#CreatureFeature #AudiobookReview ‘Salem’s Lot’ by Stephen King

About the book…

First published in 1975, this is Stephen King’s second novel, brought to chilling life by the vocal talents of Ron McLarty, who is sadly no longer with us.

A superb novel set in classic Stephen King territory – a small new England town about to be engulfed by terror.

Turn off the television – in fact, why don’t you turn off all the lights except for the one over your favourite chair? – and we’ll talk about vampires here in the dim. I think I can make you believe in them.

Stephen King, from the introduction. Salem’s Lot is a small New England town with the usual quota of gossips, drinkers, weirdos and respectable folk. Of course there are tales of strange happenings – but not more than in any other town its size.

Ben Mears, a moderately successful writer, returns to the Lot to write a novel based on his early years, and to exorcise the terrors that have haunted him since childhood. The event he witnessed in the house now rented by a new resident. A newcomer with a strange allure. A man who causes Ben some unease as things start to happen: a child disappears, a dog is brutally killed – nothing unusual, except the list starts to grow.

Soon surprise will turn to bewilderment, bewilderment to confusion and finally to terror….

Available from Audible, ‘Salem’s Lot’ is unabridged and 17 hrs 36 minutes in length. It has been made into 2 made for tv series so far, the most well remembered one is Tobe Hooper’s in 1979 -see below for the trailer.

*News flash! Whilst writing this I have found that James Wan, the director, is looking to reboot ‘Salem’s Lot!*

I decided to revisit classic King, as I have been sick from work and recently fell in complete love with podcasts based on his work.

There are some great ones out there, my favourites are The Kingcast, and The Loser’s Club (link below).

The Kingcast is hosted by Eric Vespe and Scott Wampler who dissect the King adaptations with special guests-the only contention is that the guest chooses the movie/tv show and there have been some really not very good ones made…However, the conversation is free rolling, hilarious, deep diving and so so interesting, that even with the lesser ones (*cough* Lawnmower man*cough*) are emminently enjoyable. Check them out!

The Loser’s Club is hosted by Consequence of Sound, with invited guests, who have since 2017, taken a chronological approach towards King’s published works, with a side eye at all adaptations (*looking at you,’Carrie, The Musical’*). It’s interesting, you might not always agree with the analysis but it is never boring.

Both of these definitely are so worth your time checking out,I have become completely obsessed with listening to them and revisiting King’s work too!

Remember the adage, ‘there are always more stories….’

*Here there may be spoilers for those who might not have read the book*

And back to the book…

‘Salem’s Lot is a literal and metaphorical journey to the past for writer Ben Mears.Recovering from the tragic loss of his wife,he returns to his childhood home of Jersualem’s Lot to tackle his childhood demons as well as his grief.

Taking the small town themes of ‘Carrie’, King goes further this time and creates a whole entire town to play with-the detail with which he describes the back history of the town,the geography of it…somehow it doesn’t over egg the details,yet makes this very 70’s , very insular town so relatable. From the stories spread over the town’s party line phone calls, to the legend of the Marsten House which overlooks The Lot, this is no mere vampire story.

The prologue does not name the boy and man that it centres, they have run away from something horrific, and ended up in Mexico . Evil cannot forever be kept at arm’s length, however, and a newspaper article on deserted towns reveals that what they thought was over, still needs finishing off. The boy gives confession prior to them heading back to a place that has caused them grief, heartache and loss,There is a brilliant scene where an ancient priest has his words translated by his assistant as he talks to Ben, breaking the sanctity of the confessional, so concerned is he about what he has been told.It gives you the shivers.

Just what is it that the boy confessed and what are they scared of?

You think you know vampire tales?

Think again…

Alternating between tales of the Lot, and Ben’s story, the world building is so detailed, so fantastic that each character no matter how minor, stays in your mind. From Loretta Starcher, the librarian constantly annoyed by people filling out request cards for books, to Mabel Werts, town gossip who presides over the knowledge she gathers to herself like a grotesque, bloated spider.From Charlie Rhodes,the sadistic Vietnam vet bus driver to Dud Rogers, keeper and custodian of the local dump, each and every one hits home. As someone who lives in a small town, and has done since 1981, the reality and claustrophobic nature of the town is completely realised-

“There’s little good in sedentary small towns. Mostly indifference spiced with an occasional vapid evil – or worse, a conscious one.”

There’s a lovely scene between local girl, Sue Norton, and her mother when she realises that Sue, not being happy with the local boy she set her up with, might be having her head turned by celebrity writer Ben Mears. Sue’s mother fears that after having successfully managed to tie Sue down to the town, she might be encouraged to spread her wings. Ironically, her entanglement with Ben proves her mother’s fears ultimately correct. Sue never leaves.

Ben blows into town at exactly the same time that the graveyard attendant, Win Purinton’s dog is murdered and a local child goes missing. Unable to rent the Marsten House(purchased just prior to his arrival by a mysterious unknown party), Ben sets himself up in Eva Miller’s boarding house to write a history of this town which has haunted him.

