Me encanta que usen los vampiros tradicionales.
Los personajes son buenos, y Stephen King no le tiembla la mano para deshacerse de algunos con los que te encariñas. Tiene escenas que amé como no tienen idea, escenas únicas y truculentas que no encontrarás en otro lado. Me gustó mucho la historia y todo su desarrollo. Sin embargo, noté mucha similitud con Drácula: el bien contra el mal, y una persecución; que ya he visto en varios libros. Pero, aquí Stephen King lo utiliza de buena manera saliendo un poco de ese camino. Utiliza al pueblo de Salem's Lot como un personaje adicional. Repito: ¡TIENE ESCENAS INCREÍBLES! ¡Totalmente recomendado!

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!

One of my all-time favorite takes on vampires! Still spectacular after all of these years.

Stephen King captures a unique side of the darkness of humanity, where the vampire is the least of what is dark in the Lot.

It is impossible to tear away from the gripping tale of the community of Jerusalem's Lot.

King's take on horror remains timeless.

Still in my top five favorite King novels of all time.

5 Stars.

I stayed up till nearly 4 am on a weekday to finish this book. I would have to admit that Stephen King and his weird ass books hold the record of keeping me up late into the night, regardless of the day of week. I want to read all his books but I have to spread them out because I just do not think my psyche can take a marathon of his books, though it would love to!

In Salem’s Lot, King writes about a town fallen victim to vampires. I will admit, I am one of those overly excited fans of vampire literature so this was so down my alley. There was no way this was not going to be a book that would fall into my favorite’s category. There is romance, there is weirdness, there is epic storytelling, and there is creepiness because it is a King book and that is what you expect and want!

My quick and simple overall: I loved this creepy book and even this freaky little town.

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

Two Stars for the King. In October, no less. For a vampire book. I anxiously await comments such as these . . . . .

n  n

The story here is about a man named Ben who lived in a place called Jerusalem’s Lot (located about 20 miles north of Portland) back when he was just a kid. An experience with a place known to the locals as the Marsten House has always stuck with Ben and now as an adult (and as an author), he returns thinking there might be a story there. What he could never expect is his return to the Lot coinciding with another new arrival in town which would eventually result in nearly the entire population becoming . . . . .

n  n

Sounds great, right? Yeah, well when I was a teenager I thought it was. I think I’ve officially learned my lesson as far as re-reading Uncle Stevie goes. I’m not so sure I would be a fan of a lot of these books now that I’m an adult. This one definitely missed the mark. I knew things weren’t going great almost immediately since the first 150 pages were dedicated to introducing a billion one-dimensional characters simply for the point of being able to recognize the future victims . . . . TWO HUNDRED PAGES LATER. (My recollection is I enjoyed this set-up in Needful Things, but I’ll be damned if I voluntarily wrongread that one again just to make sure!) And even when it looked like he might be picking up the pace . . . .

n  n

All the action was either fade-to-black or completely done off-page. Talk about a snoozefest. Boring vampires. That just shouldn’t happen.

This also didn’t stand the test of time well. It was soooooooooooooooooooo campy. And not in an intentional way like . . . . .

n  n

Like, at one point this was (even to me) considered to be primo writing. But now?????

n  “Ben?”

“Yes.”

“Make love to me? Do you want to?”

“Yes,” he said. “I want that.”

“Here on the grass,” she said.

“Yes.”

She was looking up at him, her eyes wide in the dark. She said, “Make it be good.”

“I’ll try.”n

So. Awkward.

I was going to go ahead and give this 3 Stars, but I read the version that contains all the pages that found their way to the cutting room floor rather than the book and that is where all the effing interesting stuff was apparently left so I’m giving this 2. Bottom line . . . .

n  n

Save your trolling. I’ll most likely just tell you to go F*&^ your own mother and then block your dumbass so you can’t come at me twice. For anyone else who may be skeered to post your honest opinions, here’s my advice to you . . . .

n  n

2nd time around with this book and I opted for the audio this time. The narrator was great, really sold the story. Though I remembered the bones of the plot I was surprised by how much I forgot.
King writes a sprawling tale with incredible world building, and that's really what I loved the second time around. The characters all felt like people I've met before in other King books with a few wonderful exceptions, but by the time the book was over I felt like I knew Jerusalem's Lot and it's inhabitants as if I lived there myself.
It's not my favorite King book but it's up there.

