REVIEW: DOCTOR SLEEP

DOCTOR SLEEP

BY

STEPHEN KING

ISBN: 978-1-444-76120-7

Pages:
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 24 September 2013

On the cover:
(From the publisher's website.)

 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 tween 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 billed as a sequel to The Shining, and in one way it is. We do learn what happened to Danny Torrance after the events that took place at the Overlook Hotel, but those events are really incidental to what takes place here. It does help if you have read The Shining before you read Doctor Sleep, but mostly in the way that you will know what it is Danny is thinking about when he is thinking about what happened at the Overlook Hotel. And it will give more significance to the problem that Danny has struggled with. But it's by no means essential to read the previous book before setting out to read this.

   King often uses quite a bit of time to let us get to know the characters before the story really gets going, and this is not an exception to that. This is however not in any way a drawback, it is done in a way that gets you very invested in what happens to the main characters.
   Danny Torrance is not the only main character in this book he shares that role with Abra Stone, who is mentioned in the cover copy above. I will not give away who Abra is, or what her role in all that happens is, but I will say that she is an excellent character who I would like to see more of in the future.
   As already alluded to both Danny and Abra are very well described by King, and we get really close to them. Danny is given more space than Abra is, but that has reasons that will come clear when you read the novel.
   There are of course more than two characters in the book but we don't get as close to the others as the two I've already mentioned. We do however get to meet several other characters that are well developed and add a lot to the story of our main protagonists.
   It wouldn't really be a King book if we didn't have at least one antagonist for our main characters, her we have a group of them. They are introduced pretty early on, but they takes a while before it really is clear what their role is. It is the discovery of what these antagonists are that gives us the story in this book.

   I've already mentioned that the story takes a bit of time to get going, but that isn't time that is wasted. Not only do we get to know the characters and the situation they are in, but we get a creepy undertone that slowly builds into suspense. King is keeping some of his cards close to his chest, and it does take a while before things really become clear. And even then things are far from certain.
   That is one of the strengths of this novel, that the outcome is kept uncertain longer than is usual. The tension level is really high at times, and the nature of what is happening in many ways prevents the story from going down familiar paths. There is however some weaknesses in the outcome here, especially one event went a little bit too quickly for my tastes, but that is just a minor quibble.

   Overall this is definitely a great novel. There is plenty of suspense here to satisfy those that like a bit of mystery in their reading. I did however not feel that there was much Horror in this, although there is an abundance of the supernatural. Even when there is somewhat of a supernatural background to what is happening it is caused by things that are very human.
   The characters are definitely among King's best, and that I see characters as one of King's great strengths that should tell you something about how much I liked spending time with them.
   This is a book that should satisfy everyone that likes a supernatural Thriller. For King fans it is of course a must, but I feel confident in saying that this is one King book that can be easily gotten into by those who have never read him before.
   Personally I want to recommend that everyone who reads this review reads this book.

STEPHEN KING REVIEW INDEX

LINKS: Stephen King  Hodder & Stoughton

REVIEW: BAG OF BONES

Cover Illustration: Tom Hallman

Cover Concept: Lisa Litwack

BAG OF BONES

BY

STEPHEN KING

ISBN: 978-0-671-02423-9

Pages: 732

Publisher: Pocket Books 

Publishing Date: 22 September 1998

On the cover:

Four years after the sudden death of his wife, forty-year-old bestselling novelist Mike Noonan is still grieving. Unable to write, and plagued by vivid nightmares set at the western Maine summerhouse he calls Sara Laughs, Mike reluctantly returns to the lakeside getaway. There, he finds his beloved Yankee town held in the grip of a powerful millionaire, Max Devore, whose vindictive purpose is to take his three-year-old granddaughter, Kyra, away from her widowed young mother, Mattie. As Mike is drawn into Mattie and Kyra's struggle, as he falls in love with both of them, he is also drawn into the mystery of Sara Laughs, now the site of ghostly visitations and escalating terrors. What are the forces that have been unleashed here - and what do they want of Mike Noonan?

   This is one of those Stephen King books that you usually won't hear about. And let's face it, most people, even those who like the horror genre, seem to have trouble coming up with titles for King's books that hasn't been filmed.
   I almost never seek out reviews of books by authors I like before buying them. And with this book I started reading it without knowing anything about it. In fact I didn't even read the flap copy (,the "On the cover:" above,) before starting it.

