Doctor Sleep by Stephen King - Paperback

Dan Torrance has become an adult. He can help the shining Abra now.

Just the other day, I was saying that sequels are not normally as good as the first book, well, Doctor Sleep completely disproved that theory. It far exceeded The Shining, in my opinion, and has become one of my favourite King novels! King has taken the best parts of The Shining, and carried them into Doctor Sleep. Not only did he keep the best bits, but he enhanced them. Danny’s ‘shining’ is brilliant, but Abra’s is next level, the extent of her abilities were so interesting to read about, simple and complex at the same time – simple in that you could easily read and understand it, but complex in that when you really think about it, it’s some next level stuff! What was fantastic was this novel comes with a range of supernatural abilities, varying in strength and wonder; the paranormal aspects of this novel were amazing! As a sequel, this far exceeds its predecessor, and that’s no small praise, because The Shining was very good! To enhance your enjoyment of this novel, you should read The Shining first, so, not only can you pick up on elements that have been carried over, but you understand the mention of previous events and past characters. There are some really clever things in this novel that you will miss out on if you don’t know the beginning of the story. “Because that was then and this is now. Because the past is gone, even though it defines the present.” Doctor Sleep joins Danny as a middle-aged man working in a hospice, and let me tell you, I adore Danny. His character was one you believe in with your whole heart, you can see that he is the boy you met in The Shining all grown up now; surviving his demons and ready to fight for Abra. And Abra is up against some tough adversaries, one being Rose ‘the hat’ O’Hara who has some telepathic abilities of her own. You witness some real battles of will power in this novel, psychological warfare. One thing King has mastered is his ability to create amazing antagonists, ones that, while you don’t like their characters, you appreciate what they do for the story. Abra is a brilliant protagonist, and it was interesting to see how she coped/lived with her ‘shining’ compared to how a younger Danny did. The relationship between Abra and Danny was so well done, they were both such endearing characters; to see Danny guiding Abra as best he could just warmed my heart, because I remember the trauma Danny experienced in The Shining and how he struggled with his ‘shining’ initially. Seeing Abra come to embrace hers, and test the extent of her abilities made for great reading. “The shining. It was a good name, a comforting name, because she had always thought of it as a dark thing.” Doctor Sleep is an addictive read, with some great characters – everyone that made up The True Knot were interesting in their own right. The suspense was felt, the plot intensified when it needed to, but most importantly this novel has so much heart, you become emotionally attached to some of the characters and this guarantees you’re invested in the plot and fearful for their survival, because we all know King has no issue killing-off his characters, whether they are main characters or secondary ones! I could talk about this book all day, I loved every aspect of it; without fail, it’s one of my favourite books of the year!

Well, I loved reading 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 so it was obvious for me to love 𝘋𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 as it was the sequel of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. But If you're gonna compare it with 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 you wouldn't find 𝘋𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 as good as 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 was. The scariest part of the book comes at the beginning when he is revisited by some of the ghosts from the Overlook. Those expecting a scare as good as 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 will be disappointed. •~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~• Coming back to the story of 𝘋𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱! A few years after the Torrance family move out of the disaster at The Overlook Hotel and try to start a new life, Danny is still haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook. Mr. Hallorann however takes care of it, guiding Danny all the way to get rid of the evil and control his powers. Danny, a middle aged man now, still troubled with the horrified childhood. On the other hand there's a 'True Knot', of immortal people who takes steam from people with shining by torturing/killing them. Besides there's a teen-age girl, Abra Stone with immense shining and now in danger because leader of the 'True Knot' Rose the hat tries to reach out to her. Abra having known about this through her senses, reaches out Danny to help her in this. •~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~• Although there was not much action till atleast I was well into the second half of the book. I must say the story was quite expected and I knew what was coming, but that didn’t change the thrill of reading it. I'm a King fan so for me it was a good read!♥️ ****************************** About the book quality : 1. I ordered 'The shining' and 'Doctor sleep' together. Both were not in right condition. I replaced 'The shining' but 'Doctor sleep', I couldn't. I don't don't know what was the problem. 2. This book was dented from upside right corner of the cover which was disappointing. And more disappointing thing was that I wasn't able to replace it. 3. Otherwise inside of the book was everything perfect. I loved reading it. ****************************** #Doctor sleep #StephenKing #OverlookHotel #DanTorrance #Danny

Stephen King has done it again with this fascinating, new tale that reunites an old hero with new ones, who have to face a traveling band of creatures that only King could think up. This story involves a now grown Danny Torrance, one of the survivors of the ill-fate Overlook Hotel in Sidewinder, Colorado, and a band of monster hunters on the trail of supernatural RV folks known as “The True Knot.” These horrific creatures we have seen before traveling the highways and byways when we’re on the road. They have those all too familiar motor homes, truck campers and what have you vehicles designed for cross-country jaunts. They stay in those all too-familiar, and quite creepy-in-their-own-way locales where these seemingly ordinary vacationers stay. But, beware, these folks are true monsters in search of the life essence we all have; our life force if you will -- Our “steam,” as it were. Now, Dan, who has been battling his own demons of alcoholism for years has met a young girl who also has the “shine” to her, far more than even Dan has. The teen girl, named Abra Stone is very powerful, as well as desirable to The True Knot; who has made it a habit of killing hundreds; if not thousands of children over the centuries for their “steam,” and they want her badly. With Abra, however, the wicked band of traveling monsters are in for a surprise… This book pays homage to King’s great work, and one of my personal favorites: “The Shining,” and returns to it for some reference, though does not over use the past success of the novel to take over this story. Instead, the psychic events experienced by Dan earlier in his life, as well as the haunts at the Overlook are put into perspective, and as a source for explanation, offering the reader a foundation as to why some things happened, and how his father’s issues visited him. It also brings closure to the past characters and their fates. Dan chooses sobriety, and leads a life of helping those ready to pass on, offering them a chance to do so with dignity and compassion, the source of his true power and strength…A strength that will be put to the test. Now, Dan ultimately teams up with others to hunt down the band of monsters, giving a similar feel to a much older team of English monster hunters such as Dr. Van Helsing, Dr. Seward and Jonathan Harker, or perhaps a more recent team of American monster hunters like Ben Mears, Jason Burke and Mark Petrie in our own little Jerusalem’s Lot. To be sure though, the hunt won’t be easy. The audio book is great for those on the run like myself, and certainly makes the driving time go by faster, and certainly more entertaining. Read by one of my favorite actors Will Patton (Falling Skies), who acts out every character like a true thespian, this 15 CD set, or other delivery systems, and of course the book, will delight you in a way only Stephen King can: 10% intrigue, 10% levity and 80% terror, all delivered in strangely believable settings. An excellent story read by an excellent actor. I give it as many stars allowed by law…Can’t wait for the film. If made for TV, maybe they can consider hiring Mr. Patton to play a part. As he can play good as well as evil with apparent ease, we might consider him for the part of “David Stone” (Abra’s father) or if playing the baddy, he would make a great “Crow Daddy.” For “Rose the Hat,” I get an image of Lucy Lawless (of Xena: Warrior Princess fame…God I love her), and when she turns into the monster that she really is; I would consider either Rosie O’Donnell or Nancy Pelosi…We need really evil women for that part. The other parts could vary depending on many things. The only other request is that if to made for TV, maybe it could be made on a better-than-average cable station like AMC, where you can show all the blood and guts that other stations won’t allow, as well as the proper language in order to reflect the book faithfully. If you add too much fluff to a King story, it takes away from the true girth that it was meant to be, kind a like drinking alcohol-free beer – What’s the point?

1977年発表の“The Shining"の続編です。 前作に比べて超能力（The Shining）の比重が増しており、S. Kingフリークではありませんが、本作主人公のAbraのそれは1980年発表の"The Firestarter"の主人公にも通じる迫力、破壊力です。堪能しました。 意外な家族関係は唐突感がありましたが、少なくともツジツマだけは合っており、よしとしましょう。 作者は後書きで、続編を書いたのはDanのその後が気になったからと言ってますが、そうなると読者としてはAbraのその後こそ見てみたいものです。