I fall more in love with this book and its characters every single time I read it. It's both heartbreaking and terrifying and that's a huge part of why I love it so much. I always have a hard time enjoying vampire novels and I definitely think that stems from my love of this book. King does vampires in such a horrifying way that nothing quite lives up to Barlow after reading this book. Despite finding him utterly terrifying, I absolutely adore Barlow as a character. In fact, I think he may just be one of my favourite King villains! Another huge part of my love for this book is the amazing cast of characters. They're really such a bunch of unlikely heroes that you can't help but root for them and shed a tear or two at some of the deaths. I really enjoy the whole cast of characters as a whole but my favourite by far is definitely Mark, that kid is one hell of a warrior and steals my heart every damn time I read this book! No matter how many times I read Salem's Lot, I am on the edge of my seat from the very first page until the very last. I get so caught up in the story and I still get shivers when I get to the final show down! It is such an epic and perfect ending to this book, it just plays like a movie in my head. I could really go on and on about how much I love this book, it's most definitely one of my favourite King books.

I remember being severely creeped out when I first read this book in early high school. I probably read it initially to irritate my mom about my reading choices but soon found that by carrying it around while I was reading it, many girls asked me questions about the book. Reading was even more cool! :)

After seeing the new trailer for "IT" I decided to pull up some early King to see if it was just my young age that terrified me or if there really was something about the writing. I am pleased to say there was much more to it! This book terrified me yet again.

Ben Mears comes back to his home town to see if he can get rid of some of his personal demons while he writes a new novel. While growing up, he and his friends had dared each other to go into the Marston house where a suicide and murder had taken place. The house is almost like a beacon to him. He will definitely get more than he expected in this house of horrors.

There are moments where I was chuckling about a comment from one of the characters and then three pages later I had cold-chill-goose-flesh going down my back. Though some of the in-depth descriptions could have been shortened to heighten the action, I still really enjoyed re-reading this very much!

If you haven't had the opportunity, you really should pick up this book. Stephen King certainly does have magic in his writing.

5/5 ⭐
King has done it ✨again✨

I don't even understand why I'm still surprised when another Stephen King novel becomes my new favourite, but here we are again...in utter shock and awe...
Jokes aside, this book is fantastic and proves to me one more time that 70s and 80s King was something else.

n  n

There is something about vampire stories in a junk food kind of way. You realise it's not good for your health, but you can't stop because it's just so good. That was me with vampire books this year. This one however was more of a Dracula-Nosferatu crossover rather than a Twilight-TVD one. But hey, it was juicy

King is a natural storyteller and here, he managed to tell the story of a whole town by just having special chapters where we followed different inhabitants of this said town, Jerusalem's Lot, throughout their cursed little days. And you could very well see how, as the story moved on, the daily activities of the townspeople became darker and more unusual.
You could really witness the change.

The downside is that there were so many characters at some point you couldn't keep up with them, not really. But after some time passes, you start to get the hang of it so fret not!

I loved the eerie atmosphere, I loved the mystery and the kind of internal pressure you get to feel right in your chest while reading something that you know very well that might frighten you. The psychological horror in this is extraordinary, the suspense is excellent and the scary bits come at you when you least expect them (aka when it's night and you are home alone and nothing really scary happened and you're allowing yourself one more chapter and that chapter proves to be the scary one).

n  n

Given the fact that n  Salem's Lotn is one of King's early works if you read it after you read his other masterpieces such as n  The Shiningn and n  n    ITn  n, you realise what inspired what and where and how because there are many common ideas and leitmotifs in all these three works that really seem to tie all of his stories together in one big universe.

I do believe that this is the perfect read for those of you who love spooky October reads and maybe consider celebrating KINGtober each year as I've been doing for the past few years. If this is on your list somewhere, move it to the top for this KINGtober, because it's going to be your new favourite!

2023 reread:

And so I reread it again — thank you, Fiona, for a wonderful buddy read! — and this time it’s like I was transported back to being young and discovering this book for the first time. I loved it again.

This time I was really taken by King’s ability to paint the setting. His prose is excellent, and the way he brings the small town with all its secrets to life is almost unparalleled. He just has this way with words, zeroing right on to the defining qualities of people and places. Even a very young King understood the darkness of people and small isolated places. Because there’s not too much of a supernatural push is even required to unleash the inner monsters of people; the inner low level of nastiness in the ordinary folks can only be outweighed by the inner decency of the others.

“The Lot” chapters are what those looking for “a great American novel” need to read.

4.5 stars.

—————
2022 reread through older eyes:

In my teens and early 20s I inhaled King’s books. He was THE writer, to the point when I actually disappointed my university literature professor who would have liked if I had preferred Dostoyevsky instead. And as I got older, King’s books mostly held up, and some even gained extra appreciation (ahem, Needful Things, you got better as you got older).

‘Salem’s Lot is a very young King, apparently started when he was 25, and it shows. It’s still good though, and is full of all that I like in King’s stories as even back then he was first and foremost a gifted storyteller: the creepy vibe of small towns and their inhabitants, and nastiness that lives inside regular people even before any actual “big” evil comes into their lives. And if there’s a hint of immaturity there — well, duh, the guy wasn’t born 75.

I was still fascinated by his signature meanderings that tell stories within stories, and the gradual ratcheting up of tension that’s better than any pay-off there can be.

3.5-4 stars on reread which I’m rounding up because, well, whaddya want from Constant Reader of Uncle Stevie’s yarns here?

