by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Stephen King at his best. This is a vampire story that does not have a happy ending or nice vampires. These are the old vampires who just want to kill and create more as they go. The characters are good and very realistic for the time and place that they occupy. It is very much a product of the time that it was written in but does still hold up well.

Ben Mears has returned to Jerusalem’s Lot to exorcise the ghosts of his past. He had a terrifying experience in the local haunted house as a child and wants to write that terror away. What he could not have foreseen is that a new terror has come to take up residence in the Lot and it is something he would never believe could happen. The haunted house has been bought by some foreign gentlemen and soon things start to happen. People are missing for no reason that anyone can figure out at first, but then it becomes plain what is happening.

This may not be one of the greatest novels ever written to some but it is one of my favorites because I love a good vampire story and he told one here. This had an evil vampire who wanted to take the town and everyone in it as his own. There was more than one hero, though Ben was the main one, and they are flawed but brave in the face of certain defeat. It does kind of remind you of Bram Stokers Dracula with a modern face on it. Look at the characters and you can actually line them up from book to book. I have read both and like it. I would recommend it!