Helpful Score: 2
Definitely a classic; and so much better than the movie! I'm sure you've all heard the basic story; people have pets who die, and when they bury them in this certain cemetary, they come back to life. Find out what happens to one family when their young son dies and they bury HIM there!
Helpful Score: 2
This is an odd terrifying story of pets & perhaps people that can come back to life after being buried in the pet sematary, which sits on ancient Indian burial grounds. Is it a blessing or a curse? You decide. Very good book. 5 stars.
Helpful Score: 2
Another good, solid, terrifying King read.
Helpful Score: 2
This book was MUNDO creepy.
Helpful Score: 2
Creepy, good Stephen King story.
Helpful Score: 2
As with most of King's earlier books, Pet Sematary is one you have to read if you are into scary and suspenseful stories. This is by far one of his 'signature' style books. The movie was done quite well and follows the book almost exact.
Helpful Score: 1
I think this has to be one of my favorite King books. I just couldn't put it down. If you have every seen the movie there are many differences, so even if you have seen the movie read this book.
Helpful Score: 1
Super scary!
Helpful Score: 1
better then the movie
Helpful Score: 1
A must read for all King lovers, one of the best ever !!!
Helpful Score: 1
Very scary book, gave me the creeps.
Helpful Score: 1
The scariest book I have ever read. I'll be glad to get rid of it.
Helpful Score: 1
For pure scariness, not to mention an exceptional look into the disintegration of a grieving father, this book takes the prize.
Helpful Score: 1
As a King fan I can state positively this is one of his best and scariest. A gripping read... Ranked as Literary Guild Main Selection
Helpful Score: 1
One of King's best! I was totally creeped out by this book and the feeling lasted for days. There isn't a person out there who can read this book and not find themselves a little nervous when they hear a noise late at night when the house is all nice and quiet. I couldn't put this book down...it was so unsettling that I tried to set it aside but I found myself picking it back up again. As usual, King's characters jump off the page and right into your head. You will think about these people for a long time after you read the last page, I guarantee it.
Horror/Suspense, touted as one of the most frightening novels King wrote, thought I'm not sure I agree with that, it is creepy scary!
His best of his books
I loved this book. I saw the movie first and finally just got to reading the book a few months ago. It was great and I couldn't put it down! Way better than the movie, even though I always hear Fred Gywnne as Jud saying, "The heart of a man is stonier, Louis." Great, great book!!! One of the best I've ever read!
Creepy and fun to read! Will affect you if you have a pet (which I do) or live in Maine (which I do). Reading Stephen King books are always so fun because of the strangeness of reading about my backyard.
He is a master of horror for a reason.
He is a master of horror for a reason.
It lives up to the Stephen King classic expectation; a good read.
This is a classic King thriller. It kept me intrigued through the whole story. I wanted to stop the main character from making his final decision.
Excellent
Excellent. One of the first King books I read. Mainly because of this book, I am now a devoted Stephen King fan. King supposedly scared himself so bad writing this book that he put it away for a while and really did not intend to finish it.
When the Creeds move into a beautiful Old house in Rural Maine, it all seems too good to be true: Physician father, beautiful wefe, chariming little daughter, adorable infant sone and now an idyllic home. As a family, they've got it all... right down to the friendly cat.
But the nearby woods hide a blood-chilling truth-more terrifying than death itself... and hideously more powerful.
But the nearby woods hide a blood-chilling truth-more terrifying than death itself... and hideously more powerful.
This is my favorite Stephen King novel. When the Creeds move into a beautiful old house in rural maine, it all seeems too good to be true: physician, father, beautiful wife, charming little daughter, adorable infant son, and now an idyllic home. As a family, they've got it all...right down to the friendly cat. But the nearby woods hide a blood-chilling truth -- more terrifying than death itself...and hideously more powerful.
When I read this book for the first time, I wanted to lock it up somewhere and never open it again. But I couldn't do it, It kept pulling at me and I finished it in two days. It is scary on a level much grater than ghost and ghouls. It scares you from the inner most part of your heart. Stephen King knows better than any other how reach inside the human mind and find the things that scare them most. Its not the thing that goes BOO in the night. Its the real world things, the things you only think of at night when your in your bed alone but when the morning comes its the farthest thing from your mind. The things you only think of in your secret mind and never say out loud. This is a must read for readers of any Genre.
