At 1,400 pages, this is a massive novel – and a huge achievement by a writer showing off all of his storytelling skills. It is one of King’s most enduring novels; it’s crossed over from just being read by his fans, and become a part of a wider cultural consciousness.

By 1984, everything that Stephen King wrote was selling by the truckload. He couldn’t put a foot wrong: bestseller begat bestseller. But he was writing faster than publishers could cope with.

Charlie McGee is a little girl in the grand, early-King tradition of “kids with special powers”. Hers is pyrokinesis, and was triggered by some shady drug experiments committed on her parents by an even-more-shady governmental organisation known as The Shop.

“The Dead Zone” was the strangest experience of James Smythe’s rereading experiment thus far. It’s the first book that is totally different to his memories of it; to the point where he even doubted that he had read it, and hadn’t just watched the movie adaptation too much.

Stephen King devotee James Smythe retakes “The Long Walk” in his survey of the horror master, and finds King’s earliest book, written when he was just 18, as powerful today as it was in 1979.

Stephen King fan James Smythe has reached “The Stand” (the original version was published in 1978) in his survey of the horror master, and finds this novel isn’t just about good versus evil – it’s also about fate.