3 stars

n  “At three in the morning the blood runs slow and thick, and slumber is heavy. The soul either sleeps in blessed ignorance of such an hour or gazes about itself in utter despair. There is no middle ground.”n

'Salem's Lot is a novel that will surely be enjoyed by many. There is a lot of things that many people may find interesting and alluring. Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me. Stephen King's second novel follows various characters from a small town in Maine called Jerusalem's Lot as strange occurrences begin to happen. Not only are people disappearing and dying way more often (in peculiar ways, one must add), but the bodies seem to be disappearing too! Will our main characters find out what is going on in this town and be able to stop it?

I know that this is a novel loved by many. There are many things here that I personally didn't love, but I know that other people might, so let's go over them. 'Salem's Lot is written in a very interesting way. The writing itself has a lot of character: it is very descriptive, gory, and will be able to convey a sense of a small town very well. You will be introduced to even the most insignificant hunchback as King paints the picture of Jerusalem's Lot. I know a lot of people love this atmospheric writing style and will love spending time in the town. Personally, it was a bit much for me. After a while I just got bored, I am sorry to say. Especially since we are thrown into extensive descriptions of the Lot so early and in info-dumps (similar to Primeval and Other Times), I had trouble discerning what information was the most important for me to continue understanding the story.

Another thing that I personally didn't love but I know that many others might enjoy is the slow burn of the story. The first half pretty much plants clues for what is to come and sets up Jerusalem's Lot very well. Of course, I knew it was going to be a slow burn but DEAR GOD it was a snail-pace slow burn. King is a master at building suspense, but I believe that he did this way better in Carrie where he still managed to keep my intrigued all the way through. This is probably because we knew exactly who we were supposed to be focused on in the narrative, whereas here random characters are thrown at you and I just got lost. So not only was the slow burn a tiny bit too slow for me, but I was also very confused. Those of you that have good memory and can really invest yourself in a story and appreciate every word this will not be an issue.

The thing that I thought was done exemplarily was the character work. Although you can have a hard time rapping your head around all the characters, once you do, you can really dig deep into their progressions. This is an aspect that I really enjoyed, but it really comes into play in the second part of the novel and left me wanting more in the first.

The introduction was also very interesting. The intrigue and mystery is set up by the very first chapter where we follow an unnamed man and boy who move around together, but are not related. I definitely can see how this influenced many novels after 'Salem's Lot.

'Salem's Lot has a lot going for it. It is highly original and intriguing. Unfortunately, I just didn't click with it.

I also just realised this is the first novel where the vampires are actually supposed to be scary *surprised pikachu face*

‘Salem’s Lot is Stephen King’s second novel. Considering how many stories he has released - and depending on how you count them... SK has 70 some novels and 200 some short stories - this one is VERY early in his amazing career. He definitely didn’t suffer from the sophomore slump.

I used to think Salem’s Lot (note I didn’t get the apostrophes correct either) was about witches - somehow related to the Salem witch trials. After learning about Father Callahan’s origins in The Dark Tower series I discovered that this was actually a vampire story. In fact, out of my veeerry long TBR for SK this moved way up the list after I read The Dark Tower. Even though Father Callahan was my least favorite member of the ka-tet I still wanted to learn more. I really should have read this one first, but oh well. (I should have read the Bill Hodges trilogy before The Outsider too - haha)

The story starts out kinda slow really. SK introduces a lot of characters and tries to give you a feel for the small town of Jerusalem’s Lot (shortened by locals to ‘Salem’s Lot). There are a lot of characters to keep track of - but only a handful major characters. Ben Mears - a thrice published author - grew up in SL, and has returned to write a new novel - and to chase away some demons from his youth. He meets and very quickly romantically befriends Susan Norton. Their relationship takes off fast - it was the 70s I guess

'Salem's Lot by the legendary Stephen King is genuinely not only one of his greatest novels of all-time but is a horror masterpiece! The way he builds Jerusalem’s Lot piece by piece and all its interesting characters, you’ll be hooked immediately from the start. I could not put this book down and took my time reading it as it’s that immersive.