   King doesn't waste time pulling you into this story. By the end of page one, we know that the wife of main character Mike Noonan has died, and by the end of page two we have been told there is something mysterious connected to her death. By this time I was hooked.

   This is one of King's novels where a writer tells us his story, and this time it is done in first person. The choice of first person works very well, King uses it to really get us to know Noonan, and it certainly adds to the suspense that we get inside his head.
   King uses the first seventy or so pages to get us to know Noonan before ratchetting up the tension. For me this worked excellently, when things started to happen I was already invested in Noonan's story. And the set-up part doesn't feel boring or unnecessary.

   The central theme here is a ghost story, and it is this that gives the novel its horror aspects. But there is also much more than that. There is human drama in abundance, all excellently done by King. We get the almost obligatory small-town setting that King is the master of, and a cast of very interesting characters.
   I have trouble thinking of anything that weakens this story, and it is in my opinion worthy of a high placing on the list of good King novels. Whether you like Stephen King, ghost stories or suspenseful human drama this is a book I can heartily recommend.
   If you are a King fan, and have yet to read this, you really should make it a priority in my opinion.

I'll leave you with a great quote from the book (, found on page 102 in the edition I have read for this review):

I like people who read actual books, and not just because I once wrote them myself. Bookreaders are just as willing as anyone else to start out with the weather, but as a general rule they can actually go on from there.

Reviews: The Shining
               Four Past Midnight

Links: Stephen King  Simon & Schuster (Pocket Books)

REVIEW: FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT

FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT

BY

STEPHEN KING

ISBN: 978-0-451-17038-5

Pages: 732

Publisher: Signet/Penguin USA

Publishing date: 4 October 1990

   This is a collection of four novellas. So first I'm going to give you my review of the individual novellas, and then at the end I'm going to give you my thoughts on the collection/book as a whole.

    

THE LANGOLIERS

   As a lot of King's horror, this story has a lot of science fiction elements. Here one element straight out of science fiction is central to the plot.

   The Langoliers is not a slow starter, it doesn't take many pages before you are drawn into the story. The shorter length, at 234 pages it is short for King, works to the stories advantage, King introduces the characters pretty fast, and they come fully formed, and never feels two-dimensional.

   This is a great story, the tension builds nicely throughout, and it does not loosen its grip on you before it is finished. The atmosphere of the whole story is also very good.

   I would recommend this story to any fan of sci-fi-horror, and if you like King it is a must. -As an added bonus, there is a scene that is very reminiscent of LOST in it.  

SECRET WINDOW, SECRET GARDEN

   This story is pure psychological horror. It is also one of Kings stories about a writer, and it has in fact some elements to it that are also found in The Shining, but I must hasten to add that it is in no way a re-write.

   From page one, and all the way to the epilogue, I found myself guessing as to what was actually happening. And it got under my skin at several points. Both the main character, and the others you meet are well done, and they seem real. It is a story that will keep you wanting to read to the end.

THE LIBRARY POLICEMAN

   Making libraries a scary place for someone who loves books is difficult, but King manages to do so in this story. The build-up at the beginning is very well done, and as the story progresses it transcends the fairly standard ghost story it initially looks like it is.

   King pulls off one of the best retrospectives I've ever read here. There are in fact a couple of stories within stories, and one of them is so shocking that I think some people could be put off by it. That being said, it is essential to the overall story, and not just put there for its shock-value.

   The only problem I had with The Library Policeman, was that it was let down a bit by one of King's rather week endings.

THE SUN DOG

   This story belongs in King's "Castle Rock-cycle". It is basically a sort of ghost story. Starting innocently enough, it soon builds up to quite a eerie tale. 

   The characters have back stories that adds much to their realization, and one of the characters is delightfully mysterious at first. 

    King manages to build on the eeriness factor right to the end. And the ending here is ,in my opinion, one of the best he has ever written.

CONCLUSION

   These four stories really serves well to showcase King's writing. They give a taste of how most of his novels are, at the same time they are different enough to work very well together as a collection. I enjoyed the book a lot, even though I usually prefer King's stories to be as long as possible. If you are a fan of King's work, but have yet to read Four Past Midnight, I suggest you do so as soon as possible.

   If you have never read anything of Stephen King's work, I would suggest this as a good place to start. Both because they are not as long as some of King's other work, and because these four stories are a nice taster of what you can expect from him should you wish to read more of his work.

Links: Stephen King  Penguin (USA)