- Our heroes are aware of the peril and are preparing themselves as best as they are able to fight the forces of the Undead, even if, deep down, they can't bring themselves to believe that Vampires are real.
- Our group started out as four: novelist Ben Mears, Ben's girlfriend Sue Norton, local high school teacher Matt Burke, and Matt's doctor Jimmy Cody. They succeeded in adding a fifth member, Father Calahan, and traded Sue Norton (presumably a Vampire now) for Mark Petrie, a young but savvy and resourceful boy who believes the Vampires are real.
- They're prepared for battle and part three should be dynamite.
As for what we've seen of the vampires and the reactions of the characters and townsfolk, I've noticed a few things:
- The vampires seem to have a shared hive mind/consciousness with Barlow, the master vampire, as indicated during Ben and Jimmy's first confrontation with a vampire, Marjorie Glick as she taunts them with "Even now one laughs! Even now your circle is smaller." I interpret that as a reference to Sue becoming a vampire, something that Marjorie couldn't possibly know since she just rose from the dead for the first time when they confronted her.
- Everybody who comes near a vampire, even if they are in a different room, or isn't aware of vampires or believe in them, seems to have an innate sense of dread. King goes to great lengths describing the sensation similarly in many different characters. Is there a broader purpose here or is he just describing a basal survival instinct? Lizard brain type stuff?
Some observations of King's writing style in this novel:
- He seems to have improved his voice a bit from Carrie. I noted while reviewing Carrie that it felt like all of his characters dialogue felt like it came from the same voice. That's much improved here. Ben's speech pattern seems to fit an every-man, Matt a lofty educator, even Father Calahan and doctor Jimmy speak differently.
- King is developing a very frank, almost in-your-face, voyeuristic style when setting scenes and describing action in the third person. If a young mother blames her infant son for her crap hand in life and decides to break a few of his bones or give him a few black eyes in the process, we're there, getting a full view.
- This style was very much in play throughout the novel when King almost cavalierly discusses spousal abuse and general physical harm done toward women. I don't get the sense that King takes joy in these descriptions, but that he's being true to the characters. I haven't decided if I fully like it yet or not, especially when going to great lengths describing the psychological and physical abuse that Reggie Sawyer hands out to his wife Bonnie after catching her in the act of an affair. On the one hand, it does feel real and it gives the impression that King's not so much in charge, but the characters are in charge, doing their own thing and he's just a referee. On the other hand, Reggie and Bonnie are such minor characters so as to have almost no bearing on the plot at all.
- King uses very weird curse phrases. So bizarre at times that it's like he's trying to be funny but its just weird. "Jesus jumped-up Christ in a sidecar." "What the Christ?" and things of that nature.
Plot questions I would like to see answered:
- Assuming the lesser vamps have a shared consciousness with the Master, do they have desires/wills of their own?
- What's the point of Straker and Barlow going through the charade of securing a furniture store? Seemed to draw unnecessary attention. Plus, by announcing to the community that the furniture store is Straker and Barlowe (who just so happens to be out on a months long buying trip in New York), that also draws suspicion to who this silent partner is. Why not just silently move into the Marsten house, with Straker pretending to be an old retired recluse and quietly bring Barlow into the fold?
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