As 'Salem's Lot unfolds, whether you read it many moons ago or are just reading it for the first time, the way King is able to keep you on the edge of your seat is surreal. He set the tone for his incredible writing career back in 1975 when this was originally published and decades later, it still holds up. As a matter of fact, many readers will tell you it’s the best novel he’s ever written, yes, even scarier than “It”. I’ve read many horror novels in my life and can tell you that 'Salem's Lot is up there in the “best of the best” category without even thinking about it twice.

This is 5/5 stars in my book and is something I’d recommend to anyone that either loves King’s work or is a fan of horror. If you’re into reading novels about vampires but written in a way that stands out from anything else, 'Salem's Lot is for you. Just make sure to leave the lights on...

3.5 stars i have nothing to say for once?? like i liked it but i didn’t love it, i wanted to love this so bad but i lowkey knew this wouldn’t be a fave? still fun to read tho. i can say i kinda wanted the vampirelore or vampires in general to be a bit more interesting or at least focus a bit more on the masterden house.

The note to my 13 years old self: thank you for being wise enough to choose this book and keep reading the King of authors’ books for years!

This was my first Stephen King book. I never be a fan of vampires! ( I was a little clueless why the hell people lost their sh*ts when they read and watch the entire Twilight series but there’s another review to tell) But as you can imagine I was drawn into my King’s story at first read and I kept suffered from nightmares for years, seeing Danny Flick floating outside my bedroom window!

Nearly three decades later, I’m rereading this beauty which made me one of the biggest fans of the King of the authors! Another sleepless night is probably waiting for me! But it’s truly worth it! Damn you Danny Flick!

I recently watched the trailer of latest movie adaptation! It seems so promising with its brilliant cast! It will be released on September 9, 2022. I loved Gary Dauberman’s previous King adaptations. ( even though the second movie of “It” was way too much longer) I’m looking forward to watch it!

My first Stephen King book finally done and it was great! I wasn't really sure what to expect going into this other than vampires. I certainly wasn't expecting King to introduce me to an entire-ass town and everybody inside it but it helped build the relationships and characters very well. As others have said, this book has outstanding townbuilding. We get to know who everybody is and the role they play within the Lot. Part 1 of this book is definitely the slowest portion of the entire book but it was done incredibly well, as King slowly drips in bits and pieces of what's to come. It's a very slow burn to start but a good one.

Part 2 and Part 3 are when the plot really kicks in and the pacing picks up. There are some fantastic and atmospheric horrific scenes and a sense of dread whenever someone is wandering around in the dark. King does a fantastic job of making the reader feel the situation they are in.

Without spoiling anything, I love what was done with the prologue and the epilogue and how everything comes together in this book. I'm incredibly curious to see how this will eventually tie in with The Dark Tower, as that's my main reason for starting King but that will come soon enough.

Overall I enjoyed this book a lot and it was entirely different from books that I typically read. I can already tell that King is going to put a heavy emphasis on building his characters and really making them the central focus of his books.

There are a few lines in this book that stuck out to me that I wanted to highlight as well that I just thought were wonderfully written and really captured the feeling that King wants us to feel while reading this book.

"Alone. Yes, that’s the key word, the most awful word in the English tongue. Murder doesn’t hold a candle to it and hell is only a poor synonym.… There was a ruined church along the way, an old Methodist meeting house, which reared its shambles at the far end of a frost-heaved and hummocked lawn, and when you walked past the view of its glaring, senseless windows your footsteps became very loud in your ears and whatever you had been whistling died on your lips and you thought about how it must be inside—the overturned pews, the rotting hymnals, the crumbling altar where only mice now kept the sabbath, and you wondered what might be in there besides mice—what madmen, what monsters. Maybe they were peering out at you with yellow reptilian eyes. And maybe one night watching would not be enough; maybe some night that splintered, crazily hung door would be thrown open, and what you saw standing there would drive you to lunacy at one look."

"If a fear cannot be articulated, it can’t be conquered. And the fears locked in small brains are much too large to pass through the orifice of the mouth. Sooner or later you found someone to walk past all the deserted meeting houses you had to pass between grinning babyhood and grunting senility. Until tonight. Until tonight when you found out that none of the old fears had been staked—only tucked away in their tiny, child-sized coffins with a wild rose on top."

"The basis of all human fears, he thought. A closed door, slightly ajar."

This is a hard review to write because I didn’t enjoy Salem’s Lot as much as I was hoping – my expectations were way too high - although I now better appreciate how good Stephen King is as a writer.

