Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

Synopsis:

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. 

My Thoughts:

I bought this book when it first came out, and I finally read it because the movie’s coming out soon. Full confession: I’m a giant King fan, but I prefer Kubrick’s film version of The Shining to King’s original novel. This has led to years of bickering with my brother, who stands by his opinion that the novel is superior. After reading this sequel ... well, I have to say that I agree (just don’t tell my brother!). 

Danny (now Dan) is all grown up, and trying to stifle his Shine by drinking heavily. He roams from town to town, job to job, until circumstances land him in New Hampshire. At the same time, a tiny infant is exhibiting ... very unusual psychic behaviors. 

I loved almost everything about this book. Both Danny and Abra were such strong, sympathetic characters. I could read at least 500 more pages about each of their lives. The supporting characters were also well drawn, and the plot was taut, with bittersweet nods to The Shining. I kept picturing Ewan McGregor as Dan, but honestly, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. 

I did wonder about the racism in this book (thinly veiled as a joke, because the people called this derogatory term are actually Caucasian). But why? This wasn’t written in the 70s or 80s, and I know King has toned down a lot of the racist content in more recent books. In the past, he used racism as an example of humanity’s (sometimes) rotten core, but here it seemed unnecessary and more like an unfunny joke, repeated several times. 

Overall, this was a very strong, nostalgic book with lots of supernatural scares.