Salem's+Lot

Rating: 3 stars

Summary: Author Ben Mears returns to his hometown of 'Salem's Lot, a small forgotten New England town, not only in an attempt to kindle a new book by revisiting the town's local haunted mansion, the Marsten House, but to overcome some of his most lasting fears of the place. He meets native Susan Norton just in time for two young brothers to take a shortcut through the woods and only one to come out, and begins to realize something much more dangerous than the childhood demons he expected to face has taken up residence in 'Salem's Lot.

Review: This is not my first journey into a King novel, the first being //The Long Walk//. However, it is the first book I've read under his real name (//The Long Walk// having been published under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman). King's writing is excellent as usual, though some looking for immediate gratification for picking up the book might feel it takes too long to get to any of the action. It's an older book, published in 1975, and the villains here will be edging into disturbing and creepy rather than brooding and misunderstood. It's okay. You'll survive. The characters are interesting, and the plot is twisty, shedding just enough light that you feel you can step confidently forward into the darkness, only to discover that just out of the light's illumination there's nothing to stand on. However, the vagueness of the religious overtones might be off putting to some, or the heavy religiousness at all. In a somewhat odd contrast, I found the sexual nature of the book strange too. There's nothing particularly graphic (by my standards), but there is sex, as well as of mentions of rape anywhere from explicitly stated in the text to merely implied. This is not a funny book. This is not a happy book. Please don't expect it to be. The monsters in this novel are certainly not the only evils. Having said that, if you're a fan of Mr. King, or haven't been scared off yet, pick it up. I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped to, but I'd recommend it anyway.