gilda_elise

Stephen King's second novel, the vampire bestseller 'Salem's Lot, tells the story of evil in small-town America. For the first time in a major trade edition, this terrifying novel is accompanied by previously unpublished material from King's archive, two short stories, and eerie photographs that bring King's fictional darkness and evil to vivid life.

Also contains: One For the Road, Jerusalem's Lot

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. But 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.

Though only his second book, King hit it out of the ballpark. I remember reading it when it was first published, and it hasn’t lost any of its pathos, its suspense, its terror.

It’s hero, Ben Mears, moves back to the town out of his childhood, ‘Salem’s Lot. He has known danger there before, and has come to conquer it. But things don’t go as planned. There is a sickness that his come to ‘Salem’s Lot, and as the danger heightens, it shows King at his best, pulling the reader into the horror that is taking over the town. He’s a master at his craft.

It also shows how King had a way of creating characters who the reader can come to care for, who you want to succeed. And though, it being King, you don’t know who will live and who will die, you still can’t help but take them to heart. You want Ben to come through unscathed, or at least, alive.

Delightfully creepy, I think this is one book to which I’ll return, perhaps time and time again.