The 10 Best Stephen King Crime Books, Ranked
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Yes, yes. Horror. That’s what Stephen King writes a lot of, and that’s certainly the genre he got famous for writing in the first place, as early classics of his like Carrie, Salem’s Lot, and The Shining (the first three novels published under his own name) all show. And those three are just the beginning, with King’s 1970s and 1980s output being mostly horror-focused, with a few fantasy and sci-fi detours along the way.
He’s also written more grounded books that are heaviest on crime and thriller elements, with some of the best of those being below. It should be conceded that a few of the best Stephen King crime books do also count as works of horror, and then for one more disclaimer of sorts, only novels will be considered below. So, if you're wondering why the prison drama novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption isn't here, that’s why. For the record, though, that is obviously an incredible read and should be tackled; it might well be even better than all the full-blown crime/drama novels mentioned below.
10 'Joyland' (2013)
In 2005, Stephen King wrote a book for Hard Case Crime called The Colorado Kid, and it was not great. It didn’t feel like a very confident crime/mystery novel, especially when it came to the mystery stuff, being more about a mystery than the solving of it, if that makes sense. If it doesn’t make sense, then maybe that’s appropriate, since The Colorado Kid didn’t really make a lot of sense to publish.
But King’s second Hard Case Crime book, Joyland, was a good deal better in just about every way. Not perfect, sure, yet there was a more compelling escalation of events and something like an actual ending this time around, with Joyland also benefiting from flirting with horror a little, alongside the expected crime stuff. There was a third Hard Case Crime book by King in 2021 that was more horror-focused and then even better, but more on that one a little further down.
9 'Rage' (1977)
As a disclaimer, Rage isn't amazing, and there’s a lot here that makes it hard to recommend, but it’s an early crime/psychological thriller book by King, and the first of his Richard Bachman books, too. Also, it’s out of print, with Stephen King himself not really liking the book in hindsight, and seeing it as dangerous in a world where school violence and shooting incidents have become more common, because that’s the crime Rage is largely about.
It’s hard to find a good quality copy of, but interesting enough that it could be worth tracking down if you're interested in Stephen King’s early output.
Naturally, it’s heavy-going stuff, and tries to tackle the premise here with realism and a grittier sort of horror, if you can even call it a horror book necessarily. It’s hard to find a good quality copy of, but interesting enough that it could be worth tracking down if you're interested in Stephen King’s early output, and in seeing a book of his that he considers “too much” (even more “too much” than Pet Sematary, which hasn’t been taken out of print, but is a horror book of King’s that he’s suggested might've been a bit too bleak).
8 'End of Watch' (2016)
The Bill Hodges trilogy isn't top-tier Stephen King, but it’s still a solid enough read throughout, with the first book being pretty great, so more on that one a little later. The third might be the strangest and messiest of the three, yet End of Watch does still have some things to offer, escalating stakes for sure while bringing back the conflict from the first book in a somewhat intriguing way (and it does this after the second book feels a bit more like a standalone story).
Notably, End of Watch is quite supernatural in nature, alongside the crime/mystery/thriller elements, and so it’s the Bill Hodges book that serves as a transitional point between more grounded crime fare and some of the subsequent horror-heavy Holly Gibney stories, where she becomes a more central character after being a supporting player in this trilogy. So, if you want to keep up with Stephen King and what might well be his favorite character he’s ever written, End of Watch is essential, and even without considering the Holly stuff, it’s definitely a solid read.
7 'Finders Keepers' (2015)
Finders Keepers is the second book in the Bill Hodges trilogy, though both he and Holly take a while to show up in this one, with the opening stretch of Finders Keepers being interesting for its focus on the characters who cause the mess Bill and Holly work to clean up. It’s a little like Fargo (1996) in that way, with how Frances McDormand takes some time to show up, yet is still very much the hero of the piece.
This novel is kind of more interesting without the Bill and Holly-ness of it all, and there’s some messiness with the way this kind of becomes a Bill Hodges book. Still, for the stuff that works, it’s worthwhile, and then even the stuff that doesn’t work as well never runs the risk of being bad or difficult to read. It’s lesser King, to some extent, but lesser King is often better than what some other horror/thriller writers are capable of putting out at their very best.
6 'Later' (2021)
Back to the Hard Case Crime books, as promised, 2021’s Later is not the best crime-related book Stephen King’s written, but it is the best of what’s now an unofficial kind of trilogy, topping Joyland, which itself topped The Colorado Kid in terms of quality. Later is a little bit of a crime/mystery novel, but the supernatural elements are admittedly heavy here, since the main character is a boy who can see and talk to ghosts.
