Author: Stephen King
Published By: Hodder & Stoughton
Cover and illustrations: Jerry N. Uelsmann
Binding: Hardback
Publication Date: 2006
King’s second novel, originally published in 1975, has enjoyed renewed attention recently after the appearance of Father Callahan in the Dark Tower books. I suppose the literary virtue of King linking up a large number of his novels to his Magnum Opus is debatable but it certainly is one hell of a marketing trick. This 2006 hardcover publication features the novel, a number of haunting illustrations by Jerry N. Uelsmann, two connected short stories, a number of cut and alternative scenes and a new afterword by the author. It’s quite a nice package really. The book itself is a classic horror tale. Perhaps not the most original of tales but I quite enjoyed it.
The novel:
The marginally successful writer Ben Mears (King likes to write about writers) returns to the small town of Jerusalem’s Lot in Maine to write his next book. He spent a few happy years during his childhood in the town but it is also the town in which he experienced a horrific event at the abandoned mansion know as the Marsten House. An event that still haunts his dreams. This experience is meant to be the basis of his new book. On the surface he finds the town has changed little. Even the mansion is still the ruin of his childhood. Ben quickly makes friends in town. He becomes romantically involved with Suzie Norton and becomes friends with local high school teacher Matt Burke.
More or less at the same time as Ben arrives in town the Marsten House is reoccupied but two men setting up an antique furniture business in ‘Salem’s Lot. Mr. Straker appears in public quite a lot. He is a charming man but also one who makes people uneasy. His companion Mr. Barlow appears is said to be away on a buying trip. The arrival of Mears and Straker coincides with a number of strange events in town, missing children, unexplained deaths and disappearing bodies. Classic signs of a vampire infestation really. Ben has a theory about the Marsten House and Straker, with his new friends he sets out to drive evil from the Lot.
King was obviously inspired by some classic horror tales, beginning with Bram Stoker’s Dracula of course. The Mansion itself is something Lovercraft could have come up with and underneath those two there is probably a dash of Poe. Following this example makes the book predictable in a way. In fact, in the hands of a lesser author it could have been plain boring. King does know how to built suspense though, he put some absolutely creepy scenes in the book. One bit I especially liked it the way Burke looses the feeling of being save in his own house after the death of Mike Ryerson. King captures the violation of his sense of security very well.
Another thing I found interesting about this novel, and I am quite sure King didn’t quite intend that, is the way is gives us a quite detailed picture of life in a small town in the US. This book was published the year before I was born. Reading it, I realized how much society has changed in the mean time. The most striking difference is probably communications, no Internet, no cell phones and a rather primitive phone system. Another is the level of services even a small town like ‘Salem’s Lot could maintain. King hints at these businesses disappearing though. A third thing I noticed was the way the local dump was managed. With the regular burnings the Griffin’s milk must contain levels of dioxins that would make the people living around Seveso blink.
I’ve read a dozen of so Stephen King novels by now. ‘Salem’s Lot is one of the better ones I think but still not King at his best. It is too predictable to be really outstanding. If you like a good classic horror tale this is your book, if you are a die-hard Dark Tower fan you’ll want to read this, if you are looking for a good horror story there is better material in Kings extensive catalogue.
The extras:
As I mentioned in the introduction, two stories are added to this version. Both of these appeared in the collection Night Shift before. The first story is One for the Road and is set after the events in the novel. It clearly shows that like in many of Kings works evil is very hard to permanently finish off. It’s an entertaining story but the second story is more interesting. Jerusalem’s Lot is set in the 19th century and tells the history of the Marsten mansion and the evil that has crept into it. It’s entirely written as letters and diary entries. This makes the story a bit harder to read than One for the Road but in the end I thought this the more rewarding story of the two.
After the two short stories King includes a number of deleted and rewritten scenes. It gives the reader a look at how the process of editing can make a book better. In a number of scenes King gets ahead of the story and details too much too early in the book, or drives the message of a particular scene home too bluntly. It also contains a scene that describes a different ending of the meeting between Callahan and Barlow. Interesting bits of writing that give the reader a glance at process of creating a novel.
I liked this edition of ‘Salem’s Lot. I must admit I considered skipping the extras, generally I don’t like the addition of deleted scenes in a reissue of a book, but in the end I am glad I didn’t, they do add to the book in a way. If you consider reading this go all the way and check out this version.
