'Salem's Lot

This is Stephen King at his best, but it's still Stephen King and it has everything you expect from him.

That means it's entirely too long and poorly paced. The prose and dialogue aren't that great, either. There are way too many characters. There are sections told from the point of view of 20-something different characters and it's hard to keep track of who's who. And it would also be more powerful if we just saw things from the perspective of a few people.

But it also has some good mystery (or it would if the book wasn't famous) and some frightening scenes. King does a great job of building suspense and making the antagonists truly scary, especially Barlow. In the end, Barlow was a bit too easy to overpower, but Bram Stoker had the same problem with Dracula.

Overall, a good scary story that makes for a great Halloween read.