After nearly 40 years, hailed novelist Stephen King has done the unthinkable and written a sequel to one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining.
The Shining, published in 1977, has been regarded as one of the scariest horror novels ever written. The movie adaptation, made in 1980 and starring Jack Nicholson, has since become one of the most iconic horror films of all time.
The story centers around an alcoholic writer called Jack Torrance, who accepts a job as caretaker to the Overlook Hotel during its long winters, so as to work on his writing in solitude. Jack brings his wife and son to accompany him, and together they face horrors they never could have imagined at the Overlook Hotel.
The sequel, entitled Doctor Sleep, follows Jack’s son, Danny, now in his 40s, as he travels across America trying to come to terms and understand his supernatural abilities that were revealed in The Shining. During his travels he meets a young girl, Abra Stone, who shares his abilities, and together they use their powers to comfort the dying.
Abra’s abilities are unlike anything Danny has ever seen though, and a lethal clan called “The True Knots” want her power. It is up to Danny to save her. The book description calls Doctor Sleep “an epic war between good and evil,” so readers can probably expect some epic action scenes, as well as some bone chilling horror from the literal “King” of horror himself.
I am excited to see how the book will be received by avid Stephen King fans. Some hard-core Shining fans might be upset that King has written a sequel, and that the ending isn’t left open to the readers’ imaginations. Hopefully the book will receive good feedback, and maybe we as readers can even hope for a third book (but lets not get ahead of ourselves).
It seems strange that King has waited so long to produce a sequel to such a famous and highly acclaimed work. Like I said previously, The Shining was written nearly 40 years ago, so the question now is why has King decided to add to the story line? A lot of his newer works, such as the very popular Under the Dome have received amazing reviews. Dome has even been turned into a TV series on CBS, so it is needless to say that King is doing very well and isn’t just selling out to make money. It could very well be that King has always had a sequel in mind, but just has never had the time until now to write it. Whatever the reason may be, this book is one of the most anticipated books of 2013 and I am very much looking forward to enjoying it.