This was my fifth or sixth read of this novel, a novel that comfortable sits as my third or fourth favourite Stephen King read. I think that’s because within Salem’s Lot horrifying, gruesome pages is some of King’s most beautiful writing. The entire thing can be read and reread again to simply enjoy his words, especially when King is describing the changing seasons he takes on a Ray Bradbury-like quality.

With the success of Carrie King had the opportunity to show readers the full of extent of what he was capable of as a writer. Carrie is set in a fictional town of Chamberlain and while we learn a little about the town and it’s people it is nothing much in comparison with the in-depth experience of reading Salem’s Lot. Stephen King really creates an entire community in this book, utilising his skills as short story writer to flesh out that community by providing tiny stories about several of its inhabitants.

We get the story of a aged, crabby milkman, the man in charge of the town dump, a woman who runs the local boarding house, the town drunk or a couple having an affair to name a few. The thing is all these characters feature in the story in some significant way to show the horror as it progresses to take over the town. I found I enjoyed every moment spent in these characters lives, especially those of Eve and Weasel, an elderly on and off again couple.

The horror in this book comes in the form of Barlow and Straker, outsiders that move into Salem’s Lot’s most notorious residence the Marston House. Barlow is a vampire and Straker is his familiar. As they arrive so does the novels protagonist Ben Mears, a writer whose never had a home but for the few years he spent in this town as a boy. Ben gets a lot of criticism as a character for being too noble and thus boring but I never found that with him. I enjoyed every moment spent in his practical head as he meets his love interest Susan Norton and the rest of the cast.

While this is Stephen King’s first time round at developing a lived in community so is it his first attempt at building an team of characters intent on stopping a villain. You can see in these pages how King would go on the create such lengthy books such as The Stand, which also features a huge cast of characters. Whoever those that feature in that book never feel as filled out or as enjoyable to read as those in this book. Matt Burke, a single elderly school teacher, stands out as the novels Van Helsing character and a personal favourite. Another is Jimmy Cody, the towns local saw bones, whose end is heart wrenching even after reading this book so many times. There’s also Father Callahan, who meets a fate worse than death, and Mark Petrie, probably the most resourceful of King’s child characters.

Barlow begins to infect the population of Salem’s Lot given the book a real sense of dread with each night that passes as the reader becomes aware that more people will have been converted into his soulless followers, especially in the books latter half. The vampires in this book are clearly inspired by those in Dracula. They’re abilities are more traditional than any modern incarnation yet unlike those that feature in Bram Stroker’s book were vampirism is a way for characters to fully unleash the pent up emotions and desires that were not allowed to as humans due to the social rules of the books time period such as young woman embracing their sexuality. The vampires in King’s book are a more perverse version. There is no liberation from social constraints once bitten. Instead King’s vampires are ruthless, soulless leeches. Combining this with King’s fantastic ability to create characters that the readers recognise and root for even if those characters are framed in the 1970s makes Salem’s Lot not just one of the best books in his catalogue but also the best book on vampires to ever be written.

My second time reading this; the first would have been as a teenager, although I can't recall exactly when. I liked it better this time around. I think as the years have gone by I have a generally better appreciation for various things King does in his books.

As a teen I was really just looking for a thrilling and scary story. As an adult, and someone who has read many of King's books and stories over the years, I now see connections and his attempts to let characters grow in a way I did not fully appreciate before.

In 'Salem's Lot, the main character returns to the place of his childhood, which holds not only good memories, but also the most terrifying traumatic experience of his life. There is an idea in his head that he can revisit the place of his trauma, and in facing it, somehow banish it forever.

Unfortunately things don't quite work out that way.