I’ll get straight to the point. This is a terrifically fluid read, but it’s not particularly scary. Essentially, horror for the mainstream - gripping, but not up-all-night intensely compelling - massive on scope with so many characters and potential side stories, in some ways rambling but also coming full circle to focus on the wider picture in a concise and satisfying way.

It’s the sort of book you might buy at a newsstand before a long-haul flight, content with being introduced to so many new characters, friends, families and confidants, seamlessly invited into the fictional world where day-to-day events unpretentiously roll into your subconscious. People get along well in a friendly community in which world building and character development are excellent. When the real action gets going there's already an important sense of investment and personal attachment and Stephen King does a great job of tenderizing our soft underbellies before exposing us to any real threat. He tends to over develop the characters, though, and keeps on introducing less significant personalities instead of concentrating on the core horror, which, for me, failed to deliver enough caustic punch to counter the buildup. It not hard-hitting enough, but these are mild criticisms.

Stephen King is brilliant at developing relationships in a Tolkien-esque and delusional world where human beings are soft little hobbits ready to keep the Shire harmonious at all costs, and once the evil is extinguished, we're all best friends again. The story focuses on friendly chit-chat and getting-to-know-you vibes and is almost clean cut and convivial at times. We know where the evil is coming from, but we won’t get to know what’s going on in the Marsten house until Stephen King is good and ready to tell us, and let’s face it, we never really find out where the evil comes from or why it's there.

It's impressive for only Stephen King’s second book, published in 1975, and I am keen to step back to Carrie, his first book, to compare it with prior knowledge (I knew nothing about Salem’s Lot) and to see if it’s written in the same way, before moving on to later and more mature works, hopefully.

The book gets properly going about a third of the way in when it starts to acknowledge the existence of vampires. And by 40% it ramps up quite a bit, and there's a really mature, educational and rationalized chapter about halfway through that helps to allay any fears that things are becoming OTT or ridiculous, taking things back down to earth before any serious life-changing confrontations can take place. This is a skillful technique of slowing things down when the bombastic nature of monster slaying could get out of hand.

I really enjoy these slowdowns, but this is where I start to query the originality of the book.

There's a large smattering of The Exorcist in here, published three or four years earlier in 1971! Priests with flaming crosses against dark, evil hosts.

There are so many more throwbacks to other important horror books, too, with some openly discussed while others are well hidden.

- The Haunting of Hill House - 1959 - with the house on the hill element. The classic horror trope.

- The Whippoorwill birds from The Dunwich Horror, cawing nightmarish terror in the presence of evil.

- The mention of Christabel by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and its character Geraldine who assumes a proto-vampiric role, written around 1797, similar to the lesbian undertones of Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan le Fanu, although there are no LGBTQ+ references of any sort in Salem’s Lot.

- Dracula, of course, with vampires needing to be invited in, having extreme hatred of crosses, sunlight and running water, plus stakes, garlic, holy water, metamorphoses into thin air, fangs, etc.

- Straker as the equivalent of Renfield in Dracula, as the human henchman.

- I am Legend - 1954 – let us carve hundreds of stakes to rid the community of the vampire plague!

Yes, I’m thrusting the word cliché around and the excessive use of crosses and bibles gets a bit much. The assumption that vampires are Christian, too? Or anti-Christian. Would a copy of the Koran thrust into a vampire's face have a similar effect? If not, why not? I’m not trying to establish scientific caveats in the plot, but the use of crosses is a bit generic, but then again, so are vampires and I love everything about them!

In vampire literature there’s always a sinister undercurrent. Vampires are subtle, highly educated and maliciously determined. Movie directors sometimes portray them as fast, rushing, powerful super beings, often coming at you in zombie-like hoards, ripping flesh wherever they can. In historical fiction they live in small covens and hide at night in secrecy and are considerably scary, and this is where Stephen King gets it right. This is his version. Vampires will attempt to slowly dominate the entire landscape like an unstoppable and almost invisible plague. Think of the shuffling hoards circling the house every night in I Am Legend (stunning book) and compare that to movie adaptations that have nothing in common with it.

