Charity shop book club: Salem's Lot

Some of the amazing covers this book has had over the years... sadly my one wasn't this exciting

What is the Lot? Is it a LOT of warbling descriptions (yes), is it a LOT of waiting for it to get dramatic (yes), is it a LOT forgettable (yes), are there a LOT of characters, most of whom you don’t care about or like (yes).

I’m late to the Stephen King book gang, and Salem’s Lot is my second-and-a-half foray in to his murky realm of Maine, joining The Shining and a bit of Doctor Sleep, which I gave up on as I hated all their names.

I picked this up during a trip to Milton Keyne’s Age UK Warehouse (don’t ever tell me my life isn’t glamorous!) about two months ago - and I finished it yesterday. It really was a slog.

A prime example of Milton Keynes' disgusting yet wonderful architecture

I’m not particularly “in to” vampires, but I thought for 20p this might be the perfect way to become a fully fledged fang of the genre.

My overall “meh” about the book made me think about King’s other works that have been made in to cracking movies and TV films. The Shining, Carrie, Thinner, It, Cujo... there’s absolutely LOADS.

As an experiment, I decided to watch the two-part TV movie of Salem’s Lot to see if it was more exciting than the book.

BUT as I would have had to pay £7+ for the pleasure, I decided to just peruse the clips on YouTube for free.

Verdict: Yes. Much more exciting, and probably easier to know who everyone is.

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