'Salem's Lot by: Stephen King

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is one of my absolute favorite novels, so Stephen King’s take on Dracula in ‘Salem’s Lot was always going to be at least a slight difficulty in selling me on the story.  The novel takes the general structure of Stoker’s novel and the 1931 adaptation starring Bela Lugosi and essentially changing the setting to a small Maine town in the then contemporary 1970s.  Nearly all of the well known plot points from Dracula are paid tribute to by King from the manor house in which the vampire moves into, the praying on certain young children, the specter like nature which the vampires attack, and the small band of friends coming together to slay the beasts.  ‘Salem’s Lot tonally only matches Dracula in that it is a slow burn of a book with the first actual vampiric killing appearing about a third of the way through the novel.  As always, King makes the first killing one of the more gruesome, describing the disappearance and slow wasting of two small children.  Of course King writes with his regular aplomb allowing the reader to visualize every detail and really get into the horror of the material.  What makes ‘Salem’s Lot an especially interesting read is the fact that this was only the second novel King published, an incredibly encouraging feat for the young author as it shows much of the great promise that his later books include.



The main character of ‘Salem’s Lot is Ben Mears, a semi-successful author returning to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine to attempt to write a book, partially about the Marsten House which he believed to be haunted.  Much of the early book is dedicated to Mears and characters in the town as King sets up the book as a ghost story with the potential ghost being of Hubert Marsten, a criminal who committed suicide in the house.  Mears is convinced that he saw Marsten’s ghost as a child and immediately becomes suspicious when the Marsten House is bought, the idea being that the ghost may be somehow controlling Richard Straker and Kurt Barlow, the home’s new inhabitants.  Of course this is not the case, as Barlow is the vampire while Straker is his human servant.  Barlow and Straker have an interesting relationship, entering the town under the cover of owning an antique’s shop and several members of the town theorize their relationship may be more than business.  This is clearly not the type of relationship as Straker serves as a more sane Renfield to Barlow’s Dracula.  Unlike Renfield, however, Straker is a threat and a decent sort of horror in his own right, delivering victims and scouting potential kills for Barlow.  He is a character who serves as a threat for the rest of the characters as he is devoted to protecting his master until his final breath, not having an eleventh hour redemption arc like his analogue in Dracula.  Straker is completely in control of his mental faculties and is working with Barlow willingly.



Barlow himself is a character who like Dracula stays in the shadows for large portions of the novel, but King does allow him some early appearances to build the mystery.  The reader gets to experience some of Barlow’s initial victims, one an innocent hunchback and the other a guilty adulterer, both killed yet not turned into vampires like many of the other townsfolk.  Barlow also is implied to be this ancient creature, old when Christianity was founded, and this isn’t the first town he has been responsible for feasting upon.  While Barlow is truly monstrous, there is this gentlemanly air about him throughout the novel.  There’s a moment near the end where he writes a letter to our heroes putting in simple language what he plans to do to them and how very sorry he is that he could not meet them personally that day.  It reads like a villain whose confidence creates the air of fear around them.  He also seems to take a true delight in seeding fear in the community and taking over slowly.  He can wait, because what’s a few weeks to an immortal vampire?



Of our supporting characters, Father Callahan is one most familiar to me, due to his role in King’s The Dark Tower series.  Callahan’s story here is one of a skeptical priest already drinking, having to reclaim his faith, nearly succeeding, only to be broken and made unclean by Barlow at the last moment.  He’s mainly in a supporting role throughout the novel, only first appearing after one death has taken place in any major capacity which is an interesting story move for King.  This doesn’t reveal the real involvement in the story Callahan has.  Overall, ‘Salem’s Lot is an excellent example of a horror novel with a slow burn to some truly great action.  While it is heavily inspired by Dracula, Stephen King manages to take the general structure and make it his own by adding several supporting characters and themes of his own to make an excellent entry in his canon.  9/10.