Pet Sematary

Pet Sematary is a slow, patient horror novel from Stephen King. Dr Louis Creed moves his family from Chicago to an old, comfortable house in rural Maine, where the children can explore the fields and woods. Behind the house, a cleared path leads to a place where local children have buried their pets for generations. It seems harmless, until it begins to seep into Louis's dreams.

King lets the dread build gradually, using the warmth of ordinary family life to make everything that follows hit harder. The book's central question, what grief might drive a loving parent to do, stays with the reader long after the final page. First published in 1983, it is a good choice for anyone who likes their horror quiet, deliberate and deeply unsettling.