Stephen King Books

The Stephen King Maine-iest Book Tournament

How to salute Stephen King’s (dark) towering presence on the Maine literary scene? We asked the two biggest King fans on the Down East staff to hash out the single Maine-iest Stephen King book in a grueling elimination tournament.

From our June 2020 issue

THE CRITICS

Elizabeth Larrow, receptionist

Prized SK possession: 
Signed copy of ’Salem’s Lot.

Mark Fleming, director of photography

Favorite SK book: The Shining. Once got so scared listening to the audiobook, he had to pull over the car to catch his breath.

THE PROCESS

Elizabeth and Mark seeded the tournament with their favorite Stephen King novels set in Maine (no books set elsewhere, no stories not published as stand-alones), then spent a week debating which book was Maine-ier, round by round, on our intra-office messaging platform, until a consensus was reached.

<em>The Mist</em> vs. <em>Carrie</em>
<em>The Mist</em> vs. <em>Cujo</em>
<em>The Institute</em> vs. <em>Needful Things</em>
<em>Bag of Bones</em> vs. <em>Under the Dome</em>
<em>Cujo</em> vs. <em>Cell</em>
<em>Needful Things</em> vs. <em>Bag of Bones</em>
<em>Cujo</em> vs. <em>Needful Things</em>
<em>It</em> vs. <em>Pet Sematary</em>
<em>Dead Zone</em> vs. <em>Dreamcatcher</em>
<em>The Tommyknockers</em> vs. <em>’Salem’s Lot</em>
<em>Dolores Claiborne</em> vs. <em>The Dark Half</em>
<em>Pet Sematary</em> vs. <em>Dreamcatcher</em>
<em>’Salem’s Lot</em> vs. <em>Dolores Claiborne</em>
<em>Pet Sematary</em> vs. <em>’Salem’s Lot</em>
<em>Pet Sematary</em>

See more books every lover of Maine should read!

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