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"Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings obliteration." - Frank Herbert, Dune.
In this recurring piece I'll be going book by book through the King's archive and providing mid new insights and expert literary analysis while ranking them in a system that is totally objective.
Next up on my journey through Steven King's work is a vintage volume.
Again I'm not going through these chronologically but simply as I meander through the bookstore and one catches my eye.
Book Title: Salem's Lot
Year of Release: 1975
Chronological Order in King's Work: 2nd
The synopsis from the back of the book:
Ben Mears has returned to Jerusalem's Lot in the hopes that living in an old mansion, long the subject of town lore, will help him cast out his own devils and provide inspiration for his 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 and that his hometown is under siege by forces of darkness beyond his control.
After reading the Institute I was feeling the need for a more traditional horror story from Mr. King. This one certainly seemed to fit the bill by the description. I would later find out it was firmly in the horror genre as it was his second published work, before it would appear the longevity of his career gave him free runway to explore with more variety.
Upon selecting Salem's Lot I was excited to pick up an older book of his as I had only read his recent work or a well known hit like The Stand. I was hoping it would allow me to pick up on any similarities or contrasts in style between his novels, or simply how he may have improved upon his writing over the years.
Diving into the book it became clear that even from his start, Stephen King was able to well craft a destination, town, landscape, and all the people within it in a way that builds anticipation and the creeping feeling that something is amiss. His greatest talent in my opinion is imbuing a physical place or object with a soul.
I'm sure it will be one of the more recurring themes of many of the books I dive into it, but essentially I am talking about is the dread he can build in a setting before any of protagonists or even ancillary characters are even at direct risk.
When talking about the characters here, it's hard not to ignore the knowledge, and really my bias, that Salem's Lot was his second book. I say this when looking at individual characters that I feel were undeveloped. Almost as if the horror of the book stepped on the toes of that development too early. Easy enough for me to say when I've developed jack shit myself but it's a circumstance of hindsight of course. There are plenty of books of King's I've read that had very strong characters and development of said characters. In my mind attempting to not compare them is impossible.
Our main protagonist is Ben Mears, an individual you find hard to like right away from his introduction to the story. Part of the problem is his aloofness that he seems to proudly carry as a writer coming home to drum up a story. That paired with his treatment of (seemingly taking advantage) a young Susan Norton who he quickly meets at the beginning of the story makes him an interesting leading man to try and root for. A mid thirties widowed artistic type enthralling a barely legal woman seems more like a writers fantasy and feels a bit off-putting.
From here on out I'll be getting into some of the specifics that inform my ranking and will want to warn of any spoilers in case, like me, you haven't read a book first published in 1975 and want a chance to discover it on your own. I'll make it standard practice moving forward with these reviews to delineate when spoilers begin and when they end if you wish to scroll past and see my final ranking and closing thoughts.
Right off the bat King introduces us to the malevolence that radiates from a single point in the town, The Marsten House, a source of town infamy. In it the old owner killed his wife by blowing her face off and hung himself in the top floor. After, it sat for years abandoned and town kids used to dare each other on who could get closest to it's doors without running away.
Ben Mears, through his memory as a young boy, recalls when he entered to gain the other kids respect and encountered the gruesome corpse still seemingly swinging from the rafters. That moment is seared in his brain and acts as the pull to bring him back to town many years later to examine and maybe conquer his primal misgivings of the building and perhaps put the death of his wife to bed as well. His thoughts are introduced in such a manner that makes clear to the reader he is not outwardly fearful of it, even though he suspects the very building itself harbors some evil. He wants to write another novel to continue his young but slowing career and monetizing his past while facing it head on seems like taking two birds out with one stone.
Unfortunately for the town, the Marsten House hasn't only pulled Ben back but has brought in an entity that thrives off it's negative energy and will plunge the area into terror and death.
While we don't get introduced directly to the entity until later on in the book, it's quite clear what is causing the chaos.
A vampire.
What initially starts off with a missing kid, the severity of the situation becomes clear when that kid shows up to begin hunting and killing people who were close to him in life. This being a small town, you can see how things start to spiral out of control exponentially. In the days and weeks that pass more people are missing, and the fright of the town is palpable and seeps into the countryside alongside those few still living.
Now at this point my first reaction, again bearing in mind I was reading this in 2024, was "Great more goddamn vampires". Then I had to remind myself not to be an asshole and remember this was written back in 1975. While vampires have been in lore for centuries, it hasn't been done to death until more recently with Twilight, True Blood, and so on. In addition to my initial trepidation of what could be considered a villain trope, it's also worth remembering that this story was before cell phones or the internet. A real millennial thing to write and try not to look like a jackass but it does make the fact people aren't immediately alerted to the threat more understandable.
As to the other characters we are introduced to, there is one who thankfully stands out and whom I think is the most compelling. Mark Petrie, an 11 year old kid, is introduced to us in a manner that you can easily spot the inspiration Lee Child must have gotten to create Jack Reacher. A bully attempts to punk him on the playground on his first day and Mark lays him out. He is a cool, calculated customer who puts logic first and emotion second. While he loves his parents, he's keenly aware of their trepidation to accept what is happening in town and sets about helping save the town and himself dispassionately.
I can now appreciate and clearly see that Stephen King has always properly developed young characters that feel real and make you empathize with their fear and courage. It seems from his earliest work he had that specific talent which has allowed him to develop such unique stories. With Mark Petrie you root for him more than any of the other protagonists. Perhaps it's as simple as the innocence of a child. They don't have the baggage that adults do. With baggage comes the readers bias.
In the end of the story almost everyone in the town is either dead, or turned into the undead vampires from which a single 'master' sprang them. There were a few twists I liked, their vulnerabilities during the day that offset their strengths at night. Some old wives tales and lore about them being true and allowing the group of the living to have a slim chance to fight back. What felt a bit awkward for me, again I understand this was pre-internet/mobile phones, was the build up of the main villain as a clearly centuries old, smart adversary. The reason I take some issue here is that he essentially sets upon the town in wild frenzy with each victim going on to attack others. Wouldn't an aged vampire realize this chaos would destabilize his food supply and put him at risk? Wouldn't this draw all of his old adversaries such as the Church who could put him down? In King's defense he does go into the ego that the vampire must hold due to his long life and having a sense of invulnerability as a result. Still, his initial infiltration and assault of the town was so subtle that to see it quickly abandoned was somewhat noteworthy.
I realize this may seem like nitpicking, I get it, but as I go through these books it'll always be a response from my gut and that really stood out to me. If you've seen 30 Days of Night the film does a great job of answering one of my queries here in how the main antagonists would go about their 'business'.
In the end while I do have my reservations about the type of villain that our group of protagonists face, and a desire that characters were developed further, I certainly feel the book is a success in the horror genre. There is no doubt. How could there be any when this was King's second book that only served to propel him further on his prosperous career?
Also on a personal note, it's a really odd feeling trying to critique the material of an individual with such a vast array of work. By that I mean trying not to sounds like an ass who could possibly know more than him and at the same time, trying not to come off as a giant simp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simp).
Going forward I'll attempt to put my Irish Catholic guilt to the side and just write as I feel it without the additional paragraphs of self explanatory apologies and whatnot so you can actually get to the ranking. Clearly, I'm working on my own character development.
Rating: 3.7/5 King's
Kirk's Rankings:
Salem's Lot (3.7/5)
The Institute (3.0/5)
If you have any comments, questions, or recommendations in regards to this series, feel free to email me at kirk@illandodd.com and I'll be sure to get back to you and may include them as part of a mailbag section.