Salem's Lot was the very first Stephen King book I ever picked up and read. I was 14 at the time. Had me enthralled from the opening page and several of the scenes legitimately scared me. Finished the book in a couple of sittings and ran down to the bookstore to pick up five more King books. I re-read Lot this past summer at age 25 while working my way through the Dark Tower series and I found myself appreciating the book even more. While very little happens in the first 40% of the book, the slow burn and intense build-up is some of King's best work, IMO. I think I'd go so far as to say that I prefer the first half of the book to the second half. It is remarkably creepy.
Here's the link to The Losers Club podcast discussion of the book:
https://consequenceofsound.net/podca...-2-salems-lot/
Just finished a reread of the book, I think it was the 3rd time I read it, but the first time in probably 30 years. I read on old paperback version I bought in the 80's that was already ragged. I read the deleted scenes in the illustrated version in parallel.
Like some of the others on this thread, I don't get scared by books anymore. I do remember when I read it the first time when I about 15. I had finished reading for the night, and went to the restroom before going to bed. Everyone else in the house had been asleep for a long time. I remember being disappointed that I wasn't scared. I started to pyche my self out. I must have already read the Shining at that point. As I was sitting on the toilet, I started becoming more and more convinced that it was in my best interest not to check what was behind the shower curtain.
I think that the scenes that were cut were scarier then the ones kept in.
I think the only book that truly scared my was "The Amytiville Horror" I probably read the book in 78 or 79 when I was only 10 or 11. I also believed it was a true story at the time.
I think like SK talks about in Danse Macabre, the scariest things are the things you never see. I think that's why movies about haunted houses tend to scare me more then vampires and werewolves.
Wanted:
'Salem's Lot Portfolio #606
Fairy Tale UK S/L
The Dutch translation of 'Salem's Lot was the first King book I ever saw (my dad was reading it and I must have been 6 or 7 at the time). The cover made such an impression on me that when I finally read it myself (probably at the age of 13 or 14) I didn't really want to touch it
I'm 43 now and I still find 'Salem's Lot (and Pet Sematary) to be King's scariest books.
This was also my first Stephen King book. I picked it up a long long time ago.
Way back in November 2018
Giving this a first time read now. About 250 pages in and really liking it. After Wolves of the Calla I wanted some more Father Callahan and to know the complete story of the Lot.
Is the novel, Salem's Lot, about the national government not needing a means to sustain itself?
I'm interested, in your comment about very little happening in the first 40% of the book; my own response, to the nature of the storytelling, by King, is that the vampire sections in the first half of the story are fleeting intervals of tension. Moreover, the novel is what I find to be about people 's taking things for granted being the right attitude, perhaps because the national government is also in on the act, thereby exempting people's ignorance from guilt.