Salem's Lot is a small New England town with the usual quota of gossips, wirdos and respectable folk. Of course there are tales of strange happenings, but no more than in any other town its size. Ben Mears, a moderately successful writer, returns to the Lot to write a novel based on his early years and to exorcise the terrors that have haunted him since childhood. The event he witnesses was in the house now rented by a new resident, a man who cause Ben some unease as things start to happen ... -- back cover.