Book Review – Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

I think I’ve read 17 or 18 Stephen King books, many of those were when I was a teen and I don’t remember much. I’m working on reading all of Stephen King’s books in chronological order. I read Carrie in May (click here for my review) and just read Salem’s Lot during The Reading Rush read-a-thon.

About The Book 📚

Publication Date: December 2011 (first published 1975)

Genre: Horror, Fantasy (Paranormal: Vampires)

Goodreads Link

My Review

“Almost everyone thought the man and the boy were father and son.”

In the prologue we meet a man and a boy who’ve been traveling across the country, eventually ending up in California. The man would always read the Maine newspaper Portland Press-Herald, looking for any mention of Jerusalem’s Lot.

“Two months after the newspaper article, the boy was taken into the church. He made his first confession – and confessed everything.”

The main character is Ben Mears, a thirty-two-year-old author returned to the small town called Salem’s Lot, where he lived as a boy. While on a walk near the park he meets Susan Norton. They connect and begin a romantic relationship.

Ben isn’t the only newcomer in town. Someone is staying at the Marsten House, which has sat abandoned for twenty years.

“Time went on a different schedule there. Nothing too nasty could happen in such a nice little town.”

Yet nasty things do happen in this nice little town. Mike Ryerson, who maintains the three cemeteries, finds the body of a dog hanging on the cemetery fence. A young boy goes missing. His brother dies of mysterious causes. Eventually Ben, Susan, a young boy named Mark and a few other new friends figure out that a vampire is the stranger staying at the Marsten House. They team up to try and defeat the vampire that’s trying to take over Salem’s Lot.

“The last time the house was occupied four kids disappeared…now it’s occupied again…and Ralphie Glick disappears.”

• There are some words used that we now consider offensive, keep in mind this was written 44 years ago.
• I love how King uses the sun as a way to show the passage of time, building suspense, keeping you on the edge of your seat.

“The shadows were long and the sun was already slanting through the tall western oaks.”

“He looked at the sky and was alarmed to see how much light had gone out of it. Only the top story of the Marsten House was in bright sunlight now.”

“Now only the roof was in the sunshine.”

“The sun was above the roof of the Marsten House now, and only touched the highest and oldest spruces to the west of town.”

• King has an incredible ability to describe a character so accurately that in just a sentence you know exactly the kind of person they are. Salem’s Lot has a BIG cast, some of them you’ll root for, others you’ll hate.
• This is a big book, over 650 pages in the mass market paperback, which is daunting – however, the pages flew by for me because it’s a fast-moving, intense story.

› Final Thoughts
• Salem’s Lot is an intense page-turner, perfect for adult readers who are looking for a creepy vampire novel.