A review by immabehazzie
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I don’t know what it is about Stephen King’s novels but I’m always entirely engrossed from start to finish even if the story is bad or a bit too disturbing. ‘Salem’s Lot’ wasn’t bad at all. In fact, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

However, I was promised “frightening” and “spine-chilling” and yet the only book of King’s that has managed to frighten me is ‘Pet Semetary’. That’s not to say that ‘Salem’s Lot’ isn’t a good horror novel - it is. It’s slow to start, focusing on building the characters and the town before ramping things up. There was a sense of dread and terror that slowly built throughout that fit this book well. 

‘Salem’s Lot’ is very clearly inspired by ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ by Shirley Jackson and not just because King puts a quote from the gothic story in the very beginning. There is a sense of an evil presence always lurking that haunts the characters and narrative. I think it was extremely well done and paid a well-done homage to the classic book. 

I also really enjoyed the portrayal of vampires in this novel. It takes ideas from the classic vampire lore such as they sleep during the day and need to be invited in as well as their aversion to stakes and crosses. The main vampire and his helper are definitely menacing and make for some pretty good antagonists.