Salem's Lot (Signet)
by Stephen King
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Book Summary Information
Author: Stephen KingEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1976-08-01
ISBN: 0451150651
Number of pages: 1
Publisher: Signet
Book Reviews of Salem's Lot (Signet)
Book Review: Revival of the Vampire
Summary: 5 Stars
Until Stephen King happened along the horror genre had languished, continually put down by a variety of critics in the so-called mainstream. King broke into print with "Carrie," and quickly followed up his initial success with a quasi-gothic story of a modern vampire. King's story brought new life into stories of vampires, firing the memories of those who fondly remembered the TV soap "Dark Shadows."
King sets his story in the small Maine town of Jerusalem's Lot. King starts his story by detailing the recent and not-so-recent past of many of the denizens of Jerusalem's Lot. It also becomes apparent to the reader that the residents of Jerusalem's Lot are so caught up in their own petty problems and evils, including nosing into the lives of others, that they are unable to see the real evil that has come into their midst.
Rising above the concerns of the typical townspeople are Ben Mears, a young author with thus far minor success in the publishing world, Mark Petrie, a boy who would have been remarkable in any setting, Matthew Burke, an aging teacher who wonders whether he has made any real difference in the world, and Father Callahan, a priest who has either lost his faith or is on the very edge of doing so. While the team is small, they are the few who are capable of leading the fight against the vampire who is slowly taking over the town, person by person.
On the other side of the fence are Mr. Barlow and Mr. Straker. We wonder early on whether there really is a Mr. Straker and though we know the story of Salem's Lot well enough to know there is a vampire, we wonder whether we are going to be fooled by some literary slight of hand.
Stephen King's success in this story comes not from the tale of the vampire, but by imbuing Salem's Lot the town with life, which King was able to do well because of his own personal knowledge of small town life in the northeast. The reader must believe in the dozens of mundane individuals that inhabit the town; how absolutely normal it all seems. Yet, there is an undercurrent of foreboding because there were already bad things in this town long before the vampire arrived. King has wrought a novel that is easy to dismiss at the beginning, but is rewarding for those that allow the characters to develop.
I consider this novel one of the best vampire novels ever written, and easily worth five stars.
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