Will give you nightmares.
"Pet Sematary" was actually the second Stephen King book I ever read, when I was a young teen!! I thought it was great, easy to follow, and a suspenseful read! It is about a small New England town that has an ancient indian burial ground known only to those that have used it. Bury your dead there (such as a friendly cat), and they will come back to you, but they will never be the same.... Tagline for this book and the movies that came after was "Dead is Better". Pet Sematary was one of my favorites by SK!!
Loved it! This is the first Stephen King novel I have read. I look at my cat in a different light now....
I loved this book I think it is King's best work!
This is King's scariest novel. It takes the real and familiar and gives them a frightening twist. Don't read this alone on a dark night.
A slow starter, this book plods along, slowly working toward a 50-page climax that ends exactly how you might guess from the first few chapters.
Scary good... better than the movie.
What we wouldn't do to bring our dearly departed back to us. Not such a good idea from this story. Great horror from Stephen King!
Excellent book...riveting and scary.
CLASSIC King
I was kind of surprised to see how long it took for this book to actually get scary. Was still a good read, though not one of my favorite King novels.
I read this book back in the early 90's and it scared the bejevus out of me. IF you want to know why you don't bring things back from the dead read this.
I don't even want to bring back a hamster!
I don't even want to bring back a hamster!
Book is better than the movie.
Awesome!, February 18, 2006
Reviewer: P. Robinson "Relic113" (Calgary)
Pet Cemetery is classic King. A young family moves into a new house in the countryside. A more picturesque image is hard to imagine. A mom and dad, with a young son and daughter [and a pet cat of course] all enjoying their new life... The only problem is that they happen to live next to a very large highway, just over the hill. The wise old neighbor warns the family that many good dog and cat have been lost to the transport trucks that speed along that stretch of road. However, the family doesn't heed the warning. The family cat is killed on the road, and after seeing how distraught his children are he buries the cat in an old Indian burial ground - after recalling his neighbor mentioning that animals are rumored to come back from the dead. The ground however, has turned foul, and the objects that return are only demonic shadows of their former selves. The family did not learn their lesson from the cat's return - and several months later the son roams out onto the highway as a truck is cresting the hill...
Read this book if you want to be scared and entertained. It is reminiscent of the lessons from the classic short story "The Monkey's Paw", and King pulls no punches when describing the horror of losing a family member - even if that member is only a pet.
Reviewer: P. Robinson "Relic113" (Calgary)
Pet Cemetery is classic King. A young family moves into a new house in the countryside. A more picturesque image is hard to imagine. A mom and dad, with a young son and daughter [and a pet cat of course] all enjoying their new life... The only problem is that they happen to live next to a very large highway, just over the hill. The wise old neighbor warns the family that many good dog and cat have been lost to the transport trucks that speed along that stretch of road. However, the family doesn't heed the warning. The family cat is killed on the road, and after seeing how distraught his children are he buries the cat in an old Indian burial ground - after recalling his neighbor mentioning that animals are rumored to come back from the dead. The ground however, has turned foul, and the objects that return are only demonic shadows of their former selves. The family did not learn their lesson from the cat's return - and several months later the son roams out onto the highway as a truck is cresting the hill...
Read this book if you want to be scared and entertained. It is reminiscent of the lessons from the classic short story "The Monkey's Paw", and King pulls no punches when describing the horror of losing a family member - even if that member is only a pet.
The scariest King of all! Wow! A classic.
Lindy
Lindy
One of the scariest books ever written by one of the true masters of the horror genre. This is Stephen King at the top of his game.
One of S.K.'s best! Much better than the movie.... as usual.
VERY scary. Those creepy little kids that King writes about just freak me out!
Terrifying fantasy from Stephen King
From the Publisher
"Sometimes dead is better...."
When the Creeds move into a beautiful old house in rural Maine, it all seems too good to be true: physician father, beautiful wife, charming little daughter, adorable infant son -- and now an idyllic home. As a family, they've got it all...right down to the friendly cat.
But the nearby woods hide a blood-chilling truth -- more terrifying than death itself...and hideously more powerful.
"Sometimes dead is better...."
