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Apr 06, 2010

Kasia rated it:

I find Stephen King repetitive, his characters not all that likable, his endings BAD. But I like silly potboilers featuring vampires. Don't judge me!! I'm an vampire fanatic, and Salem's Lot is one of the undead classics, I was bound to read it. Ok, I was bound to listen to the audiobook, if I were to be precise. Hiking on a trail in Carpathians (same Carpathians that count Dracula had his monstrous castle in), getting soaked to the bone* (oh how I hate the treacherous mountain weather!), with m More...

10 comments like (21 people liked it)

Oct 30, 2007

Mary rated it:

I hate vampires. I hate them and I hate books about them. I hate the way they're romanticized and sexualized and just generally presented in modern fiction. That's why I loved this book. King doesn't shy away from the fact that vampires are creatures of horror and he presents them as such. They are vile, violent, and everywhere, and that's the way I like them.

The characters pitted against them, particularly the priest, are compelling and almost too human to face the vampires. And More...

4 comments like (44 people liked it)

Oct 11, 2011

♥ Cheshire Catt ♠ rated it:

Now here is how you write a vampire novel (i.e. suck it Twilight) - scary, creepy with vampires who are evil and not romantic or alluring. This is vintage King at his best with a fast paced story that will keep the pages turning.

A writer with some ghosts of his own comes back to the one place he remembers as home - Salem's Lot - to write his next novel. Once there he rediscovers the quaint little town and falls in love but I guess you could say the boy has no luck. After a small chi More...

6 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 30, 2010

Kat rated it:

Salem’s Lot is the first and only Stephen King novel I’ve ever read.

To be honest, this is a short review because I didn’t finish it. The problem wasn’t that King wasn’t a compelling writer who has obviously honed his craft. Every single chapter was interesting and immersive. I found myself drawn into the world he was spinning and deeply intrigued by the mystery of it all.

However, I suppose I couldn’t read it because this book is what I imagine it would be like to live with More...

14 comments like (9 people liked it)

Sep 14, 2010

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" rated it:

City folk have a distinct misconception about small towns. We tend to believe that they are tranquil and innocent. That the denizens are wholesome and full of family values. But, we don't see the hidden rot that lurks beneath the sleepy facade.

Stephen King does a lot to shatter that myth with 'Salem's Lot. This a horror novel about a vampire who destroys a town from the inside out. This is a horror story about the darkness that we don't see clearly (or maybe we ignore) about our f More...

39 comments like (32 people liked it)

Dec 03, 2008

Jim rated it:

Something's amiss in the town of Salem's Lot. The body count is piling up. What could be at the root of this trouble? It takes a few hundred pages for it to become clear in the text, but I can't help but think this picture of a person with two puncture wounds in her neck on the cover of my edition might be a clue . . . . Probably werewolves. Or mummies?

As close observers of my profile will know, I'm quite the Stephen King fan. This is one of his earlier novels, and I think it sh More...

3 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Robotribble rated it:

This is the fifth Stephen King book I've read so far, and each time I read one, I feel like I'm practically a part of the story. Unlike certain books, you don't have to torture yourself into getting past the first few excruciatingly slow chapters to find something interesting.

I love the fact that King's characters all seem like people you'd meet off the street; real, not too righteous. Even the bad guys have a streak of good, usually. 'salem's Lot is an incredible book due mostly to More...

3 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2010

Rauf rated it:

What Ben Mears did on the very last page of 'Salem's Lot, it was as if he flicked that first domino, the one that would send the other dominos to tumble and fall, forming pretty patterns.
This novel, King's second, was far more ambitious and far better, than his debut, Carrie. The premise was simple: vampires are a-coming to a small town in Maine. Their agenda was also simple: they need blood to stay alive.
The haters would say this book is slow-paced, boring. Not enough action. A tota More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 29, 2008

Al rated it:

Unbelievable as it may be, I'm a newcomer to Stephen King. I decided to start with this one, since it appeared shorter than most and I'm sick to death of 800 page books. I wasn't sure what to expect, but what I got seemed to be a pretty garden-variety vampire tale. Yes, there are flights of discourse on the state of evil in today's world, and yes, there are vibrant descriptions of various typical small-town characters and their tawdry doings, and yes, some of the action scenes are real More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

R. rated it:

Christ - everybody: back in the car. NOW.

