'Salem's Lot (Movie Tie-in)

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Ron McLarty, Stephen King

Length: 17 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

#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.

Interesting way to do a story about vampires.

Very good suspense. The ending was barely happy enough for me. This is not a fun and entertaining read. It’s suspense. We get to know many people in the town of Jerusalem’s Lot, which is well done and interesting. Good dialogue and events. I needed to take notes to remember them all, which I didn’t mind. The vampire Barlow and his human servant Straker are bad. But the thing that upset me the most was the mother who beat her ten-month-old baby. Other unpleasant people included a mean bus driver who would unfairly force some kids to walk home, and the married woman who sexually enticed a 22-year-old telephone line worker. He was reluctant to have sex with her, but she was difficult to refuse. There are many negative people but also some good people.

My favorite part was 11-year-old Mark. He was into comic books and monster action figures. Instead of disbelief when he sees the first vampire, he immediately plans to trick it by inviting the vampire in and then presses a crucifix to the vampire’s skin. (I’m shaking my head that he just assumed what was in his comic books would work. What if these real life vampires were different from his comic books? But what he did worked! Wow!) There were several situations where Mark was surprised with danger and reacted and attacked in his own unexpected way. I was impressed! He was at the age of kow-kapow-attack-back instead of cautious thinking or fearful hiding or fleeing. I was considering 3 ½ stars for this book, but Mark is the reason I rounded to 4 stars.

WHAT WAS MISSING?
I wanted a more complete ending. I wanted more about the survivors at the end - something toward their future.

PROLOGUE:
The prologue is about 16 pages. It’s better to read after the book not before. Reading it before the book raised questions and was not helpful. After the book I went back and read the prologue and it made sense and I felt good about it.

CAUTION SPOILERS (This is what I wanted to know before I read the book):
When many people are killed or turned into vampires, it’s not as depressing as one might expect. Partly because there’s not much grief or time spent on good people being hurt. In the end Straker and Barlow are stopped which was important to me. As to other happy ending issues, some good guys died, but other good guys survived.

NARRATORS:
The narrator of the book is Ron McLarty and he does a good job. I love the Audible narrator who introduces the book at the beginning of the tape - don’t know his name. He’s much better than other Audible introducers.

DIFFERENT EDITIONS OF SALEM’S LOT:
If you plan to read the physical book (not the audiobook) I suggest you buy the Illustrated Edition published in 2004 and/or later. It has deleted scenes at the end which are not in the audiobook. Other reviewers liked them. One of those scenes is about a gang of rats in a basement. That was not in this audiobook.

Genre: paranormal suspense

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.

Loved it

Creepy good vampire story loved it not so long that it is a test of endurance like “it “ was even thought I loved that to but a great horror thriller with some good gut wrenching details

Riveting

A intensely great work of art, though the under tones are a little odd, it is worth every cent!

Excellent Book!

I am new to reading books by Steven King. This is my 3rd book I have read by him and I really love his style of writing!

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!

Classic story told as only SK could

Loved this book! Very descriptive and scary... Mark was a very admirable character. Listened in a drive from Dallas to Reno and was engaged the whole time.