When the Creeds move into a beautiful old house in rural Maine, it all seems too good to be true: physician father, beautiful wife, charming little daughter, adorable infant son -- and now an idyllic home. As a family, they've got it all...right down to the friendly cat.
But the nearby woods hide a blood-chilling truth -- more terrifying than death itself...and hideously more powerful.
Edge of your seat reading. One of King's better books.
I LOVE this book! I'd re-read it if I didn't have so many thing on my TBR pile already. HIGHLY recommended.
as always king delivers a fast paced creepy read. i read this book in less than a day,i just couldnt seem to put it down.... way way better than the movie....
PET SEMATARY is a book that will stand the test of time. It is, of course, one of King's early novels, and we can see the author at his peek. The horrors he reveals (from family dynamics to supernatural burial grounds) are chilling enough to scare the bejesus out of the sternest of hearts!
The story revolves around the Creed family and their move from a bustling Chicago suburb to quiet Bangor, Maine, where the father (Louis) starts work as a physician. He brings with him his wife and two children (Ellie, a preteen daughter, and Gauge, a preschool boy still in diapers). The house they move into is beautiful with plenty of land for the children to play on, and a nice old neighbor couple across the "road", the Crandalls. It is this "road" that causes some immediate concern to Louis as Judd Crandall tells him about the deaths of animals caused by the big semi-trucks that blaze down its blacktop.
Judd becomes friends with the family and eventually takes them (or rather is drawn into taking them) on a small path behind the Creed's house that leads to a very special place: the PET SEMATARY. This is the place where most of the animals that'd been killed on the "road" are buried. It's a strange place with concentric circles, the shape the multiple graves make as they are laid out against the well-kept grounds. Louis and Ellie notice a large deadfall tree and Judd warns them not to climb it because it is too dangerous. But there's more to the story than that. What lay beyond the deadfall tree?
Ellie's cat, Church, is eventually killed on the "road", and Judd and Louis decide to bury the cat, but not in the PET SEMATARY; they go beyond, over the deadfall, and into a very special place known as the Micmac burial grounds, a place that has existed since the Earth began, and has the power in its soil to bring back the dead. But at what cost?
"Has anyone ever buried a human being back there?" Louis asks Judd.
"Don't even think such a thing, Louis!" Judd replies.
Church returns to the living, but is much changed. The cat smells foul, and has a very cold and evil manner about it. But at least Ellie has her cat back, right?
Eventually the "road" takes more than just an animal of the Creed's. In a horrific set of narratives, Mr. King draws us into what might happen if humans were brought back from the dead. What happens to our soul if we're brought back? Does it come with us? Or does it stay on the Micmac grounds? Or perhaps something in-between?
This book will, in every sense of the word, "freak" you out! It's terrifyingly terrific, as were many of King's earlier novels. A must read for the horror afficionado.
The story revolves around the Creed family and their move from a bustling Chicago suburb to quiet Bangor, Maine, where the father (Louis) starts work as a physician. He brings with him his wife and two children (Ellie, a preteen daughter, and Gauge, a preschool boy still in diapers). The house they move into is beautiful with plenty of land for the children to play on, and a nice old neighbor couple across the "road", the Crandalls. It is this "road" that causes some immediate concern to Louis as Judd Crandall tells him about the deaths of animals caused by the big semi-trucks that blaze down its blacktop.
Judd becomes friends with the family and eventually takes them (or rather is drawn into taking them) on a small path behind the Creed's house that leads to a very special place: the PET SEMATARY. This is the place where most of the animals that'd been killed on the "road" are buried. It's a strange place with concentric circles, the shape the multiple graves make as they are laid out against the well-kept grounds. Louis and Ellie notice a large deadfall tree and Judd warns them not to climb it because it is too dangerous. But there's more to the story than that. What lay beyond the deadfall tree?
Ellie's cat, Church, is eventually killed on the "road", and Judd and Louis decide to bury the cat, but not in the PET SEMATARY; they go beyond, over the deadfall, and into a very special place known as the Micmac burial grounds, a place that has existed since the Earth began, and has the power in its soil to bring back the dead. But at what cost?
"Has anyone ever buried a human being back there?" Louis asks Judd.
