Was there anybody better at creating atmosphere?

His writing had a certain poetic quality. Very different from how King writes.

Charlotte Bronte beat's 'em all.

No question, an outstanding writer, especially his early stuff.

Yet by the 1960s, what was once a style began to deteriorate into an affectation. Compare a book like Dandelion Wine to Something Wicked This Way Comes and you will see what I mean. Which is not to say he became a bad writer, just one who had calcified into a far less joyful one.