Pet Sematary

“Sometimes, dead is better.” Stephen King completed Pet Sematary in 1979, but found it so dark and gruesome that he decided not to publish it for four years. When a two-year-old boy (Gabe) dies in tragic accident, his grieving father (a small-town doctor who recently moved his family to Maine) exhumes and reburies him in a pet cemetery that is rumored to bring the dead back to life. Gabe returns all right, but he has changed in truly frightening ways. 

This is a great premise of course, but what's especially impressive is how Stephen King executes it, as he creates well-developed characters, deep themes, and expertly manages the narrative tension and pacing. And his book ends on the grimmest and most hopeless of notes, as another undead character promises more terror.