This was a Stephen King book which I remember getting in hardback when it was first published, which was in 1983. And I remember it being really creepy, so much so that I'd not re-read it since then. The other book like that is Salem's Lot which I was pretty freaked out by and haven't re-read it (although it's on my Kindle ready to go now).

So what surprised me was that in fact this didn't seem quite so frightening as I had been expecting (despite something in the foreward by King himself who seems to think it's one of his most unsettling books). Because it's so long since I read it, I remembered very little about the book, except for what happened with the pet cat.

I did get through it pretty quickly, and it was a good read. The creepy stuff didn't start until a fair way through the book, and so there was a reasonable amount of getting to know the characters, especially Judd, the kindly old timer who sits on his porch in the evening and invites Louis over for beers.

I did think, when reading the book, that it was weird for Judd to take Louis to the Pet Sematary when the cat died, and that Judd's explanation for why he did this felt a bit weak. But this was satisfyingly explained later on, and the whole thing hung together fairly well.

I am still a bit nervous about Salem's Lot, but looking forward to it.

Completed : 17-December-2016