What unfolds is a vampire story as good as any. Vampire tales ebb and flow in popularity, but they never quite leave the cultural psyche. King reminds us of the horror in vampires, the violence and death, as opposed to the smooth sensuality that we so often see. The story delivers despair with only small amounts of hopefulness, hinged entirely on the strength of will of a few characters.

Overall, 'Salem's Lot remains an oldie but a goody, with much to recommend a visit, or a revisit if you haven't been for a few years or decades.

The town of Jerusalem’s Lot is haunted by the shadow of the Marsten House, a bleak and crumbling building on a high hill that was once the den of vile criminals, witchcraft and other sinister paranormal phenomena. Author Ben Mears returns to the place he once called home to confront the traumatic memories that the dreaded Marsten House left imprinted in his memories since he was a mere boy, only to discover that a new force of unimaginable evil may be lurking in the darkness of Jerusalem’s Lot.

The modern day Dracula. An unlikely crew of small town folks band together to fight a supernatural force of absolute bloodsucking evil. Salem’s Lot reinvented the familiar trappings of B-movie vampire horror by incorporating his signature touch of twisted psychology, brutal heartfelt emotions and disturbingly realistic characters that feel like people you’ve known your whole life.

In a book full of vampires, black magic, haunted houses and bloody horror, it’s no surprise that King manages to make the everyday lives of the townsfolk of Jerusalem’s Lot the scariest part of the story. Domestic abuse, child neglect, messed up family dynamics, perverted stalkers, heartless backstabbers and animal killers are just a few things these small town folk are guilty of on a daily basis.

I love this take on the old vampire myth, showing that humans in a state of absolute panic and superstitious fear are often more terrifying and dangerous than ancient, powerful monsters. Your best friend can become your worst enemy at the drop of a hat.

I loved the long list of references of classic stories and authors that King mentions in this particular book. As someone that grew up reading a lot of weird fiction and gothic fiction, I enjoyed seeing Lovecraft, Poe, Hawthorne, Stoker and quite a few other of my old favorites continuously pop up.

This is hands down the scariest book I’ve ever read … with a haunted house and vampires at their deadliest … no friendly vampiric teenagers here … these vampires kill their earthly relatives and friends … seduce almost, with their promise of a life stealing kiss ..

This story is told through multiple points of view … there’s Ben Mears, a successful novelist who is returning to ‘Salem’s Lot to write a novel that hopefully will exorcise his personal demons … there’s Matt Burke, an English teacher at the local high school … Susan Norton, a strong-willed, independent woman and Ben’s love interest … Mark Petrie, a new kid in town with the intelligence and street smarts to overturn the school bully …. And many others … sometimes it got kind of hard to remember some of the names of the characters (like there’s a Mark, Matt, and Mike that confused me in the beginning) but King portrays the characters with so many fascinating flaws and quirks that this issue becomes unimportant the further you get into the story …

Then there are the mysterious Kurt Barlow and Mr. Straker, antique dealers who just bought the haunted Marsten House on the hill and plan to open an antique store in town … the number of deaths grow exponentially after their arrival … however, the corpses disappear from the cemetery and mortuary, and Matt, Ben, and Susan must convince the town the corpses are actually undead vampires …

And God, are these vampires terrifying! They can float and fly … their eyes can hypnotize victims … their lust for blood is insatiable … and they hunt their parents, their children, their friends … i usually read before bedtime - not a good idea with this book! … because every little scratch in the window creeped me the eff out as I imagined a vampire floating in fog outside my window, waiting, beckoning…

But perhaps the most memorable character and the most tragic victim in this book is ‘Salem’s Lot itself … King describes in the beginning how it has become a ghost town, how so many of the residents simply disappeared … but once Ben arrives in town, which is two years before the initial description of the town, King populated the town with his signature quirky characters and the town lives and breathes with both comical and tragic moments, as the vampires literally suck the life out of the town … I not only missed the characters that were killed, but I missed the idea of a small town where windows and doors were never locked, where neighbors gossiped about each other but also cared about their well-being …

***There is a trigger alert in this book, however … there are horrific descriptions of child abuse, so graphic that it brought tears to my eyes … ***

For a wicked scare, I would highly recommend this book!

«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.

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.