'Salem's Lot

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Ron McLarty, Stephen King

#1 BESTSELLER • Soon to be a new major motion picture • Writer Ben Mears has returned to his childhood home of 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.

Writer Ben Mears has returned to his hometown of Jerusalem's Lot with the hope that moving into a delapidated mansion, long the subject of town lore, might help him get a handle on his life and provide inspiration for a new book. But when two young boys venture into the woods and only one comes out alive, Mears begins to realize that there may be something sinister at work.

In time, he comes to understand that his hometown is under siege from forces of darkness far beyond his wildest imagination. And only he, with a small group of allies, can hope to contain the evil that is tearing the town apart.

Motion Picture Artwork © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

©2012 Stephen King (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A master storyteller.” (The Los Angeles Times)

“Stephen King has built a literary genre of putting ordinary people in the most terrifying situations. . . . He’s the author who can always make the improbable so scary you'll feel compelled to check the locks on the front door.” (The Boston Globe)

“[The] most wonderfully gruesome man on the planet.” (USA Today)

Thank God! Not Twilight

Any additional comments?

Stephen King has written over 150 different stories, but his reported favorite of the bunch is"Salem's Lot" (1975). Salem's Lot (SL) was King's second book following Carrie (1974). In my opinion, King loved SL because it represented a transition between stories about unique individuals to stories about groups of characters interacting in social systems under duress. SL is ultimately about a group of small town folk dealing with a vampire crisis. When reading/listening to SL, true Stephen King fans will feel the rumblings of his more complex future works (IT, The Stand, and The Dome), where large groups of people form alliances to survive a supernatural calamity. With SL, King begins to lay out the formula that he will return to build some of his best novels.

Although SL has interesting historical significance for King fans, the book limps along for the first 40% of the story. King seems to struggle setting up the chess board for future play. His introduction of characters are often too long and their individual stories are often irrelevant to the plot. Considering the overall length of the book (it's a long one), it seems to meander pointlessly during several sections.

However, King kicks SL into high gear just before halftime. What follows is an exciting and well designed adventure that should not be missed. SL may be King's scariest book with so many wonderfully chilling scenes that you will certainly not sleep with your bedroom windows open despite the summer heat. I also admired King's complete knowledge of the Bram Stoker's "Dracula" and the vampire genre. King does his homework and does not reinvent vampires to sensationalize his story. There are no Stephanie Myer invented vampires here, King's vampires will eat your babies and poop out their remains.

Overall, I would recommend SL to all readers/listeners who enjoy SK or horror books in general. However, you cannot quit on this book until your more than halfway in. If you're not hooked by the halfway point your probably not going to be hooked at all.

On my book rank order evaluation system, SL ranks 37th of the 66 books I have read/listened to over the last 2 years.

Creepy...but a bit dusty.

If you could sum up Salem's Lot in three words, what would they be?

Ultimately, this is a creepy novel that builds tension as a vampire lays his teeth into a small, unsuspecting teen. It starts of slow, but moves as quickly as the vampire infection, and turns into a tense, nail-biting, damn scary thriller. Some aspects of the story don't hold well over time, so certain parts did seem a bit dusty.

So...Dusty, Scary, Creepy

Which character – as performed by Ron McLarty and Stephen King – was your favorite?

McLarty performed all the characters pretty evenly.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The scene where Danny Glick scratches on Mark Petrie's windows brought back nightmares of the "Salem's Lot" TV miniseries. Also, when Mike Ryerson attacks Matt Burke the teacher and McLarty reads as Ryerson - his voice completely conveys the creepiness and fright of the moment.

Any additional comments?

I was a bit concerned when this book first started, is it does start off as a bit of a 70s romance novel more than a vampire novel. But, then I began to realize that was why it was so masterfully written. The story starts off as innocent, with some creepy elements, especially with the ever present Marsten house...and as the vampire's presence becomes known, the story picks up and moves beyond the innocent love story and quickly becomes a tense, scary horror novel.

Solid King story

Would you consider the audio edition of Salem's Lot to be better than the print version?

Never read the print.

If you’ve listened to books by Stephen King before, how does this one compare?

Not as good as Under the Dome, not nearly as large in scale.

Who was the most memorable character of Salem's Lot and why?

Probably Straker. Seems so creepy and the main bad guy is "on screen" so relatively rarely.

Any additional comments?

If I have anything bad to say about this book it's that the beginning is a bit long and it's almost like he rushed the middle and the end. It seems like just when the action is getting going the book is finishing up. King tends to write pretty long books so I was a bit surprised to be in the thick of it and notice only about 2 hours left of play time. Others have noted that there are parts of this book that are downright terrifying and I will wholeheartedly agree with them. When Matt is "alone" in his house I almost had to stop listening as I was walking into my dark apartment alone.

Maybe My Favorite Book of All Time

King at his best. Almost Tarantino style 20 years before Tarantino. Every character has there own importance and time-line, that all intertwine throughout. Amazing depiction of small town gossip, and you really just see the Lot as a living breathing place, where everyone knows everyone. It's probably the most accurate depiction of where I grew up, that I've seen in literature. All the Vampire stuff was pretty on point too. I like those classic rules where crosses, and holy water and faith are the most valuable weapons. Modern Vampire lore keeps taking the religion out of it like it's a bold choice to be a vampire, and "now you just have superpowers" ,instead of being murdered, and doomed to feed off the living and being forsaken.

Fantastic plot great acting, meh characters

I really enjoy just about all of Steven King's work. and I particularly enjoyed this one as well. But in this book he interjected himself into not only the main characters but into just about every character in the story and it makes them a bit too predictable in terms of we already know what they will do before it happens.

But other than that it is a 100% original piece written about what would have happened if Dracula came to the US in 1975. and while it might be dated I quite enjoyed the scenes from the 70's in that it's something different that I never got to experience and he draws them quite well going through daily life.

If you want a scary book with a good deep story look no further.

Going quietly into the dark night to find the sweet.

What to say here...I am a writer of horror and enjoy the aspects of the genre. King is a master at his work but I haven’t been a big fan of his writing, it seems contrived or too over done at times. However, I loved the shining but it didn’t make me a King fan. Yet, after reading Salem’s Lot....I am now a King fan. He brought together a wonderful narrative of an old perfect tale of Dracula, put it on its head and spun it round. Absolutely wonderful tradition and gothic Americana vampire fiction.

Great vampire story

This is my first book review on Audible. This is a great vampire story and I love the small town setting. It's perfect for this story line and for a big city girl like me, it takes me out of my element. Now I'm scared to visit any small and dying towns! Not really, but it will make me a little more cautious. You can tell that this book is written in the 70's and it's a little dated but main concept of vampires never changes and it still will put fear in your heart.

One of my favorite King story.

The reader was excellent, one of the best I can recall hearing. The story is outstanding and I think I learned some stuff about writing along the way. This is one of my top 3 King novels and I can’t praise this version highly enough.

Chilling moments

Not my favorite from SK, however it definitely had some very good moments. Great characters, the performance was executed very well. Good story, dont get me wrong. Just not his "best" in my personal opinion. Enjoy!

Gorgeous Descriptions

I love this book. I read a physical copy years ago and it was a huge treat to listen to it. The descriptions are stunning, on par with Stoker's Dracula.
I love this book so much.