"Don't even think such a thing, Louis!" Judd replies.
Church returns to the living, but is much changed. The cat smells foul, and has a very cold and evil manner about it. But at least Ellie has her cat back, right?
Eventually the "road" takes more than just an animal of the Creed's. In a horrific set of narratives, Mr. King draws us into what might happen if humans were brought back from the dead. What happens to our soul if we're brought back? Does it come with us? Or does it stay on the Micmac grounds? Or perhaps something in-between?
This book will, in every sense of the word, "freak" you out! It's terrifyingly terrific, as were many of King's earlier novels. A must read for the horror afficionado.
The Creeds are the ideal family, Physician Father, beautiful mother, a sweet little girl and an infant son.
They find an old house which seems to be a perfect residence for a perfect family on enchanting grounds in rural Maine. It seemed to good to be true. and what seems to be to good to be true, usually is. The real truth was spine chilling and almost as horrifying as death itself.
This is the kind of book that will reach out and literally scare the bee jeezus out of you
They find an old house which seems to be a perfect residence for a perfect family on enchanting grounds in rural Maine. It seemed to good to be true. and what seems to be to good to be true, usually is. The real truth was spine chilling and almost as horrifying as death itself.
This is the kind of book that will reach out and literally scare the bee jeezus out of you
Extra scary for a pet lover like me!!!
One of the best KING books around!
I recommend this book to all King Fans. I do believe that I now know why he uses children in most of his books... children can be spooky little people and they have the ability to do frightening things at times
Pet Semetary is a good book, a cant put down book and a scare the hell out of ya book... need I say more?
I love this book. I have read it several times and it still scares me.
When something dies, bury it here, and it will
return.
return.
Chilling, creepy, bone-tingling. One of King's best. Don't waste your time with the movie.
When Stephen King wrote this one, I think he blew every fuse in every circuit in his brain and then wandered off in the dark, never to return. The basic framework of the story is: A young family moves from the big city to a rural area to escape the usual things. They discover a "pet cemetery" on their property which is not at all unusual. Then they discover a Micmac burial ground right next to the pet cemetery which has some VERY unusual properties. If you are a parent, the story will give you nightmares. My wife refused to finish reading it.
Can Stephen King scare even himself?
Has the author of Carrie, The Shining, Cujo, and Christine ever conceived a story so horrifying that
he was for a time unwilling to finish writing it?
Yes. THIS is it.
Set in a small town in Maine to which a young
doctor, Louis Creed, and his family have moved from
Chicago, PET SEMATARY begins with a visit to the graveyard in the woods where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. But behind the "pet sematary," there is another burial ground, one that lures people to it with seductive promises...and ungodly temptations.
As the story unfolds, so does a nightmare of the the supernatural, one so relentless you won't want...
at moments... to continue reading...but will be unable
to stop.
YOU DO IT BECAUSE IT GETS HOLD OF YOU, says the
nice old man with the secret. YOU MAKE UP REASONS...
THEY SEEM LIKE GOOD REASONS...BUT MOSTLY YOU DO IT
BECAUSE ONCE YOU'VE BEEN UP THERE, IT'S YOUR PLACE,
AND YOU BELONG TO IT... up in the PET SEMATARY and
...beyond.
Has the author of Carrie, The Shining, Cujo, and Christine ever conceived a story so horrifying that
he was for a time unwilling to finish writing it?
Yes. THIS is it.
Set in a small town in Maine to which a young
doctor, Louis Creed, and his family have moved from
Chicago, PET SEMATARY begins with a visit to the graveyard in the woods where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. But behind the "pet sematary," there is another burial ground, one that lures people to it with seductive promises...and ungodly temptations.
As the story unfolds, so does a nightmare of the the supernatural, one so relentless you won't want...
at moments... to continue reading...but will be unable
to stop.
YOU DO IT BECAUSE IT GETS HOLD OF YOU, says the
nice old man with the secret. YOU MAKE UP REASONS...
THEY SEEM LIKE GOOD REASONS...BUT MOSTLY YOU DO IT
BECAUSE ONCE YOU'VE BEEN UP THERE, IT'S YOUR PLACE,
AND YOU BELONG TO IT... up in the PET SEMATARY and
...beyond.
Billed as King's scariest novel
