Book Review / Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

 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.

Published:     24th September 2013
Publisher:  Scribner
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  The Shining, Book 2
Source:  Bought

 

MY REVIEW

 

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed The Shining, I knew that I had to pick this one up pretty much straight away.  I had to know what came next in this story.  For obvious reasons, I am not going to go into any detail to avoid spoilers but as with reading the first book, I just couldn't put this down.  This story is a bit longer than its first book but I just didn't want the story to end!  It did take me longer than a day to read but no longer than a couple of days!

What I loved about this story is pretty much everything!  Despite the fact that book 1 and book 2 were written years apart, it really didn't feel like it.  Yes, time has moved on in the story but it really just felt like I had blinked and the time in story has just flown by.  The atmosphere and suspense felt the same as what I had experienced in the first book, but even better!  

And that ending was just perfect!

I did watch the movie not long after finishing the book and I really did enjoy that also.  It was a lot better than I thought it would be (obviously not as good as the book!) and a lot better than the movie of The Shining, for me anyway.