Yesterday, I took a stretch break in Ritzville, Washington. I couldn't help myself: I put my hands on my hips, looked up and down the empty avenue and said, out loud, "Things just aren't the same in Salem's Lot these days."

It's not a quotation from the book, mind you. Rather, a nod to the power of this tale to color one's opinion of the small, sleepy town just off the road.

I even stepped into an antique s More...

36 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 25, 2008

Jean rated it:

When it comes to scary, I'm a total wimp. No horror films for this girl. For years, I was too scared to pick up a Stephen King novel. Fortunately, I could cover for my cowardice with the Lit. major's excuse: intellectual snobbery--King is for the masses. But then I read The Dark Tower series and had to eat my words. I loved The Dark Tower and decided to read some more King. So I dove into Salem's Lot. Not as scary as I thought (although there were a couple late night moments when I didn't dare l More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2009

Dylan rated it:

This is the first book I've read of the amazing author, Stephen King. It was the scariest vampire story I've ever read. The characters were well developed and the Marsten House is like a modern version of Dracula's Castle. This is classic vampire fiction. I'm definately going to read more books by Stephen King.

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 04, 2011

Adam rated it:

It's really good. It's the sort of genre book that would work even if there was no supernatural content or even horror-based suspense, just because the setting and characters are so well-drawn.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 24, 2011

jzhunagev rated it:

The Town Knew Darkness
(A Book Review of Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot)

Far more complex than his debut Carrie, Stephen King ups the ante in his sophomore hit ‘Salem’s Lot, published in 1975. Raising the bar of horror from a quaint character study of a girl coming to terms with her powers and her eventual maturity, King opts to a much larger grasp of the terrors that haunts us (or more specifically the American way of life) by digging into the darkness hidden in the human heart an More...

6 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 22, 2011

Myvampfiction rated it:

review by Meesh

*Warning: possible spoilers ahead.*

So, today I was scheduled to do a review of Dacre Stoker's book, Dracula - The Un-dead, the sequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula. Why am I reviewing 'Salem's Lot instead? Because I haven't been able to read the other book, not in the three weeks I've had the book and have tried and tried to read it. Many times. Considering I was once a professional editor, it kind of astounds me that I can't finish the book. Hell, I can't even More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 24, 2011

Miss Kim rated it:

This book takes about 300 pages to actually heat up. It wasn’t so dull that I wanted to put it down, but I was still thinking “Come on Mr. King, entertain me.” There are many other reviews on this one, so I will keep it short. I will mention a few scenes that had my heart beating fast:

*The girl, who shall now have a place on my ‘She is Too Stupid to Live” shelf, decides she’s going to tromping through the woods to sneak up on the King Vampire’s house and kill him--alone. At least More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jun 03, 2010

Misha added it

I stayed up far too late last night watching the Rob Lowe miniseries adaptation and now I'm jonesing to read the book, despite chortling a bit over Rutger Hauer and Donald Sutherland's performances as an elderly ~~gay~~ vampire and his elderly human ~~lover~~ watchdog. What captured me were the voice overs about the nature of small town evil, and I'm hoping that's what I'll get in the book. I would enjoy some good creeping horror as Halloween approaches.

I also have the David Soul 1970s TV mi More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 30, 2010

Amy (amyb2332) rated it:

This was my very first Stephen King book and overall I really enjoyed the book. I had pretty high expectations because some girls on my online book club really love SK. I have to say that for the most part, my expectations were met!

