the fact that I’ve carted this last Christmas gift to every home I’ve occupied over the last 20+ years, so I’d been afraid that finishing the book would figuratively shelve Pop forever. That’s crazy, though, right? So I “forced” myself to finally enjoy these stories, as he once had, and loved it. Next year I marry my love, my partner, and eventually we’ll have a home of our own where this gift will occupy a prominent shelf. On display. #readingrainbow

Carrie 3.5 - wished it was longer.

Salem’s Lot 3.5 - the balloon of dread inflated with intensity between Bram Stoker’s rules on vampires and the mounting cast of developing characters, but it never pops. Rather disappointingly, it deflates as we’re expected to take the loss of Matt as some sort of climactic blow but he’s contributed nothing, then we’re force-fed a slew of magic, never pre-established, that booted me from the narrative altogether.

The Shining 4.5 - I applaud Kubrick’s changes, some of these things just wouldn’t have translated from page to screen. It was like reading a different story in which I was able to place familiar faces. Loved it!

The movie was better

Neither of King's first three novels are his greatest, in my opinion. Not even The Shining, which is widely heralded as one of his best works. Carrie is a decent first novel, but far from remarkable. Salem's Lot is easily the strongest, with some genuinely thrilling and terrifying moments to compensate for its other lacklustre aspects. The Shining is a masterful work until about the second half, when the supernatural elements become way too silly and impossible to take seriously.

These are all classic King! If you have not read him before, this would be a great place to start, or if you have only seen these movies, read the books that they came from, they are so much better. Carrie started the whole thing for Stephen King and while some people say that 'Salem's Lot is his best ever, I think that it just keeps getting better. Just don't book a room at the Overlook Hotel- the location of The Shining. If you have read them, read them again, you probably missed a thing or two. I have all of King's books in hardcover and cherish them. Totally worth the price for this modern day legend.

Stephen King: Three Novels brings together King's first three published novels for a trilogy of terror unparalleled in modern fiction. Carrie is the story of Carrie White, an outcast and alienated high-school student who discovers that she possesses formidable paranormal powers. While Carrie struggles privately to understand the full scope of her wild talents, her classmates escalate their cruel taunts, provoking her in dangerous ways that no one could dream of in their worst nightmares. In Salem's Lot, writer Ben Mears returns to his hometown in Maine to write a book on the local Marsten House, the site of an unsettling childhood experience that has haunted him ever since. The Marsten House has recently been purchased by an unseen new owner, and when the townspeople begin disappearing--and then reappearing as blood thirsty revenants--Ben realizes that house is a locus of evil that has attracted a master member of the Undead. The Shining takes place at the sinister Overlook Hotel, a retreat in Colorado that has catered for decades to the wealthy and absorbed the malignant spirit of horrors that have happened on its premises. When recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance arrives there one snowbound winter to serve as the hotel's new caretaker, little does he know that the evil place will exert its insidious influence to liberate his personal demons and add to its legacy of terror. Stephen King: Three Novels is a distinguished new addition to Barnes & Noble's line of leatherbound classics. Each volume features an elegant bonded-leather binding, distinctive gilt edging, decorative endpapers, and a colorful satin-ribbon bookmark.

Good three stories but very creepy!

Three Stephen King novels that I thought I’d already read, as I have almost everything he’s written, but which as I began this book I realised I’d only previously read ‘Salem’s Lot, not The Shining or Carrie - I’d only watched the films... so glad I’ve rectified this now!

Carrie - least favourite of the three. I’m not sure why. I preferred the film with Sissy Spacek, not the travesty that came out a few years ago.

‘Salem’s Lot - Just brilliant in every way. Ominous, scary, melancholy, sad, but never feels overdone. I think this is the longest in the book but it didn’t feel that way, it flew by.

The Shining- I absolutely love the film and I enjoyed this even more. The creeping sense of dread as a man, and to a lesser extent everyone around him, descends into a slow and torturous decline of madness, despair, jealousy, paranoia, failure and extreme violence is so well handled. It’s an outright masterpiece. I can understand why King doesn’t like the film version after reading this, as it changes too much of the content and doesn’t really examine what drove Jack to madness and the overall influence of the hotel itself to affect people’s minds and bend and warp them to its sinister will. It’s the most important character in the novel.

My review was written and magically disappeared, who knew Turk flew!

Carrie - 3.5⭐️(2/18/22 - 2/20/22)
The Shining - 4⭐️ (3/26/22 - 3/29/22)
'Salem's Lot - 3⭐️ (10/17/22 - 10/30/22)

Overall - 3.5⭐️

What can i say that everyone else hasn't said yet? Nothing his work speaks for itself. One of the greatest writers.

I guess I'll have to read The Shining, because I can't find an individual listing for Salem's Lot, and I did read Carrie. I like vampire stories, but there are too many now so I've given up on them.

I like the interview in the book way better than the movie... although, the book describes Wendy being modestly beautiful and the movie wanted her to be oddly fair! I like the mystery in the Oddly Fair myself... but nope no finger.... and the parents don't like Tony.