Already read King? These authors bring the same chills (and maybe a few new nightmares).
You’ve read Stephen King, but discovering authors like Stephen King means finding horror that feels unsettlingly personal.
He gave us haunted hotels, apocalyptic plagues, demonic clowns, and that one time a car got way too possessive. Whether you love him for the psychological torment or the small-town unraveling of reality, once you’ve devoured his library, the question becomes: who else can mess with your head like that?
This roundup introduces authors like Stephen King, writers who channel dread with the same unshakable intensity. Some lean into supernatural horror. Others burrow into the cracks of everyday life. But all of them understand the assignment: make it impossible to sleep with the lights off.
What Makes an Author “Like Stephen King,” Anyway?
It’s not just the scares. It’s the setup.
King’s best work blends the mundane with the monstrous. Think kids on bikes fighting evil, or a perfectly normal house that suddenly starts bleeding. These authors below follow the same path: they start familiar… and then everything goes wrong.
These are the flavors of fear that make readers say, “Okay yeah, this feels like King.”
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Small-Town Secrets and Supernatural Creep
If your favorite King is Salem’s Lot or It, look for authors who turn quiet towns into haunted nightmares. These stories start with cozy normalcy until the rot shows through. -
Psychological Terror and Quiet Madness
No monster? No problem. Find authors who prove that real horror lives inside people. Think fractured minds, toxic families, and the slow unraveling of reality. -
Apocalyptic Chaos and Cosmic Dread
Fans of The Stand or Revival will love authors who go big: plagues, cults, collapsing dimensions. It’s the end of the world, and it’s breathtakingly bleak. -
Classic Tropes, But Make Them Weird
Possession. Haunted houses. Cursed objects. These writers reimagine the horror greatest hits with a literary twist and sometimes a whole lot more teeth.