Stephen King is such a fantastic writer that I’m in awe of him, but he emphasizes too much on humans needing to get it right, and less on vampires and how they might feel, which is what makes Let The Right One in so amazing. Sometimes I want more restraint, more unexplained mystery and less hand-holding, less delivered on a plate.

We know we're in for a treat, the question is, how to arrange the final push? I like a bit of blandness, darkness, ordinary textures and failure, but I thought Salem's lot was a bit obvious and convenient and therefore failed to shock or surprise. It feels kind of dated and borrowed.

But this is only his second published novel! Wow! If you gave me fifty versions of myself in a parallel universe with unlimited time, resources and keyboard-tapping monkeys, I couldn't write a tenth as good as this. Like a beehive with its intricate and perfect hexagonal construction, scientifically understandable but also inexplicably complex at how it joins together.

The lack of hard-hitting splatter or gore as the plot unfolds bored me a bit and made the storytelling feel whitewashed, clean and almost sandpapered to a commercial sheen. But hey, when the character development is as good as this?

I wish I'd read this book 40 years ago when I had zero expectations, it might have blown my mind the way Tolkien did - I can imagine my teenage self breathlessly guzzling through the chapters to reach the conclusion - but on closer and more retrospective inspection it’s kind of breezy and farfetched and doesn't always hold up to closer scrutiny, but it's still a great introduction to Stephen King and I’m kind of excited to see what comes next? Who knows, I may become an SK crusader and go on a six-month virtual tour of his novels.

Stephen King can turn any topic of the occult and make it his own!

➾Vampires rule the lot. Now every time I pass a ghost town I will think of this book and wonder. When I, and most others, think of vampires they think of Dracula. King turned this book into something of his own and doing that with the topic of vampires is not an easy task in my opinion. To me, that's what makes this book excellent.
➾This book had great writing style and I love how King gave this whole town personality in this book- I especially appreciated the descriptive nature of the town and each towns folk; it made it feel as if you were Mabel Werts herself peeking out the window and sharing in the towns gossip. Very cool and unique.
➾Jahoobies made me giggle.
➾I noticed some correlation with the book Carrie and 'Salem's Lot in regards to religion and towns people and the way the two books ended. I found this very interesting and may have noticed this more so than others since I am reading King books in order by publishing year. I will be interested to see if this persists in other books of King's.
➾One thing I LOVE about Stephen King's books is how there are little details in his books that can give you the heebee jeebees that tend to make your skin crawl. Not necessarily the books as a whole, but just the small details that are thrown in. For example, the little description about Mr. Flip or the disgusting gory details about the trailer park residents Roy and Sandy McDougall physically abusing their baby. There are not many books that can do that to me, but so far, King books definitely do that to me.

In other words, this is a solid horror story that makes your stomach turn not only due to fear of that which is not real, but for that which is. There are details in this book that are truly disturbing and almost overshadow the supernatural aspect.

Next on my list The Shining (1977). Will be reading from my home library in the meantime while I wait for this book to come from my hometown library!

n  Update:n I decided to reduce my rating to 3.5 and round down to 3 stars. Don't get me wrong, Salem's Lot is a good book. I just didn't enjoy it as much as other 4 star rated books on my shelves (reasons stated in my review below). Still recommend though!
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n  Original Reviewn

3.75

I do think Salem's Lot was all right. Like a lot of people, I'd say it's not one of King's best works. However, I can see why it's considered a classic and it's really impressive that it was only King's 2nd published book. That being said, it has a lot of good parts but it doesn't come without some flaws and in typical King-manner, the ending is one of them.

See, I'm not a fan of vampires (Twilight really ruined everything). And King didn't reinvent the wheel here. Nevertheless, Salem's Lot felt refreshingly new (despite its age) and different than all the vampire bullshit nowadays. The vampires weren't scary - I could listen to the audiobook before going to bed - but the atmosphere was still dark and suspenseful and there were some moments - the window scenes - that were genuinely unsettling.
Like always, King takes his sweet time to establish the threat and get the story going. It felt like forever in here (almost half the book). But when things finally started to roll, I was hooked until the end. I really enjoyed the vampire hunting and how everything spiraled out of the characters control so quickly. The ending sadly was anticlimactic and disappointing. King really has a problem with writing strong endings.

