One of the hundred books a year I read:

One of the great scary books I read as a kid, so I had to re-read it. The story holds up well nearly fifty years later.

Ben Mears returns to Jerusalem’s Lot, the town of his haunted childhood, to work on his newest book. When two young boys venture into the woods and only one returns, Ben realizes evil still resides there. He suspects it’s centered on the Marsten House, a place of legend in the town’s history and nightmares in Ben’s own memories.

The Marsten House has recently been sold to an Austrian immigrant named Kurt Barlow, but no one has seen him yet. They know only his business partner, Richard Straker. Ben comes to suspect that Barlow is an ancient vampire, attacking and killing residents who rise from the dead to stalk their own families and friends.

Ben finds few allies who accept his theories, but joins forces with twelve-year-old Mark Petrie to do battle with the rapidly expanding vampire forces.

This is King’s second published novel (after Carrie which brought his name into public view) and shows his mastery in creating numerous characters you come to know—before he kills them.