The townsfolks eyes turn towards Ben, being an outsider, as the culprit.Small minds link two and two to make five. Even his attempts to join the search party are met with tacit disapproval, and investigation by Parkins Gillespie, the local head of police. He attracts Sue Norton, local artist, makes friends with English teacher Matt Burke and sets to work on his novel. His serious attempts to reboot his life are cast into mundanity when compared with the rumbling darkness which is about to swallow The Lot.

Your reaction to this novel of self discovery, horror and small town life will ultimately depend on whether you are a fan of the vampire novel, or not.

If you aren’t, I am here to say give it a go, it is so much more than merely a ‘vampire arrives, tries to kill everyone, plucky band of heroes defeat him the end’ affair. There is so much to say about the small town Americana of the period where suspicion of those who do not toe the party line (long haired hippies, those with ideas above their stations, and so forth)is paired with the vampire myth.

Traditional motifs such as the use of sunlight, crosses and garlic are used as an allegory for newspaper reports, films and eye witness accounts of the ongoing Vietnam War, political corruption and riots as a combative approach to behaving like sheep.Combatting fear with science, plus the cause and effect of using stakes etc during daytime hunting missions is the same as fighting ignorance with knowledge.

Here, the vampires are sucking the blood from the lives of these town dwellers, a town which from the outside appears an archetypal ‘anytown’ America, hiding an undergrowth of rot and decay. They don’t need much of a push from thinking human being to vampire acolyte. This imagery is further supported by the vampire lore researched by Matt , wherein he works out that killing the head vampire will take out all those that he has changed.

You have Ben, who doesn’t need much persuading that vampires are attacking the town and together with Matt’s eye witness account, the suspiciously disappearing townsfolk and the arrival of ‘antique dealers’ Straker and Barlow, he tries his damndest to persuade his friends that they need to take action now.

Once the entry price to Salem’s Lot has been paid by vampire Kurt Barlow and human companion Richard Throckett Straker, the town is theirs for the taking. And one by one, the secrets of the townsfolk are being dragged out into the sunlight, even whilst those who hold them are taken into eternal darkness….

It can be argued that this is a modern updating of ‘Dracula’-the band of those tackling the vampiric horde have Ben as the Jonathan Harker protagonist , Sue as the Lucy Westenra/Mina Harker love interest, Matt as Van Helsing,local doctor Jimmy Cody as Henry Seward and Mark Petrie as almost a Quincy-esque character.

It could be said (and this is a bit of a reach)that the epistolary format of ‘Carrie’ which is similar to Dracula, wasn’t used because it would have looked too similar and shown King as a potential one trick pony. His dividing of the book into the main and then supporting characters stories, creates a wonderful rise in tension as you part company with Ben and are, bat-like, flying over the town and observing what is going on outside of his day to day business. When you realise that the man and boy in the beginning are Ben and Mark, you are forewarned that a)something horrific is about to happen and b)it isn’t over yet.

But as I said before, this is so much more than a vampire tale. The notion of a town overlooked by such a malign house is echoed in the Shirley Jackson quotes used at the start-there is the notion that this is like a dark, sentient battery which attracts evil because the history of this house is so very, very pitch black that you can easily imagine Straker and Barlow looking through a map of the most cursed houses in the back of nowhere, and sticking a pin on this one. Plus the local legends which have built up around it would lend it an air of ‘do not enter’, one which Ben knows well, to his chagrin.

So, you have writer Ben, teacher Matt, artist Sue, doctor Jimmy and horror obsessed tween Mark.

They are the outsiders -respectively a widower, a single,elderly teacher, a spinster, a single man and a tween who likes ‘weird shit’. The ones who walk a mainstream path-the estate agent, police chief,the priest, cafe owner-they are the ones who fall prey to this contagion.

The thinkers and dreamers, they provide the resistance because they have the imagination to cope with the concept of vampires.

Against these are ranged the entire gamut of Salem’s Lot’s society, from the trailer park residents to Larry Crockett’s palatial home, led by Straker and Barlow. And each night, their number grows bigger….

How, then does this translate as an audio book?

Anyone who has read this will have certain scenes which will be standouts and Ron McLarty does not disappoint.

Since I was about 10 (the first time I read Salem’s Lot and saw the miniseries), the words

”I will see you sleep like the dead, teacher!”

inspired complete terror, the same as the sound of glass being scratched with the words

”Let me in! I command it! He commands it!”

screeched with gnawing need for blood by Danny Glick at Mark Petrie’s window-

It is almost as though the exposure of Callahan to the confessions of the public are so toxic that he can only combat these through the anaesthetic property of whisky. The way that the church is used to appease those individuals who have sinned, and the  way that the nature of faith is held to the test when he is confronted in the Petrie’s house by the appearance of Straker and Barlow, shows a man in great conflict between what his flock demands of him, and what he demands of himself.

