5 July 2019
Doctor Sleep (Stephen King, 2013) is the sequel to the novel [not the film] The Shining ('77). This book is a different sort of story than the first story: this revolves around the child from the first book, Danny Torrance, growing up the same troubles with alcoholism that plagued his father, and confronting a different sort of villain that haunts and hunts children that 'shine'.
While there are some lightly unnerving parts to this story, this seems more a drama/adventure style of story versus the thriller the first book was. It drags in places, sometimes for longer than it should, and some of the characters overstay their welcome (some of The True Knot characters really grind at my patience). But most of the main characters were pleasant, and the story usually well-paced. I think it was an interesting case study of "what kind of story would The Shining be if Torrance went to AA to get through his problems".
That said, this felt more like a story that King put into the Torrance world, rather than something organically grown from there. The author notes at the end of the book, "the man who wrote Doctor Sleep is very different from the well-meaning alcoholic who wrote The Shining, but both remain interested in the same thing: telling a kickass story." Most of the time though I didn't feel like the Torrance backdrop mattered. I'm mixed if there was much benefit in bringing Doc back (and giving his life a lot more baggage), but I guess it's something for fans.
If you only saw the Kubrick film, this story doesn't follow that story line... so I'd recommend reading the earlier book before reading this. You don't have to read it, but you'd probably miss some of the nuances/callbacks referencing the previous book. 3/5