Rating: 
Summary: The "King" of the Vampires
Review: I first read this book when I was a teen, back in the day before the internet and 200 cable channels, when we read for fun. It was the second King novel I read, after "Carrie," and I was completly captivated. I read it every couple of years now just to slip back into King's world. As I have gotten a teensy bit older and more sophisticated in my reading, I find I still love to read King. Only now, I enjoy his characters and their interactions more than the scary stuff. King is masterful in his portrayal of the citizens of 'Salem's Lot and their various secrets. He is at his best while stripping the patina of normalcy off of small town life, showing us the ugly underside found in an "innocent" corner of America. The story is a vampire yarn, but when the evil descends on "Our Town," it is much more interesting than when it comes to 19th century England. The townfolks are up to dirty tricks and gossip, and you're not really sorry when most of them get the bite, i.e. the child beating trailer trash. The story is filled with tension, and the Marsten House is just plain creepy, even after 10 reads. I still want to know what Herbie Marsten made his wife do before he killed her, and why she begged to die...hmm...intriguing. While not his best work, I have to give that honor to "The Stand," it is an excellent read and I highly recommend it to new and old King fans alike. The story is tight and doesn't get bogged down like some King novels...ahem..."Cujo". Get this book and enjoy. P.S. Stay away from the movie, it is the stupidest piece of garbage to grace the small screen since "Flipper."
Rating: 
Summary: Vampires in the USA.
Review: 'SALEM'S LOT is another fine work by Stephen King. What would happen if the story of Dracula took place in small town America? That's the basic premise of this novel. An ancient vacant house in a small Maine village is occupied and a famous author moves to Jerusalem's Lot all on the same day. People begin to disappear and hardly anyone suspects a thing. Who knows what could be hiding in the cellar or under the house in 'Salem's Lot?As someone who has just recently become a King fan, I was once again impressed by King's masterful storytelling. Nevertheless, I was able to distinguish that this is a work from earlier in King's career: there were a few ends left open and elements of the story weren't as tight as they are in some of King's later works. However, this was still a great book. You probably won't be able to put it down and you may not fall asleep at night.
Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: The cover of this new edition was so alluring I felt compelled to pick it up and read this amazing book a second time after many years. I'm glad I did. It just reinforces my admiration for the man. King does not construct hokey haunted houses with his fiction. People looking for ghosts (on fishing wire) to come swinging through the dark or skeletons to jump out of closets on page 5 might be dissapointed. King writes realistic horror. I would swear that if the events of this book were possible, they would happen in just this way and the people involved would react exactly as they do here. King's greatest talent is making the horrific and the impossible seem so believable. And it's in that context that his work is so damn scary. To anyone who hasn't read this, I implore you to do so. As King mentions in the introduction, it's a bit dated. The book was written in the early 70's, but it still resonates powerfully today. As far as I'm concerned, this is the last "real" vampire book. Forget about Anne Rice's tortured woe-is-me "sissy vampires". This is the vampire as it should be: grotesque, inhuman, and inherently evil.
Rating:
Summary: Great Work By The King
Review: I read this book not expecting much, when i heard it was about Vampires i thought it might be a littile bit to childish but while i was reading the book i found myself getting VERY frightened. this was a very well plotted book with a good ending. theres never a dull moment with the king!
Rating: 
Summary: Not scary, but...
Review: I've read three of Stephen King's books, mostly because I'm curious about why he's so popular. The story's premise is simple: A young writer comes to a small town trying to put nightmares from his past to rest only to discover new nightmares. This is not a scary book. There's nothing about these vampires that makes them different than vampires in other works you've seen or read. There's not one quotable, clever line of prose in this book. You can't empathize with any of the characters. There's foreshadowing that ultimately has no payoff... And yet I found myself sitting on the couch, reading for 6 hours straight last night so I could finish the book. <Scratching my head> What I got out of the book was a sense of nostalgia. King's insistence on including lots of brand names of products and prices of various things made me remember all sorts of things I had forgotten. An author gets a $12K book advance and we're supposed to think that's a lot of money. Hillary Clinton got an $8 *million* dollar book deal recently. A bus ticket to New York costs under $30. Brands of cigarettes and beer that aren't sold anymore are mentioned. Glow in the dark monster models... I had those! Maybe 100 years from now, historians will find Mr. King very interesting indeed. Could I recommend this book to anyone? No, not really, unless they were *really* into King and/or vampires to begin with. But you won't feel that you've wasted hours of your life if you do read it. I give it three stars for being average. Fewer characters and better characterization would make this a good book.
Rating:
Summary: Freaked me out so much, I had to read it over and over
Review: Probably my favorite King novel. I read this one many times. It wasn't so much the vampires that freaked me, but the idea of old abandoned houses (which I love) and the secrets they hold. It would be cool if they made this into a move and not like the cheesy made-for-tv one that they made way back when, but a true supernatural thriller.
Rating:
Summary: His best?
Review: Probably. This is definitely one of King's better works and the most genuinely scary of them all. I shrugged off most of his other books with no fear at all, but only entertainment. This one.. is different somehow. This difference is caused by many factors; the slow buildup to the inevitable conclusion (and make no mistake, it IS slow, but ultimately worth it), the way that the town is so insidiously infiltrated, and probably most of all, the realistic nature of The Lot. This isn't some archaic Transylvanian hamlet, this is America. This is your hometown, my hometown, everyone's hometown, and it's dying. It turns out that sometimes technology and our modern world of science can be disastrous to our survival. Such reliances on things rational cripple the town and its residents. The result is a chillingly believeable portrayal of just how people would behave if the undead were taking over. If you were to describe this book in one word, that word would be dread. From beginning to end, you can feel it running through the pages There's nothing more to be said, really. Good book, good characters, genuinely scary, believeable ending, worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome!!!
Review: King takes the old, worn-out cliche' of the vampire story and gives it a new twist. The character development is great, and so is the descriptions of the untimely deaths of some of the characters.
Rating:
Summary: What do you want from a book?
Review: I wanted to read this book for a second time. I hunted every second hand book shop I knew; no luck. I was forced to buy it new. I can't remember enjoying a book so much, it was just great fun to read. And as a bonus, it scares the wattle out ya dew flaps! Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: pass the holy water,please
Review: King wrote his best marterial early in his career,later he just abused his readers with mindless garbage. King was as hungry as the vampires when this book was written, now he has grown lazy. This chain of events makes his early books all the more entertaining. Like an earlier King the book's lead charactor is a writer experiencing some success, but is not yet a household name. The glowing holy water ,as corny as it may seem ,is the most appealing special effect of the story. The holy water ties in the duelling natures of faith be it evil or good. It is not the cross of star of david that protects you but faith and a little bit of luck. As someone who lived in an evil haunted house this book touches on reality.
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