Review: Doctor Sleep (The Shining, #2) by Stephen King

Goodreads rating: 4.12/5

My rating: 5/5

Synopsis: As a sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep records Danny Torrance's life as he moves into adulthood, during which he meets a Shiner named Abra Stone. Abra Stone's shine is much brighter than Dan's and for that reason, she's being hunted by the True Knot. The True Knot are a tribe of people that travel in search of sustenance in the form of steam that cede at the death of one with the shining. This steam allows them to live longer and age much slower than the normal human being. Dan and Abra use their shining to find the True Knot and try to end them to prevent any more killings.

This book was incredible! You know how a sequel usually turns out to be much duller than the prequel? That wasn't the case with this one, it was much more exhilarating and I found myself pausing every now and then to shriek out and say, "It's soooo good!!!" and to absorb just how good it was.

Stephen King starts with a small paragraph to give the reader a recap of the events that occurred within 'The Shining' without making it redundant. He then slips in tiny details of the previous story here and there to remind the reader of what connects the current story to the last. I have to admit, the beginning was quite slow, it took precisely half the book for Abra Stone and Dan Torrance to finally meet. However, it was not boring, the series of events before their meeting were still full of suspenseful twists and essential information.

Sadly, Danny inherits more than just his blood and good looks from his father, Jack, but King mentioned that he was not the same alcoholic fellow he was when he wrote 'The Shining' so I guess that had much to do with Danny's lifestyle. I won't say anymore in terms of that to avoid spoiling it for you. However, I have to say, I was initially disappointed with Dan but that's another thing I loved about this story. Dan progressed to become someone I was so proud to have read about. Having said that, the character development of this story was impeccable. I loved each and every character, even the villains! My favourite villain was Andrea Steiner, a.k.a. Snakebite Andi. A part of me feels like she was inspired by 'The Color Purple' by Alice Walker but that could just be a coincidence. Anyhow, Andi has the power of persuasion and I wish I had her around to put me to sleep just by telling me to do so whenever I'd have trouble sleeping. Sigh..

By the way, I read half the book and listened to the other half. If you ever get the chance to listen to the book, please try to find the version that's narrated by Will Patton, I found mine on Scribd. The characters already oozed with emotions, it was impossible not to get to know them, but Patton brought them to life with his accent changes and sound effects. I loved it, it was difficult not to!

Speaking of characters, let's talk about Abra. Abra Stone's identity and relation to Dan was a mystery. There's a quarter expected plot twist involving who she is and King managed to intertwine her existence to 'The Shining' seamlessly. You'll have to read the book to find out more about who she is. I can, however, tell you about how she is. She is a powerful little girl that grows up to be a kind, loving, sweet and cute teenager that has a conscience strong enough to cause a small earthquake. Her tremendous care is what led her to the True Knot and to the need for their end. Also, her relationship with Dan Torrance made my heart melt. They were the most heart warming duo and they connected in a way that none of us could in this life. They were perfect, hence my perfect rating for this story. ;p

In the book, Dan says, "Life was a wheel, its only job was to turn, and it always came back to where it started.". King portrays the essence of everything coming to full circle more than once in this story. Again, I can't tell you more without spoiling the story for you. Let's just say, this book had way too many unpredictable plot twists. That's the best kind of suspense story, by the way - zero predictability. I forgot to mention earlier, Doctor Sleep was much less horror than The Shining was. It was more of a supernatural thriller than a horror story and I think that's one of the reasons I liked it a lot more than I did 'The Shining'. It was also funny, you get a taste of King's humor with this one.

I finished reading this book yesterday but only got around to writing the review today because I wanted to watch the movie before doing so and by the time I was done with the movie last night, it was too late to write anything. The beginning of the movie was more a similitude of the book's story than 'The Shining' was but toward the end, the movie was a more altered version. I believe it had to do with the way things ended in the prequel movie - the sequel movie had to be a continuation of it rather than a continuation of the book's story. It was not bad, however. It just missed a lot of the emotions that King portrayed better through his words and the visual effects weren't great at depicting the supernatural incidents, you'll know what I mean once you've read the book and watched the movie.

To end, this book made me cry. Dan and Abra's relationship and their efforts to basically safe the shining race touched me. If you liked 'The Shining' or similar horror stories, I don't know how you could miss this one. Pick it up, now! But if you haven't read 'The Shining', pick that up first! ;p