Reread The Shining prior to starting Dr Sleep. Much creepier than I remembered and far better than the slant the Kubrik film took.

'SALEM'S LOT

n  "They only come out at night."n

After waiting so long to read this work of horror, I was a little worried that SALEM'S LOT would not live up to my expectations, but was I ever wrong! Once again, as is the norm with Stephen King, there's more here than just creatures of night; there's also a creepy good storyline, some very colorful characters, and a small backwoods town with a dark and evil history.

After you meet the tall man and the quick-witted boy with dark eyes.....and the rest of the vampire hunting gang, the spooky Marsten House enters the picture and the disappearances begin. Oh, does the master of evil have some ingenious and nasty tricks up his undead sleeve! And.....just to add to the fun, KING throws in a vision of a "white faced clown with huge eyes and sharp teeth" for a little jolt.

I can't say I was "paralyzed with fear" but I sure enjoyed the ride! (Dracula is still my favorite vampire read.....sorry Mr. K)

n  (Have previously read and reviewed CARRIE and THE SHINING from this wonderful collection)n

CARRIE is a fantastic debut for a writer that would become a household name. SALEMS LOT was a decent follow up but didn't have the same edge. THE SHINING was a masterpiece.

five stars for the first and last while the middle gets three.

These are three of my most favorite books from King.

Carrie is, of course, the craziest thing ever. And I think every girl ought to read this book, just so that they know that whatever they went through during puberty can not ever be as bad as what Carrie went through. I love the mental powers side-effect of this book too, though!

Salem's Lot was freaky. Really really freaky. I still have "nightmares" about it.

And last of all, the Shinning: this book has always reminded me of that Eagles song, Hotel California. "You can check out but you can never leave" really explains the hotel in The Shinning, only the hotel is much much worse. I can't help but think of the Jack Nicholson rendition whenever I remember this book as well!

Great to finally get around to reading these.

I grew up having Stephen King short stories read to me, by my mom,over breakfast. Then in my teens I began reading the books myself but I hadn’t ever gotten around to reading this initial books by King, until now.

I've read all the books in the omnibus, but this last one "the shining" is the one I'm reviewing. I've been a fan of the film (both versions) for years, and being a huge King fan, it was sacrilegious that I hadn't read this book. Its wonderful! It's so different from Kubrick's film, that I totally understand why King didn't like it, and chose to re-make it himself in the 90s. There were scenes in the book that literally gave me shivers, and scenes from the movie (that aren't in the book) that have haunted me for years. They are both great works, and if you've only experienced one, you are truly missing out.

Three books in one... I love them all.

First three novels King has been written for thirty years become as classics in horror genre. I like his style that is looking insight his characters' mind and describing his view of scenes as if represnting a painting. Which novel I like most, in this edition, is Salem's Lot, an adventure story of one man and one boy who attempt to rescue from the shadow of dark master, an old vampire who appears as an businessman buying a big mansion on the hill and changing it into his own 'command center'. Stephen King tells his story through the different views of different characters and ending with -- in my opinion, an unending end.

Salem's Lot: ★★★★ (want to read again)

The Shining: ★★★★ (29/06/18) It started out a bit slow but picked up about halfway through. Some things were a little hard to get past, like just how intelligent Danny seemed to be for a 5-year old, and the hedge animals that felt like something out of Harry Potter more than Stephen King, but I really liked it. I keep thinking that I’ve read enough horror/thriller novels to be immune to them, but I was thoroughly scared towards the end. King is brilliant!

Carrie: ★★★1/2 (10/05/21) This one definitely accomplished what it was meant to do, and that's disturb the hell out of me. The most terrifying thing was probably Carrie's mother... yeesh, religious fundamentalists scare me. I liked the length, I think it suited the nature of the story perfectly, but I didn't vibe with the format of using exerpts from newspapers, legal reports etc to tell part of the story. Also there were too many details about teenage girls' boobs, and that made me very uncomfortable. I'll give Steve a pass on those things though, it's his first book after all. Now I can finally say I've read it!

Read Carrie a long time ago - exellent read.
Read Salems' Lot awhile ago - also pretty excellent.
Currently reading The Shining - so far excellent to somewhat excellent.


Picked up this book at border's for 5 bucks or so. Definitly got my money's worth.

I also feel I have a future as a book critic as shown in this current review.

Pretty good collection of the first 3 books of Stephen King. They still hold up and are good books to this very day. Definitely worth a read for any horror fans.

I am not exactly certain why these books are tripled together, but I will avoid writing reviews of "Carrie" and "The Shining" in favor of the novel by an at-the-time unknown author named Stephen King. " 'Salem's Lot", which I read on publication in 1975, not only scared the wits out of me, but inspired me to become a fiction author! There are books I've read since which are better, but none have so inspired me. No one can guess while reading the opening chapters what form of horror novel this is, but after a few more I began to suspect that the mysterious Kurt Barlow of "Barlow and Straker Antiques" is an ancient vampire looking to start a new colony. That is all the spoiler I would give, and I do so because this came before "Interview with the Vampire" a few years later, and thus launched the "empire of the vampire" novels that have arisen in its wake. It also inspired my entire family to become Stephen King fanatics surpassing even my interest! I have been writing stories since reading this book, and I have published three of them on Kindle and am still working on a novel I began shortly after reading " 'Salem's Lot." Caution: unlike many such promotions that are/are not accurate, this one WILL scare the bejesus out of you.