Dean Koontz. Clive Barker. Peter Straub.

House of Leaves

Matthew Lewis, The Monk--one of Stephen King's favorites

I haven't read any of his books, but I've seen great reviews... Joe Hill. He has a novel (Horns) and a short story collection. (More? I'm not sure) AND, he just so happens to be Stephen King's son.

The Stand. Tommyknockers. Under the Dome is kinda good for me so far. Hearts in Atlantis was kinda good. The Stand was my favorite out of all the Kings I have read.

I just tweeted this questions so I suspect you'll have lots of answers soon enough.

I've read a lot of Stephen King, though mostly his earlier stuff. I haven't read any other horror or supernatural so my recommendations follow my love of his epic _The Stand_. Personally, I'd recommend the following:

_Lucifer's Hammer_ by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle -- A comet hits the earth. Chaos ensues.

_The Passage_ by Justin Cronin -- new this summer. Very much like _The Stand_ in that it's about a slim percentage of society trying to stay alive... but the cause of the fall of society is *quite* different.

Ok, I suspect other recommendations are coming in now. Enjoy!

Peter
(The guy who runs Flashlight Worthy)

Early Robert McCammon, Dan Simmons, John Saul A book called the Strain by Guillermo Del Toro,The Passage by Justin Cronin, I second Peter Straub

The Passage. Very King-esque!

The Thirteen Secrets / Bethany's Charm!

@Naomi, oooh, yea. I forgot about Robert McCammon. As a kid I loved the Wolf's Hour. I don't know if it holds up. Boy's Life was also good. Mine was pretty bad though and I stopped reading him.

@Peter, you just reminded me of another book in the strain of apocalypse/survival stories. World War Z by Max Brooks was pretty awesome (especially on audio book since it featured a lot of great character actors reliving the oral history of a zombie apocalypse). The Road is a little gruffer than Stephen King. But, that book had me gnawing my insides until I finished it.

In regards to Peter Straub: I used to love Ghost Story but recently read it again as part of a book club and couldn't understand why I had once loved it (a major topic in the book club discussion as several people had this feeling). The Throat was awesome--but maybe it doesn't hold up either. Floating Dragon however was awful. I would stay away from that one. His collaborations with Stephen King though (The Talisman and Black House) were enjoyable.

This does not add to the discussion but I LOVE Wolf's Hour, I have read it again recently and yes it does hold up, I so enjoy that book!

I double-second Peter Straub, or at least "Ghost Story" which is his book that I've read along with "The Talisman" which he co-wrote with King so perhaps your husband has already discovered it. Don't be dissuaded by the terrible movie they made in 1980 or so if you've seen it.

I also second "Lucifer's Hammer" which is more scifi than horror but the Earth getting hit with a comet is pretty horrific (and it echoes some themes from The Stand without the supernatural element.)

I have read Joe Hill's (King's son) book "Heart-Shaped Box" and it is quite good. Bonus, his voice is original and doesn't come across like King Redux. He wrote a story for a newish anthology called "The New Dead" where all the stories are zombie-themed. Like all anthologies, there are hits and misses but more hits. The Joe Hill story ("Twittering from the Circus of the Damned") is actually freaked me out and really original.

If your husband likes zombies (and who doesn't?), he should check out Max Brooks' "World War Z" which imagines the world after a zombie war. It's written dead serious as an evaluation how it would start, how separate countries would react and the aftermath.

It might be a little hard to find (I checked and Amazon has it) but my favorite all-time horror anthology is called "Under the Fang" edited by Robert R. McCammon. The theme is imagining a world where vampires are in charge. This was well before the Twilight era when vampires wanted to eat us, not mope and brood. I think there was maybe one or two stories I didn't like that much. The rest are amazing. Worth looking for.

Wow, I've read more horror than I thought :)

"The Passage", by Justin Cronin.

Thanks all. He has tried Koontz but he must not have been "twisted" enough. He read both Joe Hill's books. This will give me some ideas next time he says he has nothing to read. Is that even possible? I'll read the cereal box if there is nothing handy. Thankfully, booklights have replaced my flashlight while reading in bed. Now if my kindle has a built in light or if I could afford an iPad.

I would add to the list the horror books by Dan Simmons (his sci-fi is also excellent in case a genre change is needed). "Carrion Comfort" is probably right up the twisted alley, and "Children of Night" is pretty creepy. A more recent book by Simmons is "The Terror," about a 19th Century Northwest passage exploration gone bad before the creature starts hunting the dwindling party. If I had to pick one, I'd definitely go for "Carrion Comfort," which just came out in a 20th Anniversary paperback edition.

Eyes of the Dragon is one of my favorite Stephen king novels. Tommyknockers, IT, Gerald's Game, and Four Past Midnight (short stories) complete my top five.

I have to say that most of Dean Koontz's earlier works are far more twisted than Stephen King's. Have him read something prior to 2000 (Christopher Snow books are my favorite, but there are more twisted ones than that).

Oh, and another vote for John Saul.

Thanks a bunch for all the great responses. I now have more to add to his list.