“It was a face guaranteed to make barrooms arguments over batting averages turn bloody.”
This face belongs to Randall Flagg, one of King’s most famous incarnations of evil and corruption. He makes his first appearance in The Stand. This 1200 page novel is the favourite of many fans, and although I would personally rank at least IT and Misery higher, it sure is powerful. A true epic, turning america into a post-apocalyptic battleground for a very biblical Good and Evil. Both mystical, almost Tolkienish, and ruggedly realistic, it is still unique in the way it blends different levels of reality so seamlessly (lousy metaphor, please suggest a better one).
NOTE: The first edition was a measly 800 pages, but it was restored to its intended length in 1990.