A review by bookgirl1209
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

4.0

I'll admit - I love Stephen King. I love almost everything he writes. I read this one super fast just because I needed to know what happened RIGHT AWAY. I may have to read it again.

King has such a way with characters, building them, developing them, making you care about them. Doctor Sleep is no different. Dan Torrance, the little boy from The Shining is now grown up with demons of his own to deal with - some related to the birthright he inherited from his drunk father, some from the aftermath of his time at the Overlook Hotel. Both of those pale in comparison to the demons he must fight in order to save a young girl named Abra who also has the shine.

Abra is in the cross hairs of the True Knot group, a group of traveling people who live and thrive off of the essence or steam they suck from people. These psychic vampires gain strength from fear and their best strength comes from children who have the shine. Abra's talent is the strongest they have ever seen and they want it.

I've read some reviews that spoke of being disappointed by the fact that this sequel didn't have enough of the Overlook hotel. I disagree. The Overlook was a character itself, albeit a secondary one. And to be fair, this isn't an immediate sequel..it's 20 years down the road or so. Doctor Sleep could easily stand alone and hold it's own.

I loved the reference to Charlie Manx, the horrid pedophile from Joe Hill's N0S4A2, King has become known for Easter eggs of this type referring to his previous books and to see him give a nod to Hill's was a nice surprise.

Spoiler

In a departure for King he didn't end this one like he does many of his novels, by killing off many of the main characters. I had come to expect that and it was nice that there was a happy-ish ending.