Later unfolds over a few years, so he grows into a teenager, with King doing his typical coming-of-age thing as a result, and then the way this one concludes also proves to be pretty bold. It's a fairly slim and very well-paced book, and it can be recommended whether you're looking for a thriller, a crime book, a mystery, or a work of horror. And hell, if you're looking for all of the above, then even better!
5 'Dolores Claiborne' (1992)
The style of Dolores Claiborne stands out the most, as the titular character narrates the whole story by way of giving a lengthy statement to police. It’s essentially a transcript of what she says, and so for hopefully obvious reasons, it works particularly well as an audiobook, even if you're not the sort of person who usually likes to listen to books instead of reading them.
Her story mostly concerns why she murdered her husband, and then it’s also about her explaining why she didn’t have any involvement in the murder of another person close to her. It’s thankfully not gimmicky, and some of the rambling here feels intentional and in service of the story and its presentation, which contrasts with some of the beefier Stephen King books that get a bit rambly without having very good reasons for doing so (looking at you, The Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher).
4 'The Outsider' (2018)
The best of the post-Bill Hodges Holly books, The Outsider doesn’t have her until the second half, but she does fit in with the overall book once she does enter the picture, so to speak. That approach is done better than it was in Finders Keepers, and then there are also ways to compare this to End of Watch, since The Outsider begins as more of a crime/thriller/mystery book all before the horror elements ratchet up and come to dominate much of the second half.
There is a slight sense of Stephen King using horror as a bit of a get-out-of-jail-free card, with that feeling only coming about because the first two-thirds of The Outsider prove a bit stronger than that final third, but the last stretch of the book doesn’t derail things completely or anything. And concerning the horror, some of it’s genuinely dark and creepy here, and getting King operating on two different fronts throughout helps make The Outsider an engaging and not-too-predictable read.
3 'Billy Summers' (2021)
Billy Summers is a book Stephen King considers a personal favorite, and maybe some of that comes down to it indeed being quite personal. It’s one of those Stephen King books that’s heavily about writing, with a protagonist who wants to be a writer, though his previous work was of a more violent nature, since he's a former Marine sniper who then makes money from being a hitman, but then he also attempts to break free from the assassin life.
That’s of course easier said than done, so he ends up on the run, and things mostly keep building in intensity throughout. Sure, Billy Summers is yet another Stephen King book that starts better than it finishes, but the very last note of the book is far from bad, and in any event, it’s a compelling ride of a read throughout, even with taking into account the last few chapters not hitting as impactfully as much of what came before.
2 'Mr. Mercedes' (2014)
Comfortably the best of the Bill Hodges books, and probably the best single book Holly Gibney appears in, too, here’s Mr. Mercedes. The titular character here is also the one who haunts the final book in the trilogy, but he’s a more effective villain here, being a criminal at large who got away with killing numerous people by driving into them. This criminal reaches out to the recently retired Bill, and so then Bill ends up getting back to work, in a way, trying to get to the bottom of that long-unsolved case that keeps haunting him.
Pacing-wise, Mr. Mercedes is very snappy and an overall smooth read; one of those great books where you lose track of time because everything is in service of everything else and it’s hard not to feel engrossed by it all. Any shortcomings are hard to notice when you're in the thick of it, and so it’s easily one of the best crime/thriller books King’s ever written, and definitely one of his strongest efforts if you're looking at all his non-horror novels.
1 'The Green Mile' (1996)
Since The Green Mile is set on death row, and eventually has a focus on a prisoner who seems to possess remarkable healing powers while also being mistakenly accused of committing a horrific crime, it feels worth classifying as a crime novel. There’s some fantasy (or at least supernatural) elements here as well, and maybe some of The Green Mile is horror, too, though the horrific content here isn't necessarily that same supernatural/fantastical stuff.
Also, The Green Mile is a candidate for the title of Stephen King’s saddest book, and it’s very unapologetic about how dead-set it is on making you (probably) cry on at least one occasion, should you sit down to read it. It’s worth reading at least once, though, and it’s a little like Dolores Claiborne in the sense that the structure and style are quite interesting, with The Green Mile being King’s stab at doing a serialized novel (and it was originally published in six installments throughout 1996).
The Green Mile
- Release Date
- December 10, 1999
- Runtime
- 189 minutes
- Director
- Frank Darabont
- Writers
- Frank Darabont, Stephen King
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