Reviews with content warning for Gore - 'Salem's Lot

It was a good book, but lasted way too long. Also once again Stephen King brings things into the story he doesn't have to (ie sexual assault & domestic abuse). This is a book about vampires not abuse.

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kaimetcalfe's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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bookbelle5_17's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Review of my Reread of Salem’s Lot

By: Stephen King

Ben Mears is a mildly successful author, who hasn’t been back to his child home, Jerusalem’s Lot, in years, but he is still haunted by sneaking into the Marsten House and seeing the ghost of Hubie Marsten. Now, Ben wants to exorcise his demons, but this time a new demon has arrived in the Lot intending to sink his teeth into this town and make the place his playground.

Stephen King knows how to weave a good tale as he gives his own take on the vampire story. He knows how to build the tension and make it seem like things might be fine for the characters until the horror starts happening. Just like in Needful Things, and IT, King establishes the town and residents slowly giving the reader all the gritty details about each of the characters. In this case, it helps hint at how the vampire will lure them, relying on their selfish desires. One character, Dud Rogers is a hunchback and is constantly mocked and ridiculed, and the vampire promises to take this away and make him more attractive. He seduces his victims by promising to fulfill those desires. A serpent hissing in their ear, so to speak. If you hated, or at least are tired of the craze of romanticizing vampires this probably more of your kind of vampire. Barlow lurks in the shadows, hypnotizing his victims, but not lusting after them like in a lot of YA vampire stories. He sees them more as puppets and you get to see him luring them in. That’s something I wished Dracula had more of, but Dracula in the end was a heroes’ story. All the vampires in this are scary. He also describes the victim’s humanity dying in detail that is sad for those who love them and haven’t been bitten yet. but I do wish in one scene, where our heroes must stake a vampire that is connected to one of them in a more personal way, I would like there to have been a little more to the scene. Like the vampire trying to convince person to join them as a vampire I normally enjoy exposition scenes when shit hasn’t hit the fan just yet, but there were a couple of times when the characters were talking and wasting time. There was a scene where our heroes seem to have forgotten they don’t know where Barlow is, and he already warned him what he would do next now they have pissed him off. It was hard to also read about the baby that was being abused by its mother. There is romance, but it didn’t really get me in feels, but it was cute. It sad with what happens with the couple. Ben Mears is likable and flawed main character that is deeply affected by trauma in his life already, but Mark Petrie is my favorite. His bravery and acceptance of the situation is admirable, and he has a confidence of having a better understanding of things without being cocky about it. Despite him being 12 and me being 33, I related to his personality more than the other characters, though Matt Burke is a close second. I also like Father Callahan, especially since he is a priest, who doesn’t act self-righteous and is a man with faults making a far more interesting character. This vampire story kept me turning them pages and wanting to what was going to happen next. BTW, I personally think this is one of his good endings.

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dannilmp's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

You would think a novel with Salem in it's title would be about witches, but here you would be very wrong. A refreshing vampire read compared to the novels I grew up with during my teenage years (looking at you Twilight, vampire academy and the Morganville Vampire series). King takes what should be a dark topic and makes it even more so. We follow a young man recovering from personal loss as he ventures back to the town he once spent time in as a child. Except now new men have moved in and the mood has certainly changed.

It is King's ability to write a good atmospheric horror setting that makes me enjoy all of his work so much, the descriptions of the vampires, of their creation, their impact on the town and the rest of the living is so stomach churning,

especially the description of the smells these vampires leave behind

Honestly I think the priest was one of my favoutire characters for this novel.

I must say I wasn't a fan of the epilogue section of the novel, I thought this dragged out, didn't really add much more to the story but also didn't help to make the ending of the novel any clearer. In fact I think the epilogue muddied the experience and put me off of any ideas of a re-read any time soon.

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