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A Novel
by Stephen King
Stephen King's classic #1 New York Times bestseller and the basis for the massively successful films It: Chapter One and It: Chapter Two as well as inspiration for HBO Max's series It: Welcome to Derry—about seven adults who return to their hometown to confront a nightmare they had first stumbled upon as teenagers...an evil without a name: It.
Welcome to Derry, Maine. It's a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real.
They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made twenty-eight years ago calls them reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city's children. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that terrifying summer return as they prepare to once again battle the monster lurking in Derry's sewers.
Readers of Stephen King know that Derry, Maine, is a place with a deep, dark hold on the author. It reappears in many of his books, including Bag of Bones, Hearts in Atlantis, and 11/22/63. But it all starts with It.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (5/7/2026)
I just finished Taliesin, by Stephen Lawhead, first in his Pendragon series. It's the start of the King Arthur saga and I read it in preparation for a class I am going to audit this summer. I will be reading other related books, but it won't stop me from branching out. Based on the wonderful auth...
-Jacqueline_B
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (4/09/2026)
I had my first DNF of the year. I was about four hours into https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/356/the-green-mile The Green Mile by Stephen King, and I just couldn't do it anymore. There was so much foreshadowing about something terrible happening to a character I liked (and...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (4/02/2026)
Have you ever picked up the first book in a series that had a bunch of complicated plotlines, only to find that absolutely none of them resolved or even intersected in the first book? That describes Strains of Malice by Andrew Beardsmore, Book 1 of the Nessemiah series. It was enjoyable enough th...
-kim.kovacs
Thrillers are very popular, but there are many types of thrillers - legal thrillers, spy thrillers, detective thrillers, etc. If you read thrillers, what's your favorite sub-genre, and who is the best author of that sub-genre, in your opinion?
I enjoy the Thrillers genre, mostly the Psychological, Mystery, Legal sub-genres in any order. Not into the sub-genres of Horror, Medical, Political (there's enough in the news!). My favorite thrillers have lots of suspense with some believable twists from the beginning to the end that keep me tu...
-BlueRidgeJeanne
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (12/04/2025)
I'm currently reading National Book Award winner https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/23243/the-true-true-story-of-raja-the-gullible-and-his-mother The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by https://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm/a...
-kim.kovacs
It’s Halloween week! What’s your favorite scary novel?
I stay away from horror, but have read a few in the past; Exorcist, Dracula, Exorcist, Amityville Horror, Rosemary's Baby. I definitely don't have a favorite, but the book that scared me the most was Salem's Lot by Stephen King.
-Lana_Maskus
Barak Obama's 2025 Summer Reading List
1m Since someone mentioned it, https://barackobama.medium.com/my-2025-summer-reading-list-bb25331e761b here you go : • Mark Twain — Ron Chernow A comprehensive biography of one of the most important writers and social commentators in American history. • The Book of Records — Madeleine Thien A bea...
-kim.kovacs
Has a book ever given you nightmares?
Salem's Lot, by Stephen King, scared the bejeebies out of me, and I had nightmares. I kept seeing vampires. I was a teenager at the time.
-Susan_C1
Why no American village mayhem?
Not a series but Stephen King does a pretty good job with It . He probably could have split the book into smaller chunks, but any fan of his work appreciates the convenience of one volume, it gives you an arm workout whenever you pick it up (for those who don't use ebook or audio formats) 900 pag...
-Sandi_A
What are you reading this week? (8/7/2025)
I am starting the Stephen King series, which will introduce Holly Gibney, thus Mr.Mercedes is my first book.
-Sally_M
If you could meet one author in person, living or dead, who would it be and why did you choose them?
But that's the point. Over the years I've met most of the authors I wanted to meet: Greg Iles, Abraham Verghese, S A Cosby, Cebo Campbell, Anne Rice, Amor Towles, Hanif Abduraquib, Dan Rather, Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Lauren Bacall, Percival Everett, Levar Burton, Cokie Roberts, Stephen Har...
-Anne_Glasgow
If you had access to a time machine like the one June imagined for herself, would you use it? If so, where in time would you want to go and why?
No. As much as I'd like to change some things on a global level, history is history. I have to believe everything happens for a reason, even if I don't like it. Makes me think of Stephen King's "11/22/63", which I didn't care for at all because a person just can't go back and change history. If I...
-Carol_Ann_Robb
Which literary death was the hardest for you to come to terms with?
One of the things that makes Stephen King's books so memorable, in my opinion, is the way he doesn't shy away from killing off characters after he makes you care about them. There's one death that still haunts me: that of Susan Delgado, Roland's lady love in Wizard and Glass, the 4th book in the ...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? (12-26-2024)
I just finished listening to the audiobook version of The Frozen River and really enjoyed the book. Kept my attention the entire way through. Am now listening to You Like It Darker by Stephen King. He always has interesting readers for his audiobooks.
-DJBM
What's the last book you received as a gift, and what's the last book you gave as a gift?
Well, I know the last book I gave was Night Shift , Stephen King's first collection of short stories. My friend was complaining that her son has a short attention span, and will only read the first few chapters of the book before skipping to the end. I thought maybe short stories would work bette...
-kim.kovacs
Which book(s) have you read at least three times as an adult?
The only book I have read 3 times is Stephen King's The Stand ." I've read Dean Koontz " From the Corner of His Eye " twice. I've read " Kite Runner " and " A Thousand Splendid Suns " twice. I plan to reread " A Boy's Life " by Robert McGammon some time this year. I do have to admit From the Corn...
-Meka_r_Brown
Which genre(s) do you avoid reading?
I've been surprised at how many readers here avoid horror. I love horror when I can find a well-written book (which, I do admit, is rare). Anyone out there like the genre? Can you recommend any books (other than Stephen King & the classics)?
-kim.kovacs
"It will overwhelm you…Characters so real you feel you are reading about yourself…scenes to be read in a well-lit room only." ―Los Angeles Times
"A great scary book…a nightmare roller-coaster…packed with more chills than a Frigidaire… 'It' turns out to be the monster-dread in us all, the one that refuses to go away." ―San Francisco Chronicle
This information about It was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Never Flinch, the short story collection You Like It Darker (a New York Times Book Review top ten horror book of 2024), Holly (a New York Times Notable Book of 2023), Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.
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