Stephen King returns to the characters and territory of one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) and the very special 12-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.
On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless - mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky 12-year-old Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the "steam" that children with the "shining" produce when they are slowly tortured to death.
Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father's legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant "shining" power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes "Doctor Sleep."
Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan's own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra's soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted fans of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.
It has been way to long since I read a Stephen King book, so I was way overdue. I loved the Shining and figured I dive back into the world of King with this sequel to The Shining. To read this book, you don’t need to read The shining but some basic knowledge doesn’t hurt of the previous book.
In this book we meet Danny again but he now is grown –up and of course goes by Dan.
Early on it is clear that the Overlook Hotel left some scars with him and he still has the shining as well. But he has not dealt with it very well and fallen down the path of an alcoholic. He arrives in a small town (King and small towns…..lol ) and life is starting to look better once he meets people and he gets a job and makes friends. He also is been told that life will come to a full circle and so it really all begins………
We meet Abra as soon as she is born and it is very clear that she is a very special little girl, but in the beginning we have no clue how truly special she is and how it will all tie together.
It took me a couple chapters to get into it but once there and was a nice flow and the writing was great. It was very fast paced but and followed multiple characters but yet was easy to follow.
It was not really as scary as The Shining, it was more creepy and gave me goosebumps more than once but not really scary. The main bad guy or guys in this case was also a bit of a letdown I thought. Not scary and overall I was kind of bored with The True Knot thing after a while. In the beginning I was confused over them, then we knew more and it was sort of interesting but after a while it just got too long for me with the True Knot group.
I really enjoyed Dan and Abra, both were great , even funny at times. I loved the bond they shared. Abra had spunk and I wouldn’t have minded fast forward to when she is an adult but I have a feeling that in one way or another it just comes back to a full circle.
The end was pretty good and almost peaceful, which I enjoyed.
Overall I thought it was a great book and I'm glad that I read it, while not as scary as some of his books, this is still an awesome book and I recommend it to any Stephen King fan.
I rate it 4 ★
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