The Shocking Reason Stephen King’s Most Controversial Book Vanished Overnight—And Why It May Never Return

You know Stephen King — the maestro of macabre whose name alone sends shivers down the spine of any bookstore browser. His novels like Carrie, It, The Shining, and Pet Sematary adorn shelves everywhere, tempting readers with tales of terror. But did you ever wonder if there’s a Stephen King book you’ll never stumble upon again? Not because it was lost to time, but because the King of Horror himself ordered it to be banished. Yep, in 1998, King pulled a rare disappearing act on one of his own creations — a novel called Rage — forbidding it from being reprinted due to its dark and disturbing content. It’s a move as bold as a jump scare in a quiet library. What could possibly make King want to erase a piece of his own legacy? And what’s the eerie story behind a book that’s now as elusive as a ghost? Let’s dive into this strange slice of literary history and uncover why Rage earned its silent exile. LEARN MORE.

In pretty much every bookshop, you will be able to find some of Stephen King’s masterpieces lining the shelves.

However, there is one certain novel which will never see the light of day again, upon the author’s request.

King himself called for the controversial book to be pulled out of circulation in 1998, as well as prohibiting it from ever being printed again.

And coming from the ‘King of Horror’ – who penned terrifying tales such as Carrie, It, The Shining and Pet Sematary – that’s quite the move.

What was the book?

The book which was banished from public consumption is titled Rage and it was released in 1977, three years after King’s first published novel hit the market.

But at the time, people didn’t know that it was his work – as he released it under a pseudonym, Richard Bachman.

The ‘King of Horror’ ordered for Rage to be pulled from shelves (John Lamparski/WireImage)

The author had actually penned it in 1965 while he was still in high school and it detailed a ‘vivid first-person account of a disturbed student who commits a school shooting in Maine’.

As you can probably guess, it wasn’t exactly light reading which would send you off into a peaceful sleep.

A synopsis for Rage which is listed on King’s website explains: “A disturbed high-school student with authority problems kills one of his teachers and takes the rest of his class hostage.”Over the course of one long, tense and unbearable hot afternoon, Charlie Decker explains what led him to this drastic sequence of events, while at the same time deconstructing the personalities of his classmates, forcing each one to justify his or her existence.”

There’s also another note below this, which adds: “No future printings will be made of this novel at Stephen’s request due to the sensitive nature of the content.”

King’s chilling novel was removed from circulation in 1998 over two decades after it was released (Wikimedia Commons)

Why was Rage banned?

Upon Rage‘s release nearly 50 years ago, a spate of school shootings took place – and there appeared to be a chilling link between the two.

A number of the perpetrators were alleged to have possessed a copy of the novel, leading King to the shocking conclusion that it may have been a ‘possible accelerant’ in their actions.

Specifically, the author pointed to the Heath High School shooting in West Paducah, Kentucky, in December 1997.

A 14-year-old boy, Michael Carneal, opened fire on students and ultimately killed three, while injuring another six – and reports claim a copy of Rage was found inside of his locker.

King decided to pull the book from print and in 1998, that’s exactly what had happened.

For a short time, Rage was still being published in The Bachman Books collection, but now versions of those also come without the novel. You can also buy old copies that appear for auction online, but there will never be a freshly printed version of Rage hitting the bookshop shelves.

The iconic horror author has been vocal about Rage and why he was happy for it to be pulled from shelves (Buddy Mays/Corbis via Getty Images)

What has Stephen King said about Rage?

Despite the sensitive nature of the subject, King didn’t shy away from talking about it – and even ten years on from the Heath High School tragedy, it remained a prominent topic on his mind.

At the beginning of his 2007 novel Blaze, he wrote of the book: “Now out of print, and a good thing.”

But he also addressed his decision years earlier too, in a keynote speech at the Vermont Library Conference in 1999, titled ‘The Bogeyboys’.

Referring to the 1997 shooting directly, King said: “I can’t say for sure that Michael Carneal, the boy from Kentucky who shot three of his classmates dead as they prayed before school, had read my novel, Rage, but news stories following the incident reported that a copy of it had been found in his locker. It seems likely to me that he did.

“Rage had been mentioned in at least one other school shooting, and in the wake of that one an FBI agent asked if he could interview me on the subject, with an eye to setting up a computer profile that would help identify potentially dangerous adolescents.

“The Carneal incident was enough for me. I asked my publisher to take the damned thing out of print. They concurred.”

He went on: “Do I think that Rage may have provoked Carneal, or any other badly adjusted young person, to resort to the gun? It’s an important question, because it goes to the very heart of the wrangle over who’s to blame. You might as well ask if I believe that the mere presence of a gun makes some people want to use that gun.

“The answer is troubling, but it needs to be faced: in some cases, yes. Probably it does. Often? No, I don’t believe so. How often is too often? That’s not for me or any other single person to say.

“It’s a question each part of our society must answer for itself, as each state, for instance, must answer the question of when a kid is old enough to have a driver’s license or buy a drink.”

Following the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, King also wrote an essay, titled Guns, where he further explained why he didn’t want Rage in print any more.