I try to stay on the pulse of pop culture, so when the Twilight series was all the rage, I read the books. The first one was decent, but I enjoyed each subsequent book more as the role of fantasy increased. The final battle in the last book was pretty epic. Other than that experience, and some brief, aborted attempts to get through Dracula, my exposure to vampire lit has been limited. Salem’s Lot was what I expected having read some of King’s other works, including fully developed characters and chilling scenes rife with death and despair.

My favorite scene was the first scene where Mark encounters his first vampire. He shows that he is not a boy in the pejorative sense, but a thinking, rational being that adapts to the situation and comes out on top.

My least favorite is a scene in which a character dies in an anti-climactic way (I hope this is not a spoiler).

As far as how this ranks for me with respect to other King works, it is good but not nearly my favorite. I think the plot is a little too straight-forward, without much of the nuance and conflict I have come to expect and have seen in novels such as Under the Dome and 11/22/63.