‘Salem’s Lot (1975) by Stephen King

I can clearly remember when my mom discovered Stephen King. She had always had a passion for a good scary read, mainly focusing on the horror books that bubbled to the surface of the mainstream in the late 60s and early 70s and ended up in our local library. She read Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby, William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist, The Tribe (an underrated early breakthrough by Bari Wood), Tom Tryon's The Other plus Harvest Home, and then Carrie by Stephen King.

It was when she read King’s The Shining that I recall her proclaiming that nobody had ever scared her like Stephen King could, which intrigued me. I was 15-years old in 1977 when The Shining was published, which means I was that age when I first read ‘Salem’s Lot and the prime motivator for that endeavor was because I found out it dealt with vampires. I was thoroughly fascinated by the idea of a modern adult book dealing with a subject matter that at the time seemed more fitting to be featured in a Marvel comic book, like Tomb of Dracula.

The first time I read ‘Salem’s Lot, I devoured it in great gulps, completing it over the course of a single weekend. I have since read it 3 more additional times, including just last week. I was recently reminded that King himself referred to the book as an attempt to crossbreed the small-town soapy drama of Peyton Place with the vampire horror of Dracula. This was King’s second published novel and would help to catapult him fully into the mainstream. It’s a big sprawling ambitious book yet, when compared to increasingly bloated later works by the author, it’s downright economical and lean.

‘Salem’s Lot is written in a third person omniscient voice that enables the reader to slip into the points of view of a good dozen characters. Collectively they provide a reference point for what eventually becomes the primary character of the novel—the town of Jerusalem’s Lot itself. Our chief human protagonist is Ben Mears, a young novelist who has never again realized the success of his debut novel. Further, Ben is currently struggling with writer’s block following a motorcycle accident which resulted in the death of his wife the year before. A former resident of the town, Ben has returned to ‘Salem’s Lot, with the intention of writing about the Marsten House, a giant gothic home with a dark history that sits on a hill overlooking the entirety of the town. Ben has a personal history involving the Marsten House where, as a young boy, he saw the ghost of its owner hanging in an upper room. Upon his return, he discovers that there is a mysterious new owner of the brooding manse on the hill.

Over the course of the next hundred pages we are introduced to a vast array of characters, some of whom will move front and center while most will simply add requisite color and detail, fleshing out the Lot into a believable mosaic of small-town New England life. In addition to Ben, our main cast coalesces into a group consisting of Susan Norton, a young college-age woman who will eventually become a romantic interest for Ben; Matt Burke, a high school literature teacher who is something of a mentor to Ben once he begins his crusade against evil; Jimmy Cody, the town doctor whose medical knowledge will become invaluable; Father Callahan, an alcoholic priest suffering a faith crisis; and Mark Petrie, a young boy with an encyclopedia-like knowledge of all things related to classic movie monsters. We will also be introduced to Richard Straker, the human familiar to the centuries-old vampire, Kurt Barlow. Though Barlow’s presence and evil influence is felt from early on, he remains hidden from the page until ¾ of the way through. In this respect he is a bit like the shark in the movie, Jaws—felt but not clearly seen.

Once the horror elements start in earnest, they increase in both frequency and severity, leaving many scenes burned into my memory from when I was 15. I am happy to report that they have also lost none of their impact in the intervening years—much of it remains pure nightmare fuel. Whether it’s adolescent vampire Danny Glick hovering outside of Mark’s second floor window, entreating the boy to let him in, Matt Burke’s terror-stricken ascent up the stairs to a bedroom where a vampiric Mike Ryerson awaits, Father Callahan’s desecration and its heart-wrenching aftermath, or a daylight journey by Susan and Mark into the dragon’s lair of Marsten House to personally wrangle with its demons, ‘Salem’s Lot delivers on its promised terror with dark fervor. 

However, the scenes that have stuck with me the most have to do with the presentation of power to be found in the artifacts which represent Christendom in this town where pure evil has been unleashed. Brandished crosses glow with unearthly light when in the presence of the vampires, even when fashioned out of tongue depressors that have been taped together. Holy water glows with “eldritch blue fairy light” and travels against gravity along an axe handle to imbue the axe wielder’s muscles with supernatural strength and vigor. That yin and yang of primal power, both good and evil, is a potent element mixed in to a book that stripped of its horror core could basically be a soap opera of small-town drama and relational tension. In the hands of Stephen King at the height of his prowess, it is a master’s class in dread, terror, and escalating tension, all leading to a well-earned pay-off.

After so many doorstop best-sellers over the decades and countless movie and television adaptations (many quite mediocre), it can be easy to forget about the literary genius of early Stephen King. The man had a grasp of poetic prose and relatable characterization that deserves serious reassessment. Is ‘Salem’s Lot perfect? No, it still rambles on a bit too much and has a pretty condescending view of most all of the everyday citizens with whom King populates his fictional town. But its strengths are manifold and the cumulative effect is an important part of mainstream modern horror and a definitive addition to vampire fiction that rightly deserves to be acknowledged as a masterpiece.

Highest recommendations!

Review by Steve Carroll