Billy's Weblog

Book Review: ‘salem’s Lot October 7, 2008

Originally posted February 14, 2008

Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine, is small-town America.  Like any other small town, Jerusalem’s Lot has a history.  But the history of Jerusalem’s Lot is darker than most.  Stories circulate about the Marsten House, which sits on a hill overlooking the town.  Hubie Marston, who built the house, lived there for over ten years in seclusion with his wife — until she begged him to kill her.  He did, and then he hung himself in his upstairs bedroom.  The house remained empty for decades, but not uninhabited.  The house was rumored to retain the evil that Hubie Marsten had brought and cultivated there.

Ben Mears was only 9 when he first entered the Marsten House on a dare from some boys that he was desperate to impress.  Go into the house, and bring something back from it was what they told him he had to do to join their club.  Ben did it, and brought back two things: a paperweight and a memory that he will never be able to get out of his mind.  While Ben was in the house, he decided to go all-out to impress his friends.  He wanted to prove he was not afraid, but after he opened the door to Hubie’s upstairs bedroom, he would remain afraid for the rest of his life. 

The Marsten House is what makes him return to ‘salem’s Lot decades later.  He rents a room in the Lot, and outside his window is a view of the place that ended his childhood in a traumatic fashion years before.  He tries to rent the Marsten House, but finds it recently purchased by two mysterious men from out of town. 

Ben has come back to purge himself of the Marsten House by writing a book about the place.  His idea was to write the book while inside the Marsten house.  He has to settle for his room with a view of the house, and after he completes each page, he places it face down on top of the previous, and places his stolen paperweight on top.

Before the story starts, Ben has lost his wife, Miranda, in a motorcycle accident, and he hasn’t been able to forgive himself.  Each girl he meets, he fears his wounded heart will try to make her another Miranda — until he meets Susan Norton.  He likes her right away, and she is immediately impressed to be in the presence of a best-selling author.  They have easy conversation, and they begin dating, but somehow this type of thing never ends well in a Stephen King novel, especially with girls named Susan (see Dark Tower 4 Wizard and Glass).  It kind of makes me wonder if there was a pretty girl at Stephen’s high school who broke his heart, and now he feels the need to take his revenge on the Susans of the world.  I hope he didn’t know anyone named Billy, just in case.

Most folks probably already know what ‘salem’s Lot is about, but just in case there may be someone either too young, or too sheltered, to know, I won’t give away any more.  Suffice to say, Ben gets his story while in ‘salem’s Lot, but it isn’t the story he came there expecting to write.  He sees things his second time in the Marsten House that are ten times worse than what he saw the first time.  In fact, he destroys his unfinished manuscript, and it isn’t clear whether he ever does write down what happened in ‘salem’s Lot.

This book is a must-read for any Stephen King fan.  Warning: Read the book!  Do not watch the movie!  9.5 out of 10