It

Novel by Stephen King (USA) 1986.

Seven children grow up together in 1950s Derry, Maine. Together as The Losers, they experience good times and bad, and together they face and survive the terror of It. Twenty-five years later, when all but one have left Derry, and all but one have purged the memory of It from their minds, they receive the call to bring them back home to attempt to destroy it once and for all.

Stephen King, unarguably the most verbose modern horror writer of them all, surpasses himself and manages to waffle his way through 900+ pages of It. However, whilst this normally acts as a deterrent, this time it works the other way. Granted, nothing really happens for hundreds of pages, but the way the book is written compels you to keep going with true suspense, that which most writers never accomplish. I doubt I'll ever change my opinions about Mr King, namely he writes twenty times as many words as are needed, usually with very poor plots to boot, but this one definitely has its points. Sit through it, it's worth it.

Later made into a US mini-series, Stephen King's It, by Tommy Lee Wallace (1990).