————
————

Review from circa 2014 based on a few feverish reads of this book back in my teens:

There was a time once when vampires were ruthless predators and not the misunderstood brooding and essentially harmless creatures. Ahhhh, good old scary times...



Vampire stories have been around for a long time - after all, people love a good scare, and what is more terrifying than a monster showing up at night and sucking the life essence out of you? But leave it to Stephen King to turn the terror up a notch, add a whole new layer to it. How? Simply - using the winning formula that he continues to employ in the vast majority of his work.

In addition to showing us the monsters of the night, he also brings into the picture the monsters and the darkness that are already with us, that live in the deep dark recesses of everyone's soul.

""The town knew about darkness."
"The town has its secrets, and keeps them well."
"The town cares for devil's work no more than it cares for God's or man's. It knew darkness. And darkness was enough."

The eponymous 'Salem's Lot is a small town in Maine, and it is not a stranger to secrets and darkness. It's quaint and pastoral on the surface, but once you look deeper you are bound to discover what lurks behind its respectable surface. And trust me, that's the discoveries that you can easily go without for the darkness of the human soul as presented by Stephen King beats everything that any monster or boogeyman can ever send your way. The small town of 'Salem's Lot can boast your usual lies, bullying, corruption, and prejudice - and spices it up with well-hidden child abuse, violence, and murders. Not so quaint, is it?

It is this portrayal of everyday people's secrets, of the towns being almost like living breathing organisms that is one of the big reasons why I am a huge fan of Stephen King's works.



From the very first pages of the novel we know that some terrible fate made 'Salem's Lot a ghost town with apparently only a couple of survivors. It doesn't take the reader long to realize, as we go back in time to see how the events unfolded, that the mysterious menacing Marsten House welcomed new evil that tends to lurk at night, floating past your (hopefully, tightly shut) windows.

The story itself is rather straightforward, steadily moving along to its almost-conclusion that we have glimpsed in the first few pages, and we watch with bated breath as our bunch of good guys - Ben, Mark, Susan, Matt - are trying to take on the supernatural horror. Oh, and did I forget Father Callahan? A high-five from the Dark Tower universe, Father!

King is excellent with the plotting and the pacing (since this was only his second novel, he was still a stranger to writing larger-than-life brick-sized tomes). The story never lags, the suspense and sense of foreboding are rampant, and there are quite a few truly nailbiting situations. Nothing distracts the reader from the vampire story unfolding on the background of small-town horrors. There are no heavy-handed lessons to be learned, no deep morals to take out of the story - all we get is a thrilling and quite scary ride that may make you (a) sleep with a light on, and (b) be very careful about who you invite into your home.

——————

Also posted on my blog.

https://carti.blog/2024/10/05/salems-...

Brilliant! Just Brilliant!

I wasn't even born in 1975 when the book was published, yet i connected with the story and the characters. They didn't seem old fashioned and out-dated. Stephen King sure knows how to captivate the reader and scare the shit out of them in his typical way. Aptly, we had a couple of nights of thunderstorms here and suffice it to say i had to check the windows to make sure they were closed properly.

«Ο Μαρκ Τουέιν είπε ότι ένα μυθιστόρημα είναι μια ομολογία των πάντων από έναν άνθρωπο που δεν διέπραξε ποτέ τίποτα»

Αυτό ακριβώς είναι και το κάθε βιβλίο του Stephen King. Μια ομολογία…

Μπορείτε να διαβάσετε την ολοκληρωμένη άποψή μου στο blog μου, Through the Chapters, εδώ.

Nobody does small town USA horror better than Stephen King. The story doesn't really push boundaries or bring much new to the vampire mythos, not even considering that it was originally published in 1975, but it's still of course a thoroughly terrifying, riveting read that hits frighteningly close to home as only King can.

Това е една от малкото наистина страшни книги, които съм прочел през живота си.

Беше едно лято преди 25+ години и още помня лятната буря отвън и тихото почукване на прозореца, но така и не се осмелих да проверя, дали не бяха клонките на джанките в двора ни...

Не спах много тази нощ, Кинг е абсолютен майстор на напрежението и постепенното натрупване на ужас в историята!

После се нароиха толкова много други вампири, но сериозно погледнах единствено на тези създадени от Ан Райс.

Una relectura que sirvió para confirmar que ésta es una de mis obras favoritas de King (probablemente sea mi número 1). Pocos libros tienen tantas escenas memorables y momentos tan llenos de tensión como éste. Increíble, si no lo han leído esta es su señal para hacerlo.

I went through this book fairly quickly:
This was my first time reading Stephen King, (crazy I know.) And let me just say; I WILL be reading more of King's books. (This book was crazy... And I loved it.)

Salem’s Lot is the first and only Stephen King novel I’ve ever read.

To be honest, this is a short review because I didn’t finish it. The problem wasn’t that King wasn’t a compelling writer who has obviously honed his craft. Every single chapter was interesting and immersive. I found myself drawn into the world he was spinning and deeply intrigued by the mystery of it all.

However, I suppose I couldn’t read it because this book is what I imagine it would be like to live with ADHD. It bounced around for no apparent reason following random people’s lives. Whilst I know King probably has an excellent reason for showing all these random stories, his story-telling fell short just enough to make me lose interest.

I figured since he showed no compulsion to get on with the damn story, then maybe it was because he found the various stereotyped small-town occupants and their day-to-day lives more interesting than the thrilling horror this novel promised to be.

I’m sad I could only give this novel three stars because what I read of this book, I actually really enjoyed and would earnestly consider finding some of his other work to read. At least the man can string together a sentence quite nicely, even if he did lose me on his great American horror orgy.