'Salem's Lot (Package May Vary)
NOW A NEW FILM STREAMING ON MAX • #1 BESTSELLER • Ben Mears has returned to Jerusalem’s Lot in hopes that exploring the history of the Marsten House, an old mansion long the subject of rumor and speculation, will help him cast out his personal devils and provide inspiration for his new book.
"A master storyteller." —The Los Angeles Times
When two young boys venture into the woods, and only one returns alive, Mears begins to realize that something sinister is at work. In fact, his hometown is under siege from forces of darkness far beyond his imagination. And only he, with a small group of allies, can hope to contain the evil that is growing within the borders of this small New England town.
With this, his second novel, Stephen King established himself as an indisputable master of American horror, able to transform the old conceits of the genre into something fresh and all the more frightening for taking place in a familiar, idyllic locale.
"A master storyteller." —The Los Angeles Times
When two young boys venture into the woods, and only one returns alive, Mears begins to realize that something sinister is at work. In fact, his hometown is under siege from forces of darkness far beyond his imagination. And only he, with a small group of allies, can hope to contain the evil that is growing within the borders of this small New England town.
With this, his second novel, Stephen King established himself as an indisputable master of American horror, able to transform the old conceits of the genre into something fresh and all the more frightening for taking place in a familiar, idyllic locale.
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Community Reviews
Wow. The lack of imagination in this book is appalling. He took the vampire-lore straight out of Dracula, stuck them in small town America and added a haunted house for good measure. The amount of times I wanted to DNF this book is actually wild. Not only is the town itself uncreative, but he filled it with the most despicable people you could possibly imagine, then started making every person in the town a vampire. He puts a group of highly unqualified white men (and a child who has more bravery than all of them combined) in charge of being rid of the town’s vampire problem. Not only did it take 200+ pages for anything of substance to actually occur, but it quickly becomes evident that none of it even matters because they all become vampires anyway. Then, magically, the white men save the town.. sort of? I’m not even sure because I started skimming.
Someone please explain to me what I’m missing because I couldn’t have finished this book any quicker.
Side note, I know this was published in 1975 but some of the language in this book has NOT aged well and was borderline offensive.
Someone please explain to me what I’m missing because I couldn’t have finished this book any quicker.
Side note, I know this was published in 1975 but some of the language in this book has NOT aged well and was borderline offensive.
What a fantastic take on the hierarchy of the vampire realms. I enjoyed the education immensely. I love Stephen and THIS is a good one, IMHO.✌️
SO...MANY...WORDS.... I enjoyed the characters and their connections but not much else. The last 20% of the book with the letters from the past was a bore and could have completely been summed up in 2 sentences. This is my 2nd Stephen King book and they are just not for me.
I believe this book was first released in 1975 - what I can say is personally, I felt it held up amazingly well for its age. The pieces that dated it (Sucrets, old TV shows) actually dredged up some fun nostalgia from my childhood.
I was immediately caught up in this story and it literally consumed me - if I wasn’t reading it, I was hurrying to get finished with whatever it was keeping me from it so I could get back to it.
Stephen King takes his time in setting this up - he builds out the town and all the people in it and the end result is brilliant. I felt as if I were part of ‘Salem’s Lot - I could picture the town and the townspeople felt well known to me. A lot of folks call it a slow burn, but I didn’t get that feel. There are so many times where little strange and mysterious and downright creepy things happen....and you KNOW something is coming, therefore, you are looking around the corner of every page in gripping anticipation. There were times I had to put it down because it scared me, lol. I swear every afternoon when I would sit down with this book, a thunderstorm would come up and just add to the horror unfolding in this little town.
The ending felt a little open ended to me, which further added to the creepiness. I’ll admit it gave me bad dreams last night....hope I can sleep tonight....
I was immediately caught up in this story and it literally consumed me - if I wasn’t reading it, I was hurrying to get finished with whatever it was keeping me from it so I could get back to it.
Stephen King takes his time in setting this up - he builds out the town and all the people in it and the end result is brilliant. I felt as if I were part of ‘Salem’s Lot - I could picture the town and the townspeople felt well known to me. A lot of folks call it a slow burn, but I didn’t get that feel. There are so many times where little strange and mysterious and downright creepy things happen....and you KNOW something is coming, therefore, you are looking around the corner of every page in gripping anticipation. There were times I had to put it down because it scared me, lol. I swear every afternoon when I would sit down with this book, a thunderstorm would come up and just add to the horror unfolding in this little town.
The ending felt a little open ended to me, which further added to the creepiness. I’ll admit it gave me bad dreams last night....hope I can sleep tonight....
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