The book I have just finished is ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. As you probably know from the post before (if you have read it), I am a major Stephen King fan and I adore his work - which doesn’t mean I can’t be objective when reviewing.
'Salem’s Lot is about a little town in Maine, USA (I’ll tell you just in case you don’t know Stephen King’s stories are usually set in Maine) where the inhabitants are turned into vampires. Ben Mears, a merely successful author returns to 'the Lot’ to get to closure with his childhood memories he is traumatised by. All of that seems to get together in the Marsten House, a really spooky place where suspicious, strange new owners dwell.
Many fellow readers of Stephen King’s claim this book to be the most terrifying he’s ever written - I don’t agree with that. Although it is rather dark and mysterious at times (I really have to say I got the chills while reading) it remains mysterious which I find horrifying just the same, but for the story it doesn’t make a good impression on me. The UK version which I’ve read reveals a collection of deleted scenes and - I guess it’s an additional short story - which I think is a plus. What isn’t is that we don’t get to know the concept that these vampires live on. Stephen King gets a few things from Bram Stoker’s Dracula there, but he doesn’t really define his ideal of the vampires’ nature, which is quite confusing, I’d claim.
Another thing I’m not quite comfortable with is while Stephen King introduces us, the readers, to the new inhabitants of the Marsten House (the really, really dark and spooky haunted house you wouldn’t want to sneak in) he reveals some of the backgrounds of the two characters but not all of it, which is unusual. Of course, this is his second novel published, but I think I enjoyed 'Carrie’ more because it gives deeper insight to the concept of madness and the effects bullying can have, whereas 'Salem’s Lot is clearly a tribute to Bram Stoker when it’s not at the same time.
However, I enjoyed the characteristics Stephen King gives to his characters. While you find the drunk wife-beating agressive man and the old wise, witty and charming man and the young beautiful woman and, of course, the intelligent main character in every Stephen King book you also find a range of different characters that you can’t clearly place in this one which I find just great.
If you enjoy Stephen King but haven’t read as many books by him, this is the right choice for you. If you are an experienced Stephen King fan, you may have already read this one.
'Salem’s Lot is about a little town in Maine, USA (I’ll tell you just in case you don’t know Stephen King’s stories are usually set in Maine) where the inhabitants are turned into vampires. Ben Mears, a merely successful author returns to 'the Lot’ to get to closure with his childhood memories he is traumatised by. All of that seems to get together in the Marsten House, a really spooky place where suspicious, strange new owners dwell.
Many fellow readers of Stephen King’s claim this book to be the most terrifying he’s ever written - I don’t agree with that. Although it is rather dark and mysterious at times (I really have to say I got the chills while reading) it remains mysterious which I find horrifying just the same, but for the story it doesn’t make a good impression on me. The UK version which I’ve read reveals a collection of deleted scenes and - I guess it’s an additional short story - which I think is a plus. What isn’t is that we don’t get to know the concept that these vampires live on. Stephen King gets a few things from Bram Stoker’s Dracula there, but he doesn’t really define his ideal of the vampires’ nature, which is quite confusing, I’d claim.
Another thing I’m not quite comfortable with is while Stephen King introduces us, the readers, to the new inhabitants of the Marsten House (the really, really dark and spooky haunted house you wouldn’t want to sneak in) he reveals some of the backgrounds of the two characters but not all of it, which is unusual. Of course, this is his second novel published, but I think I enjoyed 'Carrie’ more because it gives deeper insight to the concept of madness and the effects bullying can have, whereas 'Salem’s Lot is clearly a tribute to Bram Stoker when it’s not at the same time.
However, I enjoyed the characteristics Stephen King gives to his characters. While you find the drunk wife-beating agressive man and the old wise, witty and charming man and the young beautiful woman and, of course, the intelligent main character in every Stephen King book you also find a range of different characters that you can’t clearly place in this one which I find just great.
If you enjoy Stephen King but haven’t read as many books by him, this is the right choice for you. If you are an experienced Stephen King fan, you may have already read this one.
(originally posted July 2015)
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