Some of the characters were another issue I had with Salem's Lot. Ben was an unbelievably boring MC. He didn't really had substance and I wasn't buying his development. Wasn't a fan of Susan either. She felt like the stupid horror movie love interest who thinks herself super smart and independent but is far from that. Matt, Mark and Jimmy however were characters I really liked and who made every scene better. The rest of the cast was all right as well and showed that King's strength as a writer often lies in his characters.

If you wanna start reading King, I think Salem's Lot is a great choice for that. Entertaining read with some flaws but definitely a must read for fans and rookies alike!
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Turned out better than I initially thought. RTC

When writer Ben Mears moves back to 'Salem's Lot, a sleepy Maine town he spent a few years living in as a child, he has bitten off more than he can chew. 'Salem's lot is home to an ancient evil. Can Ben Mears and his friends stop the vampire in their midst before falling victim to his lust for blood?

One of the great things about getting older is that old books magically become new books after ten years. I forgot most of the wrinkles of this one so I figured it was a good time to give it another read.

'Salem's Lot owes a lot to Jack Finney's Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers. In this case, the pod people are replaced by vampires! Stephen King does a great job portraying small town life and then destroying it. While I remembered the bare bones of the plot, most of it had been lost in the sands of time so it was a pretty suspenseful read the second time through.

Ben Mears is the first instance of what has become a Stephen King staple over the years: the writer as the main character. In some ways, Mears is a prototype for the protagonists of Bag of Bones and The Dark Half. Mears, damaged by the death of his life, moves back to 'Salem's Lot to try to resume writing. Good luck with that.

The characters other than Ben Mears were an interesting crew. Too bad most of them are dead or worse by the end. I'd read a second book featuring the two survivors dealing with the fallout from this one.

If I had to pick one thing to gripe about, it would be that the ending itself seemed a little easy. After everything that came before, it was kind of a whimper rather than a bang. Also, I had to wonder why they didn't just burn Barlow's hiding place down and be done with it.

40 years later, Stephen King's sophomore effort is still a fine read. His Dracula meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers tale is just as suspenseful as the first time I read it. Four out of five stars.

2.0 Stars
Unpopular opinion time. I really did not enjoy this one. The story took forever to get going and by the time it did, I was bored and not invested in the characters or plot.

****WARNING: The following lyrics, and police account are sickening and grotesque---not for children!!!! (Though no spoilers...the man is mentioned in the book briefly ...during a discussion between Father Callahan and Matt Burke in his hospital room, filled with books on vampires...heres's more about the real one behind the myth. If you are easily made sick to you stomach, just don't go there,really...just move down to the regular review....
I need a victim to do things sickening
I just want to make you bleed
My knife is gashing your blood is splashing
To see your blood is what I need

I'm gonna strangle you and I'll slit your throat too
I love to see your blood run, that's the thing that makes me cum
I'm gonna kill you just because I want to
I'm the Vampire of Dusseldorf and I will cut your life short

My hands are choking my knife is broken
An orgasm is what I need
Your blood is spilling the sight is thrilling
To cum I need to see you bleed

I'm gonna strangle you and I'll slit your throat too
I love to see your blood run, that's the thing that makes me cum
I'm gonna kill you just because I want to
I'm the Vampire of Dusseldorf and I will cut your life short.
Peter Kurtin, The Vampire of Dusseldorf

As the real Peter Kurtin was mentioned in 'Salem's Lot (the book was in Matt's hospital room with all the others, and discussed with Father Callahan--so naturally, I had to look it up, and got this little treat), I thought I'd share this fun little ditty to start things off on the right...ummm...note ;)
Of course this is based on the real Peter Kurten, who murdered up to 68 women, motivated by sexual sadism; and became:
A.K.A.: "The Vampire of Düsseldorf"--known for his atrocities, including drinking blood from the women's...ummm.....(_____) after the attack, assuming he got them during that....period. (I think I prefer the type of blood Barlow get's off on...... ;) )

Just for fun (real life so-called "vampires" can be so much grosser and many times more twisted), I borrowed a bit from http://murderpedia.org/male.K/k/kurte...
(then I promise to get on with the...ummm...much more tasteful :) book at hand)

Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Sadist - Rape
Peter Kurten
BBC – Crime Case Closed
Shortly before he was executed by guillotine, Peter Kurten, the so-called Vampire of Dusseldorf, asked the prison psychiatrist: "Tell me, after my head has been chopped off will I still be able to hear; at least for a moment, the sound of my own blood gushing from the stump of my neck?"