The relationship between Susan and her mother appears to me to throw back to that of Carrie and hers (overbearing, is only interesting in getting her own way by any means possible)

Ben and Mark are thrown together through circumstance, Ben becoming the father to an ersatz version of himself due to their simple belief that monsters exist. Ben faced his fears as a child and does once more as an adult, which is why he is perfect for being a father figure for Mark.

The million tiny details which thread through the story,make it come alive as it approaches a crescendo, the rich tapestry of characters coming together to make a meaty, doorstep of a listening experience. Familiarity with the text still gives it so much to look forward to and there were so many things I had overlooked because, it’s natural that your eyes skip over this and that. When listening , you really focus on the small stuff and it becomes immersive.

The conclusion is the showdown between ‘the good father’ Ben Mears and the ‘bad father’ , Kurt Barlow. Whether it is a final ,final ending remains to be seen

Things I did not like

The lack of female representation. This can be seen as a recurring theme throughout King’s work, if you look at the women in this particular one you have harridans, harpies and whores. Many of them are reduced to their breasts,(so many breasts! Or rather,‘jahoobies’, *smacks head on desk*) their sexual relationship to male characters and some seem completely so far fetched (e.g Bonnie, the wife of Reggie Sawyer) that they become caricatures.

The casual violence towards women (again,Bonnie Sawyer, also Sandy McDougall) is wince worthy.

They are hit, raped, degraded and even as vampires, a teen girl,Ruthie Crockett is given as a ‘prize’ to Dud Rogers, a worthy ‘win’ because she teased him by never wearing a bra. Her punishment? To spend eternity in a fridge freezer in a dump. They are used as lures-Susan-and tied to the classical notion of motherhood -Marjorie Glick. It’s further expounded upon by making the women who have been turned into vampires, equisite and sexual characters.

Sue is also the hardest to convince about vampires and in so doing, creates the situation which leads to her own demise. Why she out of all the characters believes this the least just made my eyes roll. She even says, as she approaches the Marsten House with a piece of plywood fencing, that this is the bit in a horror film where she would be screaming at the woman not to go into the basement.

A commentary on the stupidity of the monkey brain that makes you do things even though in others you would tell them not to? The inevitability of setting her up to die, cruelly done by a writer who has made you believe in the Ben’Sue hookup for which both have had to combat resistance? Or lazy writing?

Jury’s still out on that one for me!

This may be symtomatic of the time it was written in, I really wanted Sue and Ben to go somewhere, but it made me grit my teeth when her death was used as a spur for Ben to go full on avenger, pulling people out from attics and crawlspaces and dark corners , leaving them screaming and dissolving into dust in the daylight.

Casual anti semitism-‘that Jewish fella’ is used several times to refer to the local mortician, Maury Green. There are certain things which make you wince and this is one of them, alongside homophobic epithets and racist terms. Again, this could be symptomatic of the time it was written in, it just jumped out at me as an adult in a way that I did not notice as a tween/twenty something.

Links to the further King universe

Two short stories are included in the collection ‘Night Shift’, ‘Jerusalem’s Lot’ and ‘One For The Road’, both of which serve as neat bookends to Salem’s Lot.

Father Callahan re-appears in the ‘The Dark Tower’ which I found incredible and so enjoyable at the same time. It was like coming across a friend as I had no idea he would pop up again!

In conclusion…

This was a great listening experience matched only by the BBC full cast dramatisation from 1995,which is broadcast from time to time on the iPlayer.

You can also listen to it via various platforms as Audible or search for it on Youtube.

Have you read it?

Have you listened to it?

What do you think?

About the author…

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His first crime thriller featuring Bill Hodges, ‘Mr Mercedes’, won the Edgar Award for best novel and was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award. Both ‘Mr Mercedes’ and ‘End Of Watch’ received the Goodreads Choice Award for the Best Mystery and Thriller of 2014 and 2016 respectively.

King co-wrote the bestselling novel ‘Sleeping Beauties‘ with his son Owen King, and many of King’s books have been turned into celebrated films and television series including ‘The Shawshank Redemption‘, ‘Gerald’s Game’ and ‘It‘.

King was the recipient of America’s prestigious 2014 National Medal of Arts and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for distinguished contribution to American Letters. In 2007 he also won the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He lives with his wife Tabitha King in Maine

Links-https://www.stephenking.com/

You can listen to the fantastic Constant Reader podcast discuss the second novel of Stephen King following the linkhere.

Twitter @StephenKing

@HodderBooks

Ron McLarty

Ron McLarty (1947-2020) was noted for his body of work as one of the country’s leading audio book narrators having done over 100 titles including the narration of books authored by Stephen King, David Baldacci, Anne Rice, Richard Russo, Elmore Leonard, Ed McBain, and Scott Turow, among many others. He was the recipient of numerous Audie Awards. For more details of his published work, his acting credentials and voice work, please check the link below

Links-https://www.ronmclarty.com/bio