by Stephen King
On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless - 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.
I was very late to the party with this one but it was well worth the wait. I partly put off reading Doctor Sleep because I, like a lot of people, am a big fan of The Shining and I just couldn’t see how a sequel was going to work. Luckily for me, after reading lots of rave reviews, I decided to give it a go.
The first part of the story focusses on Dan Torrance and how the events from his past have left him struggling to cope, turning to alcohol and drugs as he tries to deal with the legacy of his father. Later in the story, Dan becomes aware of a little girl named Abra who also has a shining ability and they begin to communicate. Unfortunately, Abra has also become known to the True Knot, a group vampire-like creatures who track down and feed on the psychic energy of children with the shining.
Doctor Sleep is so much more than just a sequel to The Shining. It is a fantastic story in its own right, with elements taken from The Shining to create a starting point for the characters and settings in the book. I thought it was a really interesting way to approach it, I loved being able to revisit some of the characters and see what happened to Dan as he grew up. At the same time, it seemed so fresh and modern and I really liked the fact that it wasn’t just full of clichés or a repeat of the same storylines. Personally, my favourite thing about the book was the way it explored the idea of “shining” and what this meant for different people and the many different ways it could manifest itself.
It wasn’t a terrifying read but it was definitely one that I couldn’t put down - a classic Stephen King story and a winner for me.