The one thing that surprised me was that I had expected the story to be a lot scarier. It was creepy in parts but not very gruesome. I've read other mysteries or true crime books that grossed me out much more. And I think part of the lack of scaryness w More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 31, 2009

Patrick rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Oct 18, 2010

Lola rated it:

"Salem’s Lot" is a terrifying vampire novel based around central character, novelist Ben Mears, and the strange occurrences that take place in his childhood town of Jerusalem's Lot. The odd happenings have a seemingly sinister feel, from disappearances to dead dogs, and it’s obvious that something undeniably evil is afoot in the small town. King writes this story with it being understood that Ben is the main character, but frequently delves into the minds of other residents of “The Lot More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 01, 2011

Joanna rated it:

'salem's Lot is about Jerusalem's Lot, a small town in Maine that becomes infested with vampires, and the few people who realize what's happening and try to stop it before it's too late.

'salem's Lot is a first for King in a few ways; it's his first foray into the world of vampires, his first novelist as a main character, and it's his first story with a young boy forced to dig deep for strength who fights for the white or the goodness of all mankind.

The problems with this More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 16, 2008

Nikki rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 17, 2008

. r a c h a b e t h . rated it:

This book took me a week to read. I'm not even kidding - I couldn't put the bloody thing down, which really didn't help me much on My Quest To Ace A Final Exam, but no matter!

This book was suspenseful, filled to the brim with character development, and sprinkled with such a feeling of dread that the reader just knew that life in the New England town wasn't going to end well. The pacing was perfect. Although it took awhile to get into the gruesome stuff, I wasn't bored for even a sec More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

Ed rated it:

May 5, 2008
Started reading this book while driving from CA to IA. Actually, it is starting very slowly. For the first 6 chapters King is introducing every person in the town of Salem's Lot. I hope there is a reason for this. I think this will get a lot better as I get deeper into the book.

Update 6-1-2008
I'm still reading this book. It is getting much better as I get into it so I raised it from 2 stars to 4. I am about 65% done. Yes, the beginning started out slowly, b More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 25, 2010

Colleen rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 14, 2010

April rated it:

Hehehe... well... been a looong time since I read this one, but would have to put it as my favorite Stephen King, and since I have hit the K's... guess it only makes sense to creep myself out for a week or so! Here we gooo... shame I can't get David Soul's image out of my head when I read it though....

Okay... so.... scary. Yes indeed. Still one of my favorites. Wasn't much I didn't remember even though I have not read this one for over 20 years, must have imprinted good! Five ou More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 01, 2011

Edward rated it:

I am a novice to Stephen King's works and am just now reading his novels in chronological order. After reading Salem's Lot, already I can see why he has the reputation of master storyteller. The vampire story has never been much of an interest of mine, but his depiction of the vampire's seductive power certainly stimulated my interest. This book was hard to put down because it had momentum and continued to have momentum from start to end.

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 02, 2007

Lee rated it:

I read this for a contemporary literary theory class my senior year in college. Everyone was like, yo, why are all the dorky english major types -- with their fuzzy hair, silly wool hats, scarves, leather footwear, black coffee in Oberlin Student Cooperative Association travel mugs -- why are all these pretentious dorks reading Stephen King?! It was a real uproar. All I remember was thinking that the writing was lame. It wasn't even scary. I made it to about page 200, before the vampires or what More...

26 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 15, 2010

Mike (the Paladin) rated it:

Actually a fairly standard vampire story (With a tie into King's Dark Tower series like a lot of his books).

I was somewhat disappointed in that I had a sense that the book could have been so much more. I got that from several of King's books. This is an earlier work by King and even here there is something I noted in a lot of his books. He seems totally incapable of imagining what I'd call, an "untainted protagonist".

.....************** slight spoiler *** More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2009

Zach rated it:

The creepiest, scariest book. It didn't scare me at first, but after I thought about what had happened, it gave me goosebumps.

1 comment like (2 people liked it)