When the doctor replied that his ears and brain probably would function for several seconds after the blade struck, Kurten replied: "That would be the pleasure to end all pleasures".

That's enough of him, I think....

By the way...if you haven't seen Salem's Lot already, save the movie until you've finished the book, you'll thank yourself for it, trust me. It really has ruined some of the best scenes in the book for me. I've learned my lesson, time and time again--unfortunately, I watched many of these movies years ago, before I was into Stephen King's books....introduced only 5 or 6 years ago to those (a gift from an english major started me off with Lisey's Story, which started with his later works--and he kept giving me more of those as he finished them another lesson learned!) I have made my way through a ton of novels, and finally realized two things: it is best to read his works in order (they build on each other in so many ways--many, like the one just mentioned above, deserve a re-reading after a few Dark Tower reads), and (thinking I didn't like short story collections, I was forced to try some that he wrote), I found out his short stories are as good as the novels, sometimes I want more, but often they are just right--or better, and more would ruin them. So, here I am...making my way through a few of his early works--in order--soon the first DT novel comes up (dreading that one, because I fear it will be a loooong introduction into the series as a whole).

I am finding that King's earliest works are definitely some of his best! Loved this modern take on the whole Dracula mythos. After reading his reasons why, the small town is the best setting possible for this story. In general I love his use of small towns, where people know each other, and when someone goes missing it is easily noticed. (I also like the way he took his wife's ideas...they all seemed to make the story better!) Especially the small towns in Maine--my favorite state by the way--people ARE different there, everything is different, the way they talk...the scenery (breathtaking!)....the architecture...the blue-collared, hard working folk. Finally, he shares the darkest secrets of the people in the town; often the ordinary people you meet on his streets are already monsters in their hearts.

This book also uses more of what, I feel, are King's strengths. The protagonists in this book (super faves in bold) include a writer (he admitted being a mirror of himself--perhaps supposed to be the main protagonist?), struggling to make it--Ben Mears; the very intelligent English teacher (King was one of those, too) Matt Burke; the fiercely smart and courageous child with some supernatural abilities, Mark Petrie (he outsmarts a stronger schoolyard bully when he comes at him--until said bully cries with pain and is humiliated in front of everyone, can escape situations just like Houdini...); the independent (for her times, at least regarding her mother) girl and love interest (Ugh--I really can skip the romance!) of Mears, Susan Norton; the heavy-drinking (gotta have at least one good-hearted person with this condition!) priest, who believes them, ready for the old-time church to be a Force once again, and assists in the final showdown--not just a dogma robot of the church, Father Callahan who turns up later in the dark tower series...(the use of the Catholic Church to fight vampires is a MUST, as King stuck to the mythos, adding the modern day setting...leaving out all the church's own seemingly endless crimes against innocent children, yet including near the end the castrated choir boys--so they could sound as if actual females were allowed to sing in such a pious place!), and a reluctant at-first small town doc, Jimmy Cody.

And his building of characters!!! Probably what he does best, and one of the reasons I enjoy almost all of his books regardless of a poor storyline (another is that his writing is just plain great...no matter what he has to say)--though this book has it all, including a terrific story. Some younger readers may be reading for the first part wondering when it's going to get into the action. By spending so much time getting there, expanding on the characters (often dislikable--come on--I roll my eyes at all the reviews that say they couldn't find anyone to like--when was that a prerequisite to liking a book? Anyway, there are several to love in this book), he slowly builds the tension and draws us in, making us care when the action starts. He knows very well, that the fear of what is to come is often the best part!

Finally, King is also not one of those writers to shy away from topics others often do: killing children--or making them evil (evil kids are the best!!!), child abuse,killing off main characters, making heros out of drunks (who always kick the bottle aside when they are finally really needed for something important), etc....

This book has it all. Highly recommended!!!!...Now off to read One for the Road and Jerusalem's Lot (again). Both short stories...one a sequel and the other a prequel are found in Night Shift(GREAT short story collection, with many of the stories pre-dating the novel Carrie-- therefore including a lot of his earliest work)......One For the Road being the sequel.