Whats the deal with Stephen King?

I asked my dad why we didn't have any King books in our bookshelf (which is otherwise pretty extensive) and his response was they weren't the type of books he'd like to have own. I told me creative writing professor that King was one of my greatest influences in writing and he agreed that his work ethic was admirable even if he didn't like the novels.

It seems weird to me how people react to King. On the one hand almost every single person whose read even one book can usually tell how unnerved they felt reading it but on the other they have a need of somehow downplaying their influence. Why can't they just let a good thing be good? Are they that afraid of admitting they were terrified and that someone whose good at making people terrified should receive some credit for that.

Anyway the guy's a zillionaire so he probably won't care. I'm just here taking a swing at these windmills cause i woke up in the middle of the night n can't get back to sleep.