Salem's Lot by Stephen King

Title: Salem's Lot 
Publisher: Pocket 
Published date: November 1st 1999
Edition: Paperback, English


Salem's Lot is a small New England town with white clapboard houses, tree-lined streets, ad solid church steeples. That summer in Salem's Lot was a summer of home-coming and return; spring burned out and the land lying dry, crackling underfoot. Late that summer, Ben Mears returned to Salem's Lot hoping to cast out his ow devils...and found instead a new unspeakable horror.

A stranger has also come to the Lot, a stranger with a secret as old as evil, a secret that would wreak irreparable harm on those he touched and in turn on those they loved.

All would be changed forever--Susan, whose love for Ben could not protect her; Father Callahan, the bad priest who put his eroded faith to one last test; and Mark, a young boy who sees his fantasy world become reality and ironically proves the best equipped to handle the relentless nightmare of Salem's Lot.


My Thoughts


Salem's Lot was my first Stephen King novel, and I absolutely loved it. Who does't like a good Vampire book? I mean real vampires. The story begins with a prologue that will capture the reader's attention immediately. We know immediately something terrible has happened, and the prologue leaves the reader wanting to know more as to what happened. The way King introduces Salem's Lot, the town, we just know something is about to happen. The town is your typical town where nothing out of the ordinary occurs. Everyone knows each other's names, and nothing goes amiss. Nothing until Ben Mears arrives, and when the Marsten Mansion is bought.

I enjoyed the plot of the book very much. Although as a reader I knew some of the things that were going to happen, many things took me off guard, and kept me guessing. The plot was very engaging, and I zoomed through the book without ever dreading to read 500+ pages. King's writing is well understood, and does not drag into the boring category. King provides details about other character's in the town and what is/has happened to them. I found this very interesting, because it lets the reader know what is going on in Salem's Lot and not just the main characters. Many chapters were given to different characters, and the Lot itself, which I found to be a nice way to get to know some of the characters more in depth.

The characters were well developed (the main ones) and the reader had the opportunity to glimpse into the lives of the other characters. Mark has to be my favourite character because he is shown to be more courageous  then the grown up characters. Ben was also an interesting character because he had his own personal fights to concur. I also enjoyed the way King keeps the main antagonist in secret, leaving the reader guessing who it might be. Thumbs up for awesome suspense.


All in all, Salem's Lot is one of the best vampire books I've ever read. Number one spot is always Stoker's Dracula. I would recommend this book to anyone who reads and enjoys a good horror stories, with vampires that are real. Vampires that don't shimmer/glitter :P