'Salem's Lot is definitely one of the big must-reads for Stephen King, however as someone who's been reading King for over a decade now, I never got around to it until just recently. About halfway through this I couldn't decide if I really liked it or not. My problem was that the threat and the conflict in this story is immediately obvious and I prefer my King stories where the evil is a bit more of a mystery and builds that suspense throughout. Once I had finished this book I decided that I actually liked just how straight-forward and to the point this one was, and accepted it for what it is: A damn good vampire novel. It's great to see King's first attempt at having the town itself become a living and breathing character, and it's incredible that this was only his second book. This one leaves an impression and a thirst (pun intended) for a continuation of the story. I've heard that the Dark Tower series has some answers? I certainly hope so.