Stephen King's Best Hooks

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Doc Creed

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Nov 18, 2015
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I am not speaking merely of the opening lines but the first few pages (first 30 seconds, did it hold your attention?) that grabbed you by the lapels and wouldn't let go. The literary equivalent to an undertow that sweeps you away into the deep. What's your top five?

"I am an emotional writer...I want to reach out and grab the reader"

-Stephen King (PBS News Hour)

Here is my list in no particular order:

1. Needful Things
2. IT
3. Desperation
4. The Eyes of the Dragon
5. The Long Walk
 

ghost19

"Have I run too far to get home?"
Sep 25, 2011
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I should have said novels, I didn't clarify that, sorry. Nothing beats The Gunslinger, that's for sure. Excellent.
I should have added Cujo, since that's the book that started my lifelong fandom for Mr. King. I checked it out of my small town library when I was ten years old, I honestly don't remember anything that happened around me for the next few hours. Read it straight thru to the end then started checking out every S.K. book the library had...lol
 

Doc Creed

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Nov 18, 2015
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I should have added Cujo, since that's the book that started my lifelong fandom for Mr. King. I checked it out of my small town library when I was ten years old, I honestly don't remember anything that happened around me for the next few hours. Read it straight thru to the end then started checking out every S.K. book the library had...lol
I remember enjoying your post about Cujo. I think it was in one of the "first time" threads. It was a great description. Must be because I still remember the details, lol.
 

ghost19

"Have I run too far to get home?"
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Cujo is the first book I can remember reading where things didn't work out for the best, the good guys didn't win and good didn't necessarily triumph over evil. SK decided to nut punch you at the end and I was hooked on that....not the nut punch, but that type of ending. Ok, that sounds weird... but basically I think happy endings suck..lol
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
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the-cameo-king-stephen-king-s-best-on-screen-appearances-even-the-weird-ones.jpg
...."he said "hook", her-her-derf-her-her"....
 

twiggymarie

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Mar 17, 2011
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Cujo is the first book I can remember reading where things didn't work out for the best, the good guys didn't win and good didn't necessarily triumph over evil. SK decided to nut punch you at the end and I was hooked on that....not the nut punch, but that type of ending. Ok, that sounds weird... but basically I think happy endings suck..lol

I agree completely. I know why I think that, though, and I don't think it's weird at all.
It's not weird because life rarely has happy endings. We grow up with stories like Cinderella or Snow White, where everyone loves happily ever after, yet at a certain age we start to realize happy endings are just so much bs. People grow older, crappy things happen to good people (or dogs), etc, etc, et al. King was the first writer that I remember reading where I thought to myself, Yes, this is how stories end!!

Now that I went off on a tangent, back to the OP's question!

1. Desperation
2. Delores Claiborne
3. The Tommyknockers (that opening line is epic.)
4. It
5. Carrie
 

ghost19

"Have I run too far to get home?"
Sep 25, 2011
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Arkansas
I agree completely. I know why I think that, though, and I don't think it's weird at all.
It's not weird because life rarely has happy endings. We grow up with stories like Cinderella or Snow White, where everyone loves happily ever after, yet at a certain age we start to realize happy endings are just so much bs. People grow older, crappy things happen to good people (or dogs), etc, etc, et al. King was the first writer that I remember reading where I thought to myself, Yes, this is how stories end!!

Now that I went off on a tangent, back to the OP's question!

1. Desperation
2. Delores Claiborne
3. The Tommyknockers (that opening line is epic.)
4. It
5. Carrie

You're spoiler is exactly correct. I thought exactly that same thing when I finished Cujo.