In the spirit of this spooky holiday, I decided to dive into some of the scariest literature out there STEPHEN KING'S books. First up... Stephen King's latest novel Doctor Sleep.
Doctor Sleep is the sequel to The Shining. The Shining focuses primarily on Jack Torrance and his decent into madness and its affects on his family and those at the Overlook Hotel up until the night Jack Torrance went on a killing spree which left several dead. Jack’s son Daniel Torrance just a wee child at this time has never quite recovered from his stay at The Overlook Hotel at which time, he first discovered he had paranormal tendencies known as “the shining.”
King’s Doctor Sleep chronicles the
life of Dan Torrance as an adult. In the beginning of the novel a brief
description is given of The Shining, and its aftermath with Dan still a young
kid experiencing supernatural phenomena. Then, the focus quickly changes to Dan
as an adult and the psychological and emotional turmoil “the shining” has
caused him over the years. It is at this point that the reader is thrust into
the life of Dan Torrance and it seems to be eerily similar to his father’s
past. Dan is an alcoholic who uses drinking to numb his senses and “mask” the
supernatural from weaving its way into his mind and clawing at his insides.
King has
crafted a psychological thriller for the masses and lovers of The Shining will
not be disappointed in Doctor Sleep as the strangeness only becomes stranger
with time.
Insanity
ensues when King introduces the reader to the True Knot a group of middle-aged
RV driving retiree’s looking for happiness on the open road. But don’t be
fooled these people may look normal on
the outside, but they are nuts. They are part of a cult of sorts that feeds off
the “steam” which leaves people’s bodies when they die, especially the “steam”
of children. These people grow old and decrepit the longer they go without
feeding on steam, so they are constantly searching for death and thriving on
it, all the while trying to remain un-noticed in public. No one can know the
secret they hide.
All the
while Dan has tried to live as normal a life as possible since his horrid
experiences as a child. Dan has found himself an old folks home to work at and a nice
AA group to help him conquer his alcoholism. However, just when things seem to
be going better for Dan all hell breaks loose when he meets a young girl named
Abra Stone who also has “the shining” and hers is especially bright. While
Dan’s shining “powers” are strong, little Abra Stone’s is even stronger and their
encounter/friendship brings Dan to the forefront of his fears of the
supernatural as he faces them head-on for Abra’s sake.
King’s
novel is a kin to a maze with many exit signs but no escape. Readers can become lost, if not trapped, in the pages of this gripping novel unable to look away at the
most grotesquely insane moments. Doctor Sleep while extremely dark and
psychologically challenging for Dan as well as the reader, is a really
witty-read with many characters vividly present in its pages each with their
own quarks and role in the plot.
This novel
is a wonderful follow-up to The Shining and further solidifies King’s abilities and eye for detail. The devil is in the details...
King continually leaves his un-bridled mark on the literary world as one of the most fantastically intelligent writers of